TESSA RAYANNE: christmas

Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts

Monday, December 8, 2014

Our Christmas Card 2014 + A Discount!!

Our Christmas Card 2014 + 10% Discount!!

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I love these photos so much that Kelsey Steindler photography took this August a month after Cash's first birthday. We decided we would make these our Christmas photos because they encompass so much of what our family is and means to us, love and joy! I wouldn't want my life any other way, these two boys complete me and our sweet little one on the way will bring us even more joy.

Fabulous Nuts & Bolts Designs custom made our Christmas cards this year (check out last years card here), and they even offer the option to print, which for me is a must! Who wants to have to go print their own cards when we have a million other things to do this season. Anywho, I wanted something classic, elegant, and simple and Nuts & Bolts Designs did just that! She listened to my every want and even changed some things around when I asked. I love that its our card just for our little family, and you can have her create one just for yours to be a reflection of you this year.

Nuts & Bolts Designs sells custom invites, cards, stationery, and even baby books! The creator loves paper and stationery so shes spends a lot of time finding quality paper and loves to see her designs come to life when they move from the computer screen to printed form. She says "I know there are people who still love snail mail as much as myself, and thats who i love designing for!" Im right there with you girlfriend!

Nuts & Bolts Designs is offering 10% off all items in her shop (valid through 12.31.14 so order now!!!) You don't have to order Christmas cards, this is good for anything in her shop!! Order thank you cards now, or even holiday party invites.

10 % OFF Coupon code: TESSASAVE

Shop here

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Christmas Tree Lighting & Visiting Santa!

We had such a blast this past weekend celebrating my mom in laws birthday by going to dinner at Red O at Fashion Island and then going to see the Christmas tree lighting, watch a water show, and get some hot cocoa and coffee while walking around as a family. This holiday season is so special, Cash is old enough to really enjoy it and is talking up a storm saying "SANTA" "LIGHTS" "JESUS" "TREE", it is so adorable and im soaking up every bit of him this last Christmas with just the three of us.

He was so excited to see that the fountains at Fashion Island were all lit up with beautiful colors night, he even tried to dive in, as per usual (;

Visting Santa was quite the experience.. I have never ever seen this little one afraid. EVER. He is a fearfless one i tell you. But the moment he saw us walking up to Santa to place him on his lap, he instantly clung to me and was terrified. He didn't want to go anywhere close to him. Of course, we knew most kids are initially scared of Santa so we figured its tradition to get a crying "get me the heck out of here" photo of him as a baby. So we did what all parents do and put him on Santas lap anyhow. He kept looking back at the old man with the giant white beard behind him. I will never forget the look on his face, he was curious but scared. So my husband and I jumped in the photo with him and Santa stood behind the chair, Cash had his eye on him the whole time. It was pretty comical, as sad as it was. The rest of this week he has asked about Santa every. single. day. Its as though he forgot how terrorized he was and now is filled with curiousity and wonder. We have a couple Santa figures up at home and he chats with them every day. So maybe we'll pay Santa another visit this season and see how it goes now that they've been introduced (:

^^^my favorite photo!^^^

^^^much better with mama^^^

^^^Papa walking around his grandson, what could be cuter!?!^^^

^^^I cannot get enough of these two together^^^

^^^ISn't this just the best photo ever? He was so amazed and excited!^^^

^^^& about as best of a photo of the three of us we got by the tree, lol #toddlerlife^^^

^^^Watching the water show intensely.. & below, hes about to dive in. vvv

He woke up early Monday morning throwing up. Thats never ever happened so we were immediately alarmed and kept a watchful eye on him.. he ended up throwing up the rest of the morning for several hours, not even able to keep tylenol down. So we cuddled the rest of the day and slowly but surely he was cured from the flu/or food poisoning (who knows?!) and was able to eat dinner and it didnt come back up. PRAISE the Lord! That was quite terrifying & really really sad on my mama heart. If your little one gets the flu for the first time heres what worked for us (make sure you have clean laundry because you'll be changing him and yourself quite often, pediatlite (for the electrolites..1/2 oz every 10-15 mins if theyre able to keep it down), pedialite frozen popsicles (easier for them to eat slowly verses chugging fluids and vommitting right after), water (to stay hydrated. 1/2 oz at a time every 10-15 mins if theyre able to keep it down), sprite (to calm the tummy), crackers. Once theyre better and keeping fluids and crackers down for several hours we tried giving him the BRAT diet, bananas, rice, apples and toast. We started with a banana, more crackers and then gave him some bland oatmeal. That was about it for the day.

