Sometimes it doesn't pay to do things early

I tend to make Christmas cookies and give them as gifts. I like to bake, and to me homemade cookies is a really nice gift that people don't need to find shelf space for.

I made several batches of cookies a couple weeks ago and put them all in the freezer with the idea that, ta-da, I was ahead of schedule on something!

The problem with that, if you haven't guessed already, is thatby now many of the cookies have been eaten.

Rebecca saw me take a cookie out of the freezer yesterday and she said, "Why do you keep those cookies in the freezer?"

I said, "Well, the idea is that I won't eat them, but it doesn't seem to work, does it?"

Tomorrow will be a baking day for us.

Thanksgiving photos

We spent Thanksgiving with Rob's family in North Carolina. It's exactly three hours away, which is the perfect distance -- long enough to make it interesting, but short enough that we usually get there just before the kids start to fall apart.



Benjamin had a great time with Aunt Carol's boyfriend, John. (My FIL is in the background).



This is Robert's mother, father, and sister, Carol.



For dessert we went to Grandma Glo's house, where Robert's cousins were visiting from Kansas. This is DeeDee, her daughter Camille, who is twelve, and nine year old twin boys named Garrett and Schyler. Their youngest child, Quentin, was probably running around somewhere and isn't in the picture.


Here's a sweet picture of my Rachael and Rebecca. Rachael is getting so old, isn't she?

Every now and then I do something Smart

Today, as always, we did our Thanksgiving Weekend Tradition, which looks like this:

We get all the Christmas ornaments, decorations, and tree (yes, I've never had a Real Tree in my life) down from the attic, and set it all up while we listen to the Charlie Brown Christmas CD. Although not part of the Official Tradition, it's a good idea to put some Thanksgiving leftovers in the oven while we do it, and then when we get hungry we stop and eat.

Here's the part about me being Smart:

On Christmas 2006, Santa (with the help of my friend Julie) brought us the Leap Frog Phonics Railroad, set up around the tree on Christmas morning. When we packed up all the Christmas stuff weeks later, I packed up the train set with all the Christmas stuff in the attic so we only break it out when we take down the tree.

Clever, huh?

This is the first year Benjamin was old enough to really be aware of it, and of course he assumed the Official Position of a Little Boy Playing and stayed there for quite a while.

Baby Ben is two!

Benjamin turned two on Mother's Day!

I asked Robert if this means we have to stop calling him "Baby Ben." He said that Baby Ben will earn that privilege when he starts talking. :)

We had a nice little family get-together at my house. Unfortunately my mom was sick and couldn't make it, but my dad and my brother's family came.



Benjamin discovered a new game ...



I am still in search of a decent picture of me that is less than three years old.
This one isn't too terrible. I finally got some new clothes, which I desperately needed.
That helps a lot.


This is my 12 year old neice, Lauren!
She loves everything about wolves and is really good at drawing wolves.
She also likes Webkinz, and I think Neopets too.


Benjamin didn't seem to understand the concept of opening gifts, but he did blow out the candles on his cake.

We made a really cool and easy cake.

You lay a bunch of ice cream sandwiches in a pan, spread ice cream on it, then sprinkle some sort of candy or cookie topping, then spread Cool Whip on top. Rebecca picked Neopolitan ice cream and cherry licorice bites, which, um, wouldn't have been my choice, but it was actually pretty good.

Nieces!

Diane and Anna are our two older nieces. They are sisters, both in their early 20's, and both married. We got to see both of them in North Carolina over Easter weekend. (Yes, I know I'm quite behind.)

We watched some old home movies of when they were little, and Diane, the younger one (on the left) looked almost exactly like Rebecca ... and she kind of acted like her too! We were all struck by that.

Anna and Diane colored eggs with Rachael and Rebecca on "Easter Eve," then had a Easter egg hunt set up for them the next morning. It was really neat to see the Big Girl Cousins doing something fun with the Little Girl Cousins.

Doggie's birthday

This morning I was informed that it was Doggie's birthday and that she was five and we needed to bake her a cake.

I had no frosting or powdered sugar in the house, so I looked in my cookbook and found a recipe for Pound Cake.

Rebecca (and Doggie) helped me make it. Rebecca's pretty good at baking for a four year old; she cracked all the eggs herself and even measured and leveled the flour and baking powder.

Rebecca put five candles in the cake and got out plates for everybody, and we sang Happy Birthday to Doggie.

The second Christmas get-together

My parents joined us for Christmas dinner ... well, it was more like Christmas lunch. For once I did something smart, and we ate while Baby Ben napped.

I made my infamous kugel, and my mom brought a lamb, which was SOO good!



Here's Rebecca with her talking doll, who she named Sally, which was a gift from my mom (in the green chair).



