Theme Thursday: Silhouette

Well we went from zero to sixty. Silhouette is one of those things that's not hard exactly but certainly requires more effort and thought than say, sun flare or same photo/different angle. But I like a good challenge.

Except my weather did not cooperate. It's still not. In the past week it has been gray and cloudy 5/7 days. And the other two days well ... okay I dropped the ball. I could have and should have done a better job with that. But that still leaves me without a Theme Thursday picture, and I love Theme Thursday. If there ever was a T.T. groupie, I am she.

Not participating by week three is not an option.

So I buckled down and decided to make it happen. The lighting is not a beautiful sunset or sunrise. It's not even anything but cloudy. But that's the real life of this week.

So there you are. A silhouette of my two looking out the front door at the cars.

Link up with Micaela.  You know you want an excuse to use your good camera. (Or just take a picture, whatever.) See you back here next week for catchlights. I should probably start today to make sure I get a cooperative subject. :)

So Much Goodness

The past few days have held just so much goodness.

My family came into town on Friday afternoon and we had a pizza party. They played with the kids and then after bedtime, we played games and chatted.

Saturday included C going to the grocery store with my dad, C going swimming at the "show and tell,"(hotel) M's party with a taco bar and cake. So many moments of joy.

My parents got her a Minnie Mouse set, a blanket, stuffed animal and lovey. When we helped her open it she smiled and held on to the package. When we took the stuffed animal Minnie out and handed it to her, she picked it up, smiled HUGE and hugged it and rocked it. It was one of the best moments and of course no picture could ever capture the love and joy right then.

Sunday involved lots of playing, saying goodbye, playing outside and football.

Yesterday our friends threw a Halloween party and it was a hit. We had so much fun!

Today is kind of rainy and dreary, but we've played hard. Singing Halloween songs. I am in the process of making bread and chicken noodle soup for dinner. I also made Pumpkin Pretzels as a treat. Pro tip: just go buy the orange Wilton melting chocolates. My color doesn't look good at all plus then it's one less step!

Also I built a toy shopping cart today. Not that building toys is hard exactly, but usually Husband deals with that stuff. But I built it all by myself and even though pounding the wheel cap thing on took me probably double the time it would have taken Husband, it doesn't matter.

Life is good people.

Bittersweet

M's big girl car seat came on September 30. It is a convertible seat so we could have transitioned to it that exact day. But I wasn't ready yet. Because the big girl car seat means that my baby isn't a baby anymore and I just couldn't do it. 

So I made an excuse to wait until her birthday. 

Then on Thursday I determined since we weren't going anywhere I didn't really need to do it yet. 

Then on Friday I decided it was raining and I didn't want to carry the heavy car seat to the garage (we don't have an attached garage) and get it and me all wet. 

Then yesterday I figured we were busy with family and her party. There just wasn't any time. 

But today, my family left. 

And today it is sunny and bright. 

And today, the Vikings played early and won and we have no plans. 

And tomorrow we actually do have somewhere to go. 

I was out of excuses. So we went out an installed the new car seat. 

It is very likely that we won't have another baby ride in our baby car seat since it expires in the not too distant future. Far enough out someone could theoretically borrow it for a weekend but not for the entire first year of my non-existent third baby. 

This seat carried my babies home from the hospital safely and kept them both safe and secure for the first year of their lives. It seems silly to me to go all KonMari here but it also seems incredibly appropriate today. 

Thank you old friend. You have done a good job. 

7QT That Actually Are Quick

one. It's Friday!! My family is en route to spend the weekend with us and have M's party tomorrow. And it's Friday. That just bears repeating.

two. This girl loves her Little People Princess Castle. I am actually really surprised because C always takes a few days to adjust to new presents which gets me all anxious. Gift giving is my love language and so when people don't automatically love things I get for them it gets me all worked up. But this was not a problem yesterday at all. She jumped right in and hasn't stopped all day. #winning 

three. Animal crackers are having a moment in our lives right now. C loves that they're animals. Husband and M love that they're tasty. I love that they are small and I can hand one to each kid and that's like a treat. It stops the crying and keeps the grumpys at bay. 

four. I know it's early. But let's talk about the next President of the United States. I am really kind of nervous about how that mess is going to clean itself up. 

five. Who's been following this train wreck via headlines? Oh. My. Goodness. 

six. This week off of a school has proved to be a Godsend, we all needed this break. Next week looks to be just as good since we have a Halloween party on Monday and then Trick or Treat on Friday and Saturday. 

seven. Have a great weekend!! We're having Minnie Mouse cake so it's sure to be exciting over this way. 

