25 Days of Christmas: Day 5

Guess what! It's my birthday! So it's not a huge birthday or anything, only 26. And since I'm a mom, birthdays are less of a big deal. However, something that doesn't happen very often, only 3 times in my life in fact (2009, 1998, 1992), my birthday this year is on a Saturday! At first, I had though about asking my mom to watch Owen so that my husband and I could go do some fun things without him, but then I changed my mind and decided to make the whole day a family affair. Here's what we did.

Day 5:
We started the day at Home Depot to make Holiday Stacking Blocks at the Kids Workshop. We absolutely love going to the Home Depot Kids Workshops and the Lowe's Build and Grow Workshops. They are 100% free events that help teach basic building techniques. The Lowe's ones require advance registration, but the Home Depot ones do not.

Next came the annual Christmas parade!

After that, we went to the arts center where they had an activity for kids to stamp wrapping paper and gift tags to wrap their own presents.
Then we went to Uptown Normal where we watched Santa & Mrs. Claus travel through Uptown via horse & carriage escorted by a marching band. There was free hot chocolate, mini funnel cakes, and carriage rides plus a quick visit with Santa.

After dark, we went to the zoo where they had a special event. We were able to walk through the zoo after hours during the night with the zoo all lit up with candles. It was beautiful.

Overall, it was a really great day. Happy Birthday to me!

Elf on the Shelf: Day 5 - Sitting in the sleigh being pulled by a reindeer