An Early Christmas

Santa came early for us this year, since we will be out of town for Christmas. He came this past Saturday night. On Sunday morning, I heard Mason tip-toe down the stairs, and then start making whispering noises of excitement. I could tell he was trying to decide if it was OK to come wake us up. Then, he ran up the stairs and said "Santa came and there are lots of PRESENTS!!!" He was so excited. His most wanted present was a zhu zhu pet. Santa was reluctant to get it for him because they seemed like a waste of money, but he was very giving and got it for him anyway.

I guess Santa knows best because Mason has not stopped playing with the zhu zhu pets. he played with them non-stop yesterday, and this morning he is already playing with them. I'm wondering how long this will go on before he gets bored.

On Saturday, we also went to the German Christmas Market in downtown Chicago. It was actually pretty nice, but so crowded that it wasn't enjoyable with Mason there, so we left pretty quickly. Mason got a chocolate covered banana which ended up looking pretty inappropriate in all the pictures.

Jingle Bells

Santa put a jingle bell in the coats of all the Kindergarteners today at Mason's class. Mason said to me in all seriousness, "This is great, Mommy! Know why? I can take it in my bedroom at night. Then, when I wake up, I can just ring it so you know I need you."

Yeah... go ahead and give that a try and see where it gets ya.

Stuffed Animals

Mason LOVES his stuffed animals. He has so many and he treats them like part of his family. He asked me to take his picture with them.

Happy Anniversary!

This past weekend was our 4th wedding anniversary. Efe was so sweet to surprise me. He set up a sleep-over for Mason at his bff Andy's house so that we could go out. He wouldn't tell me what we were doing until it happened :)

We started the night with dinner at the Chicago Chophouse. One of the oldest steak houses in the city. It was delicious! I ordered a filet mignon with scallops. The filet was so tender that I was using my fork to cut it and didn't need a knife!

Then, we jumped into a cab. We stopped at the Cadillac Palace.

Efe took me to see Wicked on Broadway! It was fabulous and we both really loved it.

Afterward, we went back towards our house and had a few celebration drinks before heading home. Thank you, Efe, for a wonderful night out!

I was so nervous that Mason would wake up all night scared and I would get a call to come pick him up. I even bribed him that if he didn't wake anyone up all night I would take him to Dunkin Donuts in the morning. Well, to my surprise it was great! He slept the entire night. Andy's mom said that she laid the boys down and didn't hear another peep until morning. Shew! The boys admitted the next day that they stayed up for a while telling each other stories, but I guess they were quiet! Andy made this video about their sleepover. It is super sweet.

Thanksgiving

Mason has brought 3 different things home from school saying what he is thankful for and they all said "Mommy". He is too sweet. I wonder how many more years he will feel that way. Haha!

Check out this link. The first part is just audio, but if you fast forward to the middle you can see Mason singing with his class. He is in the front middle Video