Holiday Home Tour 2015

It's always fun to relive memories of Christmases past when digging through bins of holiday decor unearthed from the shadowy recesses of our attic. The red and green bins get stacked into my dining room and at my first available chance, I start pulling out things to place around our home—with the tree and ornaments at the top of the priority list.

This year, the Christmas season seemed to come on more slowly. The bins didn't make their way into the house until well into the month of December, and even then it took me awhile to get all the decorations up. I didn't use every single thing either. There simply wasn't enough time or energy for me to get to it all. We didn't host any big parties this year, though we did end up with a small gathering of friends planned for the day after Christmas. And I'm not even doing a big meal at our house since we're attending festivities at both my mom's house and the in-law's home. But that worked out fine for me this time, since I'm having a minor foot surgery on Christmas Eve morning. Happy holidays to me, right!? Really, though, the husband is home for a short break and the parents are around to help with the kids so extra hands are readily available to help while I recover and hobble around. Besides, I'm thoroughly convinced there is never a convenient time for surgeries of any type.

But that's all aside from the point of today's post: our Holiday Home Tour 2015! If you're interested to see how our home, decor and Christmas flair has evolved over the past couple years then check out the 2014 home tour here and the 2013 tour here.

My house is not necessarily a light, bright and white kinda place. So it tends to photograph a little orangey. And I'm just not the best Photoshop whiz to get rid of that completely so orange it is. Then a lot of these pictures were taken on different days—some even at night. Which results in different lighting, maybe a few readjusted objects, who knows. While all bloggers who are brave enough to photograph and share the inside of their homes want picture perfect results, this is real life and I regularly settle for "close enough." Because a playroom of four three-year-olds that's threatening to turn into the next Fight Club just calls for immediate action.

Mom Duty, Party of One Exhausted Lady.

Now, it's time for some holiday pics! (And a tooooon of them. Happy scrolling and carpal tunnel.)

C'mon in!

I bought the six matching stockings a couple years ago at Hobby Lobby for half-price.

The initials are iron-on monogram letters, also from the Lobby.

Sometimes Bandit climbs onto that ledge for a little peace and quiet away from the ruckus. 

And arm's reach.

The festively-adorned deer is one the husband got on a hunting trip years ago. 

The kiddos lovingly refer to him as "the reindeer."

There's not a lot of decor in my kitchen this year. But a cluster of pretty faux flowers

and decor works well above my sink, and the snowflake bucket was a $1 find

from Target to hold our plethora of TV remotes.

Since my kitchen has a wine and grapes theme to it (totally not purposeful, I swear!),

I decided to stick a mini pre-lit tree on the bar top with some purple ribbon, mini gold sparkle

ornaments and wine corks. Because on the particular evening that I assembled this tree I was 

running on low patience, I had no desire to make cute cork ornaments and instead skewered

them all with mini hooks and aggressively hung them on the branches. 

While drinking two goblets of wine.

My favorite scent, hands down, from Bath & Body Works this season. 

It's got hints of mandarins, woodsy vanilla and....creamy coconut. My fav!

I'll be picking it up in the lotion and body wash this week.

Roses are my favorite flower, and I am loving them when combined with fresh winter greens.

I also love Cupcake Red Velvet wine and keep a bottle on hand at all times.

It's cheap therapy.

My mother-in-law gifted the kids the cute Santa-shaped Christmas countdown. Every day, they

excitedly ask me, "What are we on now, mommy?" 

Then race to turn the candy cane to the next number.

The Frozen-themed wreath was a surprise (and very thoughtful!) gift from my sister—

who also made it herself! It goes well with the ornament garland she helped me assemble

last year. It's plastic ornaments clustered tightly on thick ribbon.

The kids decorated the tree for their playroom all by themselves.

I didn't rearrange a single ornament. Promise.

Their individual art boards are great sources of pride for each kiddo to display

their creations, which are quite festive for the holidays!

The burlap table runner was a $3 find at Target and I decided to layer 

various materials to get a fresh, festive feel.

The votive holds a re-poured Champagne pomegranate scented candle.

I made an entire batch of them last week and now have several around my house.

The dogs were inside for a break from the wind (and their nap, let's be honest) while I was

snapping pictures one afternoon so I had to capture them and show them off!

Jersey is the black dog and Shiner is the white one. 

He's our trained hunting dog—and also a vegetarian. 

Every year since the babies were born, I get our Christmas photo printed on a metal 

ornament (from Snapfish) to add to the tree. Indestructible and memorable.

And that, my friends, concludes Texas Tales' Holiday Home Tour for 2015!! I hope you enjoyed it and I thank you for taking the time to stop by my blog and check things out. Updates have been slim on here lately, I know, as things have just been so busy for us and there's hardly a spare second to even brush my teeth before I fall into bed at night. I have no intentions of relinquishing my blog though, and hope to continue on with more posts as 2016 arrives. Speaking of posts, there will be at least one more before the year's end—tomorrow, December 24! Stop back by to see our Christmas card for this year and a quick update on our holiday plans and festivities.

