Little Sous Chef

With December comes holiday baking so Mase & I decided to whip up a batch of sugar cookies this afternoon. He loves to cook & bake with me & gets such a kick out of scooping, dumping & stirring the ingredients. It definitely tests my patience at times but it is all worth it & love making these kind of memories with him.

He helped mix & roll the dough & had a blast using the cookie cutters & picking out which shape we were going to use next.

After the cookies were done baking & cooling it was time to mix up the icing & start the decorating.

We made quite the duo - I would ice the cookies & he would use the sprinkles.

And of course every good baker test-tastes the product to make sure it is edible for others :)

Our cooking baking adventure was a success! Here are all the cookies after we iced & decorated them! So much fun with my little sous chef!

Mall Play-date

Today my Mama Bestie Jen & her little girl Ava Jean met us at the mall for an afternoon play-date. We first had lunch & then made our way to the other end of the mall to meet a special visitor. Little did the kiddos know but Shrek was making an appearance & we were headed over to his village to meet him.

The kiddos loved looking at Shrek's house & when he walked out to meet the crowd Mason said "Whoa Mama, Shrek is BIG"! So stinkin' cute.

We waited anxiously for our turn to meet & get our picture taken with Shrek. Little Miss Ava Jean wasn't too sure about standing next to Shrek but managed to get a quick pic with her Mama.

Then it was our turn. Mason kept saying " I'm not scared Mama" & he definitely wasn't. He high-fived Shrek & stood next to the big ogre smiling from ear to ear.

After meeting Shrek we all stopped into the Disney store & had a ball trying on masks, costumes, & checking out all the Disney toys!

Next up was the carousel. Mason LOVES riding the carousel & everytime we go to the mall we have to ride it. 

After the carousel ride we decided it was time to go. The kiddos had asked for a snack before we left so we ended up getting a little dish of ice cream. These two are so stinkin' cute together:

I just love watching them grow up together & love having this little cuties Mama in my life to share this journey with! 

Luminary Walk

Tonight we all headed to the Arboretum for the annual Holiday Luminary Walk. It is fundraiser that the Arboretum puts on 2 weekends at the beginning of Dec that features a mile of candles, holiday lights, live entertainment, Santa Claus, horse-drawn wagon rides, hot cider around a campfire & mystical Gnome & Fairy Villages along the walk.

Last weekend they had to cancel the festivities as it was pouring down rain all weekend so we knew this weekend would be busy. We got there 30 minutes after it opened & already the place was packed with people.

Not only was it freezing out, but the lines on the walk were moving at a snails pace, Shane was sick with a bad cold & Mase kept saying he wanted to go home. So much for a fun family event :(



We managed to get a few pics despite the bad moods from my boys & we were all secretly happy to finally reach the end of the walk, get to our car & warm up!

Cell Phone Dump

November cell phone pics:

Birthday Boy

 Millie LOVES hanging out with Mase watching him

Who is that cutie in the window?
What I see as I drive away from daycare every morning :(

 Millie Milz sitting on her bum :)

 Bath-time bubble beard

 Who loves Chinese food & ice cream? THIS boy!

 This kids' facial expressions crack me up!

Our snowman door

 When Mase takes his shoes off he always lays them right next to Daddy's :)

Our new Christmas tree in our new house



Elf on the Shelf

Look who flew in & landed in the Christmas tree last night:

Most of you know who this little doll is & what he does. For those who don't, let me enlighten you.

That is an “Elf on the Shelf”. He is one of Santa's scout elves & is a magical tool for parents & a fun tradition for kids when the holidays come around. He is a creepy, little 12" doll (yes I said creepy) who watches over children during the day & at night flies back to the North Pole to report back to Santa who’s been naughty & who’s been nice. He comes with a storybook that explains who he is, where he comes from & what he does. As soon as he makes an appearance at your house the family has to give him a name. You also aren't supposed to touch the Elf because then he will lose his magic & not be able to fly back to the North Pole.

