Cold Morning at the Zoo

Took a trip to the zoo with our friends this morning (bundled up.....high 40's!) But very fun.

Danielle got some cute shots of the girls.

 AMAZINGLY they all stood in their otter holes long enough to take a photo! A FIRST!!! 

Even Maddy participated!!

First Remote Control Cars

Thank you to Grma Smith! The girls got their own (1st) remote control cars for Christmas!

They are cute, and simple to operate (forward & back/spin).

Hello.....Goodbye

The girls are so silly these days. It always seems cuter when they do things together!!

Here they are walking in circles, saying "Hello" & "Goodbye"......Maddy can't say goodbye yet, so she always says "All Done" instead. And if you ask her to say "bye", she says "die"! She will get it eventually! (I goofed, the video is sideways and a bit dark, but too cute not to post)

COOKIES!!!!

I spent the majority of my evenings preceeding Christmas, BAKING! 

I LOVE so many recipes, and have come across many new ones and techniques each year. It makes it SOOO hard to choose just one or two....so I made WAY too much! Oh well.....more for Mike to take to work tomorrow!! I took a bunch to our party Christmas night, but there is still a TON!

 Lemon raspberry thumbprints, Snickerdoodles, Butter Balls

 Royal Icing Sugar Cookies

 Cake batter & Peanut Butter Fudge (yummy! 1st time I made fudge ever)

  

Dipped red velvet cake balls!

 All of what I took to the party.....only a portion of what I actually made :)

Christmas Morning 2011

This was a VERY quiet Christmas for us this year (holiday season in general!!)

We had no company so we spent it with just the four of us for a change! Kind of nice!! 

But I do miss the family!! :(

With Hanukkah and Christmas overlapping this year it made the gifts go farther! So each of the kids only had a few gifts to open Christmas morning, and actually focused on those items!! Imagine that! Nothing went to the wayside!! We opened presents, had a yummy breakfast, and relaxed. Then after naps we headed to a fun night with friends!

 In true kid style, Abby got up at 7am (15 min early than normal...) and at 7:30 when Maddy was still asleep, she begged us to wake her up! So we opened her door...and seconds later out came a bright a cheery Madelyn! Abby opened her stocking and surveyed the loot with Roxy!

 Opening their remote control kid cars from Grma Smith (SO MUCH FUN!!)

 Mommy got her own iPAD!! I am in LOVE with this unit. I use it for everything, but lately, its my recipe book extraordinaire, my skype unit, email, blog, facebook.....you name it.....it does it! FAST and COMPACT little thing! No need for a laptop when you have this!!

 Trying to jump rope!!

 Maddy and her expressions. She stood, arms crossed, with a straight look on her face....no clue what she was protesting at the moment :)

Mini pancakes and egg-sausage bake!

Our Christmas Eve Visitor.......

 Santa didn't forget our house this year!! And we have the photos to prove it!!

He came, filled the stockings, laid out the presents, and gobbled the cookies & chocolate milk that Abby left for him (she left carrots for the reindeer too!). 

Can't wait to show her this post and see her face!!!! 

Little miss chill....

 Day by day I see changes in Maddy of maturity....even at two! 

She is starting to love the idea of snuggling more (than usual), and is starting to chill out more, and whine less! Here are some cute moments from the last week.

 BELOW: I caught her watching her show on the computer, with her hands clasped!

 Today I found her on the couch by herself, watching Toy Story, with pillows over her head. When a "scary" part came on, she'd hide behind the pillows!!! So funny. Abby was never affected by things like she is!!

 The girls both got knee high sock sets for Hanukkah!! Maddy is sporting hers with the diaper look!

Hannukah, Night Four

I caught the girls admiring the Hanukkah lights after lighting them on night four.......and then there is a shot of Mike and Abby enjoying our new Hanukkah gift..."MarioKart" for our Wii!! (race car-like game!) It uses a wheel as the remote control, so Abby caught on quicker than I imagined to steer and accelerate!! Fun family game!!

Hair-Do!!!

Abby received a cute hair brush kit for one night of Hanukkah.....and decided to beauty me up! With all the clips at once! I played along, since I'm always the one DOING the hair, the tables turned!

Barbie LOVE...uh oh.....

Caught Abby playing with her two new barbie dolls the other day making "kissing/smooching" sounds....when I came up behind her and asked what they were doing, she said, "Just kissing mommy". Her first "Ken" doll.......lead to this :) Too funny

Hanukkah 2011- The 1st Night

I was amazingly on my A-Game with planning this year, so Abby and I made & decorated Hanukkah cookies yesterday. It is so fun to watch her grow, even to the ripe 'ol age of 4, and have her do new things that she was too little to do the year before!! She LOVES to help in the kitchen, and I am slowly letting her have some of my space from time to time for different projects.

 Final plate of cookies!!! She decorated them all by herself! And even insisted that we set 2 aside for Great Grandma & Grandpa Reiss when they come visit next month!! So they are in an airtight container for the next few weeks!! Hope they taste good late January!!!

Can you smell our masterpieces???!!!!

It wouldn't be Hanukkah dinner without some Latkes and Matzo ball soup!!

 Abby was a BIG help! She handed me all the potatoes to peel, and told me the onions make her sneeze!!! I tried to correct her that they make you cry, but she insisted on the sneezing!! :)

 Maddy joined in on the fun once she heard the food processor going from the other room!

She was quick to hop up on the chair next to her big sister, and one by one they each took turns putting the sliced potatoes into the shredder!

 Once Mike was home from work, we had a great dinner to enjoy!

THE REWARD!!!

 I wanted a special corner for our Hanukkah celebration this year, so I dedicated the kitchen window to be just that! I even craft-wrapped an old paper box, to be the gift box that the girls choose from each night!

 Then it was time to light the candles and say the blessing for the 1st night!

Amazingly, Abby repeated EVERY word of the blessing word for word as I spoke and said it quite well!

 GIFTS!! This 1st Hanukkah night was brought to us by.....Aunt Amy!!!

Madelyn received a new bookshelf for her room, and a new book to go in it too! She is definitely the little reader now. And will sift through endless books, for you to read of course!!

And miss Abby got a new Leapster Explorer game system!! As you can see she jumped right into it!

Thank you Aunt Amy!!!!!

Graham Cracker House

This past Sunday was my swap day to watch my friend's girls while they went holiday shopping!

So to keep them occupied I had them make gingerbread (graham cracker) houses, and pizzas for lunch! The girls had a blast, and did such a good job.

 I built the houses first thing that morning with a great frosting recipe that was like super glue!

 Then the girls went to work decorating.....Maddy, as I assumed, did more eating than decorating!

 End result......4 cute houses!! The glue held up great, not a single crack or broken shingle!!

(I actually tried to break a piece off for Abby to eat the next day, and I couldn't even do it with my bare hands!)

 Abby's house

 Maddy's house (note the sliding "licked" snow on the roof!!) I had to stop her before she did more eating.

 Then the girls went on to make their own pizzas for lunch! 

Again, they had fun and ate too! Imagine that!!