Organized Chaos (Bellito/Larson gathering, Dec. 18th)

What is Christmastime without gathering together with some of your favorite people, and coordinating all of your kids' outfits and pajamas?! We are so blessed to have deep, long-lasting friendship with the Larson and Bellito families. We feel more like a family than friends - our kids have known one another since birth, we are all Aunts and Uncles to one another's children (as well as Godparents), and we are all figuring out this phase of life together as young parents to many small children!

Getting together has become a high priority several times throughout the year, and we marveled at how fun and easy this last get together was. Although young, the kids are old enough to play independently of the adults and together with one another. We actually started and finished many conversations! It helps that the Bellitos have a beautiful, large home that includes an open-but-gated playroom with hundreds of wonderful toys right off the family room, and are always willing and gracious hosts to our growing broods!

Robbie and Charlotte enjoyed a sweet treat together...

...and continue to be a match made in heaven. Few little ladies are as sweet, adorable, energetic and tough as Char is. She and Robbie could be found chasing each other in circles throughout the house (when he wasn't unlocking the deadbolt on the front door and running down the street in his socks and pj's). She has dance moves you have to see to believe, and melted our hearts with her sincere thank-you's for her Christmas gifts, sweet hugs, and freshly painted red fingernails and toenails.

The three littlest boys - Joey, Luke & Ryan (the twins) kept us entertained with their charm, new tricks and ever emerging personalities. Joey remains the most contented of the bunch, flashing his baby blues and reaching for anyone who will pick him up and give him a snuggle. He is already a confident walker and provided Ellie the motivation she needed to get moving on her own two feet. Luke and Ryan have mischievous smiles and love to run around in their diapers as well as climb anything in sight. They are sweet as can be but team up against their mama and keep her on her toes - it's no wonder she's so thin. Who has time to eat when you are literally running between boys!?

It was really fun to spend the whole day together and realize that although we know one another so well, our children are constantly changing and growing into new little versions of themselves. We love watching their little relationships grow over the years!

As fate would have it, all of our kids were given the same Christmas pajamas by various extended family members and we realized this just before our get together. We couldn't help but plan a group picture of the kids in their matching pj's.

The dads were in charge of staging the kids (and feeding them M&M's to keep them still) while the moms stood ready with the cameras.

Cheese!

This was the best we could get.

Ellie enjoyed Charlotte so much this visit, and snuck over to her during Char's milk-break to steal a snuggle. Poor Char. So much for alone-time.

We wanted to do a little gift exchange for the kids but to keep things from getting out of control, decided to draw names and let each child give one gift vs. 6! It was perfect, and we managed to make a huge mess with just 6 presents.

Kids were mounting gifts...

...and squeals of delight were heard with the unwrapping of each present. It was adorable and so fun. I pulled a classic Aunt-move and we gave Char an Easy-Bake Oven as her gift along with a few dessert mixes for her to bake. Becky is awesome and did not disown me as a friend.

It's always fun to try and get a decent meal into them while they sit together at the table. So! Much! Excitement! Robbie definitely had goldfish, fruit snacks and M&M's for lunch, leaving his fruit cup and PB&J. Nice.

Oops, this one is out of order, but Char and Ellie are helping Joey open his belated birthday present. How cute are these two in their accidentally-coordinating ribbon shirts and hairbows!? (I promise we did not plan this, but oh yes it made me so very happy.)

And this is about what it was like the entire time... bodies everywhere. There is something so wonderful about having friends who just understand the phase of life you are in because they are in the thick of it, too... and are totally unaffected by the noise and chaos but instead cherish and embrace it!

Lego Train Display (Cantigny, Dec. 11)

We took in the free, short-lived Lego Train Display at Cantigny (which included so much more than trains - buildings, villages, Star Wars sets, etc.) and Robbie loved it. The trains were remote controlled and actually ran around the tracks along the outer edges of the tables! It helps to have a tall daddy who is willing to carry you around on his shoulders when you are shorter than the displays.

