Archives for category: Holidays

Pilates Room

January 6, 2014 //

It is no secret that I am a Pilates instructor. I LOVE doing what I do. I am lucky that I get to use my passion to work. It is no secret that I love to stay fit myself. Or that I love to practice Pilates and I love to run. My husband is something wonderful. He has this bad habit of spoiling me. Ok, so it is not really a bad habit! For Christmas I received my very own Reformer! The exact Reformer I teach every time I am at work. It is all mine to do with what I want in my very own home. I have been over the moon for the past couple weeks. I have used it nearly every day. Except this last Saturday, because it occurred to me that I hadn’t taken a rest day in weeks. It has been too difficult to step away from my new toy.

I have had the chair since last April. It is my other favorite apparatus. When I took this photo I really felt like my Pilates life felt complete. I can give myself a great workout. I can train people in my home and give them a well rounded workout. I can just sit in this calming room and relax. The purple hues are very relaxing. I can even start posting about my favorite moves with photos. I still have to get some mirrors installed, but the holidays have been crazy.

A couple weeks before Christmas my husband hired a handy man to come out and fix a few things around the house. He didn’t tell me he had also hired him to finish the painting/slight remodel of this room! It was before I received the Reformer. Before I even knew I was getting one! He did a great job at surprising me all around.

What I am really excited about is that I think this is going to really help me grow as an instructor. Because I have a young child, my schedule usually revolves around him. I have time each day to workout, in my own home though. I was able to find time here and there to hop into the studioI work at to practice a few things on the Reformer. But it was not as often as I would have liked. I feel now that I have this in my home that my class development is going to really expand. I can prep and test my classes out on myself. I can watch/do more videos and get a feel for the moves even more. I can do this on my time. I don’t have to worry about trying to fit it all in on one specific day. Jack is even happy to hang out in the room and play while I do Pilates. Some of my clients come to me more than once a week. This means I am usually developing 2-3 different class plans each week. I am sure that is not a lot to some people, but to me with my full time job still being my son, that is a good amount. I really feel like this can only make me a better Pilates instructor! I am excited for what 2014 has in store for my Pilates career.

Categories Exercise, fitness, Healthy Living, Holidays, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, pilates, Reformer, toddler, toddlerhood, working out, Wunda Chair

Pilates Day

May 4, 2013 //

Happy Pilates Day!!!!! Yes, if you didn’t know, today is Pilates Day. Yesterday I hit up Lululemon with all my gifts cards and birthday cash. My birthday was April 30th. I was showered with Lulu items and gift cards, plus some cash. I also get a discount because I am an instructor. I made out like a bandit. I had to exchange a run skirt my parents got me for a different size. I got that, 2 pairs of crops, and 2 tanks.

not my new Lulu gear 😉 I just don’t have a current photo of myself in some Pilates position

Jacky picked out one of the tanks. We were browsing the tank wall. He grabbed this gorgeous blue tank and said “this one” I tried it on and I loved it. I will forever think of my little man when I wear it. I love that little boy.

So today I will wear my new Lulu gear and do a chair workout. Since my husband is home I plan to get in a longer workout. I have to truly celebrate the day, right?

I am not teaching today. Oh well. I thought I would get in there today, but it didn’t workout. Thankfully I was able to get in to teach earlier in the week. I only have 8 hours of Reformer left! WOOO HOOOOO!!!!!! I am also celebrating because I will be getting my very own clients soon. The studio is doing a Living Social for private sessions. I am going to be one of those instructors. Which means, hopefully, I will begin building my very own client base.

Happy Pilates Day!!! Will you be celebrating?

Categories Exercise, fitness, Healthy Living, Holidays, pilates, Pilates Mat, Reformer, Wunda Chair

Welcome 2013!

January 1, 2013 //

Happy New Year! I am sitting here, hangover free, thinking about how lucky and happy I am. Yesterday was hands down the best New Years Eve ever! EVER! In my entire 27 years on this planet.

