Christmas Day 2013

At this point Christmas Day 2013 is in the books and it was a good one. Kristin and I spend a lot of timing emphasizing gratefulness and sharing with the girls this time of year, and as much work as it can be I'm never more appreciative of it than on Christmas when are girls are thankful without being prompted and share their new toys without fighting. It always makes me proud. (Abby actually asked Santa for world-peace this year, though even I thought that was a bit much).

At any rate, Christmas Eve we enjoyed hot-chocolate and marshmallows and then watched The Polar Express.

Since we were up late the girls slept in a little bit (maybe 7:00am) although at some point we realized that they were awake and just didn't know on Christmas morning they could come get us when they woke up. Santa left us many good things in our stockings, and he ate the cookies we left for him so he must have really been here - as Abby informed us.

After a traditional breakfast of home made cinnamon rolls we opened presents. There were many good gifts, princess cloaks were the highlight for the girls. Abby gave me 'Hungry-Hungry Hippos' which we all enjoyed playing this afternoon - Mom is ruthless, she won half the games.

For lunch we had a Christmas appetizer feast. We had Jalapeno Poppers, Stuffed Mushrooms, Mozzarella Sticks, Pizza Bagels, Stuffed Dates, Veggies & Hummus, Cheese Ball & Crackers, Deviled Eggs, and Chicken Nuggets. For dessert there was a choice of Kristin's home-made Christmas cookies: Buckeyes, Rice Crispies, Peanut Butter Blossoms, Mint Sandwich Cookies or Shortbread. Kristin actually claims she was being restrained, I don't know about that but the girls and I certainly enjoyed it.

After naps we all played some board games and the girls worked on some painting. We had another feast for dinner, and worked on Lego's before bed, all told a grand day.

Merry Christmas!

Winter Update

In other family news it's been a pretty full start to the winter. I'm sure I'll leave many important things out but, in no particular order, we've been:

Decorating for the season

Seasonal baking, and attempts at seasonal baking, (yes Dad may have had something to do with the gingerbread design choices)

Putting on Christmas concerts

Braving power outages, playing in the snow, and thoroughly enjoying the Mom-Spa.

Happy Birthday Nora

Happy Birthday to our very own Nora J, four years old today!!

We started the festivities with giant birthday pancakes. After that Mom and Nora went to the indoor park, had fresh pretzel's for a snack, and rode the carousel.

Per Nora's request I took her out to lunch at McDonald's. While we were eating she asked, 'Dad, where are we?'; wish she would have told me beforehand she would believe any restaurant is McDonald's.

We had take-out pizza, carrots, and rasins for dinner (all Nora requests) and birthday cupcakes for dessert.

All told a great birthday for our wonderful girl.