Tis The Season....

OKAY... you got me... the holidays are OVER.  But that doesn't mean I can't share our holiday festivities with the blogging world, RIGHT?

As I've done so many times before I've jumped in and out of the blogging wagon.  Does anyone else know what I'm talking about here?  It's so easy to do... in case you don't know what I'm talking about. News Resolution.... is to not say that I won't do it again.  I think I can make that happen...

So last time you read about my life we were painting pumpkins and preparing for Halloween, but since that time we've stored away 12 month clothing (with a few tears) and we've been had a few food battles with the little mister.  We enjoyed a wonderful, delicious dinner with my BIG family for Thanksgiving.  We filled our tummies full and maybe even had to unbutton our pants so we could be a little more comfortable for the rest of the day.  After wonderful family time and amazing food I geared up and made my way out in the cold night for some Black Friday SHOPPING.

My friend, Brittney, and I ran into Santa while we were out.  Naturally we had to stop and get our picture taken with him.  Also, notice our Thing 1 and Thing 2 sweaters, we had about 8 people comment on them.  It was hilarious and fun.

I was able to get just about ALL my christmas shopping done that night.  I was very happy, especially because most years I would wait until the last minute.  I'm sure none of you have done that.  

During the Thanksgiving week my brother, his wife, and 2 kiddos were in town.  They live in Florida so we don't get to see them often.  I got some snuggle time in with my niece, Leona.

She fell asleep right on me, and it was so comforting.  It also gave me baby fever.  I still have it. :)

This year was my first attempt at baking an apple pie.  I don't really like it that much and didn't end up eating any, but I was told it was very good.  

I got all fancy with it as you can see.

As Thanksgiving past Christmas quickly was upon us.  I felt like we blinked and the next day was Christmas.  We had everything ready and wrapped before Christmas Eve, again I was well prepared this year.  No procrastinating at all!

Corbin helped us decorate the tree.  It was so fun since he was older he seemed interested in helping for at least 10 minutes.  When last year he wasn't interested at all.  

At work we had an Ugly Sweater day and I got to wear my Santa sweater.  Funny thing is I had people tell me my sweater was actually cute.  I didn't agree... but it was still fun to see all the seriously UGLY sweaters people wore to work.  

And yes, I am wearing head phones at work.  My job allows me to be able to jam and listen to whatever I want while I work.  It's awesome!

We started a new tradition this year as well.  We will take a trip to Bronners in Frankenmuth to get an ornament.  We went with our friends Tim and Brittney.  We had a blast!  

Corbin picked out a Dinosaur ornament and we picked out a tabletop decorations "ornament".  We had it personalized so we can remember that we got it in 2013, and had our names put on stockings as well.  

I was able to snap a shot of it getting personalized... isn't it cute?
Just as many families do we had to get photos done for our Christmas Card.  Normally we do some silly goofy card but we couldn't really think of something that we really liked.  So, we settled for just normalness.

My friend, Brittney, with Beautiful Bliss Photography took these shots for us.  Follow the link to check out more of her work.  We love them and her!

Another tradition we started this year was letting Corbin open one gift on Christmas eve.  We let him pick the present and boy he was so excited when he opened it.

His very first drum set.  Look how ecstatic he is about this.  We got him just a tabletop drum set, seeing how he is still a little one, but will eventually get him a bigger one.  He loves it.

Whew... we were so busy!!!!! Once I get our Christmas Eve and Christmas day videos together I'll share with you!
For now, I'm off to dream land.  This momma needs her beauty sleep.

Toodles

Camera + Faces = Photoshoot

Family photo shoots can be so much fun, especially when the family has a lot of bubbly and fun personalities.  Oh... Did I mention I'm related to them?


This last shot is my favorite shot of the day! Why you ask?  Well because it REAL LIFE! It's such a candid shot.  The only one's looking at the camera is Baby Oakley and Grandma Sharon.  Hey, at least the baby is staring at the camera.
Great shots of a beautiful family!