We started the day off with a NOON Years Eve party at My Gym. That is where Jack goes for his little gymnastics/play class. It was a blast. It was the first time Jason was able to visit this place. He had been to Gymboree a few times when we went there. He also went to a couple parties with us there. There hadn’t been an opportunity for him to join us at My Gym since we started going. We were so excited to party hard there. Jack had a blast. Jason really liked it and he liked the teachers. P1020147 We did have a discussion after about how we are so much younger than all the other parents. This is no exaggeration. I don’t think there were another set of parents there in their 20’s, like us. I explained to Jason, I find that most places I go, actually. We are not sure why that is, but it seems to workout that way. I know people in their 20’s have babies too! I know it! I have friends who are mom’s in their 20’s. But when we go to activities or do things in our area, we are always the youngest parents. It is just interesting when your spouse gets to see a side of your world that they didn’t really get before. He even brought it up. Not me.

Jack showed Dad all his favorite spots at My Gym. The large ball bit, the trampoline, the two small play houses that have slides, and walking across the high bridge. Jack decided to not partake in the pizza. Instead, he opted for a sucker from the candy drop at Noon and a cupcake. But he wanted me to scrape off the chocolate frosting. He just wanted the yellow cake. He hates chocolate.

Later in the afternoon I went on a date with my mom. We saw Les Miserables. It was amazing! Such a moving movie. I cried for most of it. Anne Hathaway deserves an Oscar. I think Hugh Jackman does too. It was everything I had hoped it would be. It was also nice to have momma time. Jason would have been miserable, HA, if I had dragged him there. Totally unhappy.

I made filet Mignon, sweet potato fries, carrots, and kiwi for a New Year’s Eve dinner. I even busted out the China. We got super fancy. Well, I was wearing my favorite gray zip up hoodie and Jason had on white t-shirt. So just our dinnerware was fancy. Jack ate a few bites, that is better than dinner has usually gone. See 2013 is already shaping up to be better!

We all hung out until midnight. Even Jack. We danced, played legos, sang, played cars, watched tv, cuddled, hugged, kissed, and just had an awesome time together. I got kisses from TWO handsome men last night. I am so lucky! I was so excited to let him stay up until midnight. He is a night owl and really, it wasn’t much past his regular bedtime.

Jack at exactly midnight CST

He wasn’t cranky or tired. He had a blast. As a matter of fact, he stayed up playing in his crib well after we turned out the lights. At nearly 1am, I checked the monitor and he was up playing with Scout and his cars.

I know that is a lot of detail of our day but I just can’t get over how perfect it was. I think that 2012 was a really great year for us. It flew by. I still cannot believe that it is over! I cannot get over the fact that it is nearly 2 years since my baby was born. I have not stopped saying that. I really feel that 2013 is going to be as good or maybe even better than 2012. This year we will be buying a new home. I will finish up my Pilates certification. Our son will continue to blossom and grow.

Life is good

How was your New Year’s Eve? What did you do? Are you nursing an unfortunate hangover? Or are you ready to tackle 2013 already, like I am? If you have kids and spent it with them, how did you ring in the new year? Did they stay up until Midnight?

Tags 2012, 2013, celebrate, Happy, life, New year, New Year's Eve, party

Categories family, Healthy Living, Holidays, Jack, marriage, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood

Lava and Resolutions

December 27, 2012 //

Christmas is over. My husband returned to work today. It is rare for him to ever take a day off, so yesterday was a treat. The living room is still a half disaster. The dining room table, forget about it. I started trying to clear it of all the new things, but I didn’t finish. I hope today I get that done.

Christmas Eve

Daddy breaking my no treats rule….

