December Part 2

Some of our Christmas traditions are putting together a gingerbread house. (Yes, I buy the kits. I'm not ready to tackle one entirely from scratch yet. At least it's not already assembled!) We also frost sugar cookies and make at least one pineapple pie. We had Steve's parents, Kimi, and her boyfriend, Steve over this year so we made two.

Ivy's a pretty good little pie making helper.

I think these are the only pics we got of the girls in their Christmas dresses. We had 9AM church and had to be there really early to practice with the choir so we took them afterward when everyone's hair was a mess. Haha.

And this little rosebud wasn't in the mood for pics.

On Christmas Eve we read the Christmas story, played Don't Eat Pete, and set out carrots and cookies for Santa and his Reindeer.

Christmas morning!

All month long we had a list running of things we were grateful for. And there's the obligatory trip to Target for Christmas clearance.

For Christmas we redecorated the girls' bedroom, moved Ivy out of the toddler bed and Mimi into the crib. A lot of moving things around and last-minute painting. It was a ton of work. But they really love it!

I love the week between Christmas and New Year's. We went out on a date and had sushi, spend New Year's Eve with the Stephenson's (and had more sushi), had a lot of movie nights and tried to finish off the rest of the Christmas goodies lying around. When you want a piece of pumpkin bread and there's no knife around, you get pretty desperate. I'm not sure who did this, but it was probably one of my children.

Happy New Year!

December Part 1

December started of with a smashed finger (Mine. Luckily there were no breaks. It's nice to have easy, cheap access to an x-ray machine.), yummy candles, gathering addresses, and still a lot of sunshine. I'm not sure we'll ever have a real winter in Reno.

Also, I've had the same address book for 16 years -- it was a high school graduation gift. I haven't had the guts to type them all into a program in fear of having to type and retype them if something changes and I need to switch programs. It works. :)

This girl. I swear she gets cuter and more active every day.

A couple of years ago my mom sent the girls a Christmas book that has a recording mechanism in it that allowed her to record herself reading the Christmas story to the girls. It's one of their favorites. 

I had no idea getting out of a chimney simply required smelling cookies.

And I'm not above recruiting child labor for stuffing Christmas cards.

We found this nifty little wire set up from IKEA and finally hung it! Thanks, Dad!

Mimi pulled herself up to the box of pomegranates and latched right on. I laughed for days. I still laugh whenever I see this photo.

'Tis the season. :) I did a cookie swap with a bunch of other bloggers and sent out some extra-spicy gingersnaps dipped in chocolate. I also went through a ton of butter this month and made macarons like a madwoman.

I just love this pic. Even when he's trying to be intimidating he's not. Love him. :)

Happy 4th Birthday Ivy!

Miss Ivy had a joint birthday part with her little friend Maddy. Their birthdays are two days apart and since they'd be inviting the same group of kids we did the party together. Um, awesome idea. :)

It was easy to pick a theme since they're both princess obsessed girls. So, Rapunzel it was.

Pin the flower on Rapunzel's hair was a little harder than it looks.

... for Sophie. Silly girl :)

I made tower cupcakes with ice cream cones and topped them with colored stabilized whipped cream. I'm not sure what the deal was, but the cream started falling apart off the "tower" and seemed to break apart. Maybe it was squeezing it through a pastry bag. Or the food coloring. I have no idea, but it was bizarre. The girls loved them anyway, so that's what mattered most.

And Sophie was thrilled to wear her Cinderella wedding dress.