Polar Express, Christmas Parade, and all the Holiday Things!

Today is the first time in sixteen years of blogging that I’ve posted two recap blogs in the same day. I mentioned it in my last one, but I didn’t want to mix Thanksgiving and Christmas into one massive, year-long post. So here it is, part two of my weekly recap, the Christmas version.

I’m shocked we made it out the door by 8 am for church on Sunday after a road trip like that one. I also don’t love having to wake my son up, but for some reason he only chooses to sleep in on Sundays, when we need him up the earliest. I can’t complain too much, though, because he’s a great sleeper.

After service, we headed to Rendezbrew, our coffee shop choice of the week. It was right by the new Costco they built in Indian Land. We had amazing cappuccinos, a fruit and yogurt granola parfait, and a jalapeño cheddar bagel. We love grabbing bites like this to share as a family, and my son especially loved the bagel.

We love the new Costco since it’s closer to our house and never as busy as the Charlotte one. Some of our staples are berries, frozen organic berries for smoothies, organic Stonyfield yogurt pouches for school lunches, protein kids drinks, cheese, crackers, eggs, RXBars, breakfast muffins, and always something random to try.

This time, we tried the no sugar added protein brownies, and they were amazing. They have the texture of a Cosmic Brownie but are not as sweet.

I did some Sunday night cooking and made extra so we would have meals ready for the week. I made Dutch oven steaks, our favorite, and I need to do a tutorial for them soon, roasted sweet potatoes made without brown sugar, chicken salad, and roasted green beans. I love having healthier options in the house all week long.

And I always make a few sourdough loaves when we are running low so we have some to eat with chicken salad or toasted with butter. My son loves the sourdough bread with Gouda cheese folded in, and my husband and I love the jalapeño cheddar version. I definitely do not go light on the jalapeños or the cheese.

On Monday after school, my son and I sliced up the pumpkins and tossed them over the back fence for the deer in the woods. We love watching them come up to eat. Then he and I cleared out all the old flowers in the garden boxes and ended it with a leaf blower war. I’m telling you, he loves anything that has to do with yard work or “helping out.” We were having so much fun.

While we were in the yard getting some work done, our bread was in the oven baking beautifully. If you haven’t started your sourdough bread journey yet, how can I convince you? It’s a total game changer when it comes to bread, and it’s much easier and not nearly as time consuming as people think.

After all the hard yard work, we got to work on our next project, making peanut butter chocolate protein cups. These are so good. I need to make a proper recipe with exact measurements because I didn’t measure anything.

I used about a half cup of peanut butter and three tablespoons of local honey, then added two scoops of vanilla Orgain protein powder and mixed everything until it formed a thick paste. I added melted chocolate to the bottom of a silicone muffin cup, filled it with the peanut butter protein mixture, and then covered it with more chocolate.

They are seriously so good, we cannot keep enough in the house. We have made them over and over again, and they taste just like fudge. You could also make them with almond butter if you do not like peanut butter, use any type of protein powder, or even swap in a lower sugar dark chocolate.

While they were drying, we got to work on a few projects with some fruit and cracker snacks.

My son has a bunch of posters in his room that we have made together, capital letters, lowercase letters, vowels, days of the week, and now he is super interested in counting. We made our first counting poster up to 40, which he can count to, so today we are going to do 40 to 80. He loves sitting and making them with me, and every night before bed he goes over and recites the numbers.

I love how interested he is in learning because I was definitely not like that as a kid. He definitely got that from his dad, but luckily he has a mom who loves to color.

We had such a busy Thursday.

I volunteered for Cookies with Ms. Claus at my son’s school, and then he had his very first dental appointment. We stopped at the grocery store to grab a few things, and when we got home, we straightened up the house and put together a charcuterie board and some snacks for our reverend, who was stopping by that night.

We have been going to a local Methodist church for months, but we finally decided to officially join and have our son(s), baptized. It was so nice having her over to get to know our family. She was so sweet and even brought him Legos after hearing how much he loves them. He spent a good thirty minutes showing her all the shark teeth he collected in Florida.

It feels really good to have found a church home that fits our family.

And of course, anytime someone comes over, you know I’m going to have some food ready. I even had cookies made for our HVAC repairmen last week. It’s really just an excuse to cook. To be honest, I made the cookies for my blog and he just happened to be there, so he got sent home with a big box.

One of my best friends is hosting her annual Christmas party here in a few weeks, and as a co host, I’ll be bringing my sourdough bread and this caprese salad, along with the whipped jalapeño cream cheese feta dip.

This caprese salad has chopped fresh mozzarella, balsamic glaze, olive oil, tomatoes, and Arctic seasoning. It’s amazing on bread and in salads.

This Lego table has really become a popular item in our house over the past few months. When we got it for him last Christmas, it may have been a little too early since he still preferred the bigger Legos. Now, all he wants to do is play at this Lego table, and luckily, it’s something he will sit and do by himself for a while after school or while I’m making dinner. He also loves going to the Lego Store and making new people. It was a lot more expensive last year! Now, it’s on sale on Amazon. We bring it out of the playroom into the living room every day so he can play. We can’t leave it out because we have a dog who thinks Legos are delicious…

We are still on those morning smoothie kicks!

