Visiting Santa

I love going to this Winter Fest to meet Santa every year.  Yes, I know Connor is usually scared of Santa, but it makes for some great photos and they have some really fun activities for him.  I also love it because it's not overwhelming and filled with long lines and annoying people like most holiday activities these days. 

So in the morning, we told Connor the big news that we were going to see Santa.  Right away, we could tell he was nervous.  He loves the idea of Santa and Santa on tv, but I think he's starting to remember that he doesn't like him in person.  When we got there and he saw him behind some people, he started freaking out.  He actually did surprisingly well and tried to smile for the photo!

Caylee did awesome and looked all pretty in her Christmas dress and patent leather shoes!

To make it even worse, there was a Rudolph walking around and that just put him over the edge.  To be honest, the Rudolph did look pretty creepy.

Finally, we convinced him to pet Rudy's nose and give him a high five!  Now he keeps talking about how Rudolph gave him candy and he thinks they're friends :)

Caylee and Mama!

To make him feel better, we headed over to the cookie decorating room where Connor decorated his snowflake cookie.

Selfie just like we did last year

He put m&ms on his cookie (he called them buttons).

Yum!  And he only finished half, so the rest was mine!

Mini golfing for candy

Making a snowman

Mailing a letter to Santa

Slide!

Our Weekend

On Saturday morning, Connor had his first new sports class.  This one has more instruction and structure, so I'm excited to see how much he learns from it.  They're starting with soccer for a few weeks, then t-ball, and then basketball.

Their first lesson was dribbling

I ran back and forth between watching him and sitting by Caylee in the shade.  We had to do a quick outfit change from all her spit!

About halfway through, they learned how to trap the ball.

Right after class, we headed straight to Touch-a-Truck!  I was really excited for this because he's been so into trucks and vehicles recently, but all the people and loud noises really scared him.  He hardly wanted to leave our sides and wouldn't walk around at all.  This was pretty much all I could get him to do besides him begging to go home :(  To make him feel better, we stopped at the playground on our way out, but he fell and started bleeding from his lip and nose! Poor guy!

On Sunday, I took a risk and drove both kids to Toys R Us for a little fun at the store.  The plan was to exchange a couple of birthday toys and he could pick out a new Cars toy since he just watched the movie.  He buckled himself into the cart and then just wanted to play with toys I handed him and then had me put them back on the shelf.  He never really understood the fact that he could bring one home!  After awhile, I realized this was probably better, so I just picked out a couple things on my own and bought them with his merchandise credit.  Now he has a couple new toys when we need to pull something out for a special day!

This is how Caylee feels about football on Sundays...Me too.

Build a Bear

Another cold Saturday last weekend, so we decided to do something extra special with Connor.  He got a Build a Bear gift card for Christmas and it was the perfect day to use it.  I think he was a little overwhelmed when we first walked in, but he got excited when he saw all the stuffed animals.  He picked out a really soft doggy to build and we waited in line to get it stuffed.

A little hug for his new doggy before stuffing!

After he got stuffed, we gave him a bath and brushed his hair.

After much debate, he decided he wanted the dog to have a basketball more than he cared about any of the clothes.  We ended up going with a Bulls uniform that came with a basketball.  Connor probably loved making the birth certificate the most because we got to use a computer!

After bear making, we headed over to the play area and snacked on some Auntie Anne's pretzels.  Connor was awesome playing by himself without getting too clingy and scared!

Weekend Fun

I feel like our weekends aren't as crazy and fun anymore now that I'm sick and wanting to lay in bed all day.  I really try to still make them fun for Connor so we can enjoy some time together too.  Saturday morning, we opened up Connor's cleaning set that he got for his birthday.

He LOVES it!  He enjoys pushing it around and putting all the pieces on the cart.  He has also shown off his cleaning skills by "spraying" the doors and then scrubbing them with the sponge.

On Saturday morning, we went to the Home Depot Kids Workshop to build a boat.  He had so much fun building his boat with Daddy!

He kept saying, "Tools! Tools!"

When the boat was done, he held it tightly and walked around the store showing everyone what he made.  We also ordered blinds for the master, bathroom, and the playroom/new baby's room.

I got to rest a bit which was very nice and even Connor and Daddy stopped for a little snuggle on Saturday night!

On Sunday, Connor helped me finish up some crafts by sitting next to me in the dining room while I worked.  He took out his Elmo basket and rings and modeled them for me and I cut and glued by crafts.

Our Weekend

It was a low-key weekend at the T house for Labor Day this year.  I was still recovering, but I tried to stay upbeat for Connor and enjoy our 3 days off.  On Friday night, we went out for dinner to celebrate that I finally got my job title updated to reflect my job!  We ordered giant Blue Moons and Connor kept busy with his crayons.  Little lefty!

On Saturday morning, I woke up to Connor talking and singing in his bed.  I couldn't understand everything, but I clearly heard "Shopping cart...shopping cart..."  So cute!  To fulfill his wish, we went over to Menard's to pick up a few things.  He snacked on Cheerios while I browsed for some new plastic totes.

Our next stop was the Buffalo Grove Days Dog Show nearby.  I told Connor we were going to a "doggie party" so he shrieked we he got of the car and saw all the dogs!  It was hard to keep him still to watch the show, but we wandered around he got to pet some of the dogs.

We ended up at the playground just behind the dog show so we could play and watch at the same time.

My face here is horrible, but his eyelashes look so nice!

This silly guy has been taking the tops of the plastic totes we bought and putting them all over the kitchen floor.  I'm not sure what he thinks he should be doing with them, but it's pretty funny!