we end up doing all sorts of fun activities and it just adds so much joy to the season!
some people might feel overwhelmed at the prospect of keeping up with all the joy, sparkle, and fun of the season but i find that being busy and on the go such a part of the season. don’t get me wrong…i love having slow days and catch up days and days where you don’t have a million places to be but i also try to be smart, efficient, and effective with my time and learn to say no when it’s too much.
with that said, here are a few snippets of some of the fun we had this past december!
G I N G E R B R E A D H O U S E
every year we create a gingerbread house. olive loves to decorate it and ellie likes to eat all the candies. LOL next year, i am going to try to create my own from scratch. well not from scratch scratch but i saw, this past season, a house made from graham crackers and all the fun trimmings and i think i might try that next year! i’ve gotten the same house for olive a couple years in a row and i am hoping to find a different one for her to make next year!
gingerbread trimmingsthis pretty much sums up all our projects. olive working hard and ellie watching and eating candy. LOLolive very cautiously putting on the candiesmy sweeties
S A N T A
in awe over mr. and mrs. clausI always say 4 is the magic number when it comes to santa! the sweetest letter that olive wrote to santa. i asked her what she wanted from santa and she said this. be still my heart.
D R I V E I N T H E A T R E
Z O O L I G H T S
a fun rainbow globe of lights having fun in the rainbow globe of lights having a blast with val
C O O K I E D E C O R A T I N G
excited to decorate!
R A N D O M S H E N A N I G A N S
painting animlas she cracks me up. showing off to me how focused she is. ellie working hard on her gorillahome baked cookies for the neighborshome from school, ugly sweater day, and ready for winter break!
i follow waterlemon on instagram…and you should too!
when they posted they were having a halloween bash earlier in october…i was game! it sounded like so much fun! they have the most beautiful play area and it was going to be filled with crafty fun, cupcake decorating, and more! what a great event for the kiddos!
this was the night ellie told me NO to her monarch butterfly costume. i was so bummed! i had purchased two matching costumes for the girls and they both agreed that they wanted to be monarch butterflies specifically but ellie threw a wrench in that idea! no matter…they both ended up looking so cute in their gear.
the weather was terrible…the sky opened up and it would not stop raining. no. actually it would not stop pouring buckets of water from the sky. hc pulled up to the shop and i quickly dragged both girls out of the car, one by one, to the safety of the awning by the door. we walked inside and we were immediately greeted by nina!
she is just a ball of energy! i love her enthusiasm, kindness, and love for what she does. we hugged as it was the first time we were meeting in person after all the emails and text exchanges we have had!
olive and ellie got right into it. we first took photos and then the girls were super excited to get crafty. they both looooooove to paint, so painting the {what olive calls it} ‘haunted’ house was so much fun for them! once they finished up the house, they were super excited to hit up the play area. olive was a bit bummed that the slides and upper play house area was closed off but nevertheless, my positive girl said it didn’t matter and that she had so much fun anyways!
two funny things happened and they happened with the two same boys who were dressed up as doctors to each of my girls. so, olive saw the grocery store area and lit up. she took a few minutes and rearranged allllllll the products on the shelves {hellooooo, just like mama}, and became excited at the prospect of selling food items to anyone in need. olive stood at the counter and in a slightly loud voice, says, “who needs to buy?”. naturally i decided to play along and said, “i’ll take a banana and…” while she handed me a shopping basket and i was picking out my items, olive went to grab the register scanner. before her little fingers could reach the scanner, the two boys ran over and snatched it out of her reach. oh em gee. LOL what i love so much about my girl is that she is so sweet! her eyes bugged out and she looked at me with the biggest smile and said, “uh oh!”. i started laughing and we both laughed that she no longer had a scanner. oh my girl…she spent so many minutes organizing the store and then ended up not being able to play along without the scanner. no matter. she moved onto something else and continued to have fun!
while i was watching olive, ellie caught the corner of my eye. she was surrounded by the two boys who were examining her. ahhhhhahaha! it was so funny to watch. there was ellie, standing there just staring at the two boys dressed as doctors. they decided to check on ellie to make sure she was ok. they check her heart with the stethoscope and used the grocery store scanner to make sure her arms and head were ok. all the while, ellie just stood there a bit amused and confused on what these two boys were doing to her. oh kids! they are so funny! always fun and entertaining.
after they were in the play area for a bit, we decided to call it quits and head out to dinner as their bedtime is the main reason we do everything so early now! hahaha! we gathered them together and in the process, we were lucky enough to snatch yummy cupcakes to go. i gave nina a hug goodbye and thanked her for hosting an amazing halloween party for the kids! it was so much fun – so unique and festive and perfect.
