Christmas Advent Calendar, Day 14: Host a Holiday Party!

Months ago, when I told my friends I was expecting my second baby in November, one of their first questions were if I planned to host my annual holiday party. No lie. It's kind of become my thing - I'm the cookie party lady - and the holiday cookie party is something I really enjoy hosting every year. Could I pull it off mere weeks after having a baby? I wasn't sure ....

What started as a "holiday baking party" five years ago has transpired into a holiday cookie exchange we all look forward to attending. Year One and Two were a small group of women baking treats together. The third year, Andi and I hosted a couple's cookie exchange and last year was the grand-daddy party of them all, with 20 women and 25 kids in attendance. If I planned to host a holiday party this year, I knew I had to keep it simple for my own sanity. I just had a baby three weeks ago for goodness sake!

Simple meant I had to keep the party details small and easy. I made the difficult decision to only invite 10 people to the party this year. I felt a serious amount of guilt about this because there are so many people I wanted to celebrate with, but more people = more work and I just couldn't swing it. I also kept the menu simple (another hard-for-me part because I love to cook and bake at the holidays) with individual store-bought cheesecakes, Belgian chocolates, homemade biscotti and fruit.

This year's party theme was a "holiday tea" Christmas cookie exchange so I served peppermint, gingerbread spice and cranberry apple hot teas, coffee and mulled red wine. I also handmade the invitations to look like tea bags to correspond with the party theme.

I made this cranberry pistashio cookie recipe and there were many other delicious treats exchanged like molasses crinkles, reindeer sugar cookies, Russian tea cakes, and peppermint chocolate chip cookies to name a few. Surprisingly, no one brought peanut butter blossoms this year ... maybe it was because there were the most popular cookie at the exchange last year!

I was having so much fun chatting with all my girlfriends, I took zero pictures of actual people at the party. You'll just have to trust me when I say everyone had a fabulous time. I know I sure did.

Today, Tory and I boxed up all the cookies into Christmas tins and we're headed out into the neighborhood to spread holiday cheer by delivering them to the neighbors. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

Christmas Advent Calendar, Days 9-11: Loads of Baking

A whole lotta baking on the docket for this week's advent calendar activities. Andi was out of town Monday-Thursday for work, so it was perfect timing actually as it gave Tory and I something to occupy our time every afternoon. 

Monday, Day 9, we made Cranberry Pistashio cookies. I made these specifically to distribute at my holiday cookie party this year. The recipe couldn't have been simpler and the finished product is super tasty, especially if you're a pistashio-lover. 

Finding time to get back into the kitchen has its challenges with two little kids, but I'm proud if myself for making it happen. On this day, it broke my heart a little bit as Tory and I were baking. Aden started to cry and I told Tory I needed to take a break from baking to feed Aden. She started to fuss and said, "No, Mama! Make treats!" I apologized to her and rushed off to change Aden's diaper. When I came back, Tory had continued on without me, dumping an entire bag of Craisins onto the cutting board and the floor. How could I be angry though? If only I had another set of hands or the ability to be in two places at once. 

Gotta love her  "beautiful dress" and apron baking attire. 

On advent calendar Day 10, Tory and I made Cranberry Orange Biscotti, another recipe to serve at the holiday party on Saturday. I've never made biscotti before, but I love to eat it with a cup of coffee in the morning. This recipe was super simple to make as well and fortunately used a lot of the same ingredients as the Cranberry Orange cookies from the day before. 

On Wednesday, Day 11, Tory and I made homemade Chex Mix. It's my absolute favorite snack around the holidays. Lucky for my waist line, I ran out of Worchershire sauce so I only made two gallon-size Ziplock bags worth. I'm leaving town in six days anyway so that should last me until I get to parent's house and dig into my mom's stash!

Not even going to think about losing any baby weight until after the holidays with all these yummy treats in the mix. Too good to pass up!