This picture of the Star Wars set up is for cousin Nicholas! ;)

We could have spent a very long time here...

Go ahead and judge my complete dorkiness... but I couldn't resist this sweater when I saw it and he loves it too! I thought it was appropriate for the occasion.

A little train that was giving rides... in the freezing rain. We passed on the opportunity, but Robbie enjoyed watching the grown-man-conductor squeeze himself into the front car and drive in circles. I hope they paid him well.

Not particularly amused, and ready for a nap.

Heading home.

One day years from now, I will line up all of the pictures I have of these two walking side by side holding hands, and it will make me cry!

It was a good day.

Sugar Cookies (Dec 16th)

We had a lot of sweet, memorable little moments throughout the month of December.

Robbie helped me ice and decorate sugar cookies... and he surprised me with his intense focus and long attention span for the project. Like any good 'helper', he ate his fair share of sprinkles and managed to jam 3 cookies in his mouth before I shut down the operation. :)

Such precision...

Every serious baker needs their own apron. I don't remember where I found this one, but it's been hanging in the pantry for months and you know it brought me great satisfaction to finally break it out!

Edible? Check.

I can hardly stand how old he looks in this picture. Where have the last 3 years gone?! And why does he look like he's 5 here?

I managed to convince his little body to lay down for a nap right after this last picture was taken, despite the massive amounts of sugar coursing through his veins, and finished decorating the rest of the batch.

And I can't end this post without including the recipe for these cookies. I tried them for the first time this year, and not only were they the best sugar cookie recipe I have tried, but the dough did not require refrigeration and the icing dries firm to the touch (thanks to corn syrup) so that you can stack the cookies until you're ready to put them out or eat them! Love how practical all of these details are. When you are a mom -who has the time!?

Sugar Cookies

1/3 cup cold butter

1/3 cup shortening

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

Beat butter and shortening with an electric mixer for about 30 seconds on high speed. Add in sugar, baking powder and a dash of salt. Beat until combined. Add in egg and vanilla and continue mixing. Add in the flour 1/2 cup at a time, you may need to hand stir the remaining 1/2 cup. Lightly flour your rolling surface and place half your dough on top. Flip your dough a few times to get it nicely coated with flour. Flour your rolling pin and then roll out your dough 1/8 to 1/4 inch in thickness and cut your shapes. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes or just until the cookies edge is firm and the bottom of the cookie is a very light golden brown. Cool on a rack and ice!!

Sugar Cookie Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoons milk

2 tsp corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon extract (vanilla or almond!)

Add your powdered sugar to a medium sized bowl and to that bowl add your milk and your corn syrup. Mix well. Then add your extract and slowly add more milk and corn syrup until you get the consistency you prefer.

Hello, Garden State!

We made it to New Jersey and are pulling in to Grammy and Papa's house as I type this. Praise the Lord! So excited to be here!!

Tis the (flu) season

I have started a list near the computer of all the things I need to blog about and am behind on... the free Lego train display we went to last week, our sugar cookie decorating, visiting Santa and sitting on his lap, getting together with good friends up north, and our little family's Christmas celebration this past Saturday morning.

But.

The flu is in our house. And it is so unfortunate. Robbie came down with it after going to bed on Friday, but he didn't get sick very many times. All day Friday was spent with our good friends the Larsons and Bellitos, and there were plenty of snacks and sweets everywhere that could fill a little boy's belly and make him sick. Coupled with the fact that no one else had been sick or came down with the flu after our get together, we chalked it up to a day of bad eating and no nap for the little guy.

But last night sweet Ellie spent the hours of 12:30-4:30am getting sick repeatedly, so now we know. It was the flu.

There is nothing like sick laundry at 2am and pretty much no sleep (as well as snow that needs shoveling before work at 4am) to make for 2 tired parents.

The up side? The kids should be fine by the time we leave on our flight to NJ on Thursday.

The down side? Rob and I feel like ticking time bombs.

