The New Museum

While Lainey was in town we kept a pretty packed agenda. We always say, 'next trip we are going to relax at the house.' And then the next trip comes and we find ourselves going from ballet, to the museum, to lunch and to Grapevine to ride trains. All in one day.

Saturday morning after the Santa Ballet Disaster, we drove downtown to the new Perot Museum of Nature and Science. Greg and I were eager to check it out and were excited to use our new family membership (an early Christmas gift). The museum is huge and they encourage you to start at the top and work your way down. Since the Children's Museum is on the bottom, and the most outspoken member of our group is 2, we decided to start there.

I think Kennedy could have played there all day long and is already asking to go back. They have a lot of fun pretend-play type areas set up: farmers market, campgrounds, downtown Dallas, a flower stand, etc. It was not very crowded and she got to move from activity to activity as she pleased. There is a water feature (turned off, thank goodness) and a sand box (she doesn't need to know that exists yet) so we made it out of there clean and dry.

We did get through a handful of exhibits and she loved seeing the dinosaur and astronomy exhibits. I could tell everyone was starting to get a little hungry so we decided to save the other exhibits for a different day. The museum cafe was packed, so we walked across the street to El Fenix for a super-average Mexican food lunch. There is still so much more to explore and I can't wait to go back again and again!

Kennedy and Lainey. 

Exploring the Downtown Dallas climbing area. 

Got a shopping list and a tote, time to buy some fresh foodies. 

About as close to camping as we will probably get. 

Picking flowers and setting up a display. 

Favorite Things

Last week my friend Caroline hosted a happy hour gift exchange and the theme was Favorite Things. Everyone was asked to bring a Favorite Thing, unwrapped and three of the same thing. When everyone arrived at the party they put their name on three slips of paper and dropped them into the hat. One at a time, each person introduced their Favorite Thing and picked three names from the hat, passing out their gift to those guests. At the end of the party, everyone left with three fun gifts.

All the ladies also brought a salty or sweet treat to share and Caroline had some sparkly Christmas cocktails. The kids were there as well and had a great time playing on the patio, pulling every toy out of the playroom and dancing on the coffee table. They all played so nicely together and the mommies got to enjoy their treats and gifts.

As for my favorite thing, I brought Benefit they're real! mascara and left with two pair of Nothing Bundt Cakes and a Thermos water bottle. It was so much fun...maybe we should do an exchange like this more often.

Good eats and treats. 

Party kids. 

Favorite Things (l to r): Bath and Body Works lotion and candle, Sugar lip balm, Benefit mascara, OPI nail polish, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Cupcake wine, Burts Bees lip balm, Trader Joe's wine, Thermos water bottle. 

Happy ladies at happy hour. 

Foiled By Santa

On Saturday morning we went to the Y for Cookies with Santa and Kennedy's Christmas ballet performance. I knew we would be avoiding Santa like the plague, but figured we could get in, do the dance, have a cookie and leave with out having to get too close to the man in red. The little girls have been working on their dance for the past few weeks, and given the hilarity of the shoulder shrugging at Halloween, I was dying to see what they had in store for Christmas. We got her dressed in a fuzzy snowflake dress and ballet shoes and she sat still while I curled her hair. She was excited to be dressed like a Winter Fairy (we're really into Tinkerbell). Greg, my mom and I had great seats and Kennedy was beyond excited to see us in the front. She kept pointing and yelling, "there's my mommy! my daddy is here!" 

She went from smiles to frowns in seconds at the announcement that Santa would be there for the performance. For some reason, the woman behind the mic decided it would be a good idea to bring out Santa for all the 2 and 3 years olds to dance in front of. Has she ever been around 2 year olds? They were all terrified. At the mere mention of Santa, panic filled the room. When she saw him round the corner she bailed on the whole thing and ran to my mom. The show pretty much derailed and more little girls were crying than not. We stayed to watch her little friends and have a cookie, but Kennedy did not want to stand by herself knowing Santa was roaming freely in the building. I don't think this will be our year for a Smiling On Santa's Lap Picture. 

Pointing out her fan club. 

