Winter Wednesday Cookie Party!

For my Winter Wednesday last week we decorated sugar cookies! [Side note...Winter Wednesday is an open play group at my house every Wednesday from 10 AM -12 PM. We party the winter away...along with my seasonal affective disorder Justin swears I have. :)] There was a crazy blizzard outside, so our numbers were sparse, relatively speaking. I knew for sure that 37 week pregnant Erin would be there because she is hard core Canadian like that. Maren semi-surprised me as she showed up with her 3 tots in tow. I'll never doubt you again Maren. You 'da woman. In the end, we decided that small numbers was a good thing! The kids had a great time.

Check out Kate's mouth...FULL of cookie dough.
This is how it's done.

Kara and her fiance Noah.

1. I don't know why this picture won't load horizontally, but I thought it was cute how Kara was looking up at me and I'm smiling too. Like a perfect, "this wasn't stressful or any hassle at all. All of this kids took turns, never licked their hands, and put their cutters as close to the other shapes as possible so as to not waste any space" kind of picture. You know, 1950s.
   

   
   

   Hi Kara.
   
   

   Kate and Noah awaiting the deliciousness.
   
   

   I love this shot of Noah. He LOVED decorating and held the record for most cookies decorated...and bitten out of.
   
   

   The crew.
   
   

   Jackson took his time on his cookies. Such talent.
   
   

   Oh dear. She is such a cheese ball with this grin.
   
   

   Check out this cutie's eyes. So beautiful!
   
   

   The few I decorated. Gotta say it, I love the snowman.
   
   

   We really did have fun.

   
   

Pre Christmas Palooza!

PUDDING FINGER PAINTING!!!

What a mess, but they loved it!!

"Ohhh Sugar rush!

Creating

She's a definite woman...chocolate makes her happy!

Want some?

You are NOT my Sunshine?!

So every night I read a couple books and sing songs or talk with Zachary. Recently his thing has been to sing to me. Since he was a wee babe I've sung "You are my Sunshine" to him. Here's his remix:

You are not my sunshine, my only not sunshine.

You don't make me happy, when skies are not grey.

You'll never know dear, how much I don't love you.

Please take my sunshine away!!

Ah! Isn't that awful!!! And funny. He thinks it is hilarious and it has become more of a game than anything. "Hey mommy, I have a song for you..." or "Check this out Mommy..." and then he sings it, chuckling the whole way through.

He has changed it even more now to where one line is nice and then the next is from his mean song, then the next nice. It's the confusing one he calls it. I do have to say though, it impresses me that his mind works so fast to know when to say not or don't and when not to. If that makes any sense...funny boy. Every night before i leave though, he makes sure to sing the nice song to me. I know I'm his sunshine. :)

In other news, I've finally found the solution to Kara's constant wanting to be held. Get out the baby carriers again! This is one that Kamry and I actually made. It is great, minus the tons and tons of fabric that it is, but once they're on, you might as well have glued them to you. Kara liked this...too much. I did the dishes with her like this for a while. All the kids wanted a turn. And they all got one.

Below is a video of the kiddos playing Woody's Roundup, a game Papa and Mermer gave them for their birthday or Christmas or something. I love watching Kara play it. "Sessie!" She gets so panicked searching for the right character to put it on.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

SnOw Fun!

Did you get my pun? SnOw Fun? Like So Fun...but with snow? Okay, maybe I'm going a little stircrazy. ANYWAY, we had a lovely day that it was nice and warmish enough to bundle up and play outside!!! It is so fun when we can do this. The kids love it. And so do I! Amazing what getting outside can do for you. The day after American Thanksgiving I decked the halls, inside and out (Mom, I am keeping up your tradition of wrapping the poles like candy canes!) while the kids slept and when they woke up we all went outside. I pulled the kiddos around on the sleds we had. Zach even helped pull one of the girls around. We got the mail, went down the snowy sidewalks, and then ran around in the front yard and sledded down a 3 foot hill---okay a 3 foot incline between our neighbors and our house. Someday I'll get brave enough to take them to the real sledding hill by myself. :) It was fun.

What is Kate doing?
Just eating some snow. :) Pine fresh. Hopefully the neighbors are keeping the dogs away from our tree on their walks...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Now isn't this sweet! One Sunday after church Justin read to the kidlets. Thanks for the dresses Mom. They'll wear them every week this month!

I just had to put this one in. Kate facial expression cracks me up."Ughhh, is it over yet? Will it ever be done?"
Zach was so excited to put up the tree. I have since moved it to the other corner so it is trapped between 2 couches so it isn't so tempting to little hands. We almost were about to decorate the top half again...luckily they've learned some self control.