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.