Our Halloween Weekend

Halloween was an exciting event this year! It was the first time for two things: for the kiddos to select their very own costumes, and for us to go trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. The past two years we dressed them up in outfits of our own choosing and last year we took them to each of the grandparents house to trick-or-treat there and visit for a little while. That was enough excitement to wear them out and don't you know they still got plenty of sweet treats!

This year, though, we've mastered going on group walks throughout our neighborhood and they totally get the whole concept of Halloween, costumes and trick-or-treating so we went with the whole shebang!

I can thank Target for making most of our costume search easy—we scored a Spiderman, Rapunzel and Ariel costume there at 50% off with a coupon on my Cartwheel app—and then Kailey picked out her cute little Minnie costume when she was with me on a shopping excursion at Costco a week before. They'd worn them a couple times before the big night, once for a Halloween party with our quad buddies, the Shawvers, and once earlier this week when we visited the husband's parents for an pre-Halloween outing and they trick-or-treated there then stayed for dinner while the husband and I got a date night!

After naps, all four were super excited to start putting on their gear and get ready to go. We'd picked up four dollar pumpkin buckets earlier that day and reviewed how trick-or-treating works and that they only take a piece or two of candy from each house—not handfuls! They did AWESOME. They traipsed all over the neighborhood and had an absolute blast the entire time, with not one complaint about all the walking, carrying their pumpkins (that got heavier with every door knock!) or getting tired. In fact, they were doing so well that when we got back to the house we loaded up in the suburban and headed to my mom's house for a surprise trick-or-treat visit there!

I brought pajamas with us, so once the fun was over we dunked them in the bath tub and got everyone dressed for bed then drove our wired but tired and very happy four little pumpkins home. They slept right up until the last minute on Sunday but thanks to the time change and falling back an hour, we made it to church only a little late. My mom sat with us then we all went to lunch afterward before heading home for naps. The kids didn't exactly cooperate on the latter, but they did get some quiet rest time in their rooms while the husband and I got a break to watch a show together on the couch and relax for a minute. 

To cap off our weekend focus of spending special time with the kiddos (which included our first-ever date day!), the husband took Harrison to an indoor bounce house for a couple hours while I stayed at the house with the girls and had a fun afternoon with them. I painted 70 nails—including my toes!—then we had cupcakes and watched Frozen Fever and a couple episodes of Team Umizoomi. They really enjoyed all the attention, and I was so glad we had been able to carve out time with all the kids.

Now I just need to check myself into Binge Candy Eaters Anonymous and find a better hiding place for my sugar stash....like the trash, if we're being honest.

Fall Days & Big Kid Update!

Kailey was sitting on my bed in my room, absent-mindedly flipping through a book when she looked up and eyed me questionably. I figured it was because I had makeup on (the kids always love seeing me get "done up" since it doesn't happen everyday) but instead she said, "Mommy, you're not pretty yet!"

Uhhh, thanks for the confidence booster Kailey Poo! We were getting ready for a family outing and I'd opted to try and look more presentable than my usual workout attire. But I hadn't picked out clothes yet and still had on sweat pants. I pulled on jeans and a top and checked myself out in the mirror when she exclaimed, "Mommy, you look so pretty now!"

Holding me to a standard already at just three years old! The kids are most definitely at that age where we never quite know what they're going to say or do, and their level of independence is reaching an all new high. They put on their own socks and shoes much of the time and when people ask if I still dress them, I quickly inform them that the kids have been picking out their own clothes—with just a little guidance from mama—for awhile now! They ask to be excused from the table after a meal and clear their dishes to the sink and put their milk in the fridge. They take dirty clothes to the laundry hamper downstairs and put their shoes away in their own individual shoe bins. It's our latest shoe storage system, complete with name tags to identify each other's bins, and it's been working out pretty well so far. I added a basket to collect dirty socks because those were just getting scattered on the floor.

We are all still enjoying their two days a week at pre-school, which they love and are learning so much so fast. Their teachers are great and they do all kinds of fun projects and really blossom in a class setting! After I picked them up on Thursday we came home and they helped me sort all the clean laundry into two piles: one for Harrison and one for the girls. Meanwhile, Kailey worked in the kitchen and emptied all their lunch bags. She puts the cold packs back in the freezer and the tupperware in the sink for me to wash. They are very helpful around the house and I've seen each of them voluntarily clean something up on more than one occasion without any direction from myself or the husband! I think eventually we will start chore charts, but I've got to get a little more organized for that to happen.

Most days I still feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants, but I still will get a productive afternoon here or there to make up for the mess. I've recently come to realize that I thrive somewhere in between the neatly organized and the organized chaos. If I had everything in a place and a place for everything, I think I would go a little crazy and feel too categorized. But if my house gets super messy or everything is out of control and nothing is in its semi-rightful place, then my left eye starts twitching. You know, that whole balance thing.

