The Traditions We Didn’t Mean To Make

This post is sponsored by Carter’s; however all thoughts & opinions expressed are my own

When you were younger, and thought about life with kids – what did you picture? Did you picture recreating your childhood memories & traditions?  Did you want to create the exact opposite experience you had growing up? Did you plan to dress your kids matchy matchy?  How did you envision life with kids?  Our family had a lot of traditions growing up and I didn’t really plan anything one way or another.  But, as time passed, Jon and I just found ourselves doing something one year, and then the next, and the next. Before we knew it, we had traditions.

(photo credit & permission: Becca Rillo Photography)

Annual Family Photos

Our family never did this growing up.  Every once in awhile we did take photos, but they were in studios and just of my sister and I.  Before Aubrey was born, I knew I wanted to have some photos of her after she was born.  We loved capturing those moments and the next year we took some photos at her first birthday, and the next year we had little Luke and started booking family sessions with our favorite photographer Becca. Each year, I love shopping for all of our clothes and I love the options from Carter’s because I do not like doing matchy matchy for the kids. Usually the clothing options for boys and girls coordinate on some color level. Luke’s plaid button down has pink stripes! And let’s not forget how dapper Ryan looks in his big boy jeans!

(photo credit & permission: Becca Rillo Photography)

Whatever I buy for our photos carry in to the holiday outfits (and photos with Santa!) so we get lots of use out of them.  Thank goodness SoCal has such warm temps that it’s completely acceptable for Aubrey to wear a pink dress such as this for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Matching Pajamas

This was one I never knew I wanted!  My mom matched my sister and I all the time and I vowed to not do that with my kids.  Last year was the first year I dressed all the kids in the same soft Carter’s pajamas and my heart melted a bit.

So after seeing how absolutely adorable the kids all were matching, and seeing how excited Luke was to match his baby brother, I started buying matching pajamas for them when I could.  The zip up fleece options at Carter’s have always worked out great.  Last year they had matching rescue vehicles and this year it’s matching firetrucks!  I scored these boy pajamas (and some for Aubrey!) on a Doorbuster deal for $8 each! Talk about affordable!

These will be in constant rotation as firetrucks are Luke’s favorite.  Ryan lives in fleece in winter as his room is the coldest bedroom in the house.  Nothing is better than snuggling a sweet baby in the soft footie pajamas!

Holiday Pajamas

The fascination for cars starts very young in this house!

Every holiday, I could never resist the adorable holiday themed pajamas that came out.  I started a tradition for the kids to open one gift on Christmas Eve and it is always holiday pajamas.I guess that does sound kind of mean – Here’s a gift! Oh wait! It’s pajamas!  But last year Aubrey was actually super excited to put hers on since she was going to match her brothers.  They go to bed in them, and wake up Christmas morning to open presents in them.  Aubrey had the traditional My First Christmas set years ago, and each year it’s something I look forward to. This year, with the newest addition of my niece, we will have all 4 kids wearing matching pajamas!  I love that this year, Carter’s created the same pattern for boy pajamas and girl pajamas to help us out!

(My niece on the left, Ryan on the right)

I can’t wait to capture all 4 of the little ones dressed up on Christmas morning! You know I’ll be sharing on Instagram!

To help stock up on affordable pajamas and holiday outfits, Carter’s has this 20% off coupon for you to use online or in store until December 31st!

If you venture out for Black Friday, be sure to check out Carter’s website to see if the store near you will be participating in a “Dash To Win” sweepstakes.  The participating stores will be handing out promo cards to the first 100 people.