Y3W: Merry Christmas Eve

Weekend Recap

We had an absolutely wonderful jam packed weekend. Come Sunday night I looked at Andrew and said, "Do you have to go back to work tomorrow?" I just wasn't ready for the weekend to end.

It all started on Friday. The stars and planets aligned because it was Andrew's work holiday party on the very same night that his parents would be arriving from out of town. Couldn't ask for better babysitters than grandparents. Let me just back up and mention that we are still without a car almost a week after Andrew was rear ended. So we're a 1 car family right now. The holiday party was scheduled to start at 6:30 {only about 5 minutes down the road from us}. Andrew normally gets out of work at 5, but heard through the grapevine that he'd be getting out early, we just weren't sure how early. And, his parents weren't arriving until 5. So, I had to figure out how to get ready at home with Caleb, go pick Andrew up from work, get dinner on the table for grandparents and Caleb, and then finish getting ready all before we had to leave for the party. Oh, and I had to hope that Andrew wasn't going to call to tell me to come pick him up at the exact moment I was in the shower/drying my hair. Writing it out now it doesn't seem too bad, but it felt stressful at the time.

Anyway, I pulled it off! Andrew's parents arrived a little early. We got to all sit together as they ate dinner. Caleb was VERY excited to see GranB and Pop Pop after 2 1/2 months apart, and when we left to go to the party, he barely said goodbye. With as clingy as Caleb has been, we were worried that he'd have a hard time being without us for bath and the bedtime routine, but we couldn't have asked for a better scenario. I breathed a sigh of relief on the way out the door!

We arrived at the party and I promptly had a glass of wine. I gotta tell you this staying home full time without any friends or family around is really wearing on me. I NEED adult interaction and this party was perfect. We had an amazing time with Andrew's coworkers and their spouses. I'm glad he is surrounded by such great people all day! We got home around 10:30 - well past our bedtime, to find out that Caleb had a great night and went to sleep without a fuss.

We didn't have any plans for the rest of the weekend, but I had happened to mention to A's boss's wife that Caleb loves trains. She told us we HAD to go to the Carnegie Science Center to check out their train exhibit. She let us use her pass for free parking, free admission for all of us, and 20% off in the gift shop. I'm telling you, the people around here are so kind and generous! The Science Center did not disappoint, and it turned out to be the perfect weekend to visit {well not so much for those of us who don't like crowds....ahem...Andrew and I} because in addition to their permanent train set up, they also were hosting a Lionel train weekend complete with additional displays in the lobby and special merchandise in the gift shop. Below are a few pics from the trip. No pics of the permanent display because of the lighting in that room.



GranB and Pop Pop scored the perfect train set for Caleb. This Lionel Little Lines set is now the perfect addition to our tree set up. Not surprisingly, Caleb is obsessed!


We headed out for lunch after the museum then home for C's nap. During his nap, we set up the artificial tree and got all the ornaments out so C could help with decorating. I also went shopping with my mother-in-law to find a cute shirt for Caleb to wear with his tie {that I made} and sweater vest {that MIL had bought}. I don't have a pic of the sweater vest, but how completely adorable is this combination? LOVE IT! So glad MIL has a great eye for clothes.


Post nap we decorated the tree, then let C open his presents from GranB and Pop Pop.


Then we headed out for a great dinner at our favorite {read: the only one we know of} seafood restaurant. It was delicious and the perfect end to a great day.

On Sunday we planned to head south to the PA Trolley Museum, but when we woke up it was snowing and didn't show signs of stopping. Even though it never really amounted to anything, we decided to just have a low key day at home. We had set up the train overnight, and as you can see from the pics above, Caleb loves playing with it. I cooked lunch and dinner at our place, and we played games and let C play with his new toys. Later in the day we put together and C helped decorate the gingerbread train that MIL had brought with her.


It really was a wonderful weekend, and I hope that they will come visit again soon. Feels like the Christmas Season is finally here and we're ready for it!

The Winner Is...

White lights...