Ten Things I Did to Prepare for Life With Two Kids

Aden's been in our lives for a few weeks now and I'm slowing adjusting to life with two kiddos. The thought of being alone with both Tory amd Aden felt overwhelming to me during pregnancy but now that it's happened, going about everyday life with both of them isn't as challenging as I thought it would be.

There were a few things I did pre-birth to help make the transition to life with two kids just a little easier on myself. I'm a Type-A personality, so I knew I had to plan and prepare wherever possible to save myself anguish down the road.

Here's a few things I did to help prepare for life with two:

1. I set goals for household "nesting" projects and stuck to it. I wanted the kid's playroom moved downstairs, the new baby's nursery completed and Tory transitioned to a big girl bed with a minimum thirty day cushion before Aden was born. The downstairs storage room needed a good cleaning, as the garage and the pantry closet by the front door. I know it wouldn't have been the end of the world if these projects weren't finished by the time Aden was born, but it would've nagged me until they were done. And, it was far easier to decorate and organize with one toddler vs. one toddler and a newborn baby.    
2. I prepped three month's worth of make-ahead freezer meals. I remember how difficult it was to find my way back to the kitchen after Tory was born, and I wanted to be more prepared this time around. Normally, I like to buy sustainable / organic foods for to prepare our meals, but I took the opportunity to shortcut and visited Let's Dish to pre-assemble meals at an in-store session. This method is typically more expensive than what I'd spend on groceries but the convenience was worth it. 
3. I use online grocery delivery. I'm lucky to have such a service available. It really isn't much more expensive than regular grocery store trips and for the convenience, I think it's justified. One of the local grocery stores also does car-side pick-up which I plan to utilize when I take two kids to the grocery store.
4. I hired a house cleaner.  I really struggled with this one initially because as a stay-at-home-mom and household manager, it feels like this is part of my job. But, it also stress me out to have a dirty house and with so many visitors and no time to clean up myself, I knew it'd help keep me sane. I know how fortunate I am to afford this luxury and I likely won't keep the cleaner forever, but to get me through the first few months of newborn life, it's worth it. 
5. I taught my toddler to be more independent. A few months before Aden was born, I worked with Tory on becoming more independent. I suppose it worked out well since most two-year-olds strive to do things themselves anyway, but I made a few simple arrangements to help the process. I bought a step stool and toilet ring so Tory could use the bathroom by herself. We worked on her pulling her own underwear up and down at the potty so I didn't have to be there to help every step of the way (though, truthfully, she's still not there completely with this one). I made a shelf with toddler-friendly snacks like applesauce packets, yogurt packets, packs of raisins and crackers. She can't open the snack containers on her own, but she can retrieve them and bring them for me to open. I also loaded up on adult-friendly snacks for me (granola bars, trail mix, etc.)
6. I loaded up on stamps. In the weeks prior to Aden's birth, I purchased several packs of postage stamps for the countless thank-you's to be sent to friends and family. Thank-you notes (and their timeliness) are something I feel very strong about, so I wanted to make sure I had everything on hand to offer my thanks to everyone who helped us in one way or another. 
7. I wrote a detailed daily activity list for Tory well in advance. Luckily, my in-laws are fairly familiar with Tory's schedule, so I didn't have to worry much about her day-to-day schedule in my absence. However, I still wrote out a detailed list of Tory's daily schedule, activities she's signed up for with addresses and phone numbers well in advance should they need a reference point. I suggested foods she liked (and made sure to have those things in house).
8. I told my friends and family exactly which baby items I needed. Not to sound too pushy, but with the second baby there were specific things I needed as gifts. For me, it was gender-specific outfits, bibs, socks and a new swing. I didn't want to be making trips to the store in the weeks after Aden's arrival or forced to launder the same three sleepers every few days, so I got specific to help others give gifts I needed most. I also borrowed extra newborn baby boy clothes from a friend, just to cover my bases. I wasn't sure what size Aden would be at birth, so I wanted to have plenty of clothes on hand in case he'd be wearing Size Newborn for a while.
9. I accepted help when it was offered. With Tory, I remember feeling guilty accepting help from others, and I even felt like my loved ones wouldn't be able to care for her as well as I could. This time, I know my trusted circle of friends and family are completely capable. If someone offers to help, I suggest something they can do (laundry, cook meals, clean up, play with Tory) and take advantage of their offer to let me spend some one-on-one time with my baby boy or even take a quick shower. I also forced myself to relax when it wasn't done just as I would've completed it. Help is help and so long as the task at hand is being completed, it's okay. No one will die if the dishwasher isn't loaded correctly or laundry is folded different than usual. 
10. I purchased and wrapped Christmas presents in October. Having a baby in mid-November, and at the beginning of the holiday season, could have been stressful. I'm a perfectionist by nature and I wanted to enjoy crafting and baking during the holiday season. So, I prepared as much as I could by shopping and wrapping beforehand. I also put up my Christmas decorations well before the Thanksgiving holiday arrived. It's taboo, I know, but I had the available time a few weeks ago and I don't exactly have it now. This leaves only baking and crafts to complete with Tory in December and I'm setting myself up with low expectations on what I'll complete so any fun family activity feels like a win. 

