Last. Events. Must. Rest.

I planned, a little while back, to have a Christmas cookie decorating party and an outdoor viewing of The Grinch for Maddie and the other kiddos in our lives. GREAT time, bad timing. I have been a bit ambitious in my ability to do, well, much of anything. I kept it simple and the kids seemed to really enjoy it!

 I

 Maddie and Bella played big sister to baby Stella...it was cute!

 We have this projector so we aimed it at the house, set up some chairs, ate our cookies and enjoyed the movie! Definitely wanna make this a tradition!

 Last night, my close friends and I met for our annual Girls' Christmas Dinner at Bonefish. It was great but I was fighting a sinus infection and certainly missed enjoying the Pomegranate Martini! Next year....

I think I am sticking a fork in the Christmas activities....I am D-O-N-E. Elfie will continue his antics (albeit simple ones) and of  course we will gladly welcome the jolly red-suited fella but besides that, nada.

 Ugh...pregnancy brain! Almost forgot about Bella's Christmas Pageant at school! So cute...she was an angel. 

Where there are dresses, there will be curtsy-ing and spinning....

 We adults had a hard time keeping straight faces for half of the show. If you watch the kids individually, they are all doing some random thing they shouldn't be. So funny!

She did great...looking forward to Maddie's next week. If it's this hilarious with 5 year olds, I am gonna lose it with three's! 

Santa's a busy man....

We have had a couple Santa visits already (hey, I have a feeling my physical state is only going to deteriorate more than it already has!). First, Garret's former school, Bishop Verot, had a Family Night, complete with carolers, artificial snow, craft stations and the big guy himself!

 Maddie made her first Gingerbread house. She loved it (art project, candy....what's not to love?!)! We attempted to get creative with the "shingles" but it didn't quite work. I think it's pretty darn cute anyway!

 Of course Elfie is still up to his shenanigans...

 Next Santa sighting: Bass Pro Shops

 The girls were so excited (and looked ADORBS)

 Maddie rattled off her list: Dreamlight, cars and a puppy. One of those is likely not gonna happen :) I'm sure Santa will make it up to her....

 She also composed a list....juuuust in case he didn't hear her.

 Our last Christmas as a family of three.....*sigh*

Last but certainly not least...Caleb's Crusade's 2nd Annual Breakfast With Santa! I mean 3 Santa visits under 2 weeks?? They musta been really good this year (wink, wink)!

And....The ever-expanding belly :) It's insane.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention (mostly because  I'm making a conscious effort not to complain, since that's all I seem to be doing these days :), I am on "chair rest", meaning I have to remain seated/laying as much as possible because of pre-term contractions. Ugh. This is nearly impossible for a Type-A busy body like myself. My boss, knowing this about me, found the best possible solution.

Let the Holiday festivities begin!!

It has begun....the weekend after Thanksgiving, I tend to just get nuts (as do many of us self-proclaimed "Christmas Freaks"). I struggled this year with the tree. I LOVE a real tree. I LOVE to even chop down my own if geographically possible buuuuut.....it is not to be here. And while I lovingly tend to my tree, every year the thing looks dead by Christmas. So. For the first time in years. We got a fake tree. Ugh. And to make matters worse, we had a pretty limited budget so our choices were, um, slim. It turned out pretty cute despite it's Charlie Brown beginnings and it will stay "fresh" all season. And the evergreen scented candles allllllllmost makes me forget...

Garret's "job": lights, star, FSU ornament....

 Maddie made a few ornaments all by herself!

It blows my mind how much this precious hand has grown!

Not too awful...no wading through several feet of snow, chopping down and celebrating with hot cocoa...but it'll do!

And, super excited about this (more so than Maddie, I think)....ELFIE'S BACK!

 These are his first few nights with us....many more to come! 

 And, last but not least...some exterior decorating as well! Good job, hubby!!

As done as it's gonna be!

I think the Fall Bucket List is as far to completion as I can muster or our geographical area allows. As expected, some were difficult just for the plain fact that we live in Florida...land of the perpetual Summer. There is no Fall. No multi-colored leaves, no apple orchards....but I made due and had fun doing it!

 I marked off baking pies but forgot to take pics of the pumpkin pie I made on Thanksgiving....from scratch no less.  My word will just have to do on this one. 

I did, however, come across these pretty silk leaves for super cheap and figured a photoshoot in leaves could, ney would happen! Maddie even smiled and looked into the camera...simultaneously (collective gasp inserted here).

I also did alot of this:

 Not exactly caramel apples but I went through a large container of the Marzetti's caramel dip pretty swiftly, so I'm counting it!

And finally, a "nature hike" at a little park by our house. I only had my phone so the pics aren't great but the girls had fun exploring...nevermind the dead raccoon and sleeping bum on a bench.

It has been fun but I am now ready for the CHRISTMAS festivities!!  Here's to hoping I can muster the energy before this baby arrives!!