Christmas Traditions

Every year, at this time of year, my mom, sister and I get together and have a marathon cookie baking day.  We picked a date and had one planned this year but the closer it got, the more that all 3 of us were dreading an entire day in the kitchen.  My sister had a great idea to switch it up.  As our Christmas gifts from her, she wanted to bring my mom and I to one of those trendy Paint Pub places.  She had done it with her husband and thought we would would enjoy it.

Boy, did we EVER!!!!

I don’t get out much (especially with BOTH my mom AND sister since they are my go-to babysitters) but this was definite a great reason to pay a sitter (my teeneage cousin, Gabby) $40 and escape for a few hours.

 

Here are our adventures:

 

Sadie working on her masterpiece.

 

Concentration.

 

TA-DA!!!!  Look at those paintings.

 

I am NOT a painter and was expecting disaster but was surprised at how much I enjoyed this and how well my painting actually turned out.  I might even find a place to hang it up in my house.

 

Of course, all that hard artistic work could not go unrewarded. 

 

We went to Osaka Hibachi Grill.  It was absolutely amazing food. What was even better was getting to spend some uninterrupted hours with the two most important ladies in my life.  It was exactly what I needed to recharge and get me through the home stretch of this holiday season.  It definitely beat baking all day.

Mommy's Night Out

On Saturday, Paul and I had our first night out and overnight away from Tanner. My mom watched him Saturday during the day til Sunday morning when we picked him up. We went to a Twins game @ Target Field with a big group of friends. There were 25 of us who had seats together (Only part of us made the pic..which BTW I LOVE). What a view huh? I had so much fun. We first went and had a BBQ on our friends rooftop patio which was only 4 blocks from the field. We walked to the game, had a blast, Twins won in extra innings, then we celebrated in Downtown Minneapolis. By midnight I was beat (not to mention I had more cocktails then I have had in about a year) and ready to walk back to the hotel Paul and I were staying at. Of course we had to stop for a slice of pizza on the way home. It reminded me so much of my college days. The line out the door of drunk people waiting for $5 a slice pizza. So funny. It was nice to sleep the whole night through and I slept in until 8:30!! It was definitely a great time but it made me realize we are a little to old to pump it up like we used to. Good thing these nights are now few and far between for me. I don't think I am fully recovered yet.

I thought it would be harder than it actually was to leave Tanner. Maybe I felt so comfortable because he was with my mom. Who is better to watch your own child than the woman who raised you, right? I do not feel like a bad Mom for not breaking down in tears or calling every half hour to check on him. I actually really enjoyed my time out. I was missing him by the time we were head home, of course, and had no shortage of telling people how darn cute and fabulous Tanner is. And thanks to our wonderfully funny and awesome friends Tanner has two new nicknames: T-Fred and Sir Fredrick. (Thanks James and Gary!!)

Our next Twins game is in July with my family. Tanner will get to enjoy that one with us and see Daddy's favorite team in action then!