Christmas Advent Calendar, Day 8: Make a Gingerbread House

Blogging when I should be sleeping ... I'm solo parenting this week for the first time with two kids and man, it is exhausting. I'm hanging in there just fine; both kids have been really well behaved but it leaves little time for me to do things like eat and shower ... not to mention blog or heaven forbid, order my Christmas cards. Thankfully, my mother-in-law, Janie, stopped over a few times to help or I'd be one stinky / starving mess.

Before the days get away from me, I wanted to document one of this past weekend's Christmas advent calendar activities: making a gingerbread house. I'll admit I'm a bit of a novice gingerbread house maker as we never made them when I was a little kid. Last year's experience was one I didn't want to repeat. I stumbled upon a pre-made gingerbread house at Costco a few weeks back, and you better believe I snatched one up in a heartbeat. The pre-assembled decorate-your-own variety is much more my cup of tea.

I told Tory we could put together the gingerbread house after her nap. She took a nice (for her standards) nap and the first thing she said after she woke up was "Mom, make candy house now?" Girlfriend doesn't miss a beat.

This gingerbread house was pretty fancy, complete with red fondant, white and green frosting, gum drops, hard candies and peppermint candy canes to decorate. I piped the frosting on the roof and showed her how to stick candies on before it dried. She had a fun time decorating until she got a little on her hands and licked them. Then it was all over -- she was obsessed! No longer was our activity about decorating the house ... it was now all about eating the house. Tory took her hands and scooped off frosting just as quickly as I piped it on.

Daddy, wanna try some yummy frosting?

Lest you think Baby Brother wasn't part of the action

Mmm Mmm ... don't mind it I do!

Making a gingerbread house was much more fun with Tory this year. She marveled at our "candy house" perched up on the counter top for the rest of the weekend. A big hit in the round-up of advent calendar activities.

Christmas Advent Calendar, Day 7: Go to the Luck Holiday Experience

We spent another weekend at the cabin, relaxing by the fire and hanging out as a family of four. It was absolutely beautiful there with freshly fallen snow sticking to the tree caps like glue, but the temperatures left some to be desired. High of 2 degrees on Saturday? You've got to be kidding me. All Andi and I wanted to do was take a walk in the woods, but it's hard to justify outdoor activities for little kids when it's that cold. Obviously, there's no way Aden can be outside in that weather, so I'm basically stuck indoors no matter what. Andi did Take Tory on a quick Ranger ride through the woods by our cabin on Saturday. The Ranger ATV has a windshield and heated seats so it's not as barbaric as it sounds, but it was still really cold. Crazy that we live in a place where dressing our kid up like this is required.

Even crazier that Andi had to wear bright orange so wouldn't be shot at on the trails. (It was muzzleloader deer hunting this weekend).

