Thanksgiving 2012

This year our Thanksgiving was celebrated with Matt's family at Mel & Clint's house. It was the first time the family had a holiday in their new home and it was a lot of fun. 

Clare Bear (age 3)

Caitlin (age 1)

Quenton (age 1)

The kids were able to really run around and explore Auntie Mel & Uncle Clint's house. They even got to meet their Great Dane, Chloe! {that was interesting lol}

Matt & Clint hard at work peeling the potatoes

Marie made a delicious dinner :)

My sweet husband hard at work with his potatoes (that are super yum)

Newlyweds on their first married Thanksgiving 

Us :)

Megan and Clare make the cutest place cards each year with the kids' hands.

Quenton snuggling with Uncle Matty in the morning :) 

It was a really nice family day that ended with games until midnight. 

The next morning Matt and I left around 9 and hit up Target on the way home for some Black Friday deals. We mostly just bought stuff for ourselves (fail). We're already done with all of our Christmas shopping! I'll save that for my next post.

Time to go write our Christmas Letter. Tonight we're going to Snowflake Lane and dinner with Alex & Matt. Tomorrow we are going to see Chris & Katie's house that they just bought, super exciting! :) 

-Chelsea-

So Thankful, Happy Thanksgiving!

I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

First and most of all, I am thankful for my husband. He has stuck by my side through the hardest and best of times. We have been through a lot together these past 4 1/2 years and I would not change any of it. He always knows just how to make me feel better. I have been going through a bit of a challenging time lately (not ready to blog about it) and I could not imagine anyone being able to take care of me better than Matt can. He always knows when I just need a hug, when I need to laugh or when I just need to be able to cry. He really is the best husband. I'm thankful that he loves me for exactly who I am. I can belt out singing, freak out like...well, a freak, move all of our furniture around to dance at 2am, spend way too much money at Target and shrink all of his clothes and still...he loves me so so much. I feel so lucky that he lets me be me. I know not everyone gets to have that, even when they're married and I don't take it for granted. I am just really thankful that I get to be his wife.

I am thankful for my dance studio. I am thankful that my dream came true and that I get to work with the most amazing families and kids everyday. I have the most supportive dance moms. I am thankful that they also let me be me. They have all stuck by my side while I try to figure out how to run my business, the studio and coach the team. Some of my families have been with me now since day 1. I love knowing that I get to see all of these kids grow up and be such a big part of their lives. I love these kids more and more every single day. We spend a lot of time together and I wouldn't mind spending even more :) I have the greatest group of kids. Two of my 12 year old girls told me a while back that I'm like their second mom. I don't think they realized how much that really meant to me. I love them just as much, if not more. I am so thankful for having all of them in my life. They are always making me laugh and have made me so incredibly proud to be their teacher.

I am thankful that because of the studio and our program, we are able to have a roof over our heads and food on the table without any worries anymore. We have been able to start saving and Matt and my siblings are going to have a great Christmas and I am so so so thankful for that. 

This may be silly, but I am thankful that we have the best dog in the whole world. Matt and I were talking the other night and agree that Cogsy definitely can feel my mood and knows what to do. Lately, he has been super in tune to knowing when I'm sad and he's the best little cuddle bug in the whole world. All he ever wants to do is just love us and I can't imagine not having him in this time right now. I need him just as much as he needs me. I have never felt close to a pet like that before. 

I am thankful for our families and how close we both are to them. I am thankful that they too have been super supportive. We have some amazing parents that are always teaching us everyday. Between the four of them, I am really thankful for all they have taught me and how it has shaped me to be who I am today. Because of them, we will be better parents one day. And because of them, we know how to love and be loved. We know how to treat each other and how not to treat each other. Both sets of our parents are so in love still and that is so rare to find anymore. I am truly thankful for that. 

I am thankful for my friends, new and old. For my friendship with Katie that has grown to be an amazing one and my new friendship I have found with Alex. I can talk to Katie about anything and everything anytime of the day and I always know that she really truly cares. Alex and I could hang out at the studio until midnight just talking (sometimes it gets close) and I love that so much. I am thankful that I have been keeping in touch with my childhood friends, whether that be quick texts here and there or phone calls. 

I am thankful that Matt and I got to spend some amazing time together on 5 incredible trips this year.  We visited Vancouver, Seabrook, Alaska, Whistler and Disneyland. And we'll get to have one more amazing journey before 2012 is over while we enjoy a road trip together to Wisconsin for Christmas. That's not bad for one year. We're getting as many in there as we can. We got a lot of places checked off our list and in doing so we created some pretty amazing memories. I am so thankful for that alone time spent with Matt. Those are really times I will never never forget. 

