Making Christmas Cookies (12/18)

One of the Christmas traditions that my Mom started with me and my sisters was to make and decorate sugar cookies.  That is a tradition that we have continued in our family and we all really enjoy it.  I like watching them pick out what cookie cutter to use and then drowning an iced cookie in sprinkles.  Of course eating them is the best part!

Josh learned that rolling out his dough too thin could keep him from being able to get his cookie off the mat.

Another sheet ready to go in the oven.

Time to decorate.  We pinched the sprinkles with our fingers and then sprinkled them on the cookie.  

Simon kept eating the sprinkles off his fingers so he had to wash his hands many times.

Simon just needed more sprinkles.

"Yummy!"

The cookie team. 

Christmas Concert at the Inn (12/11)

The Inn at Virginia Tech held a Christmas concert and we went to listen to the music and see lots of Christmas trees decorated for a contest. We walked around and looked at them all and then voted on which ones we liked the best. The boys wouldn't sit still for the whole concert so it was good that there was something to walk around and do.  These are some of our favorite trees but there were many more.

Snowman tree.

Mardi Gras!

Patriotic 

Gardening

Sweets

Hokies

There was a table stacked with poinsettias but these boys were not really in the mood for pictures.

A Day at the Park (12/9)

One of the best things about our neighborhood is being able to walk down to the park to play.  On a beautiful day it's easy to spend hours down there and it's always fun to see friends while we are there.  

Josh has been practicing his football skills.  

Simon always wants to go higher on the swing.

Caleb pretends to be a soldier protecting a fort.

We all play freeze tag with our friends Beth and Lydia. 

Breakfast with Santa

On the 2nd of December we went to have breakfast with Santa at the Christiansburg highschool.  We didn't really get to eat with Santa but the boys had their picture taken with him, just a little reluctantly.  I don't think they even said "Hi" to him.  But the last time the boys sat with Santa was in 2008, when we were at Uncle Darrell and Aunt Audra's house.  So I could understand their being a little cautious.  We enjoyed a good "cafeteria" style breakfast and watched elves (choir students dressed in costume) skipping around.  It was a fun morning and I hate to say it, but it may be their last photo with Santa.  Their getting too big and too smart!