Meanwhile, Aden and I stayed inside the toasty cabin and I watched him do this:

Little man loves to be warm. I've never seen him so comfortable.

Saturday morning, we drove to the nearby town of Luck, Wisconsin for their Holiday Experience. It was all very low-key which was perfect for Tory and our day's agenda. Santa Claus made an appearance at the local library where there were also free treats and a large "Santa train" display. Tory wasn't interested in sitting on Santa's lap and we didn't pressure her, but she loved the train. I really want to buy one that runs under our own tree at the cabin.  

There were also free horse-drawn sleigh rides taking place outside the library. Andi and Tory went for a ride while Aden and I stayed inside the library. It was bitterly cold Saturday with a daily high temperature of -2 below. Andi said Tory loved the first few minutes of the sleigh ride but asked for "covers" at the end because she was so cold, so the sleigh ride operator gave her a blanket to use. I was a little bummed I missed seeing Tory on her first sleigh ride. Next year, maybe we'll all be able to go together.

This event was the perfect thing to do on a Saturday during the holiday season. It was simple and free. Perfect for little ones like Tory to enjoy.

Christmas Advent Calendar, Day 5: Visit Santa Claus

I recommend having a baby during winter for the following reasons:

1) It's super easy to hide a post-partum belly under warm, cozy sweatshirts, [maternity] jeans and hoodies. You look so great for having a baby two weeks ago! Well, yes, one might think so until he/she saw the wiggly-jiggliness hiding beneath here.

2) Water-retention during pregnancy is kept to a minimum (unlike having a baby in late August. I wouldn't wish that swolleness on my worst enemy).

3) If you're a homebody like me, you can stay indoors for days and no one says a thing. So sorry! Can't leave the house! New baby! I barely stepped foot into our attached garage this week. Of course, I did because I needed Diet Coke.

What's this randomness have to do with Santa Claus? Well, after hiding from the freshly fallen snow and cold temperatures for two solid days, I decided last-minute Thursday afternoon to bundle up the kids and take them to see Santa Claus at a local mall. Believe me, I was very on the fence about this outing because A) leaving the house with two kids is a lot of work, B) this was my first time taking the kids out in public by myself, C) Brrrr. The roads were still pretty snowy / icy and we'd be driving back home during rush-hour traffic.

But, it'd been two days since we left the house and Tory was starting to get antsy. I thought a trip to the mall to burn off some energy at the indoor play park might be good for her. And, we could see Santa at the same time. Win/win. Also? Andi drove to the cabin Thursday night after work to meet the sauna installation guy so I was solo-parenting for 36 hours straight (also my first overnight alone with both kids). I figured we needed some sort of activity to eat up our evening.

Aden screamed from his car seat the entire drive to the mall, so we were off to a good start. (Just kidding, OMG. Thankfully, this is not the norm for him and the mall is only a few minutes away). Tory was cute in the backseat trying to reassure him. "Almost there, Baby Aden, almost there," on repeat for 15 minutes.

I'm nuts and require my kids to wear their Christmas outfits in their yearly Santa pictures, so I brought along Tory's dress, tights and shoes in a separate bag and dressed Aden in his button-up shirt, argyle sweater and red corduroy pants before we left. I also brought the stroller and car seat for Aden and the Baby Bjorn for back-up. Add in the diaper bag and, phew, kids are a lot of work.

When we arrived at the mall, I high-tailed it to the family bathroom suite to change Tory into her Christmas dress. (It was far too cold outside for her to wear the dress to the mall). After I changed Tory, Aden started to cry, so I fed him while simultaneously ignoring the fact Tory was now crawling around on the dirty floor in her new dress.

Luckily, there was no line at Santa Claus (unlike the first year we took Tory), so we walked right up to the Big Guy. Tory was nervous immediately and grabbed onto my pant leg. It didn't matter that Aden was snuggled into Santa's arms, Tory didn't want anything to do with him. I guess I don't blame her. He's a stranger with a long white beard and it's a unfamiliar set-up all together. The photographer suggested I sit on the wooden stool beside Santa and Tory could sit on my lap. We had to do this last year, too, but this time the photographer said she'd Photoshop me out of the photo. For real?! Santa got high-tech this year! I like it.

