Our trip to the North Pole and Stocking Stuffers!

So this was back a while ago but we took the North Pole express with the little man earlier this month! It was a lot of fun, and nice to introduce Andrew to new traditions!

The train depot is about a 45 minute drive from home in Parrish, FL. We picked up our tickets at will call and then walked around the grounds until we found our train car. It was a 30 minute trip to the North Pole (Jesse said that Santa used his magic to make the North Pole our "Southern" temperature so we would be comfortable and not too cold haha) - also, along the way we passed by a factory with tall red and while stacks and the warning lights for aircrafts that the workers said was Santa's workshop lol!

Once there we made a beeline for Santa! It was inside a house and the kids went in one at a time. They made it very calm inside, and Santa was very nice. Still, Andrew has entered a very bashful stage again this month so he clung to me with all his strength and flipped out when we sat down.... here's a look:

Poor little guy, haha! He at least very much liked the ornament Santa gave him :)

We walked around a bit, sat by a fire pit, had hot cocoa and cookies, we all sat and had dinner/ chatted with another family and Andrew was changed on the floor of a portapotty. You'd think at a family event like that they'd have a changing table but no. No they did not.

All in all it was a lot of fun. It was a little long of a time, and was pretty chilly on the way home but otherwise lots of fun! Maybe something to repeat, but in a closed car so it's not as chilly. Also hoping to start the Nutcracker tradition next year as he officially gets put in ballet in 2015! Hehe, I've been planning this for ages. Yay for ballet schools offering free tuition for boys :)

Stocking stuffers are one of my new favorite things this year. In my family it's always been things like pencils, post-its, rulers, etc... cute but a bit hard to find use for sometimes. This year we tried to be more creative.

Pretty happy about this year's stocking stuffers- maybe I'll get some new and better ideas for 2014! :)

TTFN <3

Baby's first Christmas

Has it really come and gone already?!? 

We had a very relaxed holiday. It didn't go quite as planned but it was still a wonderful few days!

Christmas Eve we watched holiday movies, went to the service at the Church and then went home to cook the big meal! We ended up not eating until close to 9 which wasn't great but it was delicious! Southern Green Beans, garlic mashed potatoes, beef wellington, and a huuuuuuuge bottle of Moscato, of course ;)

Andrew tried a bit of everything (well, not the wine just yet haha). He liked the wellington and potatoes especially. 

After dinner we opened the stockings (blog to come about our stocking stuffers), and watched Home Alone 2 - one of our favorites!

Look at that grin! He sees it coming!

His very own remote 

Very enthused about his new slippers.

Christmas day was especially nice and relaxed. We had eggnog french toast and bacon (I spaced out the traditional mini egg and sausage quiches). Andrew loved the french toast with applesauce but didn't care for the bits of bacon.

We turned on the Parade and opened gifts/ ate cookies/ watched Miracle on 34th street and had leftovers. 

Andrew wasn't remotely interested in the wrappings whatsoever but once the toys were unwrapped he seemed to enjoy them :)

What a ham, lol

His loot!

Definitely going to try for an earlier dinner/ later Christmas Eve service next year, remember the quiche, start the Elf on a Shelf tradition and get a cute advent calendar!

Also going to attempt to purchase gifts throughout the year and then splurge on Andrew's clothes for the next year during the after Christmas blowout sales (instead of him having 80% of his gifts be clothes hahaha).

All in all though, it was a wonderful holiday season. We were blessed enough to be able to make some donations, give some gifts, and spend lots of cuddly time with our little man. Hope you all had very jolly holidays!

Next up is the new year! I can't even believe how much happiness 2013 has brought to our little family. We are so lucky and so blessed.

Latest news is that we have been officially paci-free for about a week. Since about 6 months he's only had a paci in the mornings and ocassionally for a nap if he needs to sleep. But we took it away one evening and that's that! Andrew didn't even miss it. We just are struggling with our new routine which is still pretty messy as we try to figure it all out. We set the alarms for 8, Andrew is usually up by 8:30 and he still goes to sleep at about 9pm so the nap in between is being worked on a bit. I think it's going to be that he is up for 4 hours, naps for 4 hours and is up for another 4 and then bedtime. Not sure yet but that's what it's lookin' like.

We are planning a very laid back NYE as well. Just putting down the munchkin and then having lots of drinks. Maybe some card games and movies too. We are SUCH party animals lol....

Cheers to 2014!!!!

weekend, randomness, playing catch-up, etc.....