As soon as Mason saw him he was SO excited. We had watched the movie & read the story book the night before so he knew the Elf would be making an appearance soon. Mase ended up naming our Elf - Jingle Bell which he came up with all on his own. So cute!

Now according to the story the elf is supposed to fly back to the North Pole every night & return to your home sitting in a different spot each & every morning. You can also have a mischievous Elf & the little stinker can get into whatever, whenever &  be a bit naughty or he can be nice.

Now it shouldn't come as a surprise to any of you who know me that I am one of "those" Mama's - by "those" I mean the overachieving Elf on the Shelf Mama. We couldn't just have a boring Elf - we had to have one that was a little bit naughty at times :)

Mase got such a kick out of finding the Elf every morning. He would wake up & the first thing out of his mouth was "where is Jingle Mama?" & he would go searching all through the house looking for him. Even Shane got into trying to find the Elf every morning. The magic of Christmas truly is "believing" :)

For the most part Jingle would show up in random locations around the house just hanging out where he could watch over Mase throughout the day/evening.

Hanging out in the dining room lights

 

Perched up on the banister



See - I told you he was a bit creepy :) Other times Jingle would be a bit ornery or even naughty.

Watching TV while eating some popcorn

 Jingle colored a page in Mason's coloring book

 

One night Jingle got stuck in the M&M's bag while leaving Mase a message. Mase found him like that & freaked out. He got SO upset that Jingle couldn't breathe with the bag over his head (at least the kid has some common sense). So we had to get a pair of tongs & pull Jingle out of the bag so he could breathe.

 

He was busted roasting marshmallows over the candle one morning which Mase informed us that it was dangerous for Jingle to play with matches & he could get burnt. (The kid actually is listening to us :)

Jingle was also known to bring Mason "treats" with little notes if he was a good boy for the week which Mason loved.

Throughout the month Jingle also got into the sugar cookies, drew Minions on the bananas & went "joy-riding" on Mason's remote control car. See I told you he was a little stinker at times!

Ugh - remembering to move this Elf & thinking up things fun for him to do was hard work! Thank goodness for Pinterest which provided many awesome ideas! Amazingly enough there was only one night that I totally forgot to move Jingle & Mason definitely noticed. I told him Jingle probably didn't feel good & just wanted to hang out at our house instead. Thank goodness toddlers are so gullible.

Now I'm not gonna lie - there were countless nights I was laying in bed & realized I forgot to move that damn Elf so I got up & made sure to change his location & honestly by week four I was pretty much over that creepy Elf. But Mason's excitement every morning was definitely worth all the hassle.

Sadly, Jingle left us on Christmas morning & Mason was really sad about it...until he started opening all his presents & then he was like "what Elf"?

Goodbye Jingle Bell - until next year!

Thanksgiving Weekend

For Thanksgiving we had all of Shane's family over for the big feast. Shane's sister Colleen was in town visiting from London & ended up staying with us for a few days. It was SO nice to get to see her & catch up. I could sit & listen to her accent all day - love the British accent :) She hasn't been in the states or visited since Shane & I were dating so it has been about 14 years since we last saw her - wow that seems so long ago?!

We had Shane's mom, brother, nephew, his wife & their 6 month old baby over for a late afternoon meal. I spent all morning preparing, cutting & cooking the Thanksgiving meal & we all ended up eating around 1pm. It was SO nice to have everyone over to the new house & spend time with family.

After everyone ate, we spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around watching football. Mason had so much fun with his baby cousin Boston & loved showing him all his toys. When it was time for them to leave Mason was SO sad. He kept saying "I miss baby Boston" :( So sweet.

 

Once everyone left Shane, Colleen & I started round #2 of the Thanksgiving meal, opened up a bottle of wine & curled up on the couch to watch the movie Elf on the Shelf & Polar Express. After Mase went to bed we watched a couple of grown up movies. Perfect ending to a perfect day.