Linking up with Kelly. Did you read her EO post? I die. It's so good. 

Different Angles: Theme Thursday

If you've been around the Theme Thursday block before, you may remember that I enjoy stretching the themes a little. I mean, there's no rules exactly, but I like to push the boundaries of the theme. It's just what I do.

So I was going to post something kind of like this:

10.22.14 Sometime in the wee early hours

10.22.15 2:12 am 

Same photo. Different angle. The angle of a year makes all the difference. It's M's birthday today and it is making me ache and consuming all my thoughts. Where did my year go?! How did she get from the little smush in a bucket crib to my big girl who is part mountain goat?

But that really is stretching the theme a little much for only the second week. I should probably follow along with the spirit of things until we all get our sea legs then I can start mixing it up a bit. I mean, there's plenty of time to go a little crazy. But this week got away from me so you are still getting birthday themed pictures. 

M got to open one of her presents this morning before her daddy went to work. It is the Fisher Price Little People Birthday Party. She loves it. She has been walking around with the little girl all day and she loves making the cake play the birthday song. The wrapping paper has been fun to play with too. 

Happy Thursday! Link up your different angles with Micaela! Because you should. 

Happy Birthday Baby!

Dearest Baby Girl,

Happy Birthday Honey!! I am so glad that you have been with us in the big world for a whole year, though I can scarcely believe it. It truly seems like just yesterday you finally decided it was your birthday and graciously opted to show up. But you did show up and we are so glad.

 Watching you grow into our family has been such a great pleasure. I love being your mommy. You make each of us a better person just by being in our family. Your brother has learned patience, sharing and kindness just from you being you. What a gift you are to us. Especially me. I loved being your favorite person for months, even though we are past that and you are all about your daddy.

I love your chubby cheeks and your bright blue eyes. I am just going to state right here and now that I am so thankful to God and genetics for those baby blues. I would have gotten over my distaste for the song "Brown Eyed Girl" had you, in fact, turned out to by my brown eyed girl. But I am SO glad you're not. From the day you were born and every day since, I have loved to stroke the bridge of your nose and nibble on your ears and I'm just going to keep on until you tell me I can't!

You have such a good sense of rhythm already, it's so crazy. You my girl, are the most observant baby. I have no doubt that you are taking it all in and you remember. You take things so seriously in public, I never know if you're having a good time or not, but you come along for the ride anyhow. Every once in a while, you reward us all with that giant baby smile but that does not mean you want to be held by them! 

It's true what they say that every baby is different, because you came with your own learning curve. Except for the gross motor skills thing, just like your brother you wanted to be on the move. Creeping, crawling and walking ahead of the group is just what you like. Watching you run around the house is my favorite. I am pretty sure I could record that 100 times and never get sick of it. It melts my heart that you've already figured out "Run run run run and hug your mother."

You, my little girl, make me so very happy. I love you so much!! Happy birthday little girl, I hope it's a great one. I will try my best to make it happen for you.

Love, Mama (you really could say that more often, I wouldn't mind.)

Sports!

I don't know much about baseball and post season and all that. But can't we just all agree to let the Cubs win this series with the Mets and then whoever they play next so they can win the world series? This would allow Back to the Future to be accurate and end their sad streak of not winning and tide them over for another 100 years. I just think idea has merit. So who do we need to talk to so we can make this happen?

In other sports news my fantasy football team could be considered the biggest yo-yos of my league. I win, I lose. It's not pretty. And when I come up short, my margins are not pretty. No they are not. We're talking beaten by 30 points kind of a thing. Yeah. I am learning a lot about football though I can say that. But I've got a long way to go before I get really good.

Coach Scott from England's car didn't work yesterday and so our final soccer class was pushed to today where we would blend with another class. As luck would have it, because we are on a school break it worked out! Most of our class had preschool today and so there were only 4 of us joining the other class. But it was good. C got to play his favorite games and Husband got to come see all the fun. C is legitimately not bad when he stays focused, but distractions run rampant so soccer has been hit or miss for sure. There's another camp in spring and we will see how he feels about signing up for it when it's time.

Yay sports!

So How Was Your Weekend?

