Christmas

I am just getting to our Christmas posts. I have been slacking on the whole blog thing. Christmas morning was a fun time. Nothing beats spending it at home!
The kids loved their stockings and pulled out each item one by one.

Andy got an awesome Geotrax set. Thank you Grandma Debbie and Aunt Natalie! We were able to get some more pieces of Craigslist, and set everything up for Christmas morning. Andy was so thrilled!

Ashley loved her presants too. She was so cute opening everything and playing. I remember Christmas morning taking 5-10 minutes, but they went so slowly it was almost 45 minutes before we were done.

The highlight for Ashley was the purple sippy cup she got in her stocking. She is always asking if it is clean or dirty.
Andy played trains for hours. At 11:00 that night he was crying in bed and wouldn't go to sleep. It dawned on me he might be hungry. He replied that yes he was and wanted a peanut butter and jam sandwich. I realized that he had only eaten a pack of fruit snacks and some M&Ms the entire day. He was too busy playing with his new toys. It was a good Christmas.

Christmas Cookies

Our Christmas cookie experience did not go so well this year. As expected, they lasted for 5 minutes and then were done.

Ashley mostly ate the dough, and Andy's shapes were likely to be a gingerbread man missing a hand, or a star missing a point.

However, while I was finishing up the cookies, they drew on my stairs with crayons. While I was clean that up the second time (the first time I made them sit and watch while I scrubbed it out, but it didn't come up) Ashley broke a bowl. Andy hit me while I was trying to sweep up the shattered glass because he wanted a turn with the dustpan. He then bit Ashley (the first time he ever bit anyone). Luckily, he fell asleep in his room while in timeout, or I might have lost it. He and Ashley then spent the rest of the day hitting each other. What a day.

I don't think we will be making Valentine's day cookies.

The First Big Snow of the Year

So I have shoveled the driveway at least 5 times since this snow, but better late then never. Last year Andy hated the snow. This year he has had a change of heart. Now I am the one saying "I can't feel my hands, its time to go in".

Eating snow.

Running in snow.

Climbing through huge piles of snow.

Ashley has not quite gotten what the big deal is about. She wouldn't wear her gloves, and so lasted about 2 minutes. We put them on her after her hands got snow on them, but she was done. I love that face.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. Flay's brother Jay, his wife Steph and their little girl Ramona came out to visit. We kept really busy and the kids had a great time. It was a fun week.

My picture-perfect rolls.

Flay and Jay attempting to deep-fry a turkey. Both Steph and I checked to make sure they were going to do it in the empty lot next door. Good thing as you can see the 425 degree oil splashing everywhere.

The finished product. I have to admit to being a little nervous when they brought that in, but it actually tasted really good. We had made a second turkey for gravy and stuffing, so it would have been ok if it hadn't. Luckily there was tons of meat to go around.

Our friends the Pullmans came over for Thanksgiving dinner and brought their Wii. It was quite the hit with both the adults and the kids. I love how hard we are all focusing. Santa will definitely be leaving one of those under our tree. I must say it felt way better to play that then just veg out on the couch! It was a great time and a fun Thanksgiving.

Ashley's 2!

I can't believe my little baby is 2! Where has the time gone? She very much acts like she is 3, so in that respect she doesn't seem like a baby at all. It was a very casual, thrown-together sort of party. Poor thing's birthday was the day before Thanksgiving, and she will have to deal with that the rest of her life.
She was happy to have everyone sing to her. She couldn't quite blow out the candles, so Andy was happy to help her.

I totally came through with the Ratatouille cake. Go me!

She loved opening presents. In fact we went over to someone's house that had presents under the tree and she promptly opened them. It was a great birthday and she was a happy birthday girl!