Santa Visit

We still don't know what's up with Cole's pouty face... he was pretty set on not smiling I guess. Ah, it will make for humorous memories one day. Otherwise, we had lots of fun time at the annual Winter Wonderland at work.

Cole really enjoyed the trains.

Lauren's favorite activity was icing (and eating) a sugar cookie.

Crunch Time

I've made significant progress (note my last update was in 2009!), but we're closing in on December 1... I still need to determine how I want to 'hang' the 'ornaments' on the tree, but I might be able to finish up a few more pockets. One down, and 23 to go.

Contentment

Cole could literally sit and watch the Frosty Train circle the tree for hours.... Also note the sole ornament hung thus far - Lauren's newly acquired 'Rapunzel' which she purchased with her Disney Store gift card.

Catching Raindrops

Happy 4th! We had a lot of fun at the annual 4th Celebration at a neighborhood park, although this year it rained - but no one seemed to mind :) Water slides, snow cones, hot dogs, hula hoop contest, and more; maybe next year we'll even decorate bikes and join the parade!

Merry Christmas!

Ho Ho Ho

Both kids agreed to their Santa picture without me this year!  Still searching for a smile though....

Lauren told Santa she didn't know what she wanted for Christmas this year.  Cole told us he asked Santa for 'a cat!' Go figure. We told him he should have asked Santa if he would like a cat, since we are trying hard to reduce our cat count of two, to zero.  But then Cole tried to insist we only have one....

Thanksgiving Weekend

Pie heaven, courtesy of Mom.  The kids' favorite was the apple pie, the adults' favorite was the icebox pumpkin-mousse pie, recipe from the Nov issue of Everyday Food.


Next, up with the Christmas decorations and tree.  Santa brought this Frosty train last year, and the kids were so excited to set it up.  They can literally stare at it for hours.


And Cole decided to line the tracks with snowflake ornaments...

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!

Hoop Girl

Lauren shocked us at the community 4th of July celebration with her hidden talent :) She won the contest for her age group (1st grade and under), then wanted to continue on with the big kids. She hadn't tried the 'turn' move yet, but has been practicing in the gym at school ever since. She informed us at dinner tonight she can now hula hoop while hopping on one foot, and also while walking on her knees. Where does she learn this stuff??? :)

Easter Fun

Started off our Saturday watching an Easter parade in Ahwatukee, and later an egg hunt at the local park.


Had time for a quick pizza dinner, then colored some eggs.


Cole picked blue.


On Sunday, a nice Easter brunch, after checking out what the Easter Bunny left.


Then headed outside to play with the new toys - where to begin?


Bubbles, always a hit.


And finally, having fun playing 'hide the eggs'.  Each time, after Lauren hid the two eggs and Cole would find them (after some help from Lauren), he would hide them in exactly the same spot Lauren had just hidden them (and would get mad if you suggested otherwise).

Deja Vu

So just like last year, one kid was curious and the other fickle. Hence I got to join in once again. Cole was intrigued by the white felt 'snow' on the floor as well, and rolled around on it for a while prior to the picture.


Too bad I'm the only one smiling :) Again, there's always next year....

Hid Did Came!

Lauren had been misbehaving on Christmas Eve Day, and actually went to bed wondering if Santa would even come, or if maybe he'd come but leave coal in her stocking.... But as she came out of her room on Christmas morning, she announced excitedly that 'he did came!' The best however, was when she looked around, saw what Santa had delivered and said 'I thought I were gonna get coal in my stocking but I didn't. I think I were good!'


Lauren opened all her gifts in record time, and here she tries on some of her new dress-up clothes. She has been enjoying playing will all of Cole's gifts too.


Cole was really excited too - Santa brought him a Spiderman bigwheel, and a big cuddly Elmo. He kept saying 'Santa, Santa!' and also enjoyed the Frosty the Snowman 'choo-choo' (aka train) that Santa brought and placed around the tree. He loves everything and anything Frosty.


Merry Christmas!

Cookie Exchange

Lauren requested chocolate cookies for her school cookie exchange this evening. I used my favorite chocolate cookie recipe, and substituted M&Ms for the chocolate chunks, for a little holiday flair. Looking forward to hearing the kids' Christmas carols - they've been practicing a lot. The best is Lauren's interpretation of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' - including the 'two turtle ducks' that 'my tulip came to me'.

The Pickle Store

Lauren's class had a Thanksgiving potluck (kids only), and each of the kids came up with something they wanted to bring. Lauren chose green peppers - interesting. But in talking with her later, it turned out that she really meant green pickles. Now she doesn't actually like pickles, but she was pretty set on bringing them. So I told her to remind me to buy pickles over the weekend. And she said 'Oh yes. I think there is a pickle store or something, where they have pickles'. We settled for Target. And I also made cranberry orange sauce, since a jar of sweet gherkins just didn't seem very substantial....

Happy Halloween!

Picking out pumpkins at Trader Joes. At $2.99 each, a much better deal that the $10 ones at the 'pumpkin patch' near I-10.


Carving pumpkins. Cole is transfering the pumpkin guts back into the pumpkin.


Ready to trick-or-treat. Lady Bug Lauren was still quite shy with her 'trick-or-treats' and 'thank-yous' but had a blast. Dr. Cole on the other hand was gung-ho, and really got the hang of this trick-or-treat thing. He also enjoyed handing out the candy to the other trick-or-treaters at Grandma's :)

Happy Easter

Easter was a lot of fun this year. Lauren colored a few eggs on Saturday, while Cole watched from the comfort of his high chair (while snacking on Cheerios). Sunday morning the kids checked out their Easter baskets,
and Lauren went in search candy-filled eggs in our family room (the two blue ones must have been for Cole, as they contained Cheerios). Then we dropped by the egg hunt at Rawhide, and Lauren (and Cole)picked up a few more candy-eggs. After a nice long nap (woo hoo!), Lauren helped decorate some cupcakes for another Easter treat, by placing jelly beans on top. She had a little trouble falling and staying asleep at night though -I'm guessing because of too many jelly beans!

Hired Help

For Valentine's Day, Lauren and I baked heart-shaped sugar cookies. Although, after rolling out the first batch of dough, she grew bored after cutting out only the 3rd cookie.... So I finished up the rest, but she agreed to pose for this picture, and to sample the results.

Santa Sighting

We went to the 'Winter Wonderland' event at work this morning, and everyone had a blast. Lauren was a little reluctant to sit on Santa's lap, but Cole was just plain curious, and grabbed ahold of the beard to verify its authenticity. Lauren decorated a cookie, got her hand painted, and did several craft projects. Cole got a reindeer-antler balloon hat, that he wore proudly - at least for a few minutes. The highlight for Lauren was 'seeing Santa', although she still can't seem to figure out what she wants for Christmas....

Pumpkins and Puppies

Halloween 2009 was a lot of fun. Lauren picked out the cat pattern for our pumpkin carving. She wasn't too fond of scooping out the pumpking guts though - 'Oh, man!' she said as she helped empty out the inerts (albeit very slowly, one seed at a time). She was excited to wear her dalmation puppy costume for her party at daycare, and for trick-or-treating on Halloween. Cole and I handed out candy, while Lauren and Daddy hit the neighborhood to collect some Halloween loot. Even though she practiced saying 'trick or treat' at home a lot, turns out she preferred to do her trick-or-treating in silence... Ah, maybe next year :)

Just 3 months left....

till Christmas arrives; I'm not sure I am going to finish this project. I have all the 'ornaments' completed (still one more set to post), but the calendar looks like more work than I thought. Plus, I want to do a slight redesign which will add some 'additional' time - which I don't have much of these days :)