We had a pretty good one thanks for asking. It all started Friday at noon when Husband left work but it didn't exactly go as planned. 

Husband works in Illinois, over the Mississippi River. There are 4 bridges to choose from. He went to Target for more formula (probably the one of the last ones ever, depending on how the transition to milk goes, maybe even the last!) because we were completely out after M's morning milk. On his way home there was an accident on the bridge he was closest to and traffic was at a standstill. Even with backtracking and going over a different bridge it took him a hour and fifteen minutes to get home. 

Then on our way to his cousin's wedding the highway had construction. We were warned of this by his uncle luckily so we had an alternate route, but lots of other people also knew the back roads so it was crazy busy. We made it to the arboretum by the skin of our teeth, we sat down just in time for the wedding to start. 

As anticipated, it was pretty cold. But they wedding party soldiered on with their little shawls and miraculously we made it through, not too cold and without disruption. Who is the patron saint of good church behavior? Probably St. Zellie Martin right? (Even though we weren't in a church a wedding totally counts as church behavior.) 

The reception went about as good as those go with small children. It was at a winery and there was a little room off to the side where our whole big extended family sat and the kids all colored, read books and goofed off together. There was an awful lot of downtime prior to dinner starting so we, along with a lot of the cousins pulled an eat and run, leaving around 8:00. 

Saturday and Sunday were super productive, we did yard work/played outside because our free yard waste pickups started today. 

We also processed a lot of our apples. 

All together we made 16 quarts of applesauce, in order there in the front, Regent sauce, Cortland sauce and chunky crockpot Cortland sauce. Next to the calendar you can see some of the 7 quarts of apple pie filling and 8 1/2 pints of apple butter. 

We still have a bushel and a peck (and a hug around the neck) of Regents left. They are among my favorites as an eating apple but also we are going to do some more pie filling and apple sauce. We typically go through a jar every 2 weeks give or take. The store bought jars are a little bigger too so 10 more jars would get us through the next year pretty well give or take. 

After we made the filling we had maybe 2 cups left so we made a mini-apple crisp with it. Husband wasn't really excited about it because he likes what he likes as far as apple crisp goes and pie filling to him isn't apple crisp, but he really enjoyed it. Which makes me hopeful that the filling is pretty good. 

Today was supposed to be our last day of soccer but it got rescheduled to tomorrow. Which works out since we are on a school break this week, otherwise we wouldn't be able to make it. 

Friday QT Party

one. We had book club last night and it was good. The book, Prayers for Sale was a solid "meh" but the discussions (both about the book and not) was great. In the book, Hennie, the main character, has a very giving heart and is always helping people in her town when possible.

two. At the same time I read an article about how food pantries have a serious need for feminine hygiene products. And I couldn't get that out of my head. I remember in junior high how mortified I was to have to go to the nurse's office once and ask for a pad. I can only imagine how it must be as an adult to go to a window and ask for some, and then after all that, hear that they don't even have any.

three. I couldn't just let that go. So I asked my book club if for our next meeting, which is the first week of December, we could also have a feminine hygiene product drive. It may be odd and I am sure it did seem weird, but this is one area of my life where I can absolutely afford to be more generous and as a group of women, to be able to help women directly means a lot to me. Perhaps you might consider donating a box or a pack to a place in need?

four. In other, non-book club or tampon related news, we have a wedding to go to today. Husband's cousin. (I threw her a shower at the end of August.) I would be excited as I usually love weddings but I am not feeling this one. It's outdoors. In the middle of October. And it's going to be cold. Also it is going to be a very low-key wedding, which is great in theory but what it actually resulted in is that the ceremony is at 4:30 and dinner doesn't start until 7:00. Luckily my kids are 2 of 26 great-grands who will be at this wedding and most are under age 10 so my kids won't be the only cold, tired and hangry ones.

five. My favorite girl is turning one on Thursday. I can't even.

six. We had a Halloween party yesterday for preschool while we learned about the letter H. It was fun and C did a pretty good job. Now, for weeks C has been telling me he was going to be a walrus and M a polar bear for Halloween. (Read: last year. And they don't sell the walrus costume in his current size.) So we have been playing up the dinosaurs like crazy and sure enough, he was very excited to "pretend to be a dinosaur" yesterday. 1/4 of the Halloween costume event done!

seven. We are supposed to answer the question of the favorite blogger we found through quick takes. And I've got nothing. I read so many blogs. And pop over to quick takes often... I'm just not sure? It's been a long time. But Colleen at Martin Family Moments and Beth at A Mom's Life are some of my favorite bloggers who also write 7QT and I've been reading them for a very long time. (5+ years!)