Christmas was amazing though. I had such a wonderful time. I loved watching Jack. He was so into it. Very into presents. Loves opening them. It truly did blow last year out of the water. I loved watching him play with his new things. He is so grown up. Not a baby anymore. His face looked older and he would quietly concentrate on his new things. In his own world, playing with his wonderful new stuff. I just sat near him a lot, watching, and being totally over the moon. I covered his squishy cheeks in tons of kisses because I couldn’t get over how amazing he is.

Christmas morning!

He is very good about immediately cleaning up the paper

If I had to dream up a perfect Christmas I am pretty sure it would have went along the lines of this year. I just am over the moon for my two guys. We really had a great family time together. There were minimal tantrums. None really, in all honesty. The worst of it was late on Christmas Day at my aunt’s house. Jack was just clingy. He didn’t want me out of his sight. That really isn’t bad. Considering he is a month shy of 2 years old.

We had to stop mid opening to read his new book, he insisted!

Daddy and Jack playing with a Handy Manny tool book

Now we move on to New Years Eve. No big plans for that. A lot of people make resolutions. I do not do that. I find them pointless. People never follow through with them. The way I see it is, if you really, really want to change your life you will start the moment you want to change things. You don’t wait for a Monday to start a new healthy lifestyle and you don’t wait for a New Year to do it either. I haven’t always been so strict with my healthy living. It was something that I refined and honed in on over several years. It started in my early 20’s when I stopped drinking pop and I started to run on a regular basis. Over time I got sucked into this lifestyle more and more. It became part of me. Intertwined to the point where I could not function if I had to stop living how I live right this second. It is me and I am it. So for me, the concept of a total overhaul on anything in life starting January 1st seems doomed to failure. I think we need to give ourselves time to change. Let it consume your life slowly, like a lava. Slow moving, yet so very powerful and consuming. That is the key to true lifestyle change. There are no quick fixes, if there were, we would all be perfect human specimens. I wouldn’t have a temper. I would snap my fingers and never be short tempered again. I also wouldn’t bite my nails, my one big vice. And maybe just maybe I wouldn’t love shopping as much as I do. Ok, scratch that, I wouldn’t change that part of me for the world. Ha!

My point is, don’t set yourself up for failure by putting so much pressure on yourself. January 1st is not some special day where all the stars align and make it easier to change yourself. You can find that path any day of the year. Also, change may take more than one year. A true lifestyle overhaul probably will. My temper is much better since getting pregnant and having a child. I used to not have to care about it. Then I had a child, and now it matters how I respond to things. So I have developed this immense patience over time. I am not perfect and I still get frustrated, we all do. But over all, I can listen to the same cars song 100 times and still not get frustrated. I can be asked the same word over and over. I can handle a tantrum in the store, for the most part, without losing my cool. Sure, I will have a day where I too am cranky, and then maybe I will yell at my child, but I try my hardest to have less of those days and more of the patient ones. It is a practice and I have to work at it all the time, not just starting on New Years Day and then watch the gumption of my declaration fade out slowly over the next month or maybe two.

That is my advice on New Year’s resolutions. You don’t have to take it. We are all different. That is just my view from my life experiences.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas or any holiday you celebrate. I love this time of year because it is all about family. That is what is important, focusing on your loved ones. We did that to the nth degree in our home. I hope New Year’s Eve and Day go wonderfully for everyone. I won’t be putting on a skimpy hot dress and hitting the town. I will curl up with my boys in our living room and spend it with them. That is perfect for me. I may even go out and get some party hats for the 3 of us to wear! Jack is a night owl and I bet, if we let him, he will make it until midnight!

What are your plans for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day? Do you go out? Or do you stay home with your family and celebrate from your living room like we are? Do you feel how I feel about resolutions?

Tags Christmas, holidays, life, life changes, New Year's, New Year's Day, New Year's Eve, resolutions

Categories Exercise, family, fitness, Healthy Living, Holidays, Jack, love, marriage, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, pilates, Pilates Mat, playtime, Running, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood, weight loss, weightloss, working out

2nd Christmas Cooler Than the 1st!

