Ladies Night Out

Normally I'd title this post Mom's Night Out, or MNO as it's popularly referred to, but this night was different. A couple of weekends ago my friends (and fellow moms) Amanda, Caroline, Carrie, Lizzy and I treated ourselves to a night on the town and a one night stay in the luxurious Stoneleigh hotel. Yes, we are all moms. And yes, this was a night out. But we had one rule for the evening: no talking about our kids. Don't get me wrong, we all love our babies to the maximum and do all we can for them - more reason why we needed a night just to ourselves. It was a wonderful evening with a great bunch of ladies where we were actually able to sit down, relax, and finish conversations with each other. 

Our hotel was within walking distance of everywhere we wanted to go in Uptown Dallas, so after an early afternoon check-in (and some drinks while we got settled), we stepped out for appetizers and refreshments at Sfuzzi. Then we headed back to the hotel to freshen up for the evening and give Carrie a surprise baby shower for her baby boy due in February. Our evening was just beginning and everyone was in great spirits. We went to Common Table for a yummy dinner followed by drinks at the Dragonfly in Hotel ZaZa. We wisely made that our last stop and went back to the hotel for some nightcaps and girl talk.

Lizzy and Amanda needed to get back to their kiddos in the morning but Carrie, Caroline and I were able to squeeze in a brunch at Coal Vines before heading home. We were gone for less than 24 hours but it's all we needed to be rejuvenated! Cheers to the next one! 

Girls just wanna have fun

First stop: Sfuzzi Uptown for apps and bevs

Carrie's surprise baby shower. Lizzy and Caroline got 1st and 2nd in the celebrity baby name quiz! 

Watch out, Dallas!

I love how we all seem to be laughing at something in the top pic!

Doin' His Turn on the Catwalk

This past Saturday the Nordstrom near us had their annual kids fashion show and Mason was one of their 'models' for the event! We found out about it from the manager of the kids department when she saw him exercising his energetic behavior one day in the store. :) She said they were looking for 50-60 kids from 0-8 years old to participate and all he needed to do was come in for a fitting then show up on the big day and walk the catwalk! I knew it could possibly be a train wreck but figured it was worth if for the experience (and the pictures!). His handsome buddy Jeff joined him for the event and they both actually did really well considering they're just under two and three years old. There was a huge turnout and all of the kids that participated were in adorable little outfits. I ended up wanting to buy everything but was so overwhelmed that we walked away without purchasing a thing! Now his birthday/Christmas wish list is even longer. :)

While Sean stayed with Mason backstage, I was struggling to work both the video camera and the digital camera at the same time and ended up failing at both. These are the best shots I could get. I'll add the video to this post if I can ever get it to upload!

The scene

Jeff striking a pose 

Strutting his stuff!

In case they needed a little enticing, I had a little treat to get them down the runway 

Waving at his fans :)

Close up of his handsome winter get-up

Coloring in the shoe department

His pants were just a tad big! :)

Happy Halloween!

Our little fireman had a great Halloween yesterday! After a PlayWisely class in the morning, we headed over to the SWA annual Halloween party with some friends (Thanks Caroline and Lizzy!). Mason made himself comfortable at the boardroom conference table and enjoyed meeting the Mad Hatter and the rest of the Alice in Wonderland gang. Then in the evening we made our trick-or-treating rounds in the neighborhood. Mason is one of the younger neighborhood kids and doesn't quite understand how trick-or-treating works. He has the knocking on the door part down pat, but then thinks he's welcome to enter the home. Unless we knew the owner of a home, we just kept him in the wagon with his goldfish and watched the bigger kids run from house to house - otherwise our nosy little social butterfly would still be working his way down the street! I've loved seeing everyone's costume pictures on Facebook and other blogs, and hope you enjoy seeing ours as well!

Sean got his free-hand pumpkin carving talent from his Dad!

Meeting the Mad Hatter in the boardroom and conducting a business meeting to discuss costumes, pretzels and milk.  

Top Left: Getting his adorable little fingerprints stamped. Top Right: Joining forces to keep things safe. Bottom Left: Group shot? Bottom Right: Group shot!

After his nap he played in the front yard with his neighborhood friend, Beatrice. I had to capture her chasing him around asking for a hug! He finally wised up and gave in.

Top: Beatrice the fairy and Mason the fireman. Bottom Left: Thank goodness for the wagon! Bottom Right: First stop, Chex Mix. Mommy was glad for the non-candy distraction!

His buddy Charlie grabbed a ride for a while, and then Mason ended the night running to see Kate and Vivian. He absolutely loves these girls!

Posing with Mickey the pumpkin

Had to post one from last year!