Jacob was invited to his first tea party! My stepmother gave him a fancy suit for Christmas and guess where he was going to wear it?! There was no coaxing or convincing, my star wars obsessed boy was really excited to go! Katie went ALL out, and had tons of fun snacks, including crust less peanut butter honey, chocolate covered cookies, and my favorite pizza bites! Jacob's favorite thing however, were the sugar cubes! If you've read Kerry's post she's not kidding about Alex, poor poor Alex! I swear I saw him laugh and have fun but geez! He had it tough! I'm sure it built character or something! I love all of my son's friends and watching them twirl and bounce on the trampoline was MY favorite for the day! Jacob's favorite thing about the tea party was "seeing my friends". Thanks Kerry, Katie, and most of all Alex!

Saturday morning, we realized that Williams, AZ was 60 miles from the Southern Rim of the Grand Canyon. Instead of heading back to Vegas right away, we made the side trip. Of course it was worth it! Freezing cold and windy, but beautiful and inspiring. I couldn't feel my toes, but it's not like I was going to walk very far to the railing! I tried my hardest to not say "Jacob, come here! Jacob stay close! Jacob don't go over there!" But, really? There's a sign in the visitor's center saying that 'Yes, people do fall off BUT they don't survive after the first 300 ft!' Are you kidding me? It took every last ounce of Love and Logic in me to not hold his hand the WHOLE TIME! I really did enjoy the view after a bit (when he was holding his dad's hand!) and am glad I was able to check this off my life to do list. Enjoy the pics!

Two amazing snow days this week, and if that wasn't enough we top it off with a trip to the North Pole! We drove down to Williams, AZ and boarded the Polar Express train to see Santa! It was by far the cutest thing we've done as a family! Dressed in our P.J.'s and robes, (thanks for the last minute reminder Michelle!) we snuggled on the train, drank hot cocoa, and read the story that started it all. After the story we picked up the big man himself! Santa Claus! Super nice Santa looked Jake in the eyes and whispered Merry Christmas as he handed him his bell! Ok, I was all choked up! We sang carols and ate cookies and headed back to AZ. Dinner that night was fun and we joined everyone else in the restaurant still in P.J.'s! It looked like a giant slumber party! The next morning we let Jacob play in MORE snow and headed for our next adventure to the Grand Canyon! P.S., the pictures are in reverse order! Sheesh!

Pictures do a much better job of telling you about our day. It started as a drizzle and we ended our day sipping Mexican hot chocolate on the couch. Jacob and I made a snowman in the back yard, snow angels, and had a snow ball fight! No pictures of that, I needed BOTH hands! *sigh* It was an afternoon I will never forget with him, I'm glad I was home and able to enjoy it!

I will be crazy busy this weekend trying to finish up shopping, wrapping, and working! I wanted to vent about my Eco life for a sec! Arghhhh! It's not easy! Here are some of the Eco-Friendly things I'm trying....

• I borrowed a tree from a friend (we aren't home for Christmas this year)
• I'm not buying wrapping paper, using the Sunday comics, decorated brown paper bags, and re-using some of last years bags. The gifts actually are lookin' pretty cute...
• I'm almost obsessive about not using plastic bags, I forgot a bag the other day and had to walk out carrying all my purchases. The looks I got!!
• Trying not to order online, when I have to I ship ground VS air
• Making my own gift cards with what I have (which is a lot)
• Thanks to the Co-op I've got great ideas for homemade stocking stuffers using recyled bottles....
  
• Maximizing and planning out my shopping trips, to save gas!

Ok, are you guys dizzy yet? I am! Here's the kicker...I've been driving my hubby crazy of course!, so the other night I'm sitting on the couch under blankets nice and cozy with the heater on and he decides to point out to me that it's not very energy efficient to have the heater at 78. I guess I'm supposed to have it at 68! I'm cold! I wasn't going to let him win.....It's been 3 days at 68. I'm still cold and wearing a scarf in the morning....I really am stubborn, but if I'm going to try to live green I need to put up or shut up, RIGHT?

Jacob went on a class field trip to the Magical Forest. We slid down the super slide, rode the train, and got our Santa photos! The photos do look a bit awkward...I think I was groped by Santa! I shared my story with another mommy that went the next day and she was pretty sure the guy was too touchy feely! Ewww! Aside from that...we had a great time and Jacob is SUPER excited about x-mas!