....We find out if ITS A BOY OR A GIRL next weekend at our gender reveal holiday party!!!!!!! So i've been working with some great shops and some fun DIY projects for the party that i cannot wait to share with you all! (stay tuned and keep an eye out next week for that!)

What do you think we are having?! Write it in the comments below, i would love to hear from you guys!

(i have quite a few posts coming this week so keep checking back for those as well!)

Monday, December 30, 2013

Christmas 2013 Recap:

Sorry I have been gone a while, I was so busy with the holiday and then we went out of town the day after. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones.

Christmas was perfection, we were able to spend time with both sides of our family and extended family. We celebrated Cash's first Christmas starting Christmas Eve by going to a wonderful church service with our families, Cash was an angel and didn't make a peep the entire service, he sat on my lap and watched and listened. We then went to my parents house and celebrated with dinner, opening gifts, and spending time together. Christmas morning I spent with my two boys, cuddling in bed, taking photos to store in our memories, and getting ready to go over to my in laws to spend the morning with them. We went over there around 8:30am after Cash's first nap and had such a wonderful time. We opened gifts while sitting by the fire, drinking coffee, and then headed out for the Armstrong anual Christmas scavenger hunt before brunch. The scavenger hunt is my FAVORITE tradition the Armstrongs do and I cannot wait to carry this on when our children grow older. My in laws give the "first clue" in our stalkings and from there we hop in the car and drive to where the clue hints us towards. The next place we end up is usually one of the family friends homes, we get to say merry christmas and say hello and usually it involves us having to sing or dance with a ridiculous hat on or do something hilarious to get the next clue. The next clue tells us where to go next, until four to five clues later we are told to head back home and there they usually have a big family gift waiting. Its such a fun adventure and great for all of the kids (well, we are all adults now) to spend time together and get a good laugh. This year we are going to Hawaii, what a wonderful and gracious gift from our parents! We are so thankful for their giving hearts and that they appreciate spending time with us. Later in the day we went over to my sisters house where all of our family was. We were exhausted from a fun filled day and decided to head home by 4:00pm so we could rest up and pack for our family trip to Big Bear the following morning. We had such a nice Christmas, I think my favorite part was experiencing having a child and how wonderful it is to give them gifts and create traditions. This year really made me think about how God gave us His only Son so we could have a relationship with Him.. i cant even imagine the pain that He must have gone through to sacrifice His sweet innocent child.. my heart was able ot understand that a little more this year with having my own son. And I am so grateful for that. Im pretty sure Cash's favorite part was opening the presents and playing in the tissue paper ( ;

Happy Birthday Jesus!

My sweet niece Payten patiently waiting to open her gift.

Cash's favorite part of Christmas... the tissue paper

Thankful for these two beautiful souls

Helping my sweet little boy open his first EVER Christmas gift.

Christmas morning lovin.. i couldnt pick which one i liked best.. theyre all delicious..

Look at this little model posing .. he's so hilarious.

These two together makes my heart so happy

Oh Cashy, you are just the best thing that has ever happened to us.

Uncle lovin!

Loving that bubble wrap!

Helping Uncle Hunter open his gifts

The aftermath.. i bet my little boy would love to dive head first into this pile of fun

Beginning the Anual Christmas Scavenger hunt

Aunt Amy flew out from Colorado to spend Christmas with us this year. She is a firecracker and I love love love her! SHe is so fun spirited and absolutely hilarious!