Happy Thanksgiving...

Spreading the Merry with CLOTHES!

Hi!  Merry Momma Cindy, here.  Like Merry Momma Katy, Valentine's Day is a little "eh" for me, too.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE.  And I love all the darling cards that are exchanged in schools across America (and maybe other countries? {do some research on that , Cindy})  I don't really love the crowded restaurants and the overpriced flowers.  Now, I love eating out and getting flowers.  I just don't love paying for them. Ha!

Anyway…back to what the post is really about…you know what I do love about Valentine's Day - the CLOTHES!  What?  You don't buy Valentine's clothes for your kiddos?  Well, this post is for you!  I've got options, lots of options!  And if you have a Valentine wardrobe, share your secrets in the comments - we LOVE comments!

First, we're going to take a quick trip down memory lane and look at the Merry Little Munsons in their Valentine wardrobe.

This picture is from February of 2010 and was taken during Annaliese's 9 month photo shoot with B4 Photography. The fun hair flair is the photographer's and the shirts are from some really fun place that I can't remember. (Sorry!) I printed this picture out and sent it with a traditional Valentine's Day card to our family.  

(I didn't know about Pic Monkey back then!)

In February 2011 we sent these fun cards thanks to the talents photographer and designer Sarah Burns of Butterfly Chaser Photography.  The LOVE and XOXO shirts were made by my mom, who the girls affectionately call Bebe!  Aren't they awesome!  Don't worry if you don't have a seamstress in the family, I have some ETSY links for you below.

And now onto the nonprofessional pics! Caroline's heart shirt is from a local store - And Sew On. You may remember them from our 12 Days of Merry.  The girls have on cute knit dresses from Old Navy in the top right pic.  Old Navy is always a WINNER for holiday themed clothing!  In fact, in the middle picture the big girls' shirts are from there.  Millicent has on embroidered onesie with Baby Legs.  Check them out, there are so fun!  The matching outfits are from Mis-Tee-V-Us.

Now, that's fun and helpful Cindy…but what can I buy today?!?

Well, you're in luck…I did some research and put together outfits for babies, toddlers and kids!

Baby clothing from Old Navy

Toddler Girl clothing from Gap

Toddler Boy from Next Direct

Girl from Crazy 8

Boy clothes from Gymboree

And because there's lot of different fashion taste out there, I found smocked clothing, tutus and personalized and handmade clothing for you to buy too! (You're welcome!) 

Smocked clothes from Vive la Fete

Pettiskirts from Oopsy Daisy Baby

Red & White Outfit            Truck of Love

Boy/Girl Tee                  Cool Ladies Man

Kid Scarf                                     Baby Hat

Happy Valentine's Day Wardrobe SHOPPING!

We can't wait to see your pics - post them to our Facebook page on February 14th!

We'll share the MERRY LOVE all day long!

No monkey about it...

We're friends, right?

Good.

And since we are friends, we can tell each other the truth, right?

Good.

Well... Valentine's Day isn't really a favorite of Merry Momma K. (Kind of like Halloween). I think the idea behind it has potential, but we don't really buy into it that much.

However, that doesn't mean that we can't spread the love to those near and dear. Valentine's Day is 25 days away so we wanted to give you some ideas on simple ways to share the merry.

The last time we mailed cards to friends was in 2011...

Sarah took this picture as part of Emmy's 6 month photoshoot which was in December. Emmy's shirt had a christmas tree applique that Sarah removed and she turned the photo to black and white and made two different versions of the card (blue/green and pink/orange). 

Simple and sweet. 

You don't have to go crazy or break your bank to make the mailboxes of those you know burst with happiness!

We found this awesome blog that has adorable card designs for only $20.

Or if you don't want to spend money on a design, then check out or design go-to: PicMonkey. Think you can't create something... think again. It is so simple and they have tons of FREE options that you can use. We have the "royal" membership which is about $20/year. 

Step one:

Select a picture - this is one from my phone:

Step 2:

Upload to picmonkey using the "edit a photo" option.

Step 3:

Crop picture according to your preference - I selected 5x7

Step 4:

Select the "themes" option and then select "sweethearts"

Step 5:

You can pick from lots of options - silly faces, photo effects, flowers, etc... I chose "heart overlay" to frame just the faces of the kids...

