Our Christmas Eve

Ez hamming it up while road-tripping.

We're back! We spent the last 5 days visiting family and friends in Modesto. I thought maybe I'd try to post a few blogs while I was there, but obviously that didn't happen. We were so busy visiting everyone and soaking up the company that there wasn't time for bloggy stuff. In other words, it was exactly the way Christmas should be ;)  Expect several posts about our trip this week, because we did way too much to cram it all into one post. We'll start with Christmas Eve.

For as long as I can remember, with the exception of last year when Joe had to work, I've spent Christmas Eve with my mom's side of the family at my aunt's house. Joe got lucky this year and he only has to work from home from Christmas Eve through January 5th, so bright and early (or actually, just early, since the sun wasn't up yet) we hit the road, grabbed breakfast, and made the 6 hour road trip up to Modesto. Ez slept most of the way, and aside from one little fussy period when we stopped at Target for snacks and cheap toys, Ez did great. I bought him a 5 pack of mini-tractors and just handed them back to him one at a time as he got restless. That entertained him for a good two hours. $5 very well spent.

We arrived before noon, and Joe stuck around the hotel to do some work while Ez and I went to my parents house to help make sugar cookies. One of my favorite Christmas traditions - so yummy!

That evening we all packed ourselves into two cars and headed over to my aunt's house. There are a lot of cousins, so it's always a full house and a ton of fun. This was Ez and Joe's first time going, and since Ez is the only little kid in the family at the moment, he got spoiled BIG TIME. He got a rocking giraffe, a motorized Lightning McQueen, a Go Go Smart Wheels, and several other toys. He loved sitting in his shiny new Lightning McQueen and ripping out the steering wheel, which we couldn't figure out how to attach correctly. After a few rounds of laughs when he grabbed the steering wheel, waved it in the air, and demanded that Grampa re-attach it, he decided that was the funnest game of the night and proceeded to do it over and over. And over. Whatever keeps him happy, right?

We stayed until 11 pm, and of course Ez fell asleep as soon as his head hit the carseat. There's nothing cuter than an exhausted baby in Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve:

Last Weekend Before Christmas - Eek!

To be honest, I do feel fairly ready for Christmas. Presents are wrapped. Packages have been sent. We even had our first family celebration of the season last night (more on that later). But it's still hard to believe this month has come and gone so quickly, and that it's practically 2015. 

One thing that I've never done before that I see all over Pinterest and blogs is a Christmas-themed breakfast. Last year around this time Ezzy was barely eating solids, so there wasn't really any need to go all out for breakfast since Joe and I aren't really on the same eating schedules (he's up before the crack of dawn, and I prefer my sleep). This year I made Joe wait to eat, got up before Ez, and made a crescent roll Christmas wreath (stuffed with eggs, cheese, and fake bacon, and topped with guacamole and cherry tomatoes - recipe here), a strawberry banana "candy cane", tater tots, and I attempted to make these festive shaped pancakes, but after the first batch burnt and stuck to the cookie cutters, I decided to just add Christmas sprinkles to the batter, make mini pancakes, and call it a day. Nobody seemed to mind that they weren't shaped like little Christmas trees.

After breakfast we took a walk to the park:

That evening we decided we still hadn't had enough holiday lights (you may remember we went last weekend as well), and found a few new places that we may just add to our annual tradition. One of them was way out in Woodland Hills, but it was cool because there were about 4 blocks of houses that were decorated and the whole experience was more like a Christmas festival than your run of the mill holiday light tour. There were churro and funnel cake carts, hot chocolate, and cars and people everywhere. We decided to walk instead of dealing with the crazy traffic. Ez loved every minute of it because there were both cars AND Christmas lights. A combo that can't be beat. 

Thomas the Train was a huge hit with the kiddos.

On Saturday afternoon Ez went to his first Christmas party! There were two other toddler a little older than him, and three tiny babies. Lisa, who hosted the party, used to be a preschool teacher and she had a ton of fun crafts planned. In a two hour span the kids painted, made hand print ornaments, played with playdough, and made little easter egg/bean maracas. Ez loved each activity, and it made me realize maybe I'm slacking a little in the crafts department at home. He was so concentrated on his painting, and sorting the beans for the maracas kept him busy for the remainder of the party. I guess it really is the simple things, right?

As you can see, Ez wasn't a huge fan of the bounce house.

In case you weren't convinced, here he is trying to escape.

More in his element.

My little Picasso even painted his own face. I think it came out great :)

Play dough time!

Ez insisted on sitting in the bumbo seat.

We did a book exchange at the end. Of course Ez loved the wrapping paper most.

Obligatory end-of-party picture where none of the toddlers are looking in the same direction.

On Sunday evening we celebrated an early Christmas with Grandma Kat and Grandpa Brett. I'll save that for another post though, since there's already so much Christmasy stuff in this one ;)

Our Holiday Photos

I love seeing everyone's family photos this time of year, either on blogs or on the Christmas cards that are rolling in, so I thought I'd share ours as well.

We got our photos taken the Wednesday before Thanksgiving at JCP. They were having what they call a "gray Wednesday" sale and their photo cd, which is normally like $130, was on sale for $60. And then they sent me a $50 off coupon. Sold! The key with JCP is to go in there with a plan. We brought two outfits and went for one Christmas-y background and one wintery, because it just doesn't look right to have Santa hat photos up all year long. Also, don't be afraid to keep asking for more shots and poses. I think they allot like 20 minutes per session, but I say go over if you have to! They would have gladly stopped at 10 shots, and I just kept asking for more and more, until we wound up with almost 40. 40 digital shots at $10 I can live with. 10 shots at $130 is insane! Just sayin... So to sum it up, my number 1 tip when it comes to JCP photos is be a diva. They won't tell you no ;)

The cuteness. Seriously, I can't help but smile every time I look at this picture. 

And, because there are hardly any pictures of just Joe and me:

Also, you know I love my throwback photos, and this one's too cute not to re-share:

Ez's 1st Christmas!

So there you have! I think JCP does a good job, especially with babies/young kids. I much prefer natural outdoor settings, but sometimes timing and budget have to be factored in, and I'm very happy with the results.

Holiday Bucket List

I'm a little late to the game with this year's Christmas bucket list, since there's only 22 days until Christmas. 22 days, people!! Crazy. We've actually already done a few of these activities, so maybe, just maybe, we'll actually be able to squeeze in all the Christmas fun I'm imagining in my head. Joe and I are so excited to experience Christmas with Ez this year, now that he's mobile and aware of what's going on. He loved all the lights at Disneyland, so it'll be fun to get all bundled up, grab some hot cocoa, and walk around visiting all of our favorite neighborhood lights. I'm also interested to see how the tree fares with a toddler in the house. I'm guessing all the ornaments that I actually want to keep in one piece will go at the top of the tree this year ;)