Christmas Train.

Last night we went to the Christmas Train at the Irvine Park Railroad. Irvine Park is a regional park near our house that has all kinds of fun stuff for families to do - bike rentals, paddle boat rentals, train rides, pony rides, hiking, etc. We took our family photos last year at Irvine Park.

I also went for a walk around the park and took a trip to the Orange County Zoo (inside the park) with my friend Kim and her daughter, Lily, back in August. But what I most want to do is to go back when it gets warmer and do some of the other activities, especially the bike rental! I'm sure I would regret it immediately because it is probably a lot of work, but doesn't it look so fun??

via Irvine Park Railroad

The event that we went to was the Christmas train that they have during the holidays. I first learned about it when we went to the Pumpkin Patch at Irvine Park back in October. They light the whole park with lights and decorate the train and have Christmas-y activities for the kids. When I heard about it, I knew I wanted to go. I bought tickets for the train for last night and when we got there, I was surprised to see it so empty for a Friday. That being said, I didn't complain! We walked right up to quite a few activities including cookie decorating. We were also able to board the train earlier than our allotted time. Overall, it was a fun night! I am a sucker for the beautiful lights and loved seeing the place so festive and decorated.

Mom...who is this guy??? 

Mason actually did pretty good with Santa. It was his second experience with him though I don't think he even knew what was going on last year. He was ok with him at first, look at him confused, look at us confused, and then started crying. I secretly wanted to get a picture of him bawling, sitting on Santa's lap but instead Seth went to get him. #momoftheyear

We had such a good time and hope to see the train and Santa again next year!

Five on Friday | Mason's wish list

This week's Five on Friday is all about Mason's wish list Mommy's gift list for Mason for Christmas!

ONE.

Little People Wheelies Loops n' Swoops Amusement Park.

Little People Wheelies Loops n' Swoops Amusement Park

Little People Wheelies DC Super Friends Batman

I get emails every so often from Fisher Price and recently I've become obsessed with their Little People line and their Wheelies line. Combine the two and I am one happy momma! I found an amazing deal on this little gem a couple months ago and knew I had to get it for Mason for Christmas. {I actually wanted to give it to him the moment it arrived, but I used some restraint lol}. I can't wait to see his sweet face the first time the cars go zooming around that loop! And seriously, how cute is Batman??

TWO.

Little People Sounds Fun Farm

Little People Sounds Fun Farm

Again, the obsession continues. Rumor has it that Auntie Rose might be getting this for Mason! And if he's super lucky... this and this too!

Little People Farm Tractor and Trailer

Little People Pond and Pig Pen

THREE.

Little Blue Truck and Red Truck.

via

via

While I love all those toys, I don't think you should only give a child toys. I try to have a diverse group of gifts so they serve many functions. I'm a believer in the "Four Gift Rule" and these books were just too cute to pass up!

FOUR.

Clothes.

top left // top right

bottom left // bottom right

I'm a sucker for a good deal and for cute clothes. When I found out I was having a boy, I was kind of disappointed because I thought boy clothes were not as cute as girl clothes. But boy (no pun intended) was I wrong! I am loving dressing Mason just as much as I'm loving buying clothes for my nieces. I found these items on Old Navy on sale and just had to scoop them up. I had actually previously bought them in his current sizes but love them so much that when they went on sale, I had to buy them a size up to give Mason for Christmas. Hey, when you find something good, you gotta stick with it!

FIVE.

Cup with Straw.

Jake and the Neverland Pirates Tumbler with Straw

Mason is OBSESSED with my plastic Starbucks cup with a straw. I was carrying him and it out to the car the other morning to head to daycare when I turn to grab my keys and turn back and he is drinking my water out of my cup. Whenever he sees it sitting on the table, he grabs it as well. I'm sure he will still only want to drink out of my cup, but I thought this cup was super cute and would match mommy's well and for $4.00, I couldn't beat the price!

Linking up with The Good Life, Carolina Charm, A. Liz Adventures, and Hello Happiness.

Friend Christmas Dinner and Recipe Share

Every year our friends have a get together around the holidays. The past couple of years we have done a friends-giving and a Christmas dinner but this year because of how busy we all were, we decided to just have a friends Christmas dinner. With the help of our good friend Vickie, Seth and I hosted the dinner at our condo. If you've ever been to our condo, you know it's not very big, but we had 11 people here and it was perfect. Seth's mom watched Mason so it could be an adult only party and we moved all of Mason's big toys upstairs and organized the rest of the toys so they were off the floor. I never knew how much room we had! The toys take up quite a lot of room on the floor and though it doesn't seem cramped, it is crowded.

Vickie, Seth, and I started cooking around 9:30am. Vickie and I started by making our desserts - Vickie made an apple pie (from scratch!) and I made mini pumpkin pies. Pumpkin pie is one of my favorite desserts (Costco seriously has THE BEST pumpkin pie!) and I thought it would be fun to make individual, mini ones. (Recipe below). After we made our desserts, I'll be honest, Vickie pretty much did a whole ton of cooking. She is amazing at cooking so she took the lead. We started prepping appetizers and went to pick up the ham. And then at 3:30pm all of our friends came over! It was a really fun night!

The menu included :

Appetizers

Pepperoni Bread

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Onion Dip and Chips

Cheese and Crackers

Main Course

Prime Rib

Honey Baked Ham

Mashed Potatoes

Sweet Potato Souffle

Macaroni Pie

Broccoli, Corn, and Zucchini

Rolls

Dessert

Mini Pumpkin Pies

Apple Pie

Ice Cream

Whip Cream (for topping)

Drinks

Champagne Sangria Punch

Sangria (made by Velina)

Wine

Seven and Seven's

Here were my contributions :

Recipe here

(I realized after I made them that we accidentally got pumpkin

instead of pumpkin pie mix. This made it a bit bitter and not so sweet.

I recommend double checking before purchasing!)

 

Not bad for my first time :)

Recipe here

Enjoy!

Dear Mason. Love Santa.

Mason got a letter in the mail last week... and it just so happened to be from Santa! While he is obviously too young to understand what getting mail is all about, the excitement on his face when I showed him the letter showed me that he understood to some extent.

Like last year, this year I ordered a letter from Santa. [You can see last year's post here]. The letter is from ezsantaletters.com and it really is as easy as it sounds. I chose Santa Letter - For a Younger Child (like last year though I chose a different paper this year) and then customized it to fit Mason. I honestly thought he wouldn't understand what I was saying when I told him he got a letter from Santa but then I showed it to him and his face lit up!

You can also order a phone call from Santa to be delivered on Christmas Eve (I believe)! I haven't done that yet because Mason is definitely too young for that but my sister-in-law had a Santa call for my niece Emma last year and she loved it! She was so excited that Santa was calling her! 

I highly recommend checking it out - www.ezsantaletters.com !