Weekending....

Happy Monday!  It's been one of those crazy busy weekends getting ready for Christmas (for me anyway).  What a whirlwind.  I accomplished a few of the "to do" list items, but I feel like there's still lots to do.  Now that the week is under way, maybe the pressure to finalize everything will start to fade?!  Who am I kidding right?  Well anyway, off to the weekend recap.  Friday I ran a million errands and took Ella back to the doctor in the afternoon (still has an ear infection - new antibiotic prescribed).  Then we made a trip to the mall (we are BRAVE) and it was surprisingly smooth sailing.  :) No pictures.  Boo. 

Saturday, I ran some more errands, wrote out the Christmas cards (hurray!), and then the afternoon was spent making candy cane fudge with my favorite kitchen sidekick (new recipe I'm trying)...

 (blurry cell phone pictures - boo)

 Finished candy cane fudge - isn't is adorable!!  Safely in the freezer until next week!

Then, we made cinnamon ornaments - have you heard of these?  Apparently they are being talked about quite a bit on the blogs/pinterest/facebook fronts as of late.  I came across a recipe in a local newsletter, so I thought it'd be fun to try them out.  Word to the wise: they are not as easy to roll & cut as cookie dough!!  But, we figured it out and the batch made quite a few, so I'm adorning Christmas gifts with them.  

They "bake" in the oven for 2.5 hours and my house smells amazing!

 Ella helped roll out the cinnamon ornament dough (which is just applesauce and cinnamon - weird!)

 And yes, she wore her PJs all day.  :)

Ta da!  We made stars and ornaments.  I've been tying them with red ribbon  :)

Sunday was the Ella's Sunday School program at church.  It was a LOT of chaos, but she sang her little heart out and was adorable in her Christmas dress.  I could not believe the crazy parents in the front row taking millions of pictures and having their camera "up" the entire time - just trying to capture that one perfect picture I suppose, but honestly!!  It's a Christmas program - put down the camera and enjoy it!  I was really annoyed, and then felt guilty for feeling annoyed - I was in church after all!

 See this mom & her camera?!?!  AHHHH!  That was my view the ENTIRE program.

 Oh, there she is again! (the mom in the red with the camera)

After church we headed to Houlihans in Eagan for lunch and to see Santa!  

 We brought along some Toys for Tots and put them under their Christmas tree.

Ella thought that was cool.  P.S.  Did you know that Walt Disney designed the Toys for Tots logo?  

Yes he did. 

 She had just seen Santa walk by our table!  She was SOOO excited!

It was a busy, but fun weekend!

Ella has a dance Christmas party on Wednesday!  Sara's School & Kinder Kollege parties on Thursday/Friday and then we're off!