December 24, 2012 //

I am sitting here on my couch, sipping my coffee, listening to Christmas tunes, and reflecting on the past year. Mostly thinking about the difference between last Christmas and this current one. They have both been very happy and wonderful. I thought last year was the biggest Christmas of my life, Jack’s 1st Christmas! But I have to confess that this year has blown last year out of the water. I know there is a lot of focus and importance placed on that 1st Christmas, but I think this year is even better.

Jack won’t remember a thing from last year. Not one second. He couldn’t open gifts. He couldn’t enjoy much Christmas food. I was still nursing. He has just sort of started sleeping through the night, but it wasn’t like it is now. He was not walking or talking very much. A couple times he got frustrated with the whole gift opening process. I was hosting both days. I was exhausted, swamped, and Jack really did not know what was going on. We had a wonderful time. I was excited for Christmas morning. I took videos and photos galore. I threw all of my energies into it, like I did this year. BUT this year there is a twinkle in his eye. He talks about Santa. He can actually open all of his gifts. He knows what a gift is! He knows what snowmen, elves, snowflakes, trees, lights, and candy canes are. He begged us to go play in the snow the other day.

He insists that Santa, Ho Ho, will knocky on the door, when brings Jack’s toys. Yes he says, door, knocky, Ho-ho! It makes me laugh. I have been telling him that I think Santa will be sneakier than that.

I am so excited for Christmas morning that this past week has been dragging. I am done wrapping every single gift. I really have nothing left to do for Christmas. I have to go get some food this morning, but that is it! I cannot wait for tomorrow morning. As a matter of fact I gave him one of his gifts last night. I really wanted to open it and play with it.

It is so different than last year. I see this joy in his face when he talks about all of the Christmas things. He gets excited. He wants to play with all of the ornaments on the Christmas tree. You know what, I let him. We have had a couple casualties, but mostly he only gets the shatter proof ones. I know that I am probably awful for thinking his 2nd Christmas is way cooler than his 1st, but hands down, it is. Seeing the Christmas joy in your child’s face and eyes makes such a huge difference. I imagine Christmas from here on out will be similar to this. Maybe each year topping the last. As he comprehends the world more and more.

Christmas in my house was always magical. Always. My mom went out of her way to decorate our home and our tree. I remember coming down in the morning to huge piles of gifts. Were they always super huge? Probably not, but to a child, any pile looks big. My mom always did the best with what we had for Christmas. I do not remember a non magical Christmas. Filled with lights, a tree, Christmas cheer, family parties, Christmas songs, and warm love. I have distinct memories of just the Christmas lights on in the evening as we all hung out, watching Tv or whatever. To this day I still love having only the glow of Christmas lights filling a room. I told my mom this year my passion for making Christmas so magical for Jack comes from what she always did for us. She told me it made her cry happy tears. I know now why she did it all. I thought I knew last year, but I didn’t truly understand until I saw his little face light up when I told him noises from the chimney/fireplace were Santa doing a practice run. He said HO HO! And the next time it made noise, he shouted HO HO again, all on his own. If you ask him who is coming in a couple days, well one day now, he will say “Ho Ho!” Can I stress enough how much he is into Santa? I know i keep mentioning it, but it is so cute I can’t even handle it.

Here is a look at last year and this year. Well, this year not exactly, since I cannot post Christmas photos I have not taken, but it is close enough, since Christmas starts the day after Thanksgiving in this house. This year it started the day before because we were going out of town.

Last year Christmas Eve

My love and me on Christmas Eve last year

I took this the other day. This is one of his wonderment faces!