All four kids were laughing hysterically and having a grand ol' time earlier this morning. When I went to investigate, I discovered they'd dragged pillows, blankets, books and a bunch of random toys to the landing in the middle of the stairs. They asked me "not to touch it, mama" during their nap time so they could play there some more when they woke up, because they had plans to have a tea party together. Needless to say, I've stepped it over many times and haven't moved a thing! Happy laughter and four three-year-olds getting along is worth a mess any day. (And let's be honest, that mess is the least of my problems when you look at the pile of laundry and dishes that have accumulated.)

We've had a busy start to fall and plenty of fun so far. Not long ago, we hosted a Halloween party at our house for our quad buddies, the Shawvers, complete with a festive-themed lunch! I made English muffin "mummy" pizzas, ghost bananas using chocolate chips, pumpkin oranges (the stem is a piece of celery) and Mickey-shaped veggie chips I found at Target. My quad mama buddy, Amber, brought some pumpkin books to read and the kids did a great and after lunch they got to eat popcorn, watch a Halloween Mickey Mouse episode and exchange treat bags. They had a lot of fun!

I was super excited to have my long time bestie (and former college roomie) Lisa and her son, Warren, come stay with us for awhile. They currently live in Malaysia so time with them is very treasured. Warren is 16 days older than the quads, so they are perfect playmates and five fast friends!

The husband has pulled out all the Cowboys and A&M gear he can find in the kids closets for them to wear during the games and the kiddos have all learned to cheer at the TV—Kailey is the loudest!

Kailey also has an affinity for mommy's shoes, she's always traipsing around the house in whatever pair she can find. Flip flops, house shoes, wedges and, lately, my boots. Because of the cooler weather that's finally arrived, the boots have been pulled out from the back of my closet and put back in rotation!

The husband still travels often enough for work, so we enjoy family activities on slow weekends when he's home. The kids watched him carve our first family Jack-O-Lantern this past weekend and we've been enjoying walks in the neighborhood, too. They've done so well staying on the sidewalk, watching for cars and keeping the pace! And bedtime stories with Dada is always a highlight. :)

Lately, rainy weather has kept us a bit more house bound. But it's actually a welcomed change of pace, since we normally get out every day. Which still isn't always a simple undertaking with my foursome and often I'm completely exhausted by the time we've come and gone. I still do grocery shopping trips, Target outings and afternoons at the library with my crew on my own, and did several swim lessons at the end of summer and attend play dates regularly with no assistance. Anything bigger, and I like to have an extra set of hands!

When it's dreary out though, the answer is to make a run for Sonic ice and shakes then head back home to dry off, light some pumpkin candles and snuggle under blankets while watching movies. Or a Paw Patrol marathon, since we're talking about real life, ha!

Most importantly in the middle of all the chaos—especially as the holiday season kicks off—is time with my husband. Our relationship is still our number one priority, because happy mommy and daddy equal happier, better parents for the quadlings! We try to manage a date night once every two to three weeks, even if we're exhausted (like we were at dinner in the photo below taken earlier this week!). Time alone together to have an entire conversation without being interrupted by little voices, a chance to sip an adult beverage and relax or simply sit together and hold hands while watching a movie at the theater are all important opportunities for us to reconnect and prioritize our relationship. It's vital for us to survive! Some folks ask how we manage it and others assume we get frequent breaks all the time and it's no big deal. We usually plan an outing one to two weeks in advance and schedule kid care with the grandparents or a baby sitter or with a close friend. I prep everything needed before leaving, like laying out PJs, setting out dinner supplies and sometimes even bathing the kids beforehand to make it easier on the folks that are watching them while we're gone. It can be hard work to get a "break" but is always worth it!

What's really cool is that I feel like we are already setting a good precedent for our kids to follow. They know that daddy takes mommy on dates and understand that it usually involves going to a restaurant and a movie. We have explained it's our special time together and they always see me get dressed up and put on makeup and dada puts on nice clothes and drives mama in the car. In an effort to begin establishing healthy relationship goals early on, we've decided to take our kids on "dates" periodically. For instance, tomorrow the husband is taking our three girls out on a lunch date and I'll be taking Harrison on a date with me! They are so excited and have been talking about it all week! We'll let them all pick out some dress clothes to wear, I'll braid the girls hair and the husband and I will dress up as well. We're both taking our respective parties to real restaurants, not fast food joints, and are excited ourselves at the opportunity to spend some special time with them. I am beyond grateful God blessed me with such an amazing man as my husband and the father to my children, to teach them what a true, Godly man is like. Harrison has a pretty awesome role model!

I snapped the picture above last Sunday when the husband took the girls to church while I stayed home with Harrison who was under the weather. They looked so grown up in their dresses and boots! Someone suggested that was a good look for our Christmas card photos this year, and I'm thinking that's a great idea...

Onward to the next project on my list and another day as a quad mama. To borrow a phrase from Paw Patrol, "Do my best and forget the rest!"