Step 6: 

Add the finishing touches. I just added a banner and used a cute font and it's ready to send! 

No go spread the LOVE and the merry!

Christmas STATE of Mind!

Who: The Hot Mess Munsons and the Texas 3A State Champion College Station HS Cross Country Team

Location: CSHS Track & Old Settlers Park, Round Rock

Props: Hurdles, gold medals ;)

Clothes: Josh's shirt and sweater are from Gap and his pants are from Banana Republic.  All four of the Munson ladies are in Boden.  (I love their stuff!)

Comments: Oh, friends...this card...let's talk!  :)  Way back in June or July the greatest idea EVER popped in my head for our Christmas card.  I was ecstatic.  I texted Katy and Sarah and we all started brainstorming.  We had a plan, we just needed to find the prop (it's essential to the picture) and some cute clothes.  Easy-peasy. Then Cross Country practice started and Josh continued to get more excited and he really did believe that this group of talented ladies had the potential to win State.  Winning a State Championship is kind of a big deal, you know...so I just couldn't let the opportunity pass by.  Now mind you, this added just a TAD bit of pressure to Josh.  Our photo shoot was just a few days before the district meet.  And after district, they still had to run at Regionals and State.  How corny would this card look if we they didn't win!  Ha! But they did win (and by a lot!)  We are so proud of this group of young ladies and we are blessed to have them in our lives.  It was only fitting that we add a few candid shots from the meet to the final design.  And speaking of design, Nichole's design is just awesome.  I think it is very hard to have lots of different images on a card without looking like a mess, but her design is perfect!

Designer: Nichole Quick of Quick Design Company

Photographer: Sarah Burns of Butterfly Chaser Photography

Favorite Thing: Goodness!  I love the picture with the girls and Josh looking at the trophy - they were so proud of Daddy and his other girls.  I love the contrast between the track and our dressy clothes.  I love the different color scheme - purple and black for Christmas, why not!?!  I love the GOLD, the gold medals, the gold text, the gold(en) locks on the girls.

Extra: In addition to Josh being a wonderful coach, he is also a talented writer.  Enjoy our year-in-review poem.  (Sometimes I think that people are more excited about the letter/poem than the card! {GASP!} ;) )

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Katy's Thoughts: I love it. I love that this celebrates the season of merry. And I really love that this celebrates the hard work that the entire family contributed to such a wonderful accomplishment for Josh and his team. The early mornings, long weekends, and endless practices paid off and they all got to celebrate. You can sense the pride and love in everyone! Work is personal and they incorporated that in a beautiful way! (And, let's be honest... those GOLDEN locks on all those GOLDEN merry littles are the most precious thing you see!)

Cindy's Thoughts: I'm married to the hot coach at school! :)  Who also happens to be really good at his job!

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How can you recreate this card? Embrace your job, your hobby, something that your family is passionate about it and have fun with it!

Get PINspired:

1. I think this family hit a home run!
2. I know I have already mentioned it, but I am going to do it again...Nichole of Quick Design Company does great work!  Check it out here, here and here!
3. And remember our board about hobbies!
4. Winning makes everyone happy! They look happy, so do these kids and these!

May your holidays be GOLDEN and bright!

Home for the Holidays

Who: We 5 Kings

Location: Field by our home (top) and the treehouse in our backyard (bottom)

Props: Blanket, s'mores goodies, hot chocolate, treehouse 

Clothes: Ryan's sweater - Next Direct, Emmy's dress - Next Direct, Landry's dress - Next Direct, Girls' tights - Next Direct, Radley - shopped his closet, Katy - Head to toe Target

Comments: I wanted our color pallet to blend, so I intentionally ordered everything from Next waayyyyyy back in August. (You say crazy, I say prepared). ;) This was the original layout:

Which is a little "blah" and the sweater I ordered for me fit horribly. Radley's shirt was adorable, but the blues were off. SO, then I ordered a dress from ModCloth for me (that I LOVE) but Cindy was a great bestie and told me the hard truth that it just didn't work for this set up. (See... everyone needs THAT person) So I went shopping for me and ended up with an unexpected pop of yellow {again} so I switched Rad to make our picture more warm and flow better. But we also made sure that he and I weren't "stacked" at any point. 

Designer: Me with my bestie PicMonkey! This is seriously a great tool for when you need to make cards, picture collages, or even tiny edits of your own!

