Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend. Ours is full of fun parties. Tonight we are having the annual Hoffman/Peterson Christmas party at mom and dad's. It is an ugly sweater party this year. It should be a hoot. I love that we all get together every year to celebrate together.

Tomorrow we will be heading to church in the afternoon and having a fondue supper with Nick's mom and dad. I am hosting this year so I am so excited to be home and get everything ready.

Sunday we will head to my parents again after we open everything Santa brings. I love our tradition with my family on Christmas. It is chaotic with all the kids but that is what it is all about. Mom makes great food and we all just hang out all day.

Watch out on Monday for the Peterson girls as they do their annual trip to get the after Christmas deals. It is so much fun!! I LOVE it and can't wait for it again this year. It sounds like it might just be me, mom and Ali but it will still be a blast. We get up way early and head to Caribou for coffee and a light breakfast. Then off to all the stores to get the deals.

Monday is also Emma's birthday. I can't believe she is going to be 6! Where does the time go? We will be having a small birthday party for her Monday evening and then her friend party will be in January after things slow down some.

We sure planned a lot around Christmas but it is so fitting. It is my favorite holiday and I just love to enjoy it as long as possible. Our wedding anniversary is the 27th so we will sneak in a supper somewhere and enjoy some peace and quiet.

After all of this I might get to sleep on Wednesday...OH WAIT...I have 3 weddings to bake and deliver to for New Years!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! Cheers!

Birthdays, Christmas and Football

We had a great weekend with the Otto's. Friday night we celebrated Emma and Helena's birthdays. They both have December birthdays. Helena was born on Christmas day and Emma was born the day after. It was so fun to have a party for them that was separate from Christmas! Saturday we celebrated Christmas. We got out to the lake around 11am and opened presents right away. The kids can't wait too long. We stayed all day and had such a great time. Lydia, Helena and Juliet have grown so much since this summer. It was so great to see them and spend some time with them. Juliet is such a great baby and I LOVED being able to snuggle with her. Here are some pictures from our weekend:



Today Nick and I went to the Saints vs Vikings game. It was so great to have time with just my hubby! We had a great day and the Saints won.....YIPEE! I am a huges Saints fan so it was so much fun for me. Sorry Vikes but you suck! ;)

Fabulous Friday

I am so glad it is Friday and I have my orders done! I get to enjoy the weekend with my family. We are celebrating Christmas with the Otto's this weekend. Zak, Susan and the girls are coming and we can't wait to see them.

Charlie had his Christmas program Wednesday and Braeden has his this afternoon. I run around like a chicken with my head cut off most of the time. I don't know if I am coming or going most days. Then you throw in swimming, dance, CCD, deliveries, baking and just life. Phew...so glad I have this weekend off. My hubby is taking me to the New Orleans Saints vs. Vikings game on Sunday! I CAN'T WAIT! New Orleans Saints is my favorite team. We have great seats. Nick has his Vikes jersey and I am all set with my Drew Brees jersey. It will be so much fun. Plus, it is a date in the afternoon.

Here are some pictures from Charlie's Christmas program. He is quite shy and self conscious because of his speech. He didn't sing a tune but sure enjoyed looking at the floor, jumping off the risers, dinging with his pants and doing his typical fold my arms and pout face. Oh the joys of a 3 year old. I am so glad I have pictures to show his kids some day. HAHA!!

I CAN SEE!!

Today I went to another follow up appointment for my right eye. My doctor is very nice and attentive to my wants. He remembered I wanted contacts before Christmas. My wish was granted and he had me fitted for a new contact today! It is a miracle. I almost was dizzy getting use to seeing clearly out of my eye again. I now have a astigmatism but WHO CARES I can see! That is my theory on just about everything that has to do with my right eye. I am reminded every time I go in that I am very lucky to have vision in that eye. I won't be able to focus on things up close. He said reading could be difficult. I guess I will just close my eye and use my left eye. Ah...the simple things in life that we all take for granted!

