Christmas 2015, Part I

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What a wonderful holiday season we had.  We were able to get into the new house, have it set up and even host the whole family.  Tim (my older brother) and Renee flew in to town to surprise mom which was amazing, and having babies back in the mix brought lots of the missing holiday magic we had in the past.We started the season with our traditional family lunch at Olive Garden a few weekends before the big day.  This is my mom's treat to all of us and she really enjoys having the time to just sit and visit.  After lunch we go to her house and she shares her gifts so that she doesn't have to carry them around to different places.  This was a smaller gathering as my brothers and their wives could not attend but my boys as well as my niece and her family did attend.
  

A Girl and Her Dog

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Snagged these screen shots from a video Mallory posted last week.  They really show the love these two have for each other.
 So proud of Bauer as he had never really been around children of any size but he has accepted, protects and loves Avery completely.

Pinterest Compare #1 Dining Room Bookcases

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As we were building and designing the house I spent a ton of time on Pinterest looking for ideas.  Two ideas in particular stayed with me throughout the entire design process and became must haves in the house.  Both were/are very popular ideas on the site and I still can't believe I duplicated them.Here is the first idea:3f2f773d0bc8ef4ed8735d4ee8ec2da5Pinterest Link:  https://www.pinterest.com/pin/41658365278244544/and our take on it:2015-12-21 17.21.142015-12-21 17.19.16This was such a smart thing, in my opinion, to add between the two rooms.  It provides a much needed break between the dining room and kitchen but at the same time as the Pinterest pin stated created functional storage.