As an aside - it was not the original plan for me to design this card. The Mommas may look like we have it all together, but y'all... I was a ginormous mess this year. Long story short - last minute, down to the wire, ball of not-so-merry Momma was me. :)

Photographer: The one and only Mrs. Sarah Burns of Butterfly Chaser Photography

Favorite Thing: The shoot turned out exactly how we wanted it - a reflection of us in our home. I had been planning to use the treehouse as our backdrop for this year's card since the boys (Ryan, Pete, and Pops) starting building it in September 2012(!) and I am thrilled with how it turned out. We actually sent two versions in the mail bc we couldn't pick a favorite family picture. The day of this shoot as we were putting the kids to bed Radley said, "that's the most fun I've had taking pictures, Momma" and it was true! (Although Emmy said, "but they weren't just of me" #diva)

Extra: We always send a letter to accompany our card, and highlight our year according to scripture. However, this year I was PINspired by our "mini newsletter" post and decided to give it a go myself and I LOVED how it turned out. I was able to add a few more pics in that didn't make the card and do something unexpected, too. We still included scripture and chose two verses that reflected our theme and the season!

Blog: The Queen of the Kings (click that link for a view of the entire photo shoot!!)

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Katy's Thoughts: That's a pretty adorable looking family :). 

Cindy's Thoughts: Well, it is safe to assume that you all know Merry Momma Katy is my bestie and so I love everything about this card. And of course I love the color pallet (I may have seen these clothes a couple of times before I got the actual card in the mail as we discussed lots of options). And of course I love the tree house, s'mores and warm fire. But what I love most about the card is how much it reflects the Kings. Their HOME is just what this card reflects. It is warm and cozy and welcoming. The door is always open, there is always something yummy to eat and a kind a sweet face to greet you. And that's what this blog is about. Yes, we love a good prop and some fancy clothes, but what we love most about it is how each card reflects its sender and spreads the MERRY!

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How can you recreate this card? We love the idea of family photos that are in your element. Bundle up everyone in your favorite spot on the couch. Do you host game nights - then do a life style shoot with everyone going head to head. Props and set ups and themed shoots are great - but NEVER be afraid to just be you!

Get PINspired:

1. Thinking about getting cozy by the campfire? We LOVE it - this family set up a tent. Love the added fun this bunting adds to the scene. This family is also good with sharing the s'mores!
2. There are TONS of mini-newsletter templates... check out our entire board!
3. Two words: Messy pigtails. 
4. I am slightly obsessed with Radley's hair these days. Boys can also rock long locks!
5. And let's discuss his puffy vest. Yep. OB-SESSED! We pinned a few more on our Getting Merry - Toddler Boys Clothes board, but this one is our favorite!
6. And - if you are inspired to build a treehouse - check this out. (!) We LOVE this one!

So... now it's time to start planning for 2014! The first thing to do is pick a fabulous photographer and ONE lucky reader already has that taken care of!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS JAMIE B!!! 

Thanks to everyone that entered! We (including Sarah) are so overwhelmed with your response!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Halloween Merry!

Hi friends!  The Merry Mommas were up late last night spreading the Halloween Merry with our littles and tending to a sick little, so no regular card post today.  We'll be back inspiring you with fabulous cards and ideas on Monday.  For now, enjoy our Halloween Merry!

Hoot, Hoot!

Y'all...you know what is great about having a baby in October...

You get to use the newborn photo session for Halloween PICTURES!

Winning!

Who: Caroline (3), Annaliese (2), Millicent (new!)

Location: These pictures were taken in our front yard in Bryan, Texas.

Props: I guess you could consider the fallen tree a prop. :)  (Please know that I am less than 5 inches away from precious Millicent.)

Clothes: The adorable hats are from Annabelle Knits.   Caroline and Annaliese's shirts and leggings are from Wal-Mart.  Millicent's sleeper is from a company called Cotton Seed, however I think they are out of business.

Comments: I love having the girls dress up as animals (I don't know why, I just think it is cute!) and my high school mascot was an owl, so I thought - why not!  I looked all over Pinterest (don't forget to follow us!) and found this, this, this, this and this.  I headed to our local fabric store and bought lots of different types of fabric and some fabric glue and got busy cutting and pasting. 

Designer: Katy designed this card, isn't it adorable!  Thanks, friend!