Since we're in our apartment we aren't allowed to have a real tree. Our fake tree is pre-lit with white lights. It looks beautiful {even though I'd prefer if it were lit in color}.

What? You didn't think this post would be about the winner of the tree lights? The winner of the giveaway is commenter #2, Megyn. Contact me to claim your prize!

Oh The Weather Outside is..

...not even close to frightful, but it feels that way to me. The weather this past month in PA is the equivalent of Phoenix weather in November/December, and it is messing with my mind! Now that Halloween is over I can admit that I've been thinking about Christmas for the last month. For at least three weeks I've been wanting to play holiday music while driving in the car {and I did for about a day}. And I've already started searching for the perfect family Christmas card.

Now, if you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I am very long winded and I love to post lots of pictures. The Christmas cards I lust over are very much like that. There must be more than one space for pictures, and there must be some space for a nice long message whether printed or hand written. Each year around this time I start out searching my favorite online photo site, Shutterfly, for the cutest designs. It seems like every year the selection gets bigger and bigger, and my decision to narrow down to just one gets harder and harder. Here are some of my favorites from this year's collection of holiday photo cards.





Of course, it's always nice to have coordinating address labels for the envelopes too. Now I just need to get the photos from our photo shoot a few weeks ago so I can put in an order! I can't wait for the holidays this year. Christmas with a 2 year old is going to be exhausting stressful messy incredibly fun!

This year Shutterfly is doing a great thing and offering bloggers free holiday cards. Bloggers! You can receive 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly, too. Simply click this link and follow the instructions.

Trick-or-Treat

The weekend started off with a visit from Memaw and Pappy, and we spend Saturday morning at the zoo. Caleb was so excited to show them our zoo, that he ran through the entire zoo.





We didn't even bother to bring the stroller, so this little guy was EXHAUSTED by the time we got home.


After nap we carved our second pumpkin using a stencil. Looks pretty good, right?


On to Sunday, what we'd all been waiting for, Trick-or-Treat. My little giraffe got dressed in his costume for the second time {the first was a few days earlier when I took him TOTing at the mall, which he loved, and which is where he learned all about how TOT means that you get candy}, and we walked through to the development adjacent to our apartment complex.


I couldn't get a shot of him that wasn't blurry because he was running along saying, "I go trick-or-treat!"


Here he is at his first house. He was such a great little boy saying, "Trick-or-treat," "Thank You!" and "Happy Halloween!"


Took the loot in his hand, and put it right into the treat bag.


A few more houses...did I mention that the people here give out WHOLE candy bars! My 2 year old was loaded down after just a few houses. He had to transfer candy to another bag so he could continue carrying his without dragging it on the ground.



I guess I'm a mean mom because I've seen all kinds of pictures on Facebook of toddlers sitting in front of a huge stash of candy on the floor. We did not do this. Caleb knew when he got home it was time for bath and bed, but we promised him a lollipop while he took a bath. We attempted to catch a picture of him sticking out his blue tongue post-lollipop and post-bath, but this was the best we could do.


If someone had told me a a week ago that my little guy would get THIS into Halloween, I would have thought they were nuts. He was so excited to get dressed in his costume, and once he learned what TOT meant, he couldn't wait to do it again. Now I just have to hope that he doesn't think he's going to dress up and get candy everytime we go for a walk in that neighborhood. Oh, and the rest of his candy stash has been hidden away and may reappear periodically in the form of a reward or bribe. So far, he hasn't asked about it, and I'm hoping it stays that way.

Pumpkin Carving - Take 1

After yesterday's nap, we decided to carve one of our pumpkins. This was Caleb's first real experience carving a pumpkin. Last year I sat him in his high chair, and he watched but really wasn't very interested. This year he was very excited, and even enjoyed helping to scoop out the goop {the real technical term for pumpkin guts}. I love that he enjoys this fall tradition as much as I do!