[these babes…so adorable]
[the most amazing halloween decor everrrrrr]
[learning to work together and painting a ‘haunted’ house]
so i discovered a place in downtown lagrange that i absolutely loooooove! it’s a place called waterlemon and it is such an amazing concept, it makes you think…why didn’t i do that cause i, 100%, have thought about it but have never green lighted it. so here we are, at a place where dreams do come true!
we trekked there on a rainy day…a perfect place to go to with the kiddos when it’s not nice out but quite surprisingly, we were basically the only ones there that afternoon!
i was in picture heaven. the decor, the design, the colors felt like a dream come true. aesthetically right up my alley and i was loving every detail. once we walked inside, the girls were so delighted! it was, actually, very nice that we had the space to ourselves. the girls were having a grand ol’ time, and thuy and i chillaxed in the dining area.
i had called the store before we went to make sure the play area was available. i briefly read the website but didn’t read it throughly. i, honestly, didn’t think i needed to. when i called the store, the girl on the phone didn’t mention the need for socks, etc. we have never been there before, so i was unaware of their rules/policies for the play space. once we arrived, we were told the rules of the play area and i was taken aback that we needed socks {the no shoe policy i totally understand…and that’s easy. just take off your shoes} but we had to buy socks and honestly, i would have rather brought our own socks. now, they didn’t charge much for the socks but the fact that i called ahead to get all my ducks in a row and the employee didn’t mention the socks irked me a bit.
that was the only thing that bothered me but overall, it was a wonderful experience. it was clean, organized, and everyone who worked there was super friendly and nice. it’s a play area for kids 5 and under. i’ll be super bummed once olive passes that age because olive and ellie play so well together and i can’t imagine taking ellie there without olive, when she turns six later on this year.
thuy and i became hungry and i knew the girls needed to eat something, so i ran over to a local eatery called owl and lark and ordered meals to go. i loved that they allow you to bring food from the outside…so awesome because we really wanted food.
after hours of play {we were there for, maybe, three hours}, in-between eating and snacking, we finally rounded them up but not without a final treat. the girl behind the counter offered the mini cupcakes complimentary and the girls gobbled them up! of course we cleaned up after ourselves, wiped the table down {cause we’re like that}, threw away our garbage, and the girls played so neatly that the toys were not out of place {LOL…that’s the way they are at home!}.
i purchased the cutest rainbow wall hang and olive declared this shop the best place ever! she said, “they have toys, a play area, snacks and drinks! it has EVERYTHING a kid needs!” hahaha! legit…she totally said that.
well, our time at waterlemon was super successful! i highly recommend this retail/play area to our chicago and suburb mamas out there! your kids will love it and moms {and dads}, you will love the concept, the coffee, and the merchandise! just don’t forget to bring your own skid free socks! ha!
[the cutest window display]
[i love balloons. arches. anything]
[everything was so darn pretty]
[i wanted to steal it all. LOL]
[such a beautiful play area]
[it’s just sunshine and rainbows inside…my kind of world]
[hi ellie]
[the cutest little play area for the young babes! it’s enclosed so they can’t escape. LOL]
[oh ya know…just camping]
[everywhere i turned…it was instatastic]
[my kind of message]
[just chilling in a cool corner]
[cute corners everywhere!]
[the cutest selection of clothes]
[my heaven for party planning!]
[super auntie thuy hanging out]
[they – usually – play so sweet together]
[hello?]
[how are you?]
[oh, that’s good to hear. LOL]
[coffee corner]
[food is ready]
[so much fun!]
[hungry like a wolf. haha]
[food and coffee from owl and lark]
[avo bagel]
[complimentary mini cupcakes]
[olive loved the treat!]
[cutest wooden flatware]
[we bought the rainbow wall hang! perfect for olive’s room!]
