And now - to catch up on the holidays! We were busy busy bees, filling our days with fun Christmas activities with friends & family. Thus, I have to break the posting up or this would be a really. long. post. And you would get very. very. bored.
First up? Decorating the tree! Kate was way into it. Elle just wanted to take her ornaments and run. Good times. PS - Why is stringing lights always so traumatic? There's a light out in the second strand, we don't have enough lights, the lights don't look right, etc. Is it just me?
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| Santa Elle. And I promise Kate had leggings on at some point in the day. |
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| Explaining the finer points of ornament hanging |
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| Kate |
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| Elle |
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| The finished product! |
Next - making salt dough ornaments. Does anyone else remember
making these with your Girl Scout Troop? Go Troop 89! In a hugely
disappointing revelation for the girls, turns out that while making these appears to mimic the cookie-making process, the dough tastes decidedly UNcookie-like. They had tons o' fun with cutting out the shapes though, and decorating their ornaments. Homegirls can bedazzle some salt-dough ornaments with the best of 'em.
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| Elle working intently as Campbell supervises. |
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| Kate is on a mission. She liked pressing the cookie cutter down over and over again in the dough, giving her ornaments a somewhat "abstract" look. |
Next up? Gingerbread houses! In a hugely exciting revelation for the girls - gingerbread houses do indeed taste delicious. Kate kept systematically licking the icing off the house, despite my attempts to explain to her that this was the glue holding her house together. Delicious sugary icing: 1. Mommy's attempt at reasoning with a toddler: 0. Elle was a Hershey Kiss freak. This resulted in her surreptitiously unwrapping them like someone was going to swoop in and steal them and also in an entire side of the roof being covered with said Kisses. The results were delightful and unceremoniously destroyed by a hungry Daddy. But not before I took pictures to commemorate.
Then? Cookie decorating! One of my favorite Christmas memories growing up was decorating sugar cookies with my grandmother (a.k.a. Gabby). I would sit on her counter at Christmas time, help cut out cookies, mix icing & decorate. So when my mom sent me Gabby's cookie cutters in the mail? I was over the moon. I mean, I don't think anyone has ever been so excited about cookie cutters. Perhaps Buddy the Elf. Enter cookie decorating fun times!
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| Elle was addicted to sprinkles. I turned away for a minute and WHAM! Half the bottle was gone. |
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| Aerial view. |
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| Icing in plastic ketchup bottles? A brilliant idea I discovered on the internets. |
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| Kate's finished products. That gingerbread man never stood a chance. |
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| Elle's finished products. |
