Cookies and Christmas Eve

Before Christmas, my Mom and I spent days making lots of different cookies to give away. A tradition that we love, but glad it's only once a year! Here are a few of our cute gingerbread men.

Owen was great at helping to eat all the cookies! And he had fun decorating them too. These were not the one's we gave away as gifts.... ; )

Adam had to work on Christmas Eve unfortunately. I was so busy preparing for the next day that I gave up on making a nice Christmas Eve dinner, so my Mom and the kids and I surprised Adam at work and showed up for dinner at Endless Summer. Not what I had in mind for such a holiday, but we actually had a lot of fun. The restaurant was almost empty by 7:00 and Adam had just ended his shift, so we could all eat together as a family. We shared a great bottle of wine, some seared ahi and grilled salmon. Yum.

While waiting for our meals, Owen decided to get a pad of paper and a crayon and start asking those that were still in the restaurant what they wanted to order. He took orders from complete strangers. He would go up to a table and say "Whaddya want?"....until he was corrected and told to say "What would like Mam or Sir?"
In fact he was so good at waiting tables, he got his first real tip from a stranger. $1 He was SO proud!"Can you believe this lady?!"After hours, Owen was allowed behind the bar and helped with the dishes. I think we should get him a work permit soon!Finally it was time to go home and wait for Santa to arrive. We let him swing between us the whole way back to the car.Love this picture with his feet in the air!

Riding in the Rain

With all the rain we had, we had to get out of the house at some point. There was finally a break in the clouds and Owen and I went for a walk/ bike ride to the park. I misjudged the sky, and left without a rain coat or an umbrella....needless to say, I got dumped on! Owen however, was dressed appropriately in his golashes, rain jacket, hat and rain pants. He stayed dry and had a blast! I was having to wait it out under a tree until I gave up and we ran back home as fast as we could. Glad he was prepared, next time I will be too. Lesson learned.

A bonus was seeing this beautiful rainbow on our way home!

Week Before Christmas

This week we have been stuck inside because it has been raining for 5 days in a row. We have been baking, building a gingerbread house, puddle hunting/jumping, and finding new foods for Emily since she is now eating solids and can sit by herself in a high chair already! How did that happen so fast?! Here are a few pics of our week.

Owen liked making the gingerbread house, but really enjoyed eating all the decorations even more.
More sprinkles!
Little Christmas Angel Here we go with lots more pictures of Emily. I told Adam I felt bad putting so many up, and he said, who cares? Owen has an entire blog about just him before she came...he's right, so here they are. I just can't get enough of her sweet smile!

First time in the high chair at Nana's house. She looks so little still. Her first food was sweet potatoes and was a hit. She has since had butternut squash, another favorite, and bananas (not so much) Where's My Food? "I am liking this independence thing" "I am ready to play in the rain Dad!" Waiting patiently at the gate for Adam to come and open it.
Owen has been so patient about his presents that are already under the tree. He is really excited for Christmas and has been saying some funny things lately. Here is the one he said last night: "On Christmas morning, I am going to go into Mommy and Daddy's room and say 'Good Morning!' and then I am going to ask Nana for my gummy stars (his vitamins), and then I am going to see Santa Claus in the kitchen!"

When asked what he wants for Christmas, more often than not he replies "ummm, I am going to ask Santa for some new underwear and some socks too." (I think Santa can manage that one)

Today Adam asked Owen what he should get for Mommy and he replied "Pizza!" When Adam said, "why do you want to get pizza for Mommy?" Owen said "Because she has teeth!"

Last week my Mom told me he had said...and I quote..."Nana, sometimes I have to put my hand down my pants and feel my pee pee to make sure it's still there."

This kid seriously says something hysterical EVERY day. I really need to keep a pen and paper handy at all times to write this stuff down, because I forget 80% of the funny stuff he does by the time I can write it down...

Bed Head

This is how my darling little girl woke up this morning. As my Grandad would have said she "looked like she combed her hair with an egg beater" ; ) "What are you looking at?"

Stow House Christmas

Every year we go to the Stow House to see Santa, make a cookie in the old fashioned kitchen, pet the Christmas goats, drink hot cider, and make an ornament. It's a small town event that gets me in the Christmas spirit every time. Owen was a little scared of Santa this year. All day long he kept repeating that "maybe next year I will sit on Santa's lap, but this year I am sitting on Daddy's lap." Looks like he was hiding behind Emily, who looks a little freaked out herself! Later, Adam said that Owen was holding back the tears when he first sat down.

No tears.

Getting a little more upset....

Party's over!

Making his gingerbread man.

Every year Owen makes a cookie. It is always plain because he INSISTS on eating all the little candies by themselves instead of decorating his cookie. Oh well, he isn't a follower, that's a good thing! ; )

Owen made a gingerbread ornament for Emily. He wants to wrap it up for her on Christmas. So cute. He asked for a pink one since it was for his sister. : ) Of course they only had brown, but he decorated it with pink pom poms.

Eating his cookie out of the oven.

We went to feed the ducks after the festivities. It was a pretty nice day today in the mid to high 70's

Sunset Hike

We took a family walk behind our house on the bluffs the other night. It was the most amazing sunset I have seen in such a long time. It was breathtaking. We watched the sky turn from blue, to pink to orange, until we had to head back before it was completely dark. The best part was seeing 3 owls in the trees on our walk home. Such beautiful birds.

Cool clouds that are going to make for an awesome sunset! My favorite picture of the day.

So bummed I didn't have my telephoto lens on me, but this is what we got with my short lens.