The Highlights

Happy Friday!!  It's been a long, fun week.  We're already packing in lots of Christmas festivities.  Olive has a program at school, we've had family in town, I'm wrapping up Christmas shopping, working on mailing out Christmas cards and we keep having snow flurries.  It's such a fun time of year!!  PS Happy Birthday, Sis!!

I have plenty of fun things to share with you this week.

1. Time and Tru Puffer Jacket from Wal-Mart
This coat has been getting a lot of air time on social media and for good reason!!  It's pretty much the perfect coat and it's only $19.86!!!  It has a hood, has great sewn in details, is warm, is flattering and it comes in at least six different colors.  I bought the black one and loved it so much that I went back for the pink.  It's the best coat.  So far I've convince my mom, my aunt and plenty of friends to jump on board with this cute coat. 

2. Countdown to Christmas
I really wanted this sweet Paper Source advent calendar last year, but I missed out.  So I didn't make the same mistake this year.  I purchased it for myself for my birthday mid November :)  It's even better in person with each house having some gold details.  My kids love moving Santa from house to house each morning.  It's the perfect addition to our playroom.

3. Grandparent's Day
We invited my parents up for Grandparent's Day at Olive's school last week.  It was so much fun!  They came up for a slumber party.  We ate at Texas Roadhouse, did silly Christmas things, stayed up too late and had a great visit.  I'm super thankful to live so close to them so they can just come up for a quick trip.  

 Olive had songs, cards, Christmas ornaments and treats waiting for them.  She was SO excited to have them at school with her.  They had a good time.  I think it was fun for them to see her in her element. 

We headed out to do some birthday/Christmas shopping afterwards.  It was fun to hit up our favorite spots.  Well it was really fun for the girls and the guys just tolerated it :).  We headed to Clabber Girl Bakery for lunch and then my Dad worked on some projects around the house.

4. Room Mom
I love being Olive's room mom!  I get to help plan her parties and get to go into her classroom and help.  Her teacher asked us to come in and help paint hand/foot prints for these cute reindeer shirts they would be wearing for their Christmas program.  It was so nice to be in the classroom and get to know her classmates better.  Kindergarten is so much fun!!

 5. Real Tree
Are you team real tree or artificial tree??  We had a fake tree for years, but Kevin finally convinced me that real trees were the way to go back in 2011.  We have loved shopping for real trees ever since.  They're a little messy, but the fun of picking out a new tree every year and having your house smell like Christmas is worth it.

We had a heck of a time getting our tree this year.  We decided last minute to go get our tree.  We didn't like the trees at the first farm we stopped at.  Had to stop and get cash.  Went to a second tree lot.  Found a great tree right away.  Olive picked it out and we all agreed.  Tied it to the top of our van only to realize that the automatic sliding doors would not close with the tree string in the way.  Had to cut it off and retie it down.  Made it home in the drizzly rain.  It sure is beautiful NOW~!

6. Mouse House
Our city has a cute little Christmas festival called House of the Christmas Mouse every year as a fundraiser for Tri Kappa.  It is such a sweet event.  We love going.  We had the best time doing all things Christmasy.  It really made us excited for the holidays.  We also ran into tons of friends there.

7. Rainbow Party
Our friend's little girl turned 5 and had the cutest rainbow party.  She and Olive have a lot in common so it was really fun to enjoy such a sweet party.  My friend, Whitney, is an amazing party planner.  Remember her Little Blue Truck party and her amazing 4th of July parties!?!?

8. Sunday Vibes

It was good to be back at church after being out of town the last two weeks.  Fletcher was REALLY excited :)  Actually, he was really excited until we dropped him off.  He cried which is something he hasn't done in months.  He recovered quickly and we all enjoyed learning about Jesus.

9. Gingerbread House Decorating Party
This was our 4th year going to the gingerbread house party at our country club.  It's such a fun party.  They provide the houses and you pick out which one you want.  Each kid wanted to do their own house so we were busy decorating.  Followed it up with a delicious dinner and we were on cloud 9!  Now just pray our gingerbread houses survive Fletcher munching on them all month long...

10. Easy Gift Wrapping
I found these darling reusable gift wrap bags at TJ Maxx this week.  They're large and are going to make gift wrapping so easy.  I have a couple for each kiddo and am hoping to snag some more at a deep discount during the after Christmas sales.

In case you missed it on Polka-Dotty Place this week:

Monday: North Pole Breakfast
Tuesday: 14 Wonderful Christmas Books
Wednesday: Christmas Gift Guide for 2-6 Year Old Girls & Boys
Thursday: Florida in the Fall: Our Water Days

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!!

I'm SUPER excited to announce that I'm joining the High Five For Friday link up team of Becky, Della, Tif and Whitney P every Friday.  They've been some of my favorite blogging buddies for years.  You should go over and check them out if you don't already follow them.

Join us by linking up no more than three current posts from the week.

Linking up with My Glittery Heart

and Momfessionals