I had Friday off so we spent the day getting out, having lunch & doing a little shopping. When we got home we got the Christmas decorations out & started decorating. First thing to go up was Mason's own Christmas tree. I had taken him to Hobby Lobby earlier in the week & we got him a little 3 foot tree. I also let him pick out 10 ornaments. He was SO excited to pick his own ornaments & get to hang them on the tree. I plan on giving him a special ornament each year to put on his tree & then when he is old enough to have his own place I will give him all his ornaments. I hope he grows up loving the Christmas holiday just as much as I do!





Saturday we met Shane's family over at his cousin Kelly's house for a post Thanksgiving meal & get-together. They had grilled burgers, chicken breasts & had all kinds of yummy sides & dessert. We hadn't seen his cousin in quite some time (even though they live 15 from us) so it was nice to get to catch up with them. Before we all left we made sure to get some family pictures. Shane's family hasn't been all together like this in years so it was so nice to capture a picture of them! The only one missing was Shane's dad :(

 

Colleen ended up leaving for London the following Wednesday & Shane was able to spend a bit more time with her before she left which was nice for the both of them. It had been way too long since they had spent time together. She says she is coming back this spring for a few weeks so we are looking very forward to her visit!
 
We had an amazing Thanksgiving weekend spent with family & am ready to put it behind us & move on to the next holiday - Christmas :)

Happy Birthday Daddy

Shane is a Thanksgiving Baby so every 6 years we celebrate his birthday on Thanksgiving. This year it just so happened to fall on the day before Thanksgiving. With the Leap Year being this year, his birthday will skip the holiday all together & fall on the day after.

Regardless of when it occurs, we are not only giving thanks for our blessings but celebrating a birthday in our house as well.

With pumpkin pie & cheesecake being eaten on Thanksgiving it makes it hard to figure out what kind of sweet treat to get for Shane's birthday. This year I opted to get Gigi's Cupcakes with a Thanksgiving theme of course!

Mase picked the cupcake with the turkey & dug into it - frosting first. He pretty much ate all the frosting & only a bite of the cupcake part! He loves him some "cake cakes" :)

We put candles into each one of our cupcakes, sang Happy Birthday to Daddy & then gave him our cards to open.

All in all I would say Daddy enjoyed his birthday - treats & all! Tomorrow we will continue the birthday festivities as we host Shane's family over to our house for the big holiday.

Bye Bye Jilly

This amazing girl has been my best friend for 16+ years & tonight I had to say goodbye as she is moving to Florida on Friday :(

We have been by each others side through all the ups, downs, highs, lows & for all the many milestones in our lives & for that I am forever grateful. I am going to SO miss her but she has promised to visit every few months & I am planning a trip to FL this spring to see her!

So tonight Mase & I met up with Jilly & our dear friend Melissa at a new yummy Mexican restaurant (K-Machos) for our last supper (so to speak), to say our "see you laters" & wish Jilly well on her new adventures.





 

 

In this world, where everything seems uncertain, only one thing is definite. This girl right here will always be there for me - even at 1400+ miles away! She is my very best friend, beyond words, beyond time & beyond distance.



Love you Jilly!

Mommies Night Out

Tonight I met my Mommy friends out for a much needed girls night out! I first met my Mama Bestie Jen out for dinner. We bellied up to the bar at RA, ordered some amazing sushi, drank wine & these mommies spent some quality time together catching up!

After dinner, we headed over to Thirsty Palette where we met my mommy friends from Mason's daycare. We started our girls night out together by all painting a "masterpiece" :)

 

After a fun couple of hours of getting our "paint on", the majority of us decided to continue the evening so we headed over to the dance bar we went to the last time we all went out. We were there fairly early so we grabbed a table, a cocktail & sat there swapping Mommy stories, funny & serious girl-talk. Once the music started we were on the dance floor until 1am.

A good time was definitely had by all. But unfortunately I had forgotten that even though I am out late that doesn't mean my kid is going to sleep in late. That little stinker was up at 5:30am. Ugh - this quote pretty much sums it up...