Linking up with Kelly because I hear that's what the cool kids are doing.

Theme Thursday is Back with (sun) Flare!

Today is Thursday. Many things are happening today. It's our preschool Halloween party. Breakfast for dinner night. I have book club. But... also it marks the return of Theme Thursday and I. am. excited.

Micaela is now hosting this very wonderful linkup that gives me stuff to blog about and practice my photography skills. I am not a great photographer but every once in a while, on Thursday, I manage to take an interesting one. 

This week we are doing a little throw back to the first Theme Thursday Theme of Sun Flare. Here was my original Theme Thursday picture... since we are throwing it back. 

My guy is so little here. It makes me cry. Want to know the slightly sad truth? This picture was taken with my cell phone that really cold morning. The same (now really old and still not that great) phone that I took this Theme Thursday's sun flare with:

The most perfect October day last Saturday and we played outside through the golden hour. It was perfect. It was amazing. The picture is just whatever. But it is a cool sun flare. 

I will get the good camera out going forward. (Let's be honest, sometimes the picture is still going to come from the cell phone.) 

Okay, happy Theme Thursday every body. Link it up! Do it! 

I Heart Food Show!

Yesterday was the worst kind of day. The no mail day that seems just like any other day. Sure, on Christmas it doesn't seem so weird for the mail not to come, but Federal Holidays that aren't observed by anyone other than Federal people leaves you wishing for the post man. Well, actually, we have a post lady but I digress.

Anyway, besides the no mail thing, the rest of the day was pretty good really. The weather has been wonderful. I know the Anne of Green Gables quote is everywhere right now, but seriously how glad are you that we live in a world with Octobers?! Because I am.

Today was kind of an exciting day, it was Husband's company's big food show. Their big event that they spend all year working toward. And I got to go! I had never been to one before. M and I dropped C off at school and headed out. The parking ramp was full. Like crazy crazy full. And the only spot I could find was between two really large trucks. That part was not fun. I should have tried to find another spot, but I didn't. I literally had to squeeze out of the car because I could barely open the door.

But we made it inside and it was a blast.

I had a pretty good idea what I was getting into but it was really a fun kind of trade show. I imagine many businesses have decent trade shows but the restaurant industry has to be a standout. A giant room with any food you can imagine. No seriously. Fruits, veggies, meat, sauces, nuts and every single person wants you to try some and to talk to you. (Because you'll probably buy something if you're not just there because of your husband.)

It was 80s theme which was fun and there was a photo booth which was also fun!

M was the belle of the ball, since we got there right at the beginning and things weren't super busy yet. We saw the President of the company, M's Godmother, (she works with Husband) Husband's boss and a boatload of other people. It was so great. 

I would love to go to another one without a kid and just blend in to watch. It was really very interesting. Everyone was in their element. Schmoozing and fooding and selling. I am so glad for this unique perspective on what Husband does. 

Definitely a good Tuesday!! Plus today's mail way made up for no mail yesterday. It's the little things you know!

My 53rd 7QT

one. Everything that is good about family time has happened this afternoon. My kids woke up from rest cheerful. Husband came home from the grocery store shortly after and everyone was very happy with this week's food selection. We played outside for 1.5 hours on a PERFECT October day. Had a pizza dinner with cake for dessert because my guy has been talking about cake for days. We are now snuggled into the living room for a family movie night, watching Curious George A Halloween Boofest and having apple slices with popcorn. (We like Curious George and do not agree with Kendra.)

This is perfection. I love my little family. 

two. I thought I had book club Thursday but it isn't until next week. I am not even going to lie to you right now. I didn't care one little tiny bit because I didn't care for the book at all (Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas) and I really needed to see what happened on Scandal after Olivia said "Yes."