Our go-to smoothie has organic mixed frozen berries (I get them at Costco!), organic whole milk, a few scoops of Greek yogurt, local honey, ½ serving of organic Orgain protein powder (it makes it so creamy and delicious!), juice from half a lemon (or orange), one serving of kids’ elderberry juice, and ½ banana. He usually has half of the smoothie for breakfast with his waffle (or pancake) and peanut butter, and the other half with dinner later in the day.

I bought him this Learn to Write ABCs and 123s book for six dollars at Hobby Lobby in their learning aisle, they have amazing workbooks. It has been one of the best purchases. We bring it on road trips, to restaurants, to church, and even use it while eating meals. The markers can get messy, but we always keep wipes with it.

We spent Friday morning running some errands. We needed a few Christmas gifts, visited the new giant HomeGoods in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and of course made another trip to Hobby Lobby. I had to stock up on wrapping paper, tape, and grab some shipping boxes.

When we got home, we made a big plate of cheese and crackers with fresh fruit for lunch, and I made myself a cappuccino. It was going to be a long night since we were heading to the Polar Express train ride. He loved it last year, so I was so excited to go again this year. He has asked about it almost every single day for the past few months, and it was finally time.

It’s about an hour drive, so we left around three to make it there. We had to purchase these tickets in the summer because this attraction is so popular. There was no way we were going to miss it. Plus, if you go early, you get to walk through all the little tents filled with fun gifts, there are food trucks, s’mores roasting, and so much going on for the kids.

Every year, since he was a baby, we’ve done matching pajamas for Christmas. I never thought we would be one of those families, but we definitely are, and I plan to keep it that way.

Last year, we fell in love with the Pajamarama brand at Belk. They are the softest, stretchiest, most comfortable pajamas ever, and I love the prints. I went with the white winter village ones this year and got my mom and dad a matching pair again, just like last year.

One quick note: the adult pajamas are true to size, but my son barely fit into the 4T. They were very snug, so I recommend sizing up or choosing the other style for four T and up. I’ll link them below.

Women’s (medium fit perfect for maternity for me)
Mens Shirt & Bottoms
4t Toddler Snug Fit (what my son wore)
Children’s lounge pajamas (what I should have ordered him!)

The weather definitely made it feel like we were in the North Pole. It was freezing, but I loved the cold, wintery vibes. Thankfully, we brought our thick winter coats with us. We hopped on the train, and I highly recommend getting a table if you have four people, and headed to the North Pole with hot cocoa, cookies, and so much excitement for meeting Santa.

We got home late that night, rushed through bath time, and my son was so excited to add his bells from Santa to the tree, right next to last year’s. Seeing Santa was truly magical for him. His entire face and eyes lit up.

We were up bright and early for our church’s pancake breakfast before the Fort Mill Christmas parade. This was our son’s very first time seeing a parade, and he was so excited.

We enjoyed some amazing pancakes, coffee, and sausage before heading out into the cold to watch the floats. This December has felt so much colder than previous years, and I’m loving it, especially after being miserably hot all summer.

We had a little extra time, so we popped into the Lego Store, stopped by a coffee shop for some tea, and visited a Christmas thrift store that supports our local animal shelter. My son even found a really cool antique pirate ship ornament.

The boys had the zoomies while waiting for the parade to start, and all of a sudden another big group of boys joined them. It was so fun watching them all run around the big field, burning off all that candy fuel.

I love spending these final months as an only child with this big kid. It’s so crazy to think that in just sixty days we’re going to have another little one with us. He is so excited and asks me every day if he can meet him yet.

Our friends met us at the parade, and they were getting so much candy! We still have the halloween stash! I need to figure out what to do with it all.

After the parade, we headed to our favorite spot, Ilios, for lunch. I always get so excited when they have Brussels sprouts as their weekly side. They truly have the best food in town.

I woke up early Sunday morning to have some time to myself to work on the computer and relax in silence by the Christmas tree with my dogs.

During church that morning, our family lit the candle and did a reading for Advent, and our family officially joined the church at service that morning. It was really special, and we are so excited to have found a place we truly feel fits. After, we headed down for breakfast, and the breakfast was DELICIOUS. We had such a great Sunday morning.

When we got home, it was time to work off all that food. We headed out for a dog walk and then went to run our Costco and grocery errands for the week.

I had to make another batch of my caprese salad for the week. I had a bowl of it on top of some romaine lettuce, and my son had his favorite chicken fingers and potatoes before we headed out for more weekend activities. This pregnant mom was exhausted.

We are slowly working on putting up outdoor Christmas lights this year, and these dogs are my favorite. I can’t get over that Lowe’s had one that looked just like Tux! & One like Leo! All that is left is to add the vintage colored lights on the house.

After dinner, a few talented women in the neighborhood hosted a really special pictures with Santa event at our clubhouse, and it was so magical for the kids. I cannot wait to see the photos. We wrote our letter to Santa, enjoyed some cookies, and made such sweet memories.

After that, we headed to our neighbor’s house, where they were hosting a little Advent activity for the kids. It was such a packed weekend and week. I am more than ready to put him to bed tonight, throw on my cozy pajamas, watch the Eagles, and be asleep by halftime.

We had a boy begging to bake this afternoon after school so we made a healthy apple crisp and worked on some oatmeal cream pie cookies (getting ready to frost now!)

This Christmas season is flying by! I’d love to hear all the fun things you’ve done so far! xo