Loves the tree, lights, and ornaments

This was from celebrating Christmas with my inlaws last weekend. They went to SC this year to visit my sister inlaw. So we celebrated early

Merry Bearsmas. This was also our Christmas card photo!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve and Day! I hope both days are filled with love, family, joy, happiness, excitement, magic, and just peace. I hope you get an opportunity to see the wonderment in a child’s face that I know I will be completely absorbed in over these next two days. Merry Christmas!!!! Also, feel free to share your thoughts on Christmas getting more awesome as your child grows. I hope I am not the only mom who thinks the 2nd is way cooler than the 1st! 😉

Tags children, Christmas, dad, family, happiness, holidays, life, magical, mom, parenthood, Santa, toddler, toddlers

Categories family, Healthy Living, Holidays, Jack, love, marriage, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood

Pretty the Elf update

December 22, 2012 //

Pretty the Elf has been very busy since I last wrote about him. I have been having a blast with Elf on the Shelf. Jack is into it as well. He says ELLL for elf and always find him. If my scene falls down, he tells me immediately, so I can assist Elf back to his spot. Here is an update on Pretty’s or ELLL’s activities since I last posted about him. In all honesty, I came up with all of these ideas on my own. Somehow I pulled them out of my brain. I am still not sure what adventure he will have this morning. I felt that away a lot each morning. Then, I would be walking through the house and something would catch my eye, an idea would form. I am hoping that today the same thing happens. We only have a handful of days left. I would like to form all of my own ideas this year! No research necessary.

Peekaboo! I see you! Pretty/ELLL was playing hide and go seek

Rock climbing. This was a favorite of Jack’s. At one point the tape gave away and he fell. Suddenly Jack shouted “Mom help!!!” I came over.He followed up with “Elll fall down!” Then as I placed him back up there, Jack insisted I add more tape.

Jack had a cold, and pretty caught it. Poor elf.

He was having a healthy Sunday breakfast. No syrup and candy like Buddy the Elf

A little gardening

Candy Cane zip line adventures. Another favorite of Jack’s

Snowball fight!!!!!!

Ball pit. Jack’s loves ball pits. This was another favorite spot. He talked about this all day. At one point he stole some of the ornaments but left Pretty alone!

Reading Christmas cheer

So that is where I am as of yesterday morning. I have to come up with something fun for today. I have been glancing around my living room and Jack’s playroom as I sit here. No epiphany just yet. It will come at some point though. My favorite thing is when I ask him where the Elf is, he goes back to the exact previous spot from the day before. I love his memory!

Have you been doing Elf on the Shelf? What is your Elf’s name? Where do you get your ideas? Do your children enjoy it?

Tags children, Christmas, Creative, Elf on the Shelf, holidays, toddler

Categories Crafts, family, Holidays, Jack, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, playtime, preschool activities, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood

For Now

December 14, 2012 //

Last night Cadillac training began. I am going to be honest here. I nearly threw in the training towel yesterday. I almost decided that I don’t want to do Cadillac training. We are done with Mat and Reformer. I was feeling satisfied with that. I have this immense passion for Mat work.

My week has not been butterflies and rainbows. I have been in the toddler trenches this week. It has been a rough one. Jack is in this full on tantrum phase. Kicking, hitting, biting, pulling hair, etc. I have spoken to his nurses and pediatrician over two days this week.

My mat class didn’t get put on the schedule before the holidays. I was all ready for it to be added. Then it wasn’t. I am going to admit that I was/am very let down. I was very amped up to teach this. I had a class prepared. I found out the day before it was supposed to occur that it wasn’t going to happen.

Both of those were going on at once. I wasn’t feeling very awesome. I had not much left to give to anyone. I was worn out, exhausted, and feeling a little defeated. Ok, very defeated.

