This past week was my party-a-day week. Fortunately, in all of the pictures, my face reflects the feeling in my heart...happiness. :0) Unfortunately though, I caught a cold at the beginning of the week, and it made for a mental struggle for me to get excited about going to most of these events. I.was.wiped. :0( But in true fashion, once I arrived at the gatherings, I really did have a good time. I love this time of year...spending time with friends and family...some you see often, and some you hardly ever see at all, except during the Christmas season. So here is a run-down on our "7 days of Celebration"...
On Monday, while the weather outside was frightful ...
...our activities inside were delightful. We had started our cookie baking for the week...
And on Monday night, while the kids spent the night at Grammy's house, I celebrated the birth of Christ with my MOPS leadership team...
We had such a wonderful time chatting...
Eating...
Looking at all of the beautiful decorations, and multiple Christmas trees in Nancy's house...
And then we had a hilarious white elephant gift exchange which resulted in me winning a make-shift ping-pong set up...SCORE! That provided many laughs in our home this week...
On Tuesday, my mommies group gathered together for our Annual Christmas Cookie Exchange. I love this group of women. We have all been parenting together since Wyatt was an infant, and I have found it imperative to have a core group of friends to go through this "mommy journey" with. Through the power of the internet, I talk to these ladies all the time, but unfortunately my days get the better of me, and I don't see these friends as often as I would like to. But on this day, we got to hang out...
...cuddle babies...
...the kids played...
...and we all ate cookies!!!
On Wednesday, we had our MOPS Christmas party meeting.
We had an ornament exchange...
We had our normal delicious food...
And we packaged up bags of cookies to give to our childcare workers for Christmas...
On Wednesday night, the kids had their Awana group Christmas Party. They made ornaments...
And back by popular demand, Wyatt played "The Inn Keeper" in their annual Awana Nativity Play...
On Thursday morning, I started working on a Sugar Shack order...
And on Thursday night, we attended the birthday party of Wyatt's friend. The kids had a blast playing on all of the jumpies. :0)
On Friday night, I celebrated the season with my Happy Hour group. Brooke hosted the BEAUTIFUL affair...
We enjoyed eachothers company...
Ate incredibly delicious food...
And then we had our annual ornament exchange...
Some of my very favorite ornaments on my tree have come from the years spent together with these ladies, and partaking in this FUN tradition!
On Saturday morning, I got to watch 2-B's kids for her. Wyatt had such a fun time with their new puppy...
...the little girls mostly played outside...
... and we played games. I was the winner of Auntie Pasta...a game of fractions...
...and 2-B's oldest daughter was the winner of the skeletal system game. :0)
Immediately after our babysitting adventure, the kids and I headed up to Grandpa & Grandma Piton's house. The kids hung out with Grandpa, while my step mom treated my sister Jenni and I to our Annual Night at The Nutcracker!
First we had dinner and a drink at the Macaroni Grill...
...and then we were off to The Nutcracker!
We have had the priviledge of sitting in some amazing seats every year, but this year was the very BEST! We got private balcony box seats right over the orchestra!
We had an awesome view!
And since we didnt have time for dessert before the show, we indulged after the show at BJ's...
And if you thought a person wouldn't be full after eating pasta for dinner, and then having multiple desserts, you are WRONG! While actively eating our dessert, my sister Jenni said she had a craving for chips and queso at On the Border. I said I was in if guacamole was involved, lol. You could find us eating yet again...at yet another restraunt...at midnight...
Jenni recently stopped working at this restaraunt, and her old manger surprised us by buying us a drink...
It was a very nice gesture, but we barely drank any of it...would you believe our stomachs were finally too full to shove anything else in there!? But it was still too much of a fun drink to not pose with it! :0)
And finally, after the kids and I went home on Saturday night...well technically, Sunday morning...we went right back up to Grandpa and Grandma Piton's house for Michelle (my step mom) and I to do our Annual holiday baking for our family and her friends. We have literally continued this tradtion for over 20 years. :0)
Over a 7 hour stretch we made 4 pans of fudge...
Peanut butter balls...
Which we then dipped in 2 kinds of chocolate...
We then dipped marshmallows in chocolate with 4 different toppings...
...and chocolate dipped pretzels...
The kids were "helpful" too!
So that's about it. The crazy week is over. We only have 2 parties remaining before Christmas & Christmas Eve...I plan to fully embrace the 3 days this week where we have nothing on the calendar...hopefully my cold will go away with enough rest on those days. :0)
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