Photographer: Sarah Burns of Butterfly Chaser Photography

Favorite Thing: Everything! :) I love that we used purple, pink and aqua and not the traditional owl colors.  I love the hats - and they had dual purpose, the girls wore them all winter.  I love that I made the shirts (I am typically not a crafty mom). And I love these three hoots!

I absolutely adore Halloween and I think one of the reasons is the costumes!  What's more fun than dressing your babies (or yourself) up?!

And dressing up isn't just for Halloween...it totally can be a Christmas thing too!

Does anyone host Christmas Costume Parties?  If so - invite us - and here are a few ideas for you - Mrs. Clause, a snowman, a reindeer or even an elf!  Or bet yet, a leg??  And don't forget the Christmas tree!

Cute kiddos in costumes are darling no matter the season - these girls rock the Christmas tree look!  And a kid as an ornament - LOVE IT!  These tikes look awesome in their Christmas costumes.

And don't forget that a Nativity play has lots and lots of fun costume options!  We think you could even use a Nativity picture as a card, check this out.

Remember this darling card! Here's another card we found that we think you will love!  And this picture on a card would bring big MERRY via laughter!  And if you want to WIN funniest card...try this!

If you have a Christmas card that features a costume, please send it in!  We'd love to feature it!

What can brown do for you?

What?! You were expecting more merry goodness? 

Well, we promise to get back on that next week, but for now we are sharing the merry of Halloween!!!

(Besides, you should be brushing up on choosing a photographer, picking a wardrobe, gathering props, and designing your cards... just go here!)

For now - we have a special delivery!

Who: Radley (3), Emersyn (4 months)

Location: Navasota, TX (on a friend's front porch)

Props: UPS "riding toy", mailing label

Clothes: UPS Man Halloween Costume, brown onesie (from HobLob), headband from an Etsy vendor that's no longer open :(

Comments: My crazy friend, Cindy (you've met), convinced me that we NEEDED Halloween photos. (Because at this point, what's one more, right?) And I'm really glad that she did because this costume pairing has been one of my favorites! 

Designer: Sarah Burns of Butterfly Chaser Photography

Photographer: Sarah Burns of Butterfly Chaser Photography

Favorite Thing: We {the Kings} clearly like a UPS theme. Radley wanted to be a UPS man so bad for Halloween because he loves his Daddy so much (which I love) and Emmy as the "special package" was perfect! 

Blog: Queen of the Kings

Clearly, one of our favorite parts of the holiday is checking the mail. It really is a wonderful time of year to catch up on family and friends; it's also a great time to fill others' mailboxes with MERRIMENT! So, let's look at some fun ways you can share the merry in mail this season...

1. We came across this pinterest board and Oh.MY.Word. 13 oz of greatness! You have to check it out...filled with lots of fun ideas that you can ship to friends and family that are all 13 oz or less. 
2. Washi tape is pretty darn fun. But you know what's really fun - wrapping your packages and adding some washi tape flair. 
3. I am a sucker for "brown paper packages tied up with strings" - I use brown paper every year under my tree. Check out our "wrapping merry" board for some great ideas for packages to mail or keep!

And because we love you so much, and the shopping season has begun, we have some "shipping tips" to share, straight from the UPS man himself, Merry Husband Ryan: 

1. It is always best to let the UPS store or the UPS customer center do the packing.  The parcel will be packaged correctly and be covered under the shipping guidelines of UPS. 
2. If you order online and pay for next day air or second day air service; that does not always mean that you will receive the package in that timeframe. Delivery is dependent on the policy of the company that you order from.  Sometimes the shipper does not process the order until a day later and it will not ship under the expectation that was perceived. Amazon is probably the most reliable for online processing time and Big Brown will take care of the rest ;)
3. UPS offers MyChoice which is a personalized profile that you can utilize to track, indirect or hold your shipments.  You can even schedule a timeframe for when you want your package to be delivered and where to leave it (porch, garage, etc) if you are not home.  

** And just one more tip from this Merry Momma - be extra nice to your delivery men and women this season. They give up lots of family time to spread the merry straight to you! ** 

What's your favorite thing to receive in the mail?? Seriously, we want to know!

TBT: Not that long ago...

*Merry Momma Cindy is taking "blogger's privilege" today!

