A Pre-Christmas party

The last few days have been a blur thanks to spending the weekend with sarah and lane who recently returned from his 2nd Iraq deployment. Though the time was short, we had tons of fun and celebrated a Hughes Christmas before we all scatter and travel to see the in-laws.






Advent fun included snowman pancakes and making snowmen ornaments. Today we will leave a letter to Santa telling him that he can find us in Minnesota. We leave in a matter of hours for the long drive and when we arrive tomorrow morning, we will bake a birthday cake for Jesus. In the meantime, I am packing.

Advent Days 17, 18 and 19

The girls got little gifts one day, decorated cookies another and saw some Christmas classics (Rudolph and Frosty) tonight.

There was a lot of this.


And, unrelated to advent,way too much of this.... multiple times a day.

Advent

ADVENT 13, 14, 15: Falling behind. Due to some over-committed holiday schedules, advent took a backseat to other types of Christmas fun. The last several days Kinsley earned money for kind things she did around the home. We collected the money in a special jar then took it to a Salvation Army bell-ringer to donate.

ADVENT DAY 16:  Thanks to a good friend, we were tipped off to a special Christmas event that is not advertised. Weeks ago, we signed up to meet Santa and today was the big day. Santa told a story, sang songs and had some Q&A time. Upon asking the children if anyone had a question, many hands politely popped in the air. Kinsley, however, frantically began shouting, "Can I have a Cinderella nightgown? Can I have a Cinderella nightgown?" He smiled and nodded and I made a mental note to go to Disney's website as soon as we get home.
When the time came for the girls to sit with Santa, Kinsley got some alone time before Hallie joined. I wouldn't expect anything less than Kinsley's trademark enthusiasm and Hallie's stranger anxiety.

Advent

ADVENT DAY 11:Tonight we put on jammies and piled in the car to check out Christmas lights. I never thought I would be waiting with bated breath to see if another inflatable is around the corner.
ADVENT DAY 12: Thankfully, today we had another good reason to bake. We surprised Papa at his office with his favorite cookies. I use the word "surprised" loosely considering we had to coordinate with him, go through 2 guard stations and be escorted to his office. Regardless, it was special for all of us.  On our way out, he took us to the biology department where Kinsley got to see a boa constrictor, fish and many stuffed and mounted animals. Which is why, upon our leaving she told me that Papa has to go back to work at the zoo.

Not a bad view from the desk!

Advent

ADVENT DAY 9: Today we had fun baking cookies for Neighbor Tom and even more fun licking the mixing bowl!

These cookies are dreamy....here is the recipe:

Chocolate Surprise Cookies:
1/2 cup crisco
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
1 and 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa powder
marshmallows--halved
Cream crisco, sugar, egg, vanilla and milk. Beat well. Add dry ingredients. Drop on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake 375 degrees 8 minutes. Remove from oven, put cut side of marshmallow down on cookie and return to the oven for 2 minutes. As they come out of oven, mash marshmallows a little. Cool before frosting.
Frosting (mix together):
1 and 1/4 cups of confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 TBS melted butter
2 and 1/2 TBS cocoa powder
2 and 1/2 TBS milk

ADVENT DAY 10: No pictures this time....in fact, I am writing this standing up with a toothbrush in hand. The compter just happens to be on the path to my bed. However, I owe it to my 2 devoted readers to post this simple sentence...Today Kinsley and Hallie unwrapped new Christmas plates, cups and utensils. Kinsley was not tremendously impressed.

Advent

ADVENT DAY 4: Today Kinsley decorated Christmas cards for friends and family. I swear she had more fun coloring than the picture reveals. It is quite possible she is already resenting advent because of the obsessive photo taking.

ADVENT DAY 5: we ate dinner by the Christmas tree!


ADVENT DAY 6,7, and 8:  On Saturday, Kinsley got to pick out a Christmas present for Hallie. We went out to dinner and she also got to pick out any dessert from the menu.....wish I had a picture of the child covered in chocolate.  Sunday, we tackled the gingerbread house. Surprisingly, it is still standing.

Today I hid our Christmas books around the house for Kinsley to find. We read them by the fire.

Advent

ADVENT DAY 2:  Today, Kinsley got to paint ornaments for the tree. She stayed true to her professional artistic skills when she painted the ball by balancing out the color ratio but went a little abstract with Santa. I love them both!



ADVENT DAY 3: Throughout the day, I hid a Santa Pez guy around the house for Kinsley to find....her prize being one candy after each search. She also wrote a letter to Santa.

