Bills Family Christmas 2015

We had so much fun celebrating with Josh's family the weekend before Christmas. We cherish setting time apart to enjoy our family and reflect on the birth of our Savior. Here are some pictures of our time together!

{Fletcher hanging out} 

 {The beauty of celebrating early is that Starbucks is open!}

{Lincoln loves his big cousins} 

{Christmas carols with Aunt Kissy}

{There are so many of us and so many gifts!!! We are indeed blessed.}

{My two itty bitty guys}

{Lincoln's cute Rudolph hat from Aunt Anna}

{Sweet Audrey Girl}

{This kid.}

{Sweet boys. May they be the best of friends throughout this life.}

Second Annual Mug 'n Muffins Party

Last year I threw together a last minute copycat party called "Mug 'n Muffins." I cannot take credit for the concept's cuteness. My sweet friend, Anna, back in Oklahoma threw a Mug 'n Muffins party every Christmas before I moved to New York. I decided last year that I wanted an annual little party like that with my closest friends. These ladies support me, love me, tell me the truth and make me laugh! As I am coming up on 5 year in New York (impossible, but true), I'm thankful for friends like these in a place I thought would be so barren.

Now for the fun....

{mugs wrapped and ready for stealing} 

Here's how it works for us:

1. You must show up in some form of lounge wear or pajamas.
2. You bring a wrapped mug. It can be Christmassy, but it is not required. This year's mugs were so darn cute!
3. I provide an egg casserole, muffins and coffee -iced and hot. Everyone else brings a yummy breakfast treat.
4. We eat and let a movie like Elf play in the background. Something we can stop and laugh at and still allow lots of conversation.
5. Then we play Dirty Santa -lots of stealing encouraged, until we all have a mug to take home.
6. Everyone goes home with a little something from the host. Last year it was a Christmas cookie cutter and this year an ornament.

{so much yummy food -yogurt parfaits, baked oatmeal, apple cinnamon and cranberry orange walnut muffins, fresh fruit, egg casserole -mmmm!} 

{congregating in the kitchen is totally universal} 

One of my original posts on this blog was about being gracious home owners. We always want to open our home to our community and to do life with the ones we love -make them feel special. This is my way of doing that for friends who are my little village throughout the year. My kids, my family and my home wouldn't be standing tall today without them.

{super cute mugs and precious friends}

Stephanie

Baby's First Christmas

We had a lot of wonderful Christmas celebrations this year. We started off with a Hefke Family Christmas Party, then enjoyed a whole day of celebrating Christmas with the Bills clan at Josh's dad's house. We read the Christmas story, enjoyed singing carols, made gingerbread houses, opened gifts and celebrated our Savior's birth. The next day Josh, Dayton and I celebrated Christmas at our house. We opened gifts, made a yummy breakfast and just loved being a little family of 3. It was so much fun. Dayton loved opening his gifts and sitting in his big boy chair.

The Friday before Christmas, we headed out to Oklahoma to spend a week with my family. Dayton was such an awesome little road trip traveler. We already knew he was great on planes, but were happy to see a long trip didn't seem to phase him much. We stopped to spend the night in Indianapolis and on Saturday headed out for the second half. We made a lunch pitstop in St Louis to see my some of my mom's family. We met my Aunt Marie & Uncle Ernie, cousin, Stan, his sweet wife, Carrie and their two little girls, Charlotte & Emily. This was their first time to see Dayton and also the first of my extended family to meet him. Family time is always so precious and we soaked up as much as we could before getting back on the road. {Side note: If you're ever in the St Louis area, I would highly recommend popping into one the two Russell Cafe locations, where we ate. They had a great lunch menu and out of this world bakery items -including gooey butter cake that the STL Junior League put on the map.} 

We also made a very, very quick stop to hug my sweet friend Abbey and her mom, Lacey, and kids. They hadn't met Dayton yet. I think he made a quick friend in her sweet son, Zion. Friends that will always be more like family!

Here are some pictures from Dayton's awesome first Christmas!

Hefke Christmas 

{If he only realized who's lap he was actually on!}

{Finally no tears}

Bills' Christmas Eve

 {Homemade Pizza}

{Christmas PJs}

Bills Family Christmas

{Singing Carols}

{Reading the Christmas Story with Grandpa}

{First Christmas for cousins!!!}

{Lots of love and gifts}

{Handmade Hobbes from Uncle Tim}

{Jemmy Bear and her new bone}

{New bib from Dax's Banana}

{Baby Booties with our boys' birth stats -LOVE them!}

{Our little snowman}

Dayton's First Christmas

{Tree and gifts}

{Stockings are hung!}

{Our sweet boy}

{Love the boy & his new chair}

{First stocking}

{A new car!}

{Loves all his new toys!}

{Daddy helping open gifts!}

 {Loving his new aquarium}

Oklahoma Christmas

{Christmas Sunday!}

{Pa and Nana!!!!}

{Grayson and Dayton meet}

{Graham cheesing for the camera}

{Little mama}

{Sweet cousins}

{Meeting Santa!!!}

{Graham, Connor, Claire}

{Mama's pretty table}

{Christmas Eve babies}

{There's no more room!}

{Opening stockings}

Christmas Day

{Uncle Josh & Connor}

{Pure Chaos}

{Where's the food? Come on, Pa!}

{Candy Cane Monsters}

{The Bills Family - 2013}

We are so thankful for our Savior coming to earth and had such a wonderful time celebrating. Now may we continue to celebrate his birth, death and resurrection throughout the new year!

Stephanie, Josh, Dayton and Toby