Y'all...not that long ago (well, two years to be exact) Millicent Claire entered our world. Josh and I left our house around 5:30 am and less than three hours later we were holding our Millie. It was an exciting day; we did not find out Millicent's gender before hand so the anticipation levels were high. When our doctor said, "It's a girl!" Josh and I looked into each others' eyes and teared up, big puppy dog tears. And while I am absolutely certain we would have done the exact same thing if the doctor has said "It's a boy!", it was a {MAGICAL MOMENT}.  Josh then had the awesome opportunity to take Millicent out of the delivery room and introduce her to our family.  {MAGICAL MOMENT} The next few days were blissful.  We lovingly held Millicent for hours and the big girls came in and out of the hospital room so excited about their new baby. {MAGICAL MOMENTS} Over the next two years we celebrated birthdays, holidays, births and even deaths and they were all {MAGICAL MOMENTS}.  

These {MAGICAL MOMENTS} are etched into our brains.  They help us remember the fun and the joy this wonderful thing called LIFE brings to us.

And during this time, we had lots of pictures take - both professionally and by us.  And while we never want to be the parents that stop during a magical moment to get the pic, we do want to be the parents that have photo albums for our kids to look through when they come home from college and say things like, "Mom, why did you make me wear that HUGE bow?"

And really, that's a huge part of why we started this blog.  We want to help people capture those {MAGICAL MOMENTS}.  To have something tangible for the kids and grandkids to look at and smile, laugh and remember.  To take pause in this busy world and reflect on the things that matter - your family and friends and pets!

When you receive a Christmas card you do look at the design and the picture of the sender and, of course, you LOVE that part, but where does your heart go...it goes to the {MAGICAL MOMENT} you had with the person/people in the picture.

Don't forget to enjoy the {MAGICAL MOMENTS} in your life today!

We'll see y'all tomorrow,

we're off to have our {MAGICAL MOMENT}

with our precious Mills! 

Photo Credit - Sarah Burns of Butterfly Chaser Photography  

Don't forget to enter to win a {MAGICAL MOMENT}

from Whimsy & Style and Your Merry Mailbox!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Being golden....

As much as we like to bring you merry with fabulous Christmas cards... we also promised to give you a glimpse into our lives.Today is pretty special day for Merry Little R...it's his birthday. And not just any birthday... it's his GOLDEN birthday! It's really a day for all of us to celebrate since he is the first Merry Little and all.

Can you believe Cindy didn't know what a golden birthday was until she met me? It's when you turn the same age as the day you were born - so Radley is turning 6 on the 6th. And just in case you didn't know either, we are going to show you how to celebrate a golden birthday (because you only get ONE of those!) All of these pictures come from pins on our Golden Birthday board.

1. Decorations - We went with your typical tacky gold. Gold balloons on his floor, gold streamers, gold stars hanging from the ceiling, and we even wrapped all of his presents in gold paper. Basically this:

Photo Credit: Pinterest

If you're going all out, try something like this:

Photo Credit: Pinterest

2. Food - Tons of candy options come wrapped in gold (Rolos, Snickers, Reese's PB cups), we are doing cupcakes and sugar cookies with gold icing. We love this set up

Photo Credit: Pinterest

3. Clothes - Because you can't show up to your golden birthday party and not make a statement!

 Photo Credit: Pinterest

Photo Credit: Pinterest

Rad requested a bowling party, so again, we are going a bit less formal with a custom tshirt I ordered from an Etsy vendor...

4. Favors - This can be anything and you could easily just put the favors in gold gift bag to keep with the theme but we really adore this:

Photo Credit: Pinterest

5. Presents - We would just like you to picture this:

Photo Credit: Pinterest

You also have to think about what's on the inside of that package, because a golden birthday only happens ONCE. So, go big or go home, right? Well, we are going big... 

And can't WAIT to see his reaction! Seriously, I may pass out from excitement.

6. The GOLDEN boy or girl. 

Because without them, there is no celebration to begin with, right? We are so happy to be celebrating our golden boy tomorrow. He is smart and kind and loving. He is brave and strong and more competitive than a 6 year old needs to be. He loves his family. He loves his friends. He is pretty much the "radest" little man that we know. And if you are in the mood for some sappy mommy blogin' then just head on over to my personal blog. 

Happy Golden Birthday, Merry R!