Excuse the picture of a picture

Tory didn't want to talk to Santa Claus, so I guess he'll never know what presents she'd like to receive this Christmas. He did give Tory a little coloring book and she was pretty excited about that. Afterwards, we stopped by the indoor play park and Tory ran around like a crazy-lady for 20 minutes with her "friends." (That's what she called the other kids there when we were packing up to leave. Too funny).

Later that night as I was giving Tory a bath, we were discussing our trip to see Santa. I told her he'll be coming to visit on Christmas Eve to bring her presents and she shot me the strangest look like, "um that guy's not coming to my house." Ha! Oh, toddlers.

Christmas Advent Calendar, Day 4: Make a Holiday Craft

Day 4's original advent calendar activity was "visit Santa Claus" at a local mall. But, we woke up to a real winter wonderland outdoors with 3-7 inches of snow falling in the Twin Cities and I did not feel like dragging two little kids into bad weather for no (valid) reason. Our trip to see St. Nick will have to be rescheduled. On snowy days, I'm thankful to be a stay-at-home-mom with the ability to stay home all day as needed.

In regards to Santa Claus, I am curious how Tory will react to sitting on his lap this year. She shoots me a puzzled expression every time I mention him in conversation, so more Santa education may be needed before we pay him a visit anyway. Last year, Tory's near meltdown forced me into the obligatory Santa photo and that's not something I'm interested in repeating. Maybe sitting on Santa's lap with Aden this year will be enough to convince her to get the shot? We shall see ....

Anyway, in place of a Santa visit, Tory and I made holiday crafts. I'm loving the flexibility of our advent calendar activities this year because it allows us to do things when we're in the right mood for them. Just as I pulled out all the craft supplies, Baby Brother started to fuss so I busted out the Moby Wrap for the first time. At two-weeks old, Aden's sleepy newborn-ness is wearing off and now when he's tired, he fusses for me to bounce him to sleep. What happened to falling asleep by yourself in the swing, little guy? As soon as I snuggled him up in the Moby, he was fast asleep and Tory and I continued on with our crafting.

First, we made a construction paper reindeer hat. I measured a piece of brown construction paper around Tory's head, traced her hands using the same sheet of paper and taped it all together using Popsicle sticks to hold the hand cut-outs in position. Then, we glued googly eyes and a red pom-pom nose onto the front. Easy peasy.

Then, Tory decided Mommy should wear the reindeer hat instead. 

We were having so much fun, why stop there? I decided to hot-glue Popsicle sticks together to make snowflake shapes. I gave Tory some washable finger paint and let her decorate the sticks. After the paint dried, I hot-glued fishing line to the back of each one and hung them in our kitchen window. Honestly, the snowflakes are a little on the ugly side. A few sequins or glitter would have dressed them up nicely, but I didn't have any on hand.

This was one of those really good parenting days. You know the ones that come out of nowhere and make you smile with wonder because your kid is just so cool to be around? It was a perfect snow day with my little girl, making crafts, listening to Christmas music and spending time together.

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By the way, Tory has been doing an awesome job of sleeping in her big-girl bed lately. When Aden was born, Andi's started putting Tory to bed and now she hardly has any wake-ups anymore (maybe one or two a night and usually falls right back to sleep). Because she's been such a good girl, our Elf on the Shelf friend, Elfie, brought Tory a special present on this day -- elf tutu's. Tory was so excited about Elfie's new skirts, she put on her own "beautiful dress" over her pajamas and twirled around the living room with Elfie. It's was super cute. As I suspected, Tory still doesn't seem to grasp the concept of Elf on the Shelf (doing right vs. wrong and Elfie reporting back to Santa), but she's enjoying finding Elfie every morning.

The holidays are just a million times more fun with little kids. I love it.