Pumpkin Patch - Take 2

Yesterday Caleb woke up from nap early, so we decided to venture out to another pumpkin patch - just the two of us. This time we headed to Simmons Farm, which ended up being more like what I was expecting from our first experience. It was a lot more "farm" and a lot less "fall festival." As soon as we pulled up to the small-ish farm stand I knew this was a neat place. I look forward to heading back when fruits and veggies are in season again.

We took a {much better} hayride out to an actual pumpkin patch where pumpkins were growing on the vine. For the cost of the hayride plus $2.75 we were able to pick a pumpkin straight from the fields. The fields were huge, and even though we're only a week away from Halloween, there were still TONS of great pumpkins out there. Included in the cost we were also able to go through a GIANT corn maze {which we didn't get to do because it was too late in the day and we had to get home for dinner}, a 100ft slide, a kid-sized hay maze, and a smaller slide. We were also able to each take an apple and have a cider sample as well as picking an ear of Indian Corn.

Caleb had a blast {as you can see}, and we came home with another pumpkin hand-selected by Caleb and pulled straight off the vine. We don't usually venture out in the afternoons, but I'm so glad that we decided to go even if it was only for a short time. I have wonderful memories of our time out there, and I'd like to think that Caleb does too. As we turned onto our street returning from the farm, Caleb said from the backseat, "I have fun with Mommy!" I couldn't have asked for more!


We picked up some apples while were were at the farm. You can pick you're own, but we just bought them from the farm market stand. Caleb had been really wanting to get his hands on one, so after breakfast I gave him one and broke out the camera as he was hamming it up. The first thing he said when I gave it to him was, "It doesn't have sticker." Yeah, I'm not buying apples at the grocery store anymore. My kid thinks they grow with stickers!

Pumpkin Patch

I've been waiting patiently for the opportunity to go to a pumpkin patch since before Caleb was born. Last year in AZ, I wanted to check one out but couldn't justify the cost when I didn't really think my 13 month old would enjoy it. Plus, pumpkin patches and 100 degree weather DO NOT go together. So, as soon as we got back to PA I started researching pumpkin patches. We decided to go to Trax Farms this year, and we had a great time. We actually went last weekend right before Caleb came down with a double ear infection. In retrospect, he already had the ear infection and was just being a trooper for mom and dad {mom of the year right here}.

When we first arrived we checked out all the little photo opp thingies {what the heck are these things called?}


Scared to put his head through at first. I love this picture though!


Another favorite after he warmed up.


Loves anything with a steering wheel still.


Next up was a hay ride to the pumpkin patch {where we did not pick a pumpkin because all the best ones were already picked and labeled with prices - see the background of this picture!}


You can see the sickness in this pic and the next one.


Caleb was sick. No excuse for the look on Andrew's face. This is the standard, "Stop taking my picture!" look that I get 99% of the time and the reason why pictures of Andrew are limited.


The hay ride took us to the top of a hill where they had several different pens with animals including these pigs with piglets born a few days earlier.


More sick face.


However, Caleb did LOVE the corn maze.


He ran all over that thing even making his own path where there was none. We finally had to pick him up so we could make it out of the maze.


Artsy fartsy shot from looking out of the corn maze back down on the farm stand.


Caleb found some corn and ran with it.



So excited to ride the "train." The train is the reason I picked this farm over another one. Turned out to be a little lame tractor ride, but Caleb was excited while we stood in line. The tractor drove around the farm out of site of the line. It seemed kind of long. Andrew and I got Caleb set up on the train, and he handed over his ticket. We stood together as the train drove away with Caleb. He didn't look back. The next thing we know the train is coming back, a lot quicker than it seemed while we waited in line for Caleb's turn...


...this is what we saw! He freaked out as soon as we were out of sight. The driver said he cried almost the whole ride, and we think that he shortened the ride so he could get Caleb back to us quicker.


Am I a bad mom because I laughed hysterically when I saw this?


After getting calmed down, we took him to pick out one of the good pumpkins, and then we headed back home to get our sick little boy in bed.


Our first trip to the pumpkin patch did not disappoint, but I'm definitely looking forward to going next year with a healthy kid.