Our Tradition of Advent

I am so excited that the season of advent is here! This year, we are beginning a tradition with the girls that will hopefully last through the years. Each day of advent, we will do something to make the day special. Some days we will focus on service to others and some days there will just be something fun to do together. Many days will involve cookies in some fashion.

We have this amazing advent house in which I have written out an activity inside each numbered window. My way-to-ambitious goal is to blog each night of what we did for advent that day. With luck, that means I may post a picture--all captions will be bonus.


Although I can still barely grasp the miracle of the birth of Christ, I love that my two year old can understand it in all its simplicity. Our goal is to prepare the girls for Christmas. To talk with them about Jesus. To share our commitment and to be intentional.

Today we celebrated the first day! In the advent house, Kinsley found a piece of paper that read, "Go upstairs to the place you sleep and you will find a special gift."

I wanted to begin with something fun---a new toy!!---while hoping to set the stage for the reason we are celebrating. The nativity will remind us of the first Christmas night and of the birth that caused the angles to sing---the true reason for the season!

Is it November?

Everytime we go the park, I think that we have been spoiled long enough and each time will be the last time. I started saying that in early October---our days at the park have continued far longer than I expected. However, after a 70 degree day, I am actually looking forward to the mid-thirties and freezing rain predicted for tomorrow.

Days at the park or days sippin hot coco, I am tremendously thankful I get to spend them with these precious souls:

All I can say is that my life is pretty plain.......

Remember this......

It reminded me alot of this......

Our week was filled with Halloween fun. We had many events to attend and I think we are now recovering from candy hangovers. Though there were times I had to wrestle Kinsley into her costume, it was worth it. However, for the record, I did let her attend the storytime costume party wearing only a leotard and antennas. This was to spare myself from being the mom in the parking lot forcing the costume on the screaming toddler. I saved those moments for the privacy of our home. In the end, my little love bugs were precious.

And the winner is............

Kinsley Jane! I am honoring her with a blue ribbon for her exhibition of the most dramatic tantrums in the history of the world. She has been equipped with the physical and emotional strength to withstand any disciplinary tactic. She continues to perfect her giftedness with multiple daily episodes. Her passion is unrivaled. She also has the remarkable ability to snap out of such behavior in the blink of an eye and begin acting as if nothing out of the ordinary has occurred. She is able to describe an exact recap of the offensive behavior yet she has no recollection of the emotional drama that was inflicted. I am so proud.

100 acres of pumpkins!

I am pretty adamant that when we go to a pumpkin patch it better be the real deal. I learned the hard way last year that if we stay local the "patches" are more like a glorified grocery store collection. I knew we found what I was looking for when we were given our own pruning shears upon entering the farm. Granted, Kinsley fell into the prickly thorns about twentish times when her feet would get tangled in the vines. Thus, we got to carry giant pumpkins in one arm and kids in the other.

Go Bananas B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Hallie has been quite the resistant eater. She has wanted nothing to do with solids. I persevered through the battles with big smiles and encouraging words like, YUMMY and UMMM as though I was enjoying mashed bananas being splattered in every direction. After a couple weeks of torture, she is finally eating like a champ!

She will be singing her ABC's by next month

After 5 months and 44 showings, we have officially taken our home off the market. While difficult, I have total peace about the decision and trust that we will make the best of living in this home for awhile longer. When the For Sale sign came out of the lawn, I decided that I need to move forward with making this house our haven. Many ideas are floating in my head but I began with making a precious addition to Hallie's room.

Nothing beats campfire songs and s'mores

We had a great time up in Winter Park on a church retreat. I had been looking forward to it for months and it did not disappoint! Kinsley woke every morning asking to play with her friends---she had an awesome time running around with all her buddies----so did Ben and I

The Naked Chef

This week has been one of tears and triumphs. Kinsley has been potty training and I am thrilled to report she proudly wears princess panties and no more diapers! It was an exhausting week but so rewarding! Since we stayed home to be near the potty, we painted, played with Play-Doh and did lots of baking. From the front, it looks like any other day helping in the kitchen but from the back there is a more accurate view of how she spent her week.

Odds and Ends

Kinsley had a tumble at the park. Judging by all the drama that followed, I wondered if she would ever walk again. She continues to walk with a limp and constantly reminds us of her ailing knee. Help me.

The best medicine for the injury has been coloring. The girl can color. She will put on her serious face and let the creative juices flow far longer than the average 2 year old.

Hallie's biggest accomplishment has been her sheer strength. She is rolling, sitting up with crazy ab muscles and lifting herself with her biceps. Based on Kinsley's princess-like response to her wound, we are expecting Hallie to be the athlete.

Hallie also continues to fall asleep in the most precious way. Not a nap goes by without her covering her little eyes. i love it.