That Shonda is so frustrating but I totally get why Olivia and Fitz can't really be together even though I am totally team Fitz! There were a few moments of total girly squees coming from my couch last night.

three. We gave up on Grey's Anatomy last season though I am SLOWLY watching on Netflix. It's just not the show I fell in love with. No Yang was bad. Killing Derek was just bad writing. And we did watch the first season of How To Get Away With Murder on Netflix, but it's just a little too intense to take week from week so we'll wait until we can see it in one fell swoop again. (Or really, in about a week's time.)

four. So we had a funeral this morning. There was a visitation yesterday and Husband attended on behalf of all of us. Which is good because while funerals aren't anyone's favorite activity, they can be beautiful in their own way. But visitations are a circle of Hell I am quite sure. The funeral was maybe one of the better ones I've been to, with the most real homily and eulogy, and one of our friends was the cantor and he has a beautiful voice.

It was my very first funeral procession and it was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. The people in my town clearly forgot the rules of funeral processions from drivers ed and someone almost t-bones the Cadillac directly in front of us. We just decided to NOT drive through the red light and caught up a few minutes later.

five. It's Husband's busiest work week of the year. His major event in on Tuesday and this is the first time I have ever been able to go! I am taking M while C is at school. It should be fun.

six. This is apparently my 53rd 7QT post. Well on this blog. On Snarky's Op-Ed which was my blog home from 2010-2012 I am sure there were many more but I didn't even converge the two blogs up and I don't want to go count. Okay fine, there were 26 over there. Amen.

Also related to link ups... THEME THURSDAY IS BACK. My favorite. I am excited. The end. Amen.

seven.  We had a play date yesterday and it was just the best. Sometimes a play date makes a week end on such a high note!! It was the first play date where M could play with her playmate. (Sort've. Brynn isn't very big yet.)

Okay, linking up with Kelly. To win all the prizes. Or try. 

Photo Dump!

You may have noticed that my last post about visiting the orchard didn't include any pictures. It wasn't because we didn't take any (though we truthfully didn't take many) but it is because they weren't with me. My mom took a few and I did with Husband's phone. 

Painting his pumpkin.

She was holding on to an apple and wouldn't let it go. So she propped her bottle up with it.

On the hayride.

Tuesday we went to the zoo for letter z week. We read a book about zebras at the zebra exhibit and showed the zebras our zebra stuffed animal. 

They had a great time on the trip! One of the Colobus monkeys had a baby on September 1 and that's the little white thing with an extra tail. Super cute little baby monkey. 

Today M and I were snuggling and she just looked up and smiled at me. So I smiled back. As it happens I was about to take a selfie so I got one like this. 

We've just been busy doing life. Reading stories and snuggling. It's been a good week!

Full Heart to Full Tummys.

Yesterday we woke up, packed up the car and headed out on an adventure. We took a trip to Husband's family orchard but it was a little different this year.

My parents met us in town and we had lunch. It's a little down home dive of a place but the food is good. As a bonus, they had updated the bathrooms since I was last there. It was so nice seeing my parents! We had a really nice lunch together and with full tummies we headed out to the farm.

This weekend was the orchard's festival weekend and as such it was pretty darn busy. And we didn't tell anyone we were coming. It was a hoot! I have never gotten so many actual double takes! My BIL was out driving the hayride when we got there so we had seen just about everyone else already but I went out and waved to him and his reaction of disbelief makes me smile for sure.

It was the perfect amount of crazy for my kids. Apples, picking pumpkins from the field, painting little pumpkins, playing in the corn bin, seeing the cows as it's a dairy farm as well. C was ALL about seeing the cows and his uncle did not disappoint him. My 10 year streak of not ever riding the hayride came to an end this year, because two kids and all that. It was fun. C loved it. He got to wave to his P-pa who was driving the tractor for most of the ride.

It was just an awesome day. We had a really nice time. Our car was loaded with things my dad brought back for us from France, an easel for C, pumpkins and a boatload of apples. So wonderful. My kids got cousin time, grandparent time, great-grandparent time, our little family time and a fun day spent outdoors. It was everything good and my heart is very full.

Now to make can applesauce and apple pie filling. And apple crisp. And just eating the apples. Life is going to be very tasty.

7QT: PSA and a lot of whatever.

one. A Little PSA Announcement.

I live on a fairly busy street. It's one of the major roads in town, 4 lanes with a speed that is generally 35 mph. (25 in the school zones, some of them 24/7 school zones.) There is a hospital 1.2 miles away and a fire station .6 miles from my house.Because of this, I see a lot of emergency vehicles in my day to day life. Going and coming. Sirens on and sirens off. But let's talk about when the sirens are on and you're also driving on the road.

