kiddywampus and school christmas party

fortunately because natalie is in the afternoon session at school, sometimes we have playdates beforehand. 

for some reason natalie was in a FOUL mood this morning.

i don't think she smiled the entire time we were at kiddywampus.

i guess i knew the moods would come but this young surprises me!

poor daschle was so excited to see her and i don't think she acknowledged him once.

he is so confused by her!

she still managed to produce a beautiful snowman though.

from the art studio we went to her preschool for her christmas party where thankfully she was a real sweetheart. she was very proud of her room and friends and she sang all the words to all the christmas songs!

we made an ornament craft with baby Jesus as a peanut!

extremely belated 10 on 10 :: december (which is now 21 on 10,11.12)

i was so excited when i saw that december 10th (my 10 on 10) would fall on the day i was meeting my KC girlfriends in des moines which is half way for all of us. i had envisioned my day of ten perfectly documented, fun pictures including me getting away as a free woman and also each of my friend's surprised faces as i took their picture right when we saw each other. as always, it didn't go as planned but a month later, here is my chronicle of our girls' weekend!

saying good-bye to my hero hubby who was letting me get away for 48 hours and my precious girl who i need a break from but would desperately miss!

on the road to des moines! (i got teased about taking a "get away" to iowa but the truth is, when you're with good friends, it doesn't matter WHERE you are!)

lunch at mcdonald's - not exciting but whatev.

i was ahead of schedule so i got to stop at the outlet mall on my way!

no picture of my friends' faces upon arrival but hooray for cute slippers that wendy brought for all of us!

we got all our christmas shopping done!

cheersing to our girls' weekend with wine and sparkling cranberry juice! woohoo!

modeling jeggings. there is NO embroidering on these pants!!! it's seriously like they xeroxed a copy of real fabric onto these stretch pants. we were dying. and notice they were modeled AFTER the wine!!

nicole and i

wendy and christy!

kari, you were missed :(

nicole found these rubber sticky fingers in my purse. i use them for turning magazine pages. doesn't everyone?!

then we all took out the random things we carry in our bags. you could play I SPY with this variety.

seriously though, that is some RANDOM stuff!
 skateboard, stapler, jumbo calculator, padlock, severed spiderman, koozie, batteries, nasal aspirator, ear buds, dinosaur, doll comb, glue stick...we are prepared!

don't you love laughter pictures?! christy has the best laugh!

stocking stuffer?! okay! no seriously...

so...i hadn't mentioned that the forecast was actually terrible for this weekend and we may or may not have been forewarned not to travel. this was the view out our window. i know it's not a great picture but the point is that the weather was BAD. the orange lights belong to a semi.

christy getting her eyebrows plucked by yours truly, the salon professional, the aesthetician, the daring friend christy trusts coming near her with a sharp object!

breakfast at perkins

and then what naturally happens after breakfast at perkins!!!

notice that i'm not in the stalls...i wish i could be included in all that bowel movement fun! is that tmi?

our fabulous weekend came to an end but this is what the roads looked like for me who needed to head back up  north.

the roads were closed and travel not advised. minneapolis got 17 inches of snow and the metrodome roof collapsed. my friends left and i stayed one more night. the next day the roads were better but still REALLY icy. there were cars all over the place in ditches and on the side of the road. i saw the woman in front of me spin off the road into the ravine and a few miles later i saw a guy in a ditch banging his steering wheel so it must have just happened to him too. it was a slow, white knuckled drive and i'm so thankful we all got home safe and sound. even though we had a  blast and none of us regret our trip, we're really glad that we have an excuse for a future trip to a WARM destination!!!
this is what the parking lots looked like around town:

santa lucia - festival of lights

The festival of Santa Lucia begins before dawn, on December 13th, traditionally the longest night of the year. Throughout Sweden, the oldest daughter in each household comes to her sleeping parents, dressed in a long white gown tied with a red sash, and wearing a crown of lingonberry leaves and candles. In her hands she carries a tray of coffee and bread. The procession includes her sisters and brothers also dressed in white, holding lighted candles, and singing of the light and joy of Christmas. Awakened by the lights and the singing, the parents arise and eat the breakfast served, thus ushering in the Christmas season.

 After the Lucia portion of the program, they did traditional folk dancing!

hockey

now that we are minnesotans, i think hockey is going to become much more a part of our lives. i wish it were surfing or sunbathing but when in rome, right?! we went to our friends' son's high school game and he's not only the captain, he spends the most time in the penalty box. 
growing up, i actually went to quite a few LA kings games and loved luc robitaille. that was also when gretzky was the man. so i am a hockey fan, it just never crossed my mind that i would be considering signing my three year old up for this sport.

we asked natalie if she wanted to play hockey and she said yes.

then she said, "but i forgot to ask santa for skates." 

crack me up

natalie dressed her baby in a sock. what a great idea! personally, it looks super comfortable and like the perfect swaddle.

santa visit

on saturday we went to the 8th floor of macy's downtown for their display "a day in the life of an elf."

natalie was very excited to go see santa.

but when she saw him she got totally freaked out and froze.

wouldn't you if santa had those choppers?!

she had a really hard time smiling. she kind of looks like she's going to be sick. i can even see the discomfort in her legs. poor thing.

she asked for a kitty piano and a dora toothbrush.

it was sweet though, she did find comfort in feeling his white jacket trim. in the picture they santa's elf took, she has a firm grip on that part of his costume.

she loved writing him a letter.

and i loved watching her write it. too precious. her hands. adore.

she was very proud that she could stand the paper up all by itself.

and mail it!

a cookie from mrs. claus' bakery!

 

unfortunately the threats of santa watching to see if she's naughty or nice aren't working. she rolls her eyes (oh yes she can) and snickers at the idea that he can see her when he's not here.

i said he's magic! he sends elves! i can write him a letter!

"nah, mom. he doesn't know."