After dinner we were joined by my brother and his family. This is his wife Chris in the middle, my niece Lauren, and my nephew Ryan.



Here's Lauren opening her present from us: perler bead creations by Rachael, and her own stash of Christmas cookies.

I got an e-mail from my mother this morning which said this:

What a dancer Rachael is ... quite the entertainer yesterday ... and she was so happy with the knitting machine ... good suggestion. Rebecca just loved Sally, I knew she would ... she will be a mommy some day ... I will bet on that ... she has soo much love in her to share ... And your choice for Benjamin [a toy rocket] blows me away. I could not have found such a wonderful toy. When we arrived yesterday, he had on only one shoe ... when I said this and asked where his other shoe was, he immediately ran to his room and brought the other shoe to me ... what a darling child ... and such a good hugger ... all your little ones are so amazing to me (and Dad) ... we love them so much.

The pre-Christmas get-together

On Sunday Rob's family came down from North Carolina for a few h0urs so we could have a little Christmas celebration together.

I was grateful at how low-stress they made it for me. We ordered a Veggie Tray and Sandwich Wheel from Publix, they brought a homemade pie, and we used paper plates and cups.


This is Rob's sister Carol and her boyfriend John.



This is our neice Anna (Carol's oldest daughter) and her husband Thor. Thor is in the military and they are stationed in Jacksonville. They had been visiting everyone in North Carolina, so they drove down with them and then headed back home after the visit.



This is a cute picture of Rachael and Rebecca with little purses they got from their grandparents. Rachael had been wearing that outfit for several days (yes, I did manage to wash it while she was at dance class). It is her "Alice" costume.



This is Baby Ben's present from his grandparents, but I think all three kids liked it!

I don't have a picture of the Big Hit Gift: The Grotto! Well, actually it's an Ariel vanity, but the girls loaded the drawers with the jewelry and pretend make-up and cell phone that they got from Aunt Carol, and called it their grotto.

We barely saw them for the next 24 hours. They would come out of their room briefly to eat or something, they say, "You wanna go play grotto?" and run back into their room together. When I walked past their door, I would hear things like "You went to the surface? That makes me so mad!" or made-up songs about living in the sea.

Breakfast with Santa!

On Saturday we went to Breakfast with Santa at a local church.
For $16 all five of us got in, and the girls were able to make several crafts, as well as get their faces painted.
We waited til the very end to get on the Santa Line, and only had to wait for about 15-20 minutes.


Here's Rachael and Rebecca in their Christmas outfits they each picked out themselves the night before. Rachael is holding the star ornament she colored and the reindeer bag the kids make to put their other crafts in.



Baby Ben didn't sit on Santa's lap or make any crafts ...
mostly he just wanted to run around and open and close all the doors.



Rachael was pleased with herself that she took this picture of the rest of us.



Here's Rachael rattling off to Santa all the things she wants.
I believe she said a gumball machine, a knitting machine, a weaving kit,
and some surprises. Santa told her that surprises are what he does best!

Then Rebecca joined the two of them, but our camera started being mean to us and kept shutting off. Don't know if thebatteries were dead or what.

I think Rebecca was overwhelmed. When we were driving home, she said she didn't get to tell Santa what she wanted "because there wasn't enough time!"

Rachael quickly said, "I'll share some of my surprises with you, Rebecca!"

To which Rebecca said, "But I don't like any of those things!"

We assured her that Santa would have some idea what she would like even if she didn't get to tell him anything.

The Twelve Questions of Christmas

I saw this at Zenmomma's blog and thought it'd be fun:





The Twelve Questions of Christmas

1. Christmas is a lot of fun, especially now that I have kids. A lot of people complain about all the stuff in the stores, and the music, and the hassle. I love all that stuff.

2. In memories, what was the best part of your Christmases past? I don't particularly remember my family doing much for Christmas. I do remember being about five and waking up Christmas morning and finding one of those Big Barbie Heads where you do her hair and makup, and thinking that was pretty cool. I remember making some cookies with my mom when I was about ten. Oh yeah, and one year we made a popcorn tree with gumdrops as decorations. That was fun.

3. Was Santa ever good to you? I'm not sure I understand this question.

4. Do you open gifts on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, or both? I like the idea of opening one gift each on Christmas Eve, and the rest on Christmas Day.

5. Is there something you make each and every year? [craft or recipe] I usually make my Favorite Cookies in the World, Babe Ruth Bar Cookies. I make them intended for gifts, but I usually end up eating half of them myself. They are soooo good!

6. What are your favorite five[5] Christmas songs/hymns?

Do You Hear What I Hear?

The Little Drummer Boy

Everything from Charlie Brown Christmas

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Father Christmas -- by The Kinks!

7. Is there a new tradition for Christmas since your childhood days? We always play the soundtrack from Charlie Brown Christmas when we put up the tree.

