Spritz!

Every year for Christmas, my mom and I spend a day making swedish spritz cookies! It's one of my favorite Christmas time traditions. This year....Im not sure what we did wrong (especially since we make them every year), but our first batch turned out really salty. Again, no idea how that happened since there is no salt in the recipe. The only idea we came up with is that we used a different brand of butter this year. Anyway....the first batch went into the garbage and we started all over again (with different butter). The 2nd batch were delicious! Yummy!! Thanks Mom. Kate and I loved spending the day with you!

Naughty or Nice

We went to the Candlelight Christmas again this year....and Kate was ohhh so naughty!!! So naughty infact, we left without seeing Santa. Had I been thinking, we would have made Santa the first stop on our list instead of the last. By the time we made it to Santa....Kate was tired, cold (because she wouldn't keep her mittens on), and in no mood to wait in a line. Even though we called it quits before making it to Santa, we did see the puppet show, elf village, live nativity, and went for a ride on the "choo-choo". The train was really what Kate was most excited for anyway. The whole night...the "choo-choo" was all she could think of. So, no visit and picture with Santa this year. I think I was more upset than she was.

Exploring the Elf Village

Writing a letter to Santa

Boarding the "Choo-choo"

Catching a quick glance at the reindeer on our way out

Wahoo!

We finished it!

Next on the list..

Zoo Lights!!

This is the second year we have gone to zoo lights. We love it! Hopefully it will become one of our December traditions. It was cold again...but nothing like last year. Most of the animals aren't out... but they certainly make up for it with "light" animals. They had light figures of most of the animals. Kate was most excited to see the elephants and tigers this year. The real tigers..and the tiger cubs were actually out so Kate was not disappointed!

Kate loves this statue at the zoo. She always wants to sit on it.


I couldn't resist some hot cocoa and a deep fried smore. Note to self...don't eat one of those again. They are only good the old fashion way! I had to try it though.

And we could't miss a ride on the carosel.....Kates FAVORITE!!!

The 3 Amigos and some gingerbread fun

Kate loves playing with her 2 best friends.....they just happen to be her cousins too (2nd cousins..to be exact).

Ohhh the fun they have when they are together!







They got together last night for some Christmas time fun.






Kate was more interested in eating the candy than decorating with it.


Kate's gingerbread house

Just like Mommy

The other night I was laying on the floor with Kate as we played with her building blocks. I was cold so I grabbed one of our blankets and a pillow from the couch to make myself more comfortable. Within minutes, Kate got up and grabbed a blanket too. She sat back on the floor and after a moment, looked displeased. She got up again and grabbed a pillow from the couch and brought it back. After curling up under her blanket and arranging herself on the pillow exactly the same way I was, she took one more glance at me to make sure she was just like mommy. With a nod of her head, she was content and went back to building blocks. It melted my heart into a big blob on the floor. Sometimes I forget how much she watches me and trys to be just like me. I want to soak up every minute of her looking up to me. Im sure I will long for these days when she is a teenager and mom is no longer cool.

Our first PuZzLe BoArD

Growing up, Erics mom always had a puzzle board to make puzzles on. Making puzzles around the holidays is a cherished childhood memory for both Eric and I.

Last week Eric came home with all the supplies to make our very own puzzle board (compliments of his sweet mom). We went to work and soon had our first puzzle board. We beamed with pride as we admired our creation.

Sunday, as we watched the snow fall outside and snuggled in away from the cold, we decided it was the perfect day to break in our new puzzle board.

Apparently Eric and his siblings always wanted to be the one to put the last piece of the puzzle in...so they would hide a piece until the end. It will be interesting to see if Eric continues that tradition..

Let it snow!

Did you notice it's snowing on my blog??? How fun! If you want some snow for your blog too....go here

http://shabbyblogsblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/add-snow-to-your-blog.html

Thanks Jami for the tip! I love my snow!!

Annual Christmas Dinner

Every year we have an annual Christmas party with some of our friends. This year we celebrated at Benihanas, followed by a stroll through the Christmas lights downtown and ending with dessert and a white elephant exchange at our house. What fun. Good food and friends = a great night!

It was so cold outside that the breath of the person taking the picture kept showing up in the pictures.

My favorite guy!!

The ladies

I made snowflake sugar cookies and eggnog pie for our treat.


And who can have a white elephant exchange without a snuggie! haha!

Curlformers

My first attempt with curlformers. They are fairly easy to use and result in decent curls. Hopefuly I will get better at using them.

I wanted to play around with kates hair, so I had something in mind for Christmas Eve. This is what I came up with so far....it still needs work!

I need baby bobbypins. Do they make such a thing??

Snowy Day

We woke up to some new snow today.

So..on went the snowbibs, jacket, boots, hat and mittens!

It was time to PLAY in the snow!

Even Dante couldn't resist the snow