Wow! Time flies when you're having fun, I guess!

This weekend we did our typical grocery run on Friday.... also made a stop at Target because what trip is complete without that, right?

Saturday we went out for subs before seeing the Rockettes at the Straz! It was an awesome show, there were a few parts that were pretty cheesy but overall such a great show! Cannot wait to take Andrew to see it one day.

Afterwards we got ice cream and I talked to my bestie in the car for like an hour (my cell loses reception as soon as I step inside our apartment lol). Later on we did some gift-hunting which included almost getting lost, running for our lives (not really), getting pulled over, and overhearing where the gift we were looking for was (the actual guy we asked was kind of a jerk). I also snuck off to buy Jesse's last gift, hehe :)

Sunday we went to church (3 candles lit!), it was such a nice service, and slowly we are meeting people. Jesse wants to get more involved in the church so through Family First sports games he is making some acquaintances. Honestly, I have a bit of a hard time getting involved in the church because my past experience has been that I get to see the true colors of some choice "Christians" and it breaks my heart, and makes me dislike that church, lol. Hopefully though since we are out of the stupid town we met in, things will be different this time. I am taking a leap of faith, haha!
We also picked up a few things and played with Andrew a bunch.

Monday we slept through an appointment and were sent back from our car care appointment because the electrician wasn't in.

Tuesday we got the car in, signed up for another round of music classes beginning next month, finally made that appointment, found another two gifts, got a card for a very good friend getting married this weekend, and grabbed some lunch. My car is now fixed (25 hours later), they were very quick diagnosing the problem, and didn't charge any labor which was great!

The holidays are starting to get into full swing here! We have watched Home Alone and the Santa Clause, burnt the Christmas candles, sung 12 days of Christmas on a loop for the past 4 days, and almost all of the gifts are wrapped!

Today I got an email saying Ebates sent me about $40 and I got so excited! My first "Big Fat Check" from them! I celebrated by online shopping. Do they have rehab for this? LOL

Some random links:

2013 recall info

cute mama's Christmas wish list

Tis the season to be jolly!

I don't know about all of you, but Christmas shopping literally makes me giddy. Especially now with hubby and baby in the mix. It's fun getting some stuff I've been eyeing for a while but I absolutely adore finding gifts for family!

We aren't the wealthiest people around so when I find deals or anything on gifts I know they would love I get so excited! And I totally taunt hubby all month cuz I can't wait for him to open his gifts.... that poor guy, he puts up with a lot.

At the risk of him looking at this blog for what may be the first time ever, I won't post his gifts, but here's some of the little man's haul so far:

One: Plaid Shirt, Two: Babybjorn Soft Bib, Three: Bachelor Shirt- (currently out of stock), Four: Fisher Price Music Parade Ride-On, Five: First Bead Maze

Is it sad that I'm already planning his gifts for next year? Wait..... yes it is. Haha I just can't help myself.

We bought a bunch of Christmassy stuff this year, a new tree (with hanging pine sent because hubby wouldn't let me get a real tree), a few books for Andrew, and holiday movies galore! Oh and window cling snowflakes. Yup, I'm obsessed with holidays. All I can think about is a few years from now, maybe in a house, maybe in the same city as our best friends, throwing holiday parties with our kids turning the house upside down.... doesn't that sound totally perfect?? Haha, it sure does to me :)

Well, that's really it.... with all the Christmas packages coming in/ cards going out, I needed to share some of my excitement hehe!

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P.p.s. here's a list of some great deals goin' fast! :)

• Hot deals and free shipping over $19.99
• Up to 70% off entire site!
• Cheap PJs and up tp 50% off IN STORE
• Up to 50% off and 12 cent shipping on 12/13
• 40-50% off cards, books, calendars, etc!

And now that I've gone on and on about the materialistic side of Christmas, I'll also share a book we got for Andrew- quickly becoming a favorite! Find it here

TTFN <3

11 months!

Holy moly, our little man is almost one whole year old.