A few nights before Christmas, we drive around in our pajamas looking at neighborhood lights, eating Christmas cookies, and listening to Christmas music.

We leave out cookies and milk for Santa, and reindeer food.

For a few years we would bring cookies to the local firemen on Christmas Day.

Since Rachael spent Christmas 2005 in ICU, last year we went to visit the nurses and brought lunch to the families who were currently in the ICU. I'd like to continue doing that as long as the kids are interested in doing so.

8. Describe one of your Christmas trips. Until I was nine, every year we drove to my cousin's house a Saturday or two before Christmas. They always had what seemed like a huge get-together and dinner, with other relatives and friends and neighbors, and that's when we'd exchange gifts with aunts and uncles and grandparents.

I remember when I was seven I got a bracelet from my aunt, and that week brought it to school for Show and Tell. "I got this bracelet for Christmas," I announced to the class. But ... it wasn't Christmas yet! The kids were mystified: How was this possible?? Several kids came up to me later and asked me if I was Jewish. I always thought that was pretty funny.

9. Do you have a special Christmas outfit to wear for the day? Um, no. Was I supposed to have one??

10. Have YOU or any of your family members sat on Santa's lap?

See the blog post about Breakfast with Santa ...

11. What is/or will be on your Christmas tree this year? Rebecca has made it clear that her job every year is to put the star on top. Mostly "the usual" -- some ornaments from past students, lights, garland, that kind of thing.

12. Do you/or have you decorated your yard for Christmas? When Rachael spent Christmas in the ICU, several ladies from our local chapter of MOMS Club brought her a tree and some decorations. We weren't allowed to keep a live plant in her room, but brought it home and planted it in our back yard. Last year we decorated it again and sat outside by it and read The Little Fir Tree by Margaret Wise Brown. Hopefully we'll continue to do that.

Thanksgiving Photos - Part Two

Okay, now these pictures were taken on Friday and Saturday
during our trip to North Carolina:


The girls loved coming down this slide at the Fun Factory,
which was really neat because a few years ago they were afraid to go down it.



On the merry-go-round at the Fun Factory!
Cousin Will is in the red shirt, and the blurry boy is his brother Ben.



Here's Cousin Ben (not to be confused with our child, Baby Ben)
with his father, Todd, at a toy store in Highlands.

Todd is Baby Ben's Godfather.


Here's Baby Ben (and his daddy!) keeping warm at Jackson Hole,
a gem and mineral shop we went to.

Rachael told me yesterday that she wants us to do the same thing every year for Thanksgiving. I told her that would be easy for us -- we weren't the ones who had to drive 14 miles! :)

Thanksgiving Photos - Part One

If I counted correctly, we had 28 people at our Thanksgiving get-together in North Carolina last week.

I don't why, but I've tried and tried to post the photos and can't get Blogger to post more than four. So ... I'll make two posts. This first section is from Thanksgiving Day at Grandma Glo's house:


This is Cousin Camille, age 11, with Baby Ben



Sisters Anna and Diane holding their little cousins,
sisters Rachael and Rebecca



Cousins Megan, Garrett, Ben, Schuyler, and Rachael waiting their turn for the hayride



Cousin Steve taking the kids on a hayride!

Rachael actually fractured the tip of her finger Thanksgiving day when somehow a pool ball smashed it. A holiday with tons of relatives isn't complete without a trip to the Emergency Room, I guess! :)

Fortunately we went to the Orthopedic today and they said it should heal on its own in three weeks. They put it in a splint and wrapped it in a pink bandage, so Rachael was happy.

Halloween pics!

This is me with Rebecca and Benjamin at the local MOMS Club party about a week ago. (I know, I'm not wearing anything even vaguely Halloween-y.)

In the middle of the party, Rachael said to me with six year old perceptive wisdom, "Almost everyone here who is a girl is dressed up as something from Disney."



Here's all three Beans getting ready to trick-or-treat:
Rebecca (Disney Princess), Benjamin (Tigger), and Rachael (Dorothy)


Here's some of the neighborhood kids we go trick-or-treating with every year. Halloween is the only time of year we see most of them!
The only reason I'm in the picture is because Benjamin would sob the second I set him down.

[Uh-oh, is it considered bad form to post pictures of other people's kids on the Internet? If so, let me know and I'll take it down.]

I feel like we've been celebrating Halloween for weeks ... probably because we have! Between two Halloween parties, helping the kids carve pumpkins and make decorations (well, Robert did that, not me) and being "boo'd" twice and therefore having to go "boo" other people ... well, it's been a tiring holiday!

But fun.

Pumpkins!

My mom bought pumpkins for the girls yesterday. Robert and the girls carved them this morning while I made pancakes.

Can you guess which girl did which face?


Answer: Becca on the left, Rach on the right