Mom's Weekend Away

I have just returned home from three days away spent in Suncadia at my friend Christina's lovely vacation home with my dear Mom friends.  This trip was significant in so many ways, it was my first time ever away from Sydney overnight, my first trip away with my beloved group of Moms and a much needed chance to relax and recharge my battery!

We left early Friday morning after dropping Sydney at school for the day and drove straight to the Seattle Premium Outlets for a little shopping to start the day off.  I have had a lot of pent up shopping energy for the outlets in the past few years so I hit them hard coming away with a bag stuffed with goodies from Coach, a Kate Spade handbag, Le Crueset dutch oven, Michael Kors clothes and various other goodies.  I literally could hardly carry all of my bags back to the car!

From there we headed to Bellevue Square for a quick peek then on to Issaquah to Trader Joe's and Target.

Our car was packed to the gills with our purchases, it was awesome!

We arrived at Suncadia around dinner time and settled in while Christina made us a gorgeous dinner of risotto and salad which we enjoyed with a few bottles of wine.

We sat up late that night chatting and setting up a beautiful fifteen foot Christmas tree in Christina's front living room.

It was so strange waking up the next morning to a perfectly quiet house.  We lounged around in our pajamas until well after noon after enjoying the most delicious homemade pizza that Sally made.  We then headed to the Glade Springs Spa for a delightful afternoon of massages, salt water soaks and relaxing in their sanctuary.  It was pure bliss!

We literally floated out of the spa to arrive back home to meet our friend Erin who was only able to join us for one night away.

We munched on appies and drank some wine and enjoyed a visit before heading to the Stillwater Creek Winery for an amazing dinner together.

Sunday brought us an early morning soak in the hot tub before we packed our bags up and drove back to the city.  I felt like a new woman!  What a difference a short break can make!

It was such a joy to return home to Paul and Syd.  They did very well on their own, Sydney was a very good girl for Daddy and he managed to keep her busy enough to keep her mind off the fact that Mommy wasn't around.

I brought Sydney a very special present from the Disney outlet store, a 'Brave' doll and nightie.  She was over the moon!

Today we enjoyed a very special Christmas luncheon hosted by Sarah and Emma along with our friends Mel and Logan and Louise and Sophie.

Sarah had her house decorated so beautifully and even had Christmas crackers out for each of us.  It was so lovely!

We enjoyed a fantastic visit together and the kids did a little gift exchange.  Syd got a pair of sparkly slippers from Emma and a beautiful beaded bracelet from Sophie.

It has been a lovely few days of connecting with my friends in a warm and festive way.

Eight Night

So last night we finished up a lovely Hanukkah celebration by lighting the eighth candle.  I was feeling a bit weary all day as my friend Lori and I had decided to do a Christmas baking night together the night before and baked until the wee hours of the morning.  We worked like machines and had a great productive time, but boy we were both feeling it the next day!

Sydney was so excited to light all the candles in the menorah.  I really love that she's lighting the candles herself this year and knows the blessing off by heart.

I ordered Sydney a wooden Kidkraft Hanukkah set this year hoping that it would arrive in time for Hanukkah.  Wouldn't you know it but it arrived on the very last day!  She enjoyed it never the less but I can't wait for next year when she can add candles herself to her very own personal menorah!

My friend Lori sent me home with a special little gift for Syd, a magnetic storyboard.  She was so happy to see something waiting for her on the counter when she came downstairs in the morning.  I've tucked it away for the plane ride to Maui coming up very shortly!

Her final present was a bag stuffed with handmade butterfly princess costume gear.  A dress, hat, wand and head band.  She looked so sweet in it and Daddy "flew" her all around the house wearing her new dress up stuff.

What a wonderful celebration it was, so many lovely memories with my sweet girl.

Paul brought home another great treat today from the office, a beautiful huge edible arrangement!  We so enjoyed snacking on the fruit, especially the chocolate covered strawberries and apples.  What a nice fresh treat on a frosty December day!

