DIARY No. 111

Here’s what I’ve been up the past two weeks according to my camera roll….

If you’re local, highly recommend visiting Cam Jam Kids in Summit, NJ– it’s a darling new store filled with various gifts and toys for little kids. It’s CUTE. The perfect place to pick up a birthday gift or a special treat for an accomplishment or a just because visit. The selection is really, really good.

Jack was too busy having fun with his cousins to stop for a family photo! We had a really nice Thanksgiving though at my sister and brother in law’s house. We spent the morning prepping some food to bring over and watching the parade and just hanging out. It was nice and low key.

My mom came up the day after Thanksgiving to help me decorate and it was the best! Jack was a great mini helper 😉

The best part about Thanksgiving in our town is that they do the big Christmas tree lighting the night after. There’s a parade and then everyone gathers around the tree for a big countdown before the tree is lit. It’s my favorite thing about our town!!

It’s Mini Ugg boot season! I couldn’t find mine for a few weeks after looking everywhere…. and it was just getting too cold to ignore the problem. I was close to ordering a new pair thinking maybe I had left them somewhere, but decided to look one more time through my storage bins…. And I found them in between two wool coats! Reunited and it feels so good.

My mom and I took Jack to a new play cafe near us (Huckleberry). These things can be so hit or miss and this was a huge, huge hit. 1) it was packed on a Sunday and there was still plenty of room to play because of how it’s laid out and 2) it felt cleaner than any other play cafe I’ve been to. Of course, you’re still risking germs, but I was impressed with the cleanliness here even with a huge crowd. Jack did NOT want to leave.

Of course, we had to make some chocolate chip cookies!

Once we got the decor up, we actually had some time to go through the baby clothes I saved from Jack to start organizing for the new baby. Wow, it was such a relief. And you know it’s a good day when you get to bring out the label maker. This was my first time using the little emoticons and I love them, ha!

Also…. We are really utilizing our nugget on these cold, dark days. I was gifted one from Nugget and at first, I didn’t fully get it. Then I realized you build with them and wow, our basement playroom will never be the same. I tried to do a couple of other builds, but so far the big crowd pleaser has just been to build a “tunnel” to read in!

Had to share my favorite holiday candle at the moment. Hotel Lobby’s “Cabin” is so, so good. It leans more woodsy than Christmas-y, but it’s the perfect touch for winter. I can’t get enough of it and truly feel like I’m treating myself every time I light it. (Fully on board with the idea that lighting candles can help soften the blow of these early dark evenings!)

I swung by the Hill House store in NYC to do a little Christmas shopping. This was my first time visiting– it’s right by Radio City if you’re in the area for the holidays this year, it’s worth popping into! (I picked out these PJs.)