Christmas Cookie Party 2010

love this picture that my Abigail took, not bad for 4 yrs old. I love the perspective from the kids eyes. :)


Again, the Bit's doing good with her photography. Cleaning up the Chloe bird after her own personal cookie making time

"mommy cookie parties rock!"





Abigail "helping" me clean the spoons



Abigail was absolutely insistent on getting to hold baby Lydia before they left









my buddies realized how great "the barricade" works in my living room and got to sit back and chat some.




I finally woke Chloe up from her nap...she was missing it!







Well it took 2 attempts to spin out the cookie party this year but it finally happened and was a huge success. The first date was thwarted by our furnace dying and one VERY cold house had to be vacated for the weekend. Well Brian stuck it out with the cats but me and the girls headed south to MiMi's house to find warm solace. We did a last minute reschedule of the party and it worked out better for everyone. My house was over run with little feet and icing covered little hands and it was great! All the kids had fun and since I'm a laid back "ah, let them run" kind of hostess the other mom's really got to relax and have some grown up conversations. A rarity with this crowd since our kids are all so young. We feasted on mom's pumpkin muffin magic the one's I can't last a holiday season with out. The kids and mommy's alike all ate our fair share of good old Christmas sugar cookies as well. After everyone left I stripped down my Chloe and let her have a turn. I hadn't let her dive in with the others. We loaded her up with icing to smear with her little hands and Abigail shared lots of colorful sprinkles with her. She ate more then she decorated but never the less she had a ball. She was wearing as much as I could stand by the end so we ended the festivities with a trip to the bath tub. Abigail snapped some proof of it all with my camera. It was a great day. I had several of the mom's tell me they were thrilled we were doing it again when they got the word. I would love to be a part of these kids memories and these families traditions. Hey you can't go wrong with sugar, coffee and kids right!? Although I did vacuum I think I counted 6 times by the end of the day to try to rid my floors of all those sprinkles. How they wound up all over my house is.....well, I know exactly how they got there. :) Merry Christmas!

Mommy's little helper 2010

And so the Christmas season officially begins.................


that's my girl!





I'm not at all sure what she was doing with that pose. Looking back...we should have put pants on before we cooked and took pictures. Oh well, it's a memory. :)

Well I have quite a few posts through the years of me and my Bit doing just this every holiday season. It just wouldn't be the holidays with out our million pumpkin muffins sitting around turning us orange. I love how each year she gets a little more useful and helpful. Her spirit has been the same every year. Dying to do and help with more and more. This is probably the first year she actually did quite a bit of it all. She's such the little cook. And she does love the kitchen. She lights up when we let her help. It's our thing and I love sharing it with her. Making those muffins is like a gateway to the fun for us. Bring on the muffins......bring on Christmas!!!

Brrrr!!

"mommy, I'm cold now can we go back inside where it's warm?"











Just some random snow pictures from the start of a very Merry Christmas. Loving playing with my girls. We didn't last very long. Abigail only enjoys the much anticipated snow play but then I hear the "mommy, I'm cold!" about 10 minutes in. That's ok, I'm not a big fan of all day in it either. And poor Chloe seemed to love it. Giggled when the cold wind would hit her face but couldn't move with much success with the new terrain. We had fun while it lasted, then headed in for hot cocoa.

stuff I want to remember

There are random parts of raising these girls that are precious to me and I don't want to forget. Doesn't seem like much but little details like the way Chloe always props her soft baby feet up on her high chair tray when she eats. I just love to play with them and smooch them, often tickle them while she eats. She's a bit demanding during meal time. We are working on some more signs to promote more effective communication and help her to avoid the grunting and pointing through tears to get what she wants. Love that baby girl and her soft chubby baby toes! :)

tree time

Just some Christmas preparations in action. The tree this year was a quick Lowes visit, after Abigail's school day. Both girls were whining and not into it until they realized exactly what we were doing. Brian had the patience of Job to endure his women and their hunt for the perfect tree. We hit 2 lots before we opted for the old faithful Lowes. The bottom pics were the girls after church one Sunday. Took some doing, and much to my dismay Minnie Mouse did wind up in the photo covering the pretty dress but hey, it's all a memory right?! They still looked adorable even if they just wanted to eat lunch not pose. :)