December

Have I mentioned that my kids keep getting more and more fun to be around?  I found that especially true this Christmas season.  Just get a look at this sugar cookie making.  This is lifelong dream come true kind of stuff.  

Paul and I decided to really make an effort to spend some one on one time with the kids.  This is the day Esme and I got to go on a date to Fire Island bakery.  It was decorated so beautifully.

Macrina and Nate joined us for our annual cookie decorating contest.  They took their cookies and left before we could get a picture of them.  Not as exciting as last year's fetus cookie, but we still had some winners.

At this point we were already starting to feel like we needed to ease up on the sweets.  But then it was birthday time!  Here they are discovering their cakes on the morning of their birthday.  We need to come up with a different birthday tradition in our family because December is the worst month for having three extra cakes turn up.

Paul wanted to have a big bash with lots of friends to celebrate their birthday, but we never really got it together.  Instead we went back to that play place where we went last year and had a lovely time playing around.

We went home for cake after playing around.  When Julie was here she told me that when she asked Ruth (who is 3 days older than the twins) what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday, she said, "a pink tutu gummy bear cake."  When I asked my guys, Esme quickly said, "Pink," and Ezra said, "Orange."  They're so great.  I think maybe I have 1 more year until they realize their mom is not very good at making cakes. (Another reason we need a different tradition in this family.)  I was just excited they got real cake this year and not black bean brownie.  

This is one of my all time favorite pictures of these two crazy kids.  They were so excited.  (Also, I recognize I need to up my wrapping game!)

It hasn't snowed very often this winter, but at least it snowed early so we have had a base of snow all winter.  

We had a really magical Christmas season.  I got to do everything on my list that makes me feel merry, like sugar cookies and the gingerbread village at the Captain Cook.  When we walked into the hotel, which has great decorations, Ezra shrieked, "Decorations!!!" and started running.  I love that stuff.

Not much playing in the park going on around here.  

Of course I enjoyed my free birthday burger at Red Robin.

When I was thinking about what I wanted for my birthday this year I thought, "I want to sleep in...and have a nap...and go to bed early."  Can you tell what I'm missing most in my life?  Instead, Paul got super sick on my birthday and by that night when we were supposed to be going out to celebrate after the kids were in bed, Esme had a fever and Thomas was puking all over me.  We decided to stay home.  I still plan to cash in my birthday sleep in at a later date.

One night Paul and his coworker "found" this tree to help make their office look a little more cheery.

I finally made our family stockings.  They are modeled after the ones I had growing up and I was super happy with how they turned out.  

We celebrated on Christmas Eve by watching The Santa Claus (not the Tim Allen one) in the tree house with hot chocolate and elk sausage/cheese/Ritz snacks.  It was pretty magical.

That night we decided to invite the kids to our crepe feast.  I kept remembering how late Paul and I were eating last year after getting the kids to bed.  It made for a much earlier evening!

Christmas morning was delightful.  We are always so grateful for the generosity of our family and friends to make it a special day for us and our kiddies.

Paul got us an annual family pass to the museum, so we went that week to check out all the fun stuff they have for kids there.  I'm excited to keep using that over and over again!

Since we really truly were sweeted out by that point in our lives, I decided to celebrate New Years with a challah.  It turned out great!  Peace out 2017!