What one is your favorite shot?

Toodles

First Pumpkin

After we picked out the perfect pumpkins it was time to carve them.  Although, Corbin is a little too young to carve a pumpkin, so we painted his.  He was so excited and focused on painting it too.  As you can see he got a little bit of paint on his arm but that was accident.  Otherwise this was the cleanest paint job I've ever seen a 17 month old complete.  Most the time they get paint all over their bodies, face, hair, any where they can touch.  But not my little guy.  And after painting for a few minutes he started touching the end of the paint brush but he freaked a little once he realized what happened when he touched it.  As you can see from his BIG cheesy smile, he really enjoyed being creative.  He will now walk up to his finished pumpkin with so much pride in his work.  So adorable!



Check out the video I got of Corbin painting his first pumpkin!
Corbin's First Pumpkin from Crystal Barancik on Vimeo.

What did you do with your pumpkins?

Toodles

A Day At The Orchard

It happened to be one of the most beautiful days we had in October.  The sun was shining and the pumpkins were calling our names.  Okay, they weren't really calling our names, but we had to get Corbin out to the orchard so he can pick his very first pumpkin.  We made our way to Spicers Orchard... enjoyed a free hay ride, picked our favorite pumpkin out of the bunch, and then left with our doughnuts and cider in hand.

Trees changing colors, apple cider, sugary doughnuts, and pumpkins... now this is what I call FALL!

Have you visited the orchard this year?

Toodles

It's an Adventure!

In case you you didn't know, I own a camera AND I like to take my camera and venture out in this big world and just take a photo of whatever my little heart desires.  So, Brittney, at Moving Forward Blog, and I did just that a few weeks back, actually maybe a few months back.  We just set out... with camera's in hand and imaginations ready to go to capture anything that might have caught our eyes.  Here a few of my favorite shots of the day.

I have a lot more but I must first take the time to go through them.  What ones do you like?

Toodles

It's Late, I know... But still...

Homemade gifts, the best gifts you can give and receive.  With Grandparents day coming close I found a few pins on Pinterest that meshed this homemade gift.  You know when you see a few inspirations and then mesh them together to create something even better than the things you saw separately.  I had to stop at Michaels for a few supplies.

2 Canvas'
1 Can of light blue spray paint
1 Can of yellow spray paint
2 Different colors of paint that don't match the spray paint (I chose to purchase a set with a variety of colors)
Letter Stickers (I chose to purchase different font styles)

After placing the letters on the canvas to my liking I took the canvas' outside  and spray painted each one a different color.  After letting the paint dry I carefully took off each letter showing the font in white.  Then the real fun began... the little man's footprints to complete our project.  The finished product came out just as I had hoped it would.  

We made 2 and both are different colors to go to each set of grandparents.  And they loved it!!!!!

Hand made is the way to go!!!!

Toodles

Happy Grandparents Day!

Some of you may or may not know this, but today is actually GRANDPARENTS day!

Our little Corbin has been blessed with some very amazing grandparents.  Above we have my dad, whom we refer to as Papa Dave, and my mom, whom we refer to as Grandma.  And below is Jeremy's dad, who is Papa, and his mother, Nana.

Grandparents should have a day that recognizes how awesome and amazing they are, just like there is a Mother's Day and Father's Day.  We have been so blessed to have these wonderful people in our lives to help whenever possible with our little baby boy.  Thank you so much for EVERYTHING you do and have done for our little family! We love and appreciate you all.
We can't for the GREAT Grandparents either!

My Grandfather, who is shown here holding baby Corbin the day he was born!  All that hair, I know!

And Jeremy's Grandma, holding Corbin when he was 11.5 months old.  So precious!

Corbin also has a Great Grandma and Grandpa Fay, Great Grandma Gearhart, and Grandpa Tim. Unfortunately we don't have pictures with them.  But maybe we will soon.  

We LOVE YOU!

Toodles