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'.

Movie Night

Popcorn and Frosty. How can you beat that?

Chandler Day of Play

Last month we dropped by the Chandler Day of Play at Tumbleweed Park. It was to promote health and fitness, and had many local vendors and free activities. Although on this particular day, it was super hot - which made some of the activities a little less attractive.


Lauren enjoyed the obstacle course, one of those huge inflatable slides, and a cherry snow cone.


Cole enjoyed rounding up the soccer balls at one of the vendors.

Happy

Note also his "Cheese!" at the beginning of the song.

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....

A Shout Out

To my bro, who completed his first Ironman today, in Tempe, AZ. All 140.6 miles... 2.4 mi swim, 112 mi bike, 26.2 mi run. Way to go Chaz!!

Brussels Sprouts

Cooked brussels sprouts for the first time last week. Mixed them with sauteed shallots, olive oil and salt/pepper, then roasted at 400 deg for about 30 min or so. They carmelized very nicely, and tasted better than I expected. Still, the kids were not fans - although Lauren actually did try them, but promptly spit them out....

Serenity now

Weekend indulgence - especially enjoyed during the kids' naptime - a homemade version of Starbuck's Carmel Macchiato (shot of espresso, steamed milk, and a few pumps of vanilla syrup). Yum.

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 :)