Two things happened:

A dear friend could tell that something was off with me. I didn’t quite broadcast how miserable I was feeling about everything going on, but she read between the lines of a Facebook status. I wasn’t posting one of those annoying passive aggressive ones. I was very straightforward. I wrote about how Jack kicked me in the face during a fit. I know you shouldn’t talk bad about your kids. I wasn’t really. I actually made a sarcastic joke about it. Tied it into him securing his reign as an only child, that he was dedicated to this mission. Usually my updates about him tend to only be positive. So much so that a lot of people don’t believe that he ever cries. I have tried to keep that close to the vest. But when a kid kicks you in the eye, with a shoe on, sometimes it is better to post a status about it than take that aggression out on your kid. It takes unreal levels of patience to not flip out on a child that does that to you. You can’t do it back, I mean if anyone else in this world kicked me in the eye, I don’t think my only reaction would be to post a sarcastic Facebook status! That is the cold hard truth. They would have been kicked back. I don’t believe in kicking my child though, much to his relief, I am sure. (there I go again, being a smart ass)

She knew that I could probably use an email. I am so thankful for her and for that. Over a couple emails I vented all of my toddler frustrations. She has a 1 year old. She is heading down the same road I am in the middle of. She reassured me I don’t suck as a mom and that this too will pass.

I also talked to Jason about stopping where I am with my training. I told him I didn’t even feel like going to class last night. He kept saying that I should just get certified in this, even if I don’t feel like teaching it daily, it is better to have it in my pocket. I begrudgingly went to class. I decided I would go last night, see how I feel, and then make my decision.

I walked in the door after class, swallowed my pride, and said to my husband, “Thank you for making me go to class tonight. I really like the work on the Cadillac. I am going to stick with it.” It is difficult for either of us to say things like that. We are both incredibly stubborn. I knew he deserved to know the truth and the credit for encouraging me. He also had a smart ass remark. We are quite the pair over here. Our life together is never boring. But we did hug. I told him to not be a smart ass and take the compliment with grace. Not one second later, Jack realized I was home and started running and exclaiming MOM MOM and telling me about everything, Car race, Mater, Lightning KACHOW!! etc. I covered his cheeks with kisses. We had a lovely rest of the evening.

And suddenly. I was back. I had one day to feel utterly sorry for myself. We are allowed that kind of day once in a while. When all the crap seems to hit you at once. It happens. We are human after all. Yesterday was better than the day before that, and today is already better than yesterday. Yesterday I was feeling better about coping with toddler tantrums, today I am feeling better about completing my teacher training.

The thing is, everyone gets stressed during this time. Most say it is because of the holidays. For me, the holidays had nothing to do with it. My Christmas is ready to go. Everyone’s gifts are bought and if they have arrived (I ordered every gift online) they are wrapped. I know what we are doing for Christmas eve dinner. I know what is going on Christmas Day. Think family morning/afternoon. Then an ugly Christmas sweater party at my aunt’s in the evening. I have started bedazzling my already ugly Christmas sweater AND vest. I am at peace with the holidays. This stress came from every day, no escaping it after January 1st, events. That is life though. Always there. But once that stress subsides and you kiss chubby toddler cheeks, hug your sarcastic husband, and everything falls back into place. (For now!)

Categories Exercise, family, fitness, Healthy Living, Holidays, Jack, love, marriage, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, pilates, playtime, preschool activities, Reformer, Teaching, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood, working out

Elf on the Shelf: Creative Edition

December 12, 2012 //

I couldn’t resist. I could not contain my creative gene any longer. I did so for about 3 days and then I was plum out of uncreative ideas for Pretty the Elf! I have done it again, balls to the wall, with my creative ideas.

My husband is calling them my miniatures. And I think he is slightly disturbed by them. HA! Well not overly, since before he left this morning he added a little something extra to today’s scene. More on that later. For now, here are my 3 latest Elf on the Shelf ideas.

Date with the blonde

Ok Blondie here was one of two choices. I happen to have two of my old barbies here. The other is brunette. I went with the blonde because she fit in this truck better. They are at the Drive-In. Watching the latest Santa flick. It is a Rom-Com. Naturally, a great date movie. Don’t worry though, Pretty is not tied down to one gal just yet. He has a date with the Brunette later this week. This was Monday’s miniature.