Whaaaat? Did you say Santa? 

No. No. No. 

Enjoying a cookie while keeping her eye on Santa behind her. 

Lainey, the Winter Fairy and Mommy. 

Gingerbread House

We have lots of fun Christmassy things planned while Lainey is in town visiting. Today we made a visit to Northpark Mall (a standard stop when Lainey is in town) and came home to build a gingerbread house. Kennedy was so excited when we got all the supplies (out of the box) and set out on the table. I mean, there were M&M's involved. But what my mom and I didn't realize was how long the icing needed to set before we could decorate it. Plan B: glue gun. 

We glued the house together and it was ready to frost and decorate in minutes. Kennedy concentrated so hard while she lined up all the little candy decorations on the roof. Then it was my turn to pipe on some shingles and snow. And then I got a little carried away. Kennedy helped me with the scalloping and I can tell she is going to be a natural with a piping bag. She was was really proud of her house and it will be a challenge to keep her from plucking off the candies.

 Kennedy and Lainey decorating the house. 

I could not keep those little hands out of the candy supply. 

Kennedy's Grauntie sent some special snowman cookies with Lainey. 

Kennedy's house. 

Little lady and her house. 

Christmas Crafting

Kennedy and I had some of her friends over for a Christmas craft and some snacks yesterday. We had felt stockings to decorate with poms, jewels, stickers and glitter letters. When clean up time came, I was happy to see that the coloring and stickers landed only on paper (for the most part). I was really glad I taped down a cheapy-cheap table cover because it made cleaning up all those little sparkly things super easy. I may start putting those down on Kennedy's craft table so I don't have to go through as many Magic Erasers.

I made a festive Christmas tree fruit platter, courtesy of Pinerest and had a few other little treats for them. Once they were done with lunch and their craft, they all wanted to go outside and play. The backyard swing became a hot commodity, so to relieve tensions in the group, we loaded them in the wagon and walked over to the neighborhood park. Of course they all still wanted the exact same swing at the park, go figure, but there was more space for them to run around. All this fun and excitement completely wore out Kennedy and she napped for a good portion of the afternoon.

Only a handful of quarrels over the (pretend) toaster and swing, no markers on my furniture, and a long nap from Kennedy. I'd call it a success.

 Crafties. 

Lunch bunch. 

I swear they were having fun despite their serious little faces. 

Christmas Decorating

"I'm decorating!" This is one of Kennedy's new favorite sayings. And she is often referring to the tree we put up in her playroom. It was our little tree from NYC and is the perfect size for her room. Ornaments on. Ornaments off. Repeat. I don't mind letting her play with this one because the ornaments are shatterproof, and it keeps her sticky little fingers off the real ornaments on the real tree.

She did "help" us put the lights on the real tree, but when it was time to put all our schmancy ornaments on, I had Greg take her outside to play. She thinks they are all her babies, and after we broke Cinderella 2 hours after bringing her home from the store, I decided to keep anything of interest out of her line of sight. Its better she can't see the little bride and groom from our wedding, or stork from her first Christmas, or sub-sammich that Greg picked out last year. 

We are starting a couple new traditions I am excited about: a Christmas village and Elf on the Shelf. My mom always had a village for me and my brothers and I loved getting it out every year. My mom sent us our first piece and I can't wait to add to it over the years with Kennedy. She loves looking at it and has done a really good job of looking with her eyes, and not her hands. We also introduced Kennedy to Waffles, her special Christmas Elf. She has fun looking for him in the morning and talks to him throughout the day. I may or may not be getting more enjoyment out of this little game. At 11:30 last night I was far too tired to load the dishwasher, but not too tired to sew him some custom bedding complete with a pillow and box-pleats. 

We have so many fun activities and parties leading up to Christmas. We haven't braved seeing Santa in person yet after last year's episode, but maybe in a few weeks we will give it a go. 

Kennedy and mommy decorating. Coincidently, we are both wearing flannel. 

Garland on the mantel, first piece of our village and our cute stockings. 

 Meet Waffles. 

The Tree. Its real and it smells amazing.