Christmas Extravaganza! Part 1

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?  

Santa Elle.  And I promise Kate had leggings on at some point in the day. 

Explaining the finer points of ornament hanging

Kate

Elle 

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.

Elle working intently as Campbell supervises.

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!

Elle was addicted to sprinkles.  I turned away for a minute and WHAM!  Half the bottle was gone.

Aerial view.

Icing in plastic ketchup bottles?  A brilliant idea I discovered on the internets.

Kate's finished products.  That gingerbread man never stood a chance.

Elle's finished products. 

Thanksgiving

Tah-dah!  Told you I'd get to Thanksgiving.  We were blessed to be able to spend Thanksgiving Day with BOTH sides of our families.  I am so thankful that we have such awesome families who get along and are fun and flexible and just generally super cool cats.

Swinging with Grandbob

Pre-turkey with Gabby

Mommy & Kate pretending to be a dog.  Named Gloria.  But that's a whole other post.

Mom & Pres

The pre-dinner entertainment

Kate LOVED feeling like a big girl on Cousin Bo's bike

Elle getting some help from Uncle Ben & Bo

Thanks to Aunt Wissa & Uncle Scott for hosting and to everyone for the delicious food.  It was also cousin Pey-Pey's birthday!  Can't believe that wittle bitty ring bearer in our wedding is now a 16 year old driver.

I swear, it hasn't been that long.

Or maybe it has.

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to our sweet Grandpa Bill over the holiday.  What a kind, giving, loyal man who loved Grandma and his family so well.  And one of the biggest Auburn fans I knew!  We are so thankful that we were able to be with Grandma and the whole family to remember & celebrate him.

Bactracking...

In my haste to cover Halloween (and yes, I know Thanksgiving has come & gone - more later), I skipped over a fun weekend we spent in H'ville with Papa & Coco and all the Burns.  We went to a fun Fall Festival, met Aunt Wissa & Uncle Scott's new puppies, and went to an apple orchard where the girls and I had our first taste of apple cider slush.  It was a hit! 

Snow Elle at the festival

Hooked on phonics worked fo - Zzzzzzzz

"Mom, this getting this pumpkin tattoo totally wore me out."

Stopping to smell the flowers at Grandma's.

Kate does a mean Ray Charles.

Loving on one of the new pups.  Yes, there is a hint of fear in his eyes.  We are still trying to master the concept "gentle."

Frozen apple cider!

Don't mind anyone else who might want to buy those apples, Elle.

Bargaining

Snack time conversation:

Kate:  Want 1 veggie fry.
Mommy:  Want 1 veggie fry, what?
Kate: Want 1 veggie fry, please.
(I put a veggie fry on her plate.  Mind you, she already has a bunch of animal crackers on it)
Kate:  How about 2?

Oh dear.  She cracks me up.

Happy Halloween!

What?  I'm posting about a holiday on the ACTUAL holiday?  We must be in a parallel universe where I am an efficient, organized blogger.  I'm sure we will return to reality for Thanksgiving.

We had a great Halloween!  It started on Friday with Trunk or Treat at a friends' church and culminated tonight with more trick-or-treating.  After the rain on Friday, we were glad for a clear night to pull the girls around in the wagon, making occasional stops for them to hop out and go get candy.  They were not afraid to run up to the doors and hold out their pumpkins, though they were shy about saying "Trick or Treat" and usually only managed to whisper it.  I'm surprised Kate didn't say "BOO!" at every house as that has been her answer to the question "What do we say on Halloween?" for the last week or so.

Speaking of Kate - she was supposed to be a cat in a pumpkin.  What did she end up being?  A cat with a pumpkin top.  She was not all about the actual pumpkin part of the costume and would yell "NO BE PUNKIN'! if I even tried to get near her with it.  That was not a battle I chose to fight & she was still darn cute in just the cat part of her costume.

Elle was the self-proclaimed "Itsy Bitsy Spider" or "'pider" as she likes to say.

The difference between Halloween this year and last is crazy!  They were so excited this year when we talked about it.  They would say, at least 3 times a day, "Go Trick or Treat!".  To which I would respond, "We have to wait for Halloween!".  And Kate would always hold up her pointer finger and say "Wait Halloween come."  Then they would both start saying "Elle be 'pider!  Kate be cat!  Daddy be chicken!"  Yes, they wanted Daddy to be a chicken.  Sadly, that did not pan out the way they'd hoped.  All in all, big fans of Halloween, I'd say!  Makes me super excited for Christmas.  :)

Kate the Cat with a Pumpkin Top

Elle loved Kate's cat nose. 

What we get when we say "Girls!  Hold hands and smile!"

Elle, the Itsy Bitsy Spider

Trunk or Treat.  One day, we'll have lots of pictures of them looking at the camera at the same time & smiling - right??

Love this girl and her jolly self.

Love this one too.

Ready to roll.

Their first house.  Awwww.

Watching them walk around in their Halloween costumes was so stinkin' cute.

Post-Halloween candy assessment & sugar stupor

Oh Reese's Cup, I love you.

It's Cookie Time!

Tell me the name of the movie the blog title goes with and you win 7276 Dojo points!  A box of them would be so nice...

But seriously - the girls and I made cookies the other day!  We've made cookies before, but never the cut-out variety, so it was a new experiment.  I thought I'd practice in preparation for some Christmas cookie making.  Thank you $1 bin at Target, for making our "fall" cookie-making experience possible!

I'd say the girls had a great time, as they are still talking about "painting cookies."  I was a little control freakish about letting them cut them out because the concept of "gentle" is still not completely understood and cookie dough is not so forgiving to little toddler hands!  I think next time, I may make the cookies ahead of time and then just let them go crazy with the icing.  That, or take a chill pill.

Hopefully, they will remember painting leaves & turkeys & owls this fall instead of the fact that I totally forgot to get a pumpkin to carve for Halloween!!  Oops.

Kate loved pushing down on the cookie cutters.

Elle liked picking up the cookie cutters to see her creation.

Funny side note: Elle calls the legos she's holding ice cream.  Chocolate ice cream, to be exact.

In answer to your question - Yes, it is very important to wear your backpack while decorating cookies.

The finished products!

#2

Not only #2 out of the womb, but also the first to go #2.  Not to be outdone by her older-by-a-minute sister, Kate took it a step further and went poop in the potty tonight.  You go girl!  Literally.  

A smidge grosser to clean up, but we're still very proud!  And I think she is too, though she was very nonchalant about the whole thing.   She was way more excited about her previous "pooping on the carpet" escapade.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I will spare you the details, but she thought it was hilarious. 

Sidenote:  I had such positive feedback on my previous potty post (yeah, alliteration!), I'm considering making it a weekly blog feature.

No?

Okay, fine.