Bros night

He had to decompress from his date. He needed some solid bro time. Playing cards, enjoying some beverages, and some eats. It was a long night. Blue monster over there won this hand. He had a full house. Notice the dollar bill? That wasn’t me. My husband left that there before he went to work this morning. This was this morning’s miniature. Tuesday.

Pilates

He had to work off last nights spirits and food. He is doing an Open Leg Rocker. I also built a mini reformer. I did not have enough regular sized legos to build the Reformer to scale. It bothered me a little, but I let it slide. It does have straps and ropes even! I would have put him on the Reformer if he wasn’t astronomically too large for it! the duplos would not have worked, since they don’t have any pieces thin enough for the footbar, shoulder rests, or risers! I had to work with what I had.

You will notice he also has a Magic Circle, a small ball, and a large ball. All for possible variations. He also chose a scenic location for his practice. By the gifts and the lit up tree. This is for tomorrow morning, Wednesday. I normally have been sharing my Elf photos in the morning the day of. I haven’t even shared this last one on Facebook yet! Aren’t you lucky to get a sneak peak, 😉 ha! I am just trying to only post one Elf photo a day, and that way I can look back at the dates as a reference if I ever need that for some reason. I was bursting to share this one though. So I had to post it somehow.

So far, Jack has been amazing with not touching the Elf. Sometimes he wants the other parts of the scene, like on Monday he wanted some of his cars. Since he is just shy of 2, I let him have those parts if he really insists. But he leaves Pretty alone! He does enjoy looking at them and talking about what is going on in them.

Categories family, Holidays, Jack, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, pilates, Pilates Mat, playtime, preschool activities, Reformer, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood

Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town

December 10, 2012 //

My favorite kind of days are the days where it is just my husband, my son, and me. We don’t have those days often anymore. Weekdays don’t really count for that. Jason gets home around 6. I am here if I don’t have class, but it is the evening. Dinner is being rushed because sometimes Jack is cranky around dinnertime.

What I am talking about is an entire day, usually meaning a Saturday or Sunday, where we have nothing specific to do. We have no guests coming by, we do not have a party to go to, major errands to run, house shopping to do, etc. Those are rare days lately. Between house shopping, which Sundays are our free day to do that, my classes, and family obligations, we rarely come across an entire free day. Yesterday was an exception. We had nowhere to be. We could take our time in the morning, we could go about things as we saw fit.

Jason and I decided it would be a good day to go see Santa. When Jack first woke up I asked him if he wanted to see Santa. He said, “no. Milky.” I asked several times, he always said no. He did, however, want some milk. I told Jason about it. He even tried asking Jack. No no no. So we were maybe going to let it be. After he got some good milk drinking in I decided to ask again. His answer was different. Off to see Santa it was.

We didn’t go to a big mall. We did that last year and we were in line for two hours. I am serious. I knew there was no way he was staying in line for two hours this year. It would have been a nightmare. Thankfully our local Patch wrote an article about where you could see Santa in the area. We found the perfect place. We waited in line for 5 minutes, only one family ahead of us. There were no fees to take a photo. You could take your own! What?!?! They usually charge an arm and a leg at the mall, at least last year it was very expensive where we went. Santa asked me first if Jack was hesitant about Santa. I said we will see, I am not sure. He never cried but got a certain distance away from Santa and stopped. Santa said, “How about we do this. Mom you hold him and Dad will take a photo. Dad then you hold him and Mom will take a photo.” He really did not want Jack to cry. How neat! Halfway through Jason taking photos another family walked up. Santa then recruited them to take a family photo of us instead of switching out. No tears at all! We got a lovely family photo with Santa.

He even gave Jack a certificate that he is on the nice list. My husband was blown away by Santa’s handwriting He couldn’t stop talking about it. Santa must know calligraphy very well. All in all it was a perfect trip. I cannot give enough praise to this location.

waiting for Santa

Had to show Santa his cars, of course!