You are supposed to pull over and stop.

So let's recap then. A fire truck has it's sirens on and is coming down the road towards you. You should:

A. Keep driving because they're on the other side of the yellow line.
B. Pull into the right lane ASAP and come to a complete stop.
C. Pull into the right lane and slow down so that you're rolling slowly.

The answer my friends is B. But you wouldn't believe how many people choose A or C. I'm serious, you wouldn't believe. Yesterday someone who chose option B was honked at for stopping. For a fire truck. Don't be that person.

two. We have a zoo field trip for school on Tuesday. My guy is pretty excited about it. He loves animals. Our zoo isn't cool like the zoos we vacation to, but it will be a good field trip.

three. We have a fun weekend planned. We haven't told the kids yet in case something falls through, but it involves some fall family fun. Not to be confused with Fall Family Fun Weekend which is schedule out for next weekend.

four. It's officially fall and it's October. I should probably take that trip to Old Navy to get a few more warm clothes season items for the kids who keep on growing.

five. This girl. 

She constantly surprises me by what she observes and then just does. Like when she was let out of the stroller and just started playing soccer. Or yesterday after watching some of school, she started flying the example kite craft right along with them. Also, she grabbed a crayon and started coloring with us this morning. And she holds a crayon better than C! She just amazes me. 

six. My guy and his "penguin zoo." He has taken to building zoo exhibits around the house. All the walrus in one spot. All the penguins in another. Etc. 

He asked me to take a picture of the penguin zoo. I did a fake picture with my hands and he said "No. On the phone please?" What could I say? I took the picture. 

seven. We are quickly approaching the "judge all the stores" for their holiday behavior. (Staying open on Thanksgiving, closing on Thanksgiving, Christmas stuff out too soon, Christmas stuff gone too soon *ahem Hobby Lobby* , etc.) Staples is already patting themselves on the back for closing on Thanksgiving.

I have an opinion on the matter and it's all right here.  I will add to this that, especially now, with Husband having to work on Friday that shopping Thanksgiving night makes the most sense should I shop. Someone is home with the kids, no one is missing work and I'm not a morning person. I still won't shop that day. But I am not against it. 

Okay. Happy Friday. Enjoy your weekend and link up with Kelly. Because apparently there's prizes. 

All The Things That Need Said

Howdy. So today was my second K teaching day.

We had a very good day. It all started with putting Fruit Loops on spaghetti noodles stuck in play-dough. We read Katy No Pockets. We made kites using construction paper/tissue paper on contact paper taped to the window. They turned out very cute. We flew our kites to the "Let's Go Fly A Kite" song from Mary Poppins as well as other music time favorites. We had Kix cereal and some cheese for snack. We put on aprons with pockets and began kangaroos. We hopped between two tables color sorting counting cubes. Then we did an I spy the letter K in a poem. Of course we ended with playtime.

In other news...

I know that some people are all aghast that Christmas decorations are already out, but I am a fan. I am trying so hard to have all of my Christmas prep done by November and I am right on track for that. I wanted to buy stockings this year. In 2010 for our first married Christmas we bought stockings. Then the next year when C was in utero we bought a not-really-matching-but-coordinates-okay stocking for C. And last year, Husband and I shared a stocking because we couldn't find anything quite right for M but we wanted her to have one.

So it was time for new stockings. And I spent a lot of time looking at a lot of different company's stockings. There were some that I liked, but the catch was the personalization was capped at 9 or 10 letters. I was so happy to pick a classic name, it never occurred to me that I couldn't put it on things. But sure enough, it's very hard to find places that let you personalize 11 letters.

But not at Merry Stockings! (Not a sponsored post, just a big fan now!) They have many many different stockings to choose from but they are all very cute. And while some styles do have a 10 character cap, other styles don't!! We got the Cable Knit Stockings, the girls have white stockings with red names and the boys have red stockings with white names. Another major plus, is the cost of the embroidery is included in the price of the stocking. NOT the case at most other stockings I saw. Some wanted $8 extra per stocking for the names to be embroidered! Not charging extra makes the stockings at Merry Stockings even more reasonable.

This is the image of what we got from their site. 

Our stockings came today and I just love them. They are very generously sized and a great thick material so they'll stay nice for a long time. I am so happy to have found them and I just thought I'd let you all know in case you yourself are in need of new Christmas stockings this year. 

Have a wonderful Thursday!