"Chances are your baby has developed an uncanny knack to get a hold of things he shouldn't have and get into places he shouldn't go. If he hasn't already done so, be prepared (with video camera on perpetual standby) for those first few steps as your child makes both physical and verbal strides this month. He loves games — especially those that involve pointing — and his interest in books will grow exponentially as he begins to comprehend more and recognize familiar pictures. A few things not to be concerned about: bowed legs (almost always normal and temporary); parental nudity (he doesn't care if you're naked as a jaybird as long as you're there!); and hitting milestones later than his peers. Remember, every baby is different and they master different skills — like standing and walking — at different ages. Children learn best and build confidence when you let them learn at their own pace, but if you're truly concerned, check with your pediatrician. More things to ask the doc: dietary questions, such as restricting fat and cholesterol in your baby's diet, and the best ways to ensure he gets the nutrients he needs. As for you, Mom, take a hint from your baby and get a move on, whether you're struggling with post-pregnancy weight or not. Regular exercise will not only help you shed pounds, it'll boost your mood and help you sleep better at night. Now who wouldn't want that?"

--whattoexpect.com

He got tired of my photo shoot REAL fast lol

Andrew is crawling on his hands and knees about half the time now (still army crawling the other half), pulling himself up on EVERYTHING and doing the downward dog pose every so often. One of these days that kid is gonna up and walk away and my mind will be blown.

He has 5 teeth now, the 6th one is workin' it's way out. He is taking it in stride though, almost 6 teeth in less than two months and he's been as happy as can be lol.

His meals are getting chunkier! Slices of steamed carrots, cottage cheese, halved blueberries, chunks of salted avocado.... and this just in-- Graham Crackers! He's chompin' away like a pro.

Naptimes have changed a bit, we typically have a meal when he wakes up, a snack two hours later, and then he goes down within an hour of the snack.

....UPDATE... today we did three hours until a snack and then a quick cuddle, diaper change and down for a nap. It worked great and he passed out the second he was in his crib both times!

We're going to hopefully get in some outdoors play time this week, maybe try to go to a park or something for the weekend. We also have tickets to see the Rockettes Holiday show this Saturday! Yay! I've met a Rockette but never seen them perform live, haha!

Other than hangin' out with the little man not much is going on. I've been TERRIBLE at the whole working out thing lately. I worked up the gusto to do yoga on Sunday but that was about it. Gonna try to do some stuff tonight/ do another round of yoga tomorrow morning.

Well, that's about it! Here's some pics :)

TTFN! <3

Gifts are slowly being wrapped.... these are all Andrew's! They all contain clothing haha! Really mostly for me, but I figured he'd like the tissue paper, right? ;)

Hanging out in front of the Christmas tree-- he's been SO good about leaving it alone!

Mama/ baby time :)

Decorating, guests and more weekend fun

What a weekend! Quite busy indeed.

Thursday was obviously Thanksgiving, we had a great time watching the parade and stuffing our faces, haha.

Bring on the mint dark chocolate M&Ms lol ;

Friday we actually did venture out, mainly because we needed groceries for our guests we were having over on Saturday. I also had heard about a great deal on TOMS at our Whole Foods Market. Lastly we went to Target for some decor items. The rest of the day we ate leftovers,  decorated and relaxed. Oh and lots of online shopping lol!  Got about 75% of our gift getting done!

Took the autumn wreath I made, removed the leaf garlands, added a 15' length of gold tinsel 

Saturday we had my mom's cousins over. It was fun to see them again and we had yummy mushroom beef (recipe here) and asparagus (also here) and more. We picked up another gift (nabbed a new video game for 12 bucks, huzzah!) and had some nice family time relaxing and cuddling a whole bunch.

Passed out with his butt in the air lol

post-bath

Sunday we made it to church. The first Sunday of Advent is always exciting, the sermon was great, and the young girl who sings, sang an absolutely gorgeous song, I seriously want a recording of her singing it lol.... we also picked out a Christmas ornament from the church tree with a 4 year old's name to buy gifts for, excited to start this tradition with Andrew! Then it was also a Family First weekend so Jesse played kickball (and won) with other adults and older kids from the church.

Later we did some grocery shopping and a Target run/ got a Subway sandwich for the first time in ages, haha.

P.s. I can finally tell y'all about our super secret activities! We randomly signed hubby and baby up for a modeling competition for a one-year contract. They had to do an interview, runway walk and photo shoot (both made it through round one and nabbed digital portfolios). And about a week ago they competed in the state wide finals doing talent and runway (Jesse did Capoeira and baby just got carried around to music haha). We got the results today and..... they both won!!! I'm so proud of them!

Next step is a call to their agents, sending in their signed contracts, making the call cards and then we start looking for jobs! They told us to call Pampers for Andrew so maybe he'll be auditioning for them someday soon?

Little man is just packin' away the food and sidling along anything he can stand up with, he's going to be walking too soon. Can't believe he's almost a year old already!!!