Family

good list

We were able to take our time yesterday. It was nice that it was just the three of us having a nice family day together. In this busy world those can become rare. I know next weekend we are swamped! This week we are swamped. Starting with swim lessons this morning. It is not that we don’t like having things to do and people to visit. We obviously enjoy it, since most of our time is consumed by that. However, sometimes you need those family unit days. To take a step back and just spend time together. You don’t even have to leave the house. If it were not Christmas time we may have hung out at home having a jammy day. Maybe we would have gone to the Children’s Museum, but it doesn’t matter what we did, all that matters was the time we had together as a family.

So here is to the beginning of a super busy week, as usual! I am glad we slowed down a little yesterday and just enjoyed time together. My husband and I even did something we rarely do these days, caught up on a TV show together! We had only watched the first episode of Homeland this season. We watched several yesterday.

Do you savor just “family-time” days? Do they occur regularly or are the more infrequent? What is your ideal family time day?

Categories family, Holidays, Jack, love, marriage, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood

Elf on the Shelf

December 8, 2012 //

I decided to start Elf on the Shelf this year. At first I was skeptical. I have been seeing all the ideas online since before last Christmas. I kind of thought the elf was creepy looking. At one point I remember even showing Jason a photo and saying, “this is a cute idea but this elf is super creepy.” He agreed. I thought about substituting the elf for something else, a snowman perhaps.

Then I looked into it a little more. I found out that it has a lovely book that comes with it explaining the elf. I looked at several sites with all the cute ideas. Slowly, I started to become sold on the idea. I purchased the set on Amazon around Thanksgiving time. Last Sunday I opened him up. I read the story to Jack. He LOVED it. He loves books. He has this deep passion for books and for reading. It makes me so happy, he gets that from me. I still read every single day. I get lost in books at night before bed.

I realized that we have to name the elf. I was not sure what to do about that. I did not want to name him myself, this is Jack’s elf. He is just shy of two years old but he is very verbal. We asked him what the Elf’s name was. His reply? “Pretty!” At first we thought, well we won’t give him a name then, let Jack try again next year. I thought about it though, and after some suggestions that we keep it Pretty, I have decided to indeed keep the elf’s name.

Introducing Pretty the elf!

I haven’t gotten overly creative this year, so far, at least. I think I am keeping it simple. He is not even 2, so I don’t know that he would appreciate over the top scenarios.

I am just happy about the following:

He understands who Santa is. He will say “ho, ho!” If you mention Santa. When I told him about Pretty after he found it the first day, I said he goes to the North Pole and lets Santa know that you are a good boy. Jack cut me off and said “HO HO!”
If I ask him to find the elf in the morning, he knows what I am talking about and starts to look for it. He actually heads back to the last area Pretty was hanging out. But I gently guide him to explore other parts of the house.
He listens when I say he cannot touch the elf. I explained that he has to leave the elf alone. He did not touch him once. Two days so far, Pretty was in reach of his little hands, and there Pretty stayed, untouched, all day and night.
He asks me to read the Elf on the Shelf book often.

I think next year I will step up the creative game. He will understand it even more and he will be familiar with this concept. Sometimes, simple is good. I am a creative person by nature. I always go balls to the wall, excuse my phrase, but really it is true, when it comes to creative things. Jason says I put too much pressure on myself, but I use my above term to describe myself. I put all of my energies into creative tasks. It could get out of hand. But when your only child is not yet 2 years old, simplicity is sometimes the best route.

I am still deciding where Pretty will go today. I will likely be gone when Jack wakes up. Today is a class day for me. I already went over the details of finding Pretty with Jason. I will let him know the location before I go. I still think he is kind of creepy looking, but he is also beginning to grow on me. I think….

Categories family, Holidays, Jack, Momommahood, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, playtime, preschool activities, toddler, Toddler activities, toddlerhood

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