Dec 7-13
Christmas festivities are in full swing! This week was my birthday, which means that Christmas is only 2 weeks away! As a family, we love Christmas and all that it entails. The festivities and traditions have become quite a significant part of our memories. It seems like the more years that go by, the more traditions we add on each year. I would say that this year will be remembered for the "choo-choo train."
Thomas our choo-choo!
We went to Lowe's and got the supplies to build a platform underneath our tree. We have a village that we started years ago. We love the village, but we haven't put it out since Jack was born. Once it started really growing, we really didn't have the space to put it anywhere all together. Hence the platform. It is perfect for displaying our village pieces and we even have plenty of room to grow. The one thing that was missing was the train.
The whole thing for the effect.
Ed and I did research and looked everywhere. Surprisingly there are many places that don't even sell trains. We finally found some at Toys 'R Us. We purchased one (hesitantly) and when we brought it home it didn't fit on the platform. All of the models at the store seemed way too big, so we resorted to looking online. We found the perfect addition to our village. Thomas.
Jack watching his new train go around and around the track!
This particular Thomas is not like the wooden trains that Jack plays with every day. It is an electric train with three connecting cars, that runs on an oval track. After measuring the platform and figuring out how it would fit on our track, we ordered it. It is perfect!!!! We set it up one night when Jack was asleep and the next morning took some video of him when he walked out to the living room and saw it for the first time. It was truly love at first sight. He now knows exactly how to work the controls and make it go around the track. He is obsessed with it. We love that he will be excited every year to set up his train around the Christmas tree.
Jack put on my socks and this was the look. Hilarious!
For the weekend Ed surprised me by arranging a night away. Yes, a whole night away from our two kids! Wahooooo!!! We haven't had a real date for almost a year so this was awesome! After dropping the kids off at Grandma's house we headed to our swanky hotel and relaxed for a bit.
Ed at Happy Hour. Cheers!
After relaxing we got ready for our night out. I actually took a shower, uninterrupted and got ready without people hanging on me, having to feed someone, or listening to anyone have a meltdown. It was nice. When we were ready we headed down to the lobby for happy hour. After a few drinks we caught a cab and headed down to the Vista for dinner at The Liberty Tap Room. We enjoyed some seasonal beers on tap along with a variety of appetizers.
Me at Happy Hour.
After hanging out for a bit we walked around the corner and stumbled upon a bar where we could play some games. First we played darts. I won. Then we played shuffleboard. Ed won. After all of that we caught a cab back to the hotel and the rest is history...
He was good at shuffleboard.
But I was good at darts!
He just couldn't get those bulls-eyes.
I am not good at shuffleboard, but it sure is fun!
The next morning we slept in. Okay lets get real, we are parents to two children now. We slept in until 8:30 because we both just automatically wake up super early now. Even on the rare days that Jack and Abel sleep past 7:00 Ed and I are both awake before that because we are waiting for them to wake up any minute. It's the curse of parenthood. LOL.
After a delicious breakfast in peace we went to pick up the boys. It was nice to have a night away, but I was excited to see them. We all went home and had a nice quiet family day. After relaxing for a bit we got everyone dressed and went downtown to pick up some gourmet cupcakes from Cupcake. We chose six flavors and put them in the car for after dinner. For dinner that night we went to Pawley's Front Porch. It was this new place downtown in Five Points. The burgers were awesome! The one I got had pimento cheese and jalapeno bacon. Yum!
Jack helped take off the candles.
When we got home we sang "Happy Birthday" and enjoyed cupcakes!
Later this week we ventured out to Lexington to try out a new place called Monkey Joe's. It's like a giant indoor bounce house for kids. You pay for a wristband (it was around $5.00) and get unlimited play time to jump, run, bounce, climb, and play! I was a little nervous Jack wouldn't be able to do some of them because they were HUGE! Once again he proved me wrong and climbed up each and every one of them without hesitation or fear.
He has no fear.
Big eyes!
Jump, jump, jump!
He had a blast! I think we were there for over 2 hours. Afterwards we stopped by a new neighborhood that we have been interested in looking at. We really want to get out of our rental and possibly build/buy a house in the next year. We found out that with our credit and even with just my single income we can get a really nice house. We both agree that we are tired of pouring money into rentals. It would actually cost less for a brand new, big house mortgage payment than it would to rent. Craziness!
As most of you know Ed has changed his career path to nursing. The Fire Department decided he was way over qualified to be an entry-level firefighter. I think it was all meant to happen because Ed has always been interested in nursing. When he went back to school (while still Active Duty in the Navy) he wanted to do nursing, but they wouldn't let him because he could not do it all online. Now he can do the career that he wants, and we will be in a position to boost our earning potential significantly. As awesome as firefighter are, they definitely do not get compensated for what they do. To make a long story short, it will be back to school for Ed come January!
Supplies for cookie baking!
Such a big boy!
For final thoughts of this week, we started our Christmas cookie baking. This is another part of our holiday traditions. I LOVE Christmas cookies!! We are of course making my sugar cookies. I can't wait to decorate them! We also opted to try two new recipes. The first was a s'mores cookie recipe I got from my friend Ashley. They are kind of like a chocolate chip cookie but with graham cracker crumbs in the cookie and marshmallows/hershey bars on the top. We actually put our cookies in the broiler for about a minute to get that traditional s'mores toasty marshmallow effect. They turned out great!
This kid loves cookie dough!
The boys.
Daddy and Abel helping with cookie baking.
The other cookies we tried are called Candy Cane Blossoms. As you all know, I LOVE peanut butter blossoms (the cookie with a hershey kiss on top). This is a similar idea, but instead of a peanut butter cookie it is a version of a sugar cookie with a peppermint flavored hershey kiss on top! Yum!
S'mores cookies!
Candy cane blossoms.
Jack had a blast helping me out. I had to keep the tasks simple and not turn my back for one second. He kept sneaking bits of cookie dough.
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