Okay, I'm getting super emotional now. Time to go to bed. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I am thankful that I will get to spend the day with Matt and our Washington family. I'm excited to play with Clare, Caitlin & Quenton :) I miss getting to spend lots of time with them so tomorrow will be fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

-Chelsea-

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I'm so excited that my favorite weekend of the year begins in just one more day! I love Thanksgiving weekend so much. Matt and I have so many fun traditions that I cannot wait to do again this year. Thanksgiving will be spent with Matt's family again this year, except this year we will be at Mel & Clint's new house. We will play games and sleepover that night. Friday...we love Black Friday. We always use it to get things that we have been needing around the house and the last of our Christmas gifts will be purchased for everyone. Our toaster crashed on us 2 months ago but we've been waiting until Black Friday so we can get an awesome one :) We also put our tree up and decorate that day! Saturday is always my Christmas craft day! Love that day. This year I have quite a few projects in the works and I cannot wait to blog about them. We also will be going to Snowflake Lane again! *drum, drum, drum, drum, drum-drum-drum-SNOWFLAKE LANE!* Ha, we've been singing that all month long getting pumped up about it lol. 

Here are pictures of me at Snowflake Lane in years past (apparently we just take pictures of me with all the characters lol).

Snowflake Lane 2009

Snowflake Lane 2010

Snowflake Lane 2011 (I can't find the pictures but this was right before we went outside, me and my mom) :)

Here are the crafts I will be attempting this weekend! Some are things I pinned last year that I am finally doing now.

I bought all the ornaments for this today. You string all the ornaments onto a ribbon and then hang from your curtain rod. I bought super fun colors that match all of our whimsical Christmas decor. I almost made it today but I'm going to save it for Christmas Craft Saturday ; )

I am going to make a massive string of marshmallows and hang it on our tree. I love when trees are fun looking and super full of ornaments. I'm going to watch Christmas movies and string away. I'm thinking The Family Stone and The Grinch might even make it out before then...tonight??? I convinced Matt to watch Elf with me on Sunday night, hehe.

I'm also got some clear ornaments that I am going to be filling with fun things like sequins. I'd like to make some Christmas cookies and wrap some gifts too. I bought Matt's big gift today. It's so annoying, he totally knows. I really wish we had kids this Christmas. He's no fun to shop for. He always guesses and then it sucks. Oh hey, I'm just going to save money forever to get you this present to have you guess what it is before I even wrap it. Lame! Grinch like if you ask me ; ) 

I also had to make a special phone call to a friend far away for his surprise gift. Plan is in action now. Yay, at least I'll have one surprise for him.

I'm just so pumped for this weekend! Nothing could break my spirit right now! 

I can't wait to gobble up some turkey. We're making the Nuts & Bolts tomorrow night. It's going to be hard to not eat them until Thursday. Yummmmmm

-Chelsea-

I Love Christmas!

We had a super chill weekend.

I've been doing all I can lately to make every single day a "chill" one. 

So far, so good.

Friday got a little too chill which made me super depressed feeling. Yuck-O. 

Yesterday we stayed home and I Christmas shopped online, created and purchased our Christmas Cards and finished the 1,000 piece puzzle of Cinderella's Castle that I bought in Disneyland. It took me a week and a half to finish and I worked on that bad boy for hours! See, super chill over here in the Lanese home. I love our Christmas cards this year, it has pictures from all 5 of our trips this year and a picture of us on our 1st Anniversary. One of those trip pics may actually not be of us but of Cogsy....  

I used MyPublisher for our cards. 

Last night I also enjoyed eating TJ's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream out of the carton while drinking my favorite wine...*sigh* My sister-in-law, Mel, let me know about a get deal Living Social was having and I purchased my favorite wedding photo as a 20X30 canvas. We're doing some rearranging and our photo gallery wall will no longer be existing as it does now. I am going to move 6 of the photos to our room to put above our dresser and I'm using the frames somewhere else. 

Today we went to Toys R Us (and maybe Babies R Us too because how can you just go to the one half??? I mean really?) We are on a mission to get my little brother (who is 9) the coolest Christmas present of all time. Leading right now is either...

1. Skylanders Giants Starter Pack

2. Nerf Laser Tag (like legit laser tag)

3. A bucket full of Lego pieces from the Lego store

I'm voting for #1, but Matt says no so far. We'll see...

I love Christmas shopping!!

We got my little sister, Cirrah, Dance Central 3 for the Kinect because lately she has been a dancing machine! Makes her Sissy proud ; ) 

Both of our parents presents have been bought. Obvs can't write about it on here...they'll read. Can't wait to give them to them. 

We got Avery the cutest most fun Tigger toy that raps lol. 

I just love Christmas this year. Just 4 more days until we get our tree and have our decorating day! We have to buy a fake one this year because we are going to WI and we won't be able to water it while we're gone. 

I know what I'm getting Matt this year even though I have told him at least 40 times that there is no way in hell I'd ever buy it for him. Hehe. He never asked for it, but looks at it online every 2 seconds lately. He'll be a happy man this year. He always makes sure that I have a good Christmas and the last two years I haven't been able to get him anything he really wants. That's my favorite part of Christmas, showing the people who you love that you know them and care about what they love too. 

Tonight we're watching Elf because I can't wait any longer. It cracks me up! 

I had fun making my Christmas list for Matt this year. Thank you, Pinterest! 

This is what I want most this year.

Lace from my wedding dress in a necklace. Then I can wear my wedding dress every single day :) 

You can find them HERE.

I can't believe Thanksgiving is just 3 days away! Crazy!!!

Hope everyone had a great weekend :)

-Chelsea-