A Very Festive Weekend

Happy Monday!  Hope y'all had a great weekend!

Ours was really fun, busy, and quite festive!!  This time of year is just my absolute favorite, and I love celebrating all the wonderful traditions, especially now!  Having Andrew here this year really is so magical, and I love seeing the wonderment in his eyes when he sees our Christmas tree, twinkling lights, shiny ornaments, and of course Santa Claus - stay tuned for his reaction to the jolly ole man further down in the post ;)


Now onto the weekend:
Friday morning started out in my favorite way.  While Andrew took his morning nap, I whipped up my favorite Pumpkin Pancakes (the Trader Joe's Gluten free mix!), and a hazelnut iced coffee.  Then I curled up with the folks from "The Today Show", and had myself just the perfect Mommy morning ;)

 

I've been trying to do some cute arts and crafts this year, but with an 11 month old, that can be kinda tricky.  We tried out these fingerprint Christmas lights, and they turned out so cute!  And very easy to make.  We made a few to give out to family at Christmas, too :)

 

Later that day was the Holiday Party for families at John's office.  Everyone brought their kids to have snacks, make an art project (Gingerbread man ornaments), meet Santa Claus, and receive a special present.  It was really cute, and a lot of fun to see all the families of John's co-workers. 

 

 

When it was time to meet Santa, they called the kids up one by one, and I was sweating bullets.  I had a bad feeling as to how this was going to go for Andrew.  He is not a big fan of strangers, beards, costumes, or being separated from me or John.  So, yeah.  This is how that went....
 

 

We felt horrible, but as soon as we "rescued" him, he was ok!  And I think we will hold on to this picture for awhile...it's just too good. 

 

Seconds later, the tears were gone, and he was unwrapping his special present!  His very first remote control car :) 
Oh life with boys!

Saturday, Andrew slept in until almost 9am (hallelujah!), and we ventured out to our favorite brunch place - PJ's Pancake House.  It was delicious, as always. 
I think Brunch is one of my top ten favorite things....ever.
 

 

Saturday night, John and I hired our very first (non-family) babysitter for the evening!  We were off to a Christmas party hosted by one of the couples in our "Mom's Group", and we had the best night!  I have to admit, I was a little nervous about leaving Andrew, but he did great!  It was so nice getting out for the evening and celebrating the holiday season with friends!

 

Sunday, I made sure to get lots of extra snuggles from this little man, and we had a wonderful lazy day, followed by a Christmas concert at our church in the evening. 

 

 

 Whew!  I need a nap, just from writing this blog post! 
Thanks for sticking with me until the end!

Up tomorrow - last minute Gift Guide for your favorite gal!