Elf on the Shelf

Jackson the Elf showed up Friday after Thanksgiving. I believe Braeden has figured out the whole magic of Christmas but wants Santa to still be real. He drops hints but then desperately grasps to the magic again. The kids love finding Jackson every morning. My crazy pinterest addiction saw someone that had their Elf bring the kids breakfast. WHAT A GREAT IDEA!



When Nick and I were Christmas shopping Friday I gathered up all the fun new placemats, plates, cups and pencils because the kids hoped to get new pencils from Santa. We had the kids make sure their Christmas lists were completed by Saturday. Braeden has continued to add to his list and didn't want me to mail it. We placed them in an envelope and left them for the elf to deliver. Sunday morning the elf, Jackson, brought breakfast and all the new Christmas stuff.

Lesson learned

My heart aches today. Being a mom is hard. You get pulled from so many directions and miss little things that mean the world to your kids. Today we pull up to church for CCD. I notice there is a lot more cars than normal but played it off as a meeting or some other function at church. It is that time of year for functions. I pull around the corner and see other parents walking into church with their kids bring plates of goodies. I parked and observed. Then I saw Braeden run across the street to the church instead of the school. I decided to investigate. I went in and saw a big crowd in the church but no kids. I went to the basement to find all the kids getting dressed up into pageant gear. :( I found Braeden and asked what was going on. He said "it is my Christmas Pageant today." Why didn't you tell me? I didn't know it was today. My heart was broken. I babysit a little baby who was not in any condition to sit through church today. She is 4 months old and very hungry. Emma has dance at 5:30 so we have to get her supper and ready while B is at CCD. Wednesday is a CRAZY day at the Otto house! I walked out of church almost in tears. I hate missing things!! I called Nick and he couldn't leave work and said exactly what I did, why didn't we know about this?. Braeden got home from CCD and cleaned out the back seat of Nick's car. Low and behold there was a paper that read "ATTENTION PARENTS". Ahhhh this is why we miss things! Lesson learned...bring in your papers so we can know what is going on!! He said it was okay we missed this one because he knows we won't miss his concert at school next week. At least he was understanding...and he said "mom it is okay because I still got cookies." PRIORITIES ;)

Christmas Shopping

We had a fabulous weekend! I LOVE this time of year and love it more when I can soak it all in. Friday Nick's parents took the kids overnight so we could get all our Christmas shopping done. Nick and I haven't had a date night in awhile or been able to shop like this for the kids in forever! We headed to Olive Garden to have a few drinks and a light supper. We got the lists out and made a plan. It was a smart way to start because we were then on the same page. After a fabulous supper we headed to the mall. It was so much fun and we got almost everything done. My husband even bought me a new winter jacket! YEAH!! My zipper broke on my jacket last winter and I never got a new jacket so it was a long time coming!! Our last stop is always Target because we know that is where we will be getting the majority of the kids gifts. It was a blast! After shopping we headed to Charley's Restaurant for a few drinks and to unwind from all the shopping. I haven't had that much fun in a long time so it was very much needed.

Saturday we geared up to head to the Peterson Christmas Party in Vadnais Heights (St. Paul) area. We were suppose to get a few inches of snow but no big deal we were still heading up. It started snowing when we left town and just got worse as we kept going. We were going to pick up Sean in Shakopee so he could head up with his cousins. Graham was working and Patsy would be all by herself with 3 boys so she opted to stay home. The twins are VERY busy and in to everything. Home is just a safer more relaxing place for them. By the time we got to Patsy's we decided it was best to just head back home because the roads were crappy and everyone was going very slow. We stopped quick for pit stop then headed back home. A trip that should've taken 45 minutes took us almost 2 hours. We made the right choice but we were sure bummed missing all the relatives again this year. We will try again next year. We just spent a quiet evening at home instead.

Yesterday the kids enjoyed playing outside in the snow. Charlie is definitely more of an outdoor kid than the other too. He would've stayed out there all night but we finally had to bring him in when it was getting dark out. I love this time of year but only enjoy the snow until after the holidays. Then I wish it would get warm again. The temps are dropping so I don't think warm will be here for a LONG time.