santa and soccer weekend

my goal is to be in bed by 10pm tonight so before i turn in,

i wanted to be sure i posted about this past weekend.

it was special for two reasons:

first, this saturday morning was the annual breakfast with santa at the pb recreation center.
it's my annual tradition - we support the community, and get a chance to see santa and avoid the malls.
{i do however love online shopping}. it's so easy - saves time.

unfortunately, finney couldn't join us this year as he had a 9am soccer game in scripps ranch, 

so auntie jen and i took scoutie. 

before we left the house, scout announced he was not going to sit in santa's lap. 

i encouraged him by explaining santa loves children and it only had to be for a minute - 

just long enough for santa to ask what he wanted and for him to tell him
{and for mom to snap a picture of course}.

he thought about it a bit longer and told me he would do it IF patches {his sock dog}could come.
i remembered how in past years finn was always by his side on santa's lap and since he wasn't coming,
'patches' worked as the next best substitute.

while we were eating pancakes and drinking tang,

finn was playing and winning his first all-star game! 

auntie jen and i joined him at the field that afternoon for his second game.

his team lost, but finn played hard. he didn't seem too upset and reminded
us that soccer wasn't his passion, science was {how could we forgot!} 

and remember the UGLY sweater party i mentioned?

the big party was saturday pm and c and i couldn't find sweaters anywhere. 

apparently these are extremely popular parties and all the thrift stores sold out a month or so ago. 

{note to self: buy a few UgLy sweaters this summer to be prepared}.

c and i considered making our own sweaters with gaudy decor loaned and purchased, 

but our energy was low and we decided instead to blow off the party and have a date night,
just the two of us.  

we saw this heartfelt movie.
though we left the theater feeling a bit melancholy, it made us reflective on life.
the story was beautifully written and beautifully acted. 

i wouldn't be surprised if george clooney is nominated for an oscar for his performance.

we were up at 6:15am this morning and on the soccer field at 7:15am!
our team {riptide}gave it their all, but didn't advance.
regardless, we all so enjoyed watching these 7 and 8 old boys.
they played well and with such heart.  a few pictures from our weekend:

~ with soccer completely behind us, christmas preparation is now in full swing!

our holiday cards arrived in the mail last week and i spent a few hours
making and printing labels today.  now they all just need signed. 

{c and i won't let them get out the door without a hand-written note on each of them}
we divide up by families since both of ours are large.