I am off to Suncadia for the weekend tomorrow with some of my Mom friends, my first time ever away from Sydney overnight!  Am so excited to have some time with my Moms and to relax and recharge my battery!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Monday and Tuesday

Every day this month seems to be filled with fun traditions, events, connecting with people I love and general merriment.  It's a nice time of year for all sorts of reasons!  I am trying to be ever so mindful to enjoy the sweet moments when they present themselves in this whirlwind that they call December. 

Here's a few special moments from the past few days:

Delivery Day

I spent the morning on Monday driving all over the city delivering baskets and gifts to all of the referral sources for Paul's office.  It's a yearly tradition that I always look forward to.  I load my car up like Santa's sleigh and, on the first business day of December, head out to play Santa.  It was so fun seeing people's eyes light up when I gave them their gifts and enjoying all of the amazing holiday displays at the office buildings downtown.

Hanukkah Nights 6 & 7

Sydney continues to belt out the blessing and light the candles on her own, she has really owned Hanukkah this year!  Night number six brought a new doll from Pottery Barn Kids and night seven a set of giant Magformers which she was most excited about!  It was very cool to see her build structures with them immediately.

Playdate with Noa

This afternoon Syd's friend Noa came over after school for a play.  The girls collectively worked to create a beautiful painted masterpiece on a canvas that we sent home with Noa to hang in the bedroom of her brand new house that her family is just moving into!

Gifts Galore

Everyday Paul comes home from the office with another lovely gift from a colleague.  Was most excited to get a box of David's Holiday Tea collection!

Merry Merry!

Welcome December!

It is December 1st.  There is something about the shift from November to December that makes me want to soak in all of the fun and festive times around.  It is always so busy this time of year but I can't tell you how much I enjoy connecting with friends and making merry wherever we go!

This weekend was filled with much fun!  Early Saturday morning Sydney and I hit up the annual Dunbar Craft Fair at the Dunbar Community Centre.  I always enjoy this fair and seeing the same locals selling their handmade fare.  As always, we got ourselves some great things.  I got a hand knit winter hat and scarf for myself and a pile of pottery from a local potter that she was blowing out.

We could have stayed all day but had to fly through the hundreds of tables to get to book club on time early Saturday afternoon.  We snuggled up at Christianne's Lyceum for the last book club of the year on a rainy Saturday afternoon.  Christianne read books based on the theme of friendship and the sometimes tumultuous times that friends can have.

We finished off the afternoon by making friendship pins as our craft, one for Sydney and one for Mommy.  We are, after all, best friends as Sydney always says!

We had a couple of hours to rest up before we headed off to Sydney's buddy Leo's house for their annual Hanukkah party.

What a great party it was!  The food was amazing, brisket, chicken, hot and cold appetizers galore, latkes and fresh fruit and veggies along with an amazing assortment of sweets for dessert.  Marcy definitely knows how to do good food!

We had so much fun visiting with a few of the families from preschool, Marcy's family and friends that I have met through her.

We lit the menorahs together, Marcy gave each of the children a chance to light one candle using the shammash.  Sydney was so proud of herself as she lit one all on her own!  Love the menorahs that her kids have with their names spelled out in blocks!

In fact, tonight she decided that she wanted to light all five candles herself so, with a little help from Daddy, she did and had a huge smile on her face the whole time!

She got a very cool gift tonight, a Barbie doll from the Dolls of the World collection, a Canadian Mountie in a full serge!  Love it!

Last night she got a purse and change purse set, a girl can never have too many!  It was a special night too because it was the fourth night for our four year old girl.  She brought over her number 4 birthday balloon for the pictures.

This morning we went to Christmas brunch at Christina and Ryan's house with the Dunbar families.  What a lovely time we had visiting together and enjoying some special food.

Christina did a special story time with the kids.

And the kids did some crafts:

Then we piled all their gifts on the dining room table for them to take home with them!

Sydney couldn't resist ripping into hers when we got home!  She got some very cute stuff from her friends!

We polished off this weekend by going to see Disney on Ice this afternoon.  What an amazing show it was!  I don't know who enjoyed it more, Sydney or me!

Happy to see December here!