Isn't illness just inevitable when you have little ones? We have done so much in the last week to prevent getting into this situation the week of Christmas (and before we travel), and it just doesn't seem to matter!

O happy day!

The sugar cookies were baked and decorated this morning... from start to finish, it took us 4 hours (double batch). Our kitchen is still recovering. Robbie had the time of his life icing his 3 cookies, then dumping half the container of sprinkles on them and shoving as much into his mouth as he could before I finally told him he could have one more bite and then we needed to stop. Pictures to come... they are hilarious!

The camera situation (and my related anger issue - ha!) is resolved for the time being. Although I have yet to rescue the 3 years worth of video that is being held hostage by the Sony Handycam, I received my Christmas present early and am now the proud owner of a Flip. So the pressure's off to get the Handycam issue resolved, and Christmas is saved as well as my sanity. My husband... what a guy! He is so good to me.

And the birthday banner is down. 6 months after her birthday. I am so on top of things.

*******************

Memorable moments from today:

- Coffee and donut run this morning, straight out of bed. An indulgent way to start the day, for sure.

- Ellie discovering that she has the ability to crawl up onto the kitchen table via the side chairs, and then falling off during her dismount. Don't worry, she's fine. Yet another reason I am surprisingly fond of linoleum - so forgiving and easy to clean.

- Robbie narrating his cookie decorating and consumption: "This cookie is crunchy and yummy! It's very good, indeed! May I have more sprinkles, please? This is a very good idea."

- Everyone sleeping in until 8am. We also may have stayed in our pj's all day today, but I can neither confirm nor deny such laziness.

- After putting the kids down for naps mid-cookie decorating session, I finished icing and decorating the dozens of cookies myself. Instead of turning on Christmas music while I worked, I decided to spend the quiet time reflecting on Jesus' birth, and what the implications would have been (and would be for me personally) had he never come to earth. I'd never really thought of things from this perspective, and wow... there is a new depth to my gratitude for God's love and sacrifice in sending his Son to earth, eventually to die. 30 Christmases and yet a brand new way of thinking about the most celebrated holiday of the year. I looked up in the middle of my pondering to see snow falling - not much, and not for very long. The quiet time, my thoughts, and the snow all felt like a gift.

- For about 10 minutes, the kids sat on the couch snuggled up close to each other under Christmas blankets watching Toy Story. It was ridiculously cute.

Lofty.

Goals for the remainder of this week:

1. Clean out the linen closets, which are more like face/hair/makeup product closets that are out of control, thanks to me.

2. Make sugar cookies with the kids like a good mommy at Christmastime. Get over the fact that it is going to make a colossal mess and embrace it.

3. Get the last 3 years worth of home movies off of our Sony Handycam (aka the devil's camcorder) and onto our Mac, as well as a back up copy on an external hard drive. May I please mention here that I've already spent hours attempting to complete this task and - who knew!? - the format that Handycams record in is not compatible with Macs. Even after purchasing updated software that supposedly helps with the recognition of files and the import process.

4. On the heels of #3, stop letting said camcorder situation make me angry. Even though MY DAUGHTER IS TAKING HER FIRST STEPS AND I CAN'T RECORD IT BECAUSE THE MEMORY ON THE CAMCORDER IS FULL AND I HAVE NO WAY OF CLEARING OFF OLD VIDEOS WITHOUT DELETING THEM FOREVER. That, and a little thing called Christmas is coming up that I'd love to remember years from now via video memories. ::sigh::

5. Put away unused Christmas decorations that are hanging out on the dining room table. While I'm at it, take down Ellie's birthday banner that hangs in the family room. Ha!

6. Make a packing list for our trip to NJ and stick to it when it comes time to fill suitcases.

7. Take the kids to sit on Santa's lap. I just love having those pictures to look back on, even though we're not emphasizing the big man as the reason for the season.

Isn't it always helpful to have a little accountability when it comes to getting things done? Hold me to my goals, blogosphere...