Party weekend

December is just crazy.  I love the holidays and getting to see everyone even more but my oh my I already need s nap and we've only made it through the first weekend of the month.

If you follow me on Instagram or saw in my five on Friday post, you saw I had surgery on my foot Thursday morning.  Friday I spent the day on the couch with my foot propped up and my nurse changing my ice every hour or so (besides the time he had to go to the doctor and has an ear infection- what??!) and I redesigned my old blog with a fresh new look (finally!).  

Friday night came too fast and I had my first experience showering with a foot you cannot get wet. Ha. That was interesting!  But then for the first time ever we had a non family babysitter (Maddie's teacher from school) and headed off to the annual Carter family Christmas party.  This is Jimmy's 11th year throwing this.  It started with some friends in his apartment in college and has been in several bars in lawrence and then moved to Kansas City into the Knights of Columbus hall in Shawnee.  There are always a lot of people that come to just enjoy cheap beer, bring your own wine/liquor and some Christmas snacks!!!  Needless to say, I always seem to have a bad attitude about it because it's on a Friday night...but once I pull my panties out of a wad and go...I always end up having such a great time.  I just love getting to see all our friends in one place!!

Saturday we had a lazy morning because guess what? After standing at the party too much my foot was throbbing. It hurt so so bad!!  Guess that's what I get for pushing it too hard.  So that meant some snuggles and movies for everyone!!

But after Charlie nap we got ready and went to sweet Stella's first birthday.  First off, I rarely dress Miss Maddie up, but how much fun I had getting her dressed up for this party!  Such a cutie in her little white skinny jeans - so styling!!

I cannot believe it's already been a year since Stella made her debut. Her mom, Lindsay is one of my best friends that I worked with at hallmark.  It's been so fun to see Lindsay and her husband Danny become such great parents this last year and Lindsay outdid herself on the cutest party ever! She had a vintage carnival team and it was just the cutest.  And Stella?  Well she was so adorable with her curly brown locks, gorgeous polka dot dress and sweet smile!! 

We loved getting to celebrate her special day with them.  Charlie enjoyed entertaining the guests with his dinosaur impressions as well- this kid!

Then we headed to make an exchange with my parents- they took our car and kids and we took their car and headed to Kauffman stadium for my work party.  Not sure how I didn't get one picture of jimmy and I, but Jimmy got one of the field from where we had drinks in the Diamond Club.  

Then we headed down to the Crown Club for a lovely dinner with my coworkers.  Was so fun to meet everyone's spouses I hear about all the time!!  Everyone was very impressed with my husband's name- Jimmy Carter!

Sunday we headed. To church - which is now a lot more fun because we get to see our good friends the Calcaras and Alexander's now!! What a blessing to all get to worship together!!  After helping my sister with some of her MBA homework, we headed over to Jimmy's parents house to watch the Chiefs game.  I made a trip to the grocery store too for my freezer meal exchange tonight and some more baby food for our hungry girl!!  And took some selfies of course.

By the time I got home, Charlie helped me make the pizza casserole, Jimmy gave the kids baths and then going back and forth trying to make Maddie sleep on her crib and the 25 minutes it feels like it takes now to get ready to take a shower (because I have to bag and tape my foot so it stays dry)....10pm rolled around and we were pooped.  What a weekend!

And just for fun - another freezer meal recipe that was a hit.  Super easy and if you use ground turkey, turkey pepperoni, wheat pasta and throw in some veggies (I threw in green peppers and mushrooms), it's actually not THAT bad for you and guess what?  The kids (including my husband) love it because it tastes like PIZZA!!  This is what Charlie and I made together for my freezer meal exchange!  Try it out!

Recipe here

We are pretty much done decorating - probably because I'm just over it.  Since this is the second Christmas in our house, I have some Christmas decor that I want to pick up for sale the day after Christmas!!  But we have our Elf on the Shelf (Tony) visiting us each day and are having so much fun getting in the holiday spirit - whether it's seeing Santa, holiday neighborhood hay rides, going to look at lights, sipping hot chocolate, Christmas parties or Christmas shows...we are getting ready for December 25!!!  Hope you are too!