Christmas cookies and Florida

One of my favorite things to do with the kids around Christmas is to make sugar cookies from scratch! I have a really easy and super yummy recipe from the Betty Crocker Bridal Edition Cookbook that I got from my Aunt Rita when we got married. If I can make sugar cookies from scratch- pretty much anybody can! ( I also make the awesome frosting from that cookbook too!!) Jack and Emma love, love, love decorating and eating the cookies!

A mouthful of delicious!

This girl prefers to just lick the frosting off....

Jack made a great Christmas tree plate at school. We used it for Santa's cookies on Christmas Eve.

On the shuttle at the crack of dawn. On our way to see Nae Nae and Dude in Florida!

We let Emma ride in the back of Dude's truck when we left the airport. Kidding!

We visited the Miami Metro Zoo. The weather was awesome! It was a really nice zoo- the kids loved it until they got tired and entered meltdown mode.

Sitting on the hippo

Another great family photo

A hippo eating Jack

Jack cuddled with the snake just for Obeo. He knows Obeo HATES snakes!

LaNae and Jack had WAY too much fun running through the fountain!

Jack "swam" all by himself in their pool- thanks to the stylish suit with a built in innertube!

Emma and Mama looking at her favorite animal- a gaga!

We even got to FEED the gaga!!

Emma eating her "peacock" at the airport. Not sure why pizza comes out as peacock.

Moe Moe and Jack passing the time till we get on the plane!

On the flight home we almost got diverted to Flint, Michigan because of snow in Milwaukee. That would have been a GREAT experience. Stuck in a random airport with 2 kids on Christmas Eve!!! We were lucky to land in Milwaukee and made it home on the snowy roads. We had a wonderful time in Florida. Jack and Emma really love spending time with their aunt and uncle. They also LOVE the cats and dogs.

Christmas 2009

Here's a sampling of our Christmas- backwards as usual!

Emma got a beautiful new scarf from her Aunt Jean and Uncle Lance

Jack was beyond thrilled with this outfit from his Aunt Mary and Uncle Tom!!!

Jack also got a scarf!

Jack and Grandpa

Emma and Obeo

Grandpa just HAD to try it on...

Auntie Ali and Jack

Christmas morning was just the 4 of us.

She adores her babies!

Jack got a lunch box for lunch bunch! No more borrowing Daddy's!

Emma was not too happy with the skirt- but ended up wearing it most of the day!

Patiently waiting to see if Santa came!

Eager to go downstairs!!

We had a great family Christmas party in Chicago. Somehow I forgot my camera! We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with just the 4 of us. It was perfect! We had a great dinner with the rest of the family and then headed to Super Nana's for dessert. It was a great holiday. We are now enjoying our week at home together. We're getting tons of projects done around the house and enjoying driving each other crazy!

18 Months (yesterday)

Holy cow our baby girl is a year and a half old!!!

She is goofy and silly and smart and cute and lovable and everything else we'd ever want our daughter to be.

Her vocabulary is exploding- she's now yelling "cookie!" and "turkey!" and a bunch of other words.

She enjoys tackling her brother, hugging her dog, and talking on the phone.

Happy 18 months baby doll!
We love you all the time!
Love,
Mama

And it begins...

"Emma, do you want to help me set the table"
"No!"
"Emma, please throw away your popsicle stick"
"No!"

"Emma, if you keep saying "no" to Mama, you will have to have a time out."

Well believe it or not she marched her own little tush over to the time out step!

We've got a pistol on our hands!

Seventeen Months

***And she says, "Ali"*** are you happy now, demanding aunt???

My preshy (short for precious) girl is 17 months old today! She got back from a sleepover trip to Madison with her brother this afternoon. She had a great time entertaining all of her Obeo's friends and coworkers. She also got to have lunch with my sister at the medical school and trash the store my dad works at!

At seventeen months she has lots of words:

gaga (her giraffe that she sleeps with)
deedee (her pacifier)
mine
hi
bye
Jack (comes out as Jah)
Mama
Mommy
Daddy
Puppa
Hot
Uh Oh

That's all I can think of now. She's got a great sense of humor, is naughty as can be, and loves her dog very much.

Happy 17 months, Presh!

We love you!

Love,
Mama

Grounded.

Finley has been grounded and further punished by having to wear an old t-shirt. He went ahead and scratched one of his stitches loose. After a trip to the vet for some doggie superglue to fix what he had done... he is now not speaking to anyone. Except Emma. He loves Emma.

One Brave Puppa

The star of this blog made it through surgery today. He had a really gross looking growth on his side removed. We're not paying to send it off to the pathologist- just hoping for the best. He also had some tartar removed, his nails clipped, and a skin tag snipped while he was under. The dog is too worked up at the vet to get any of that little stuff done when he's awake.

He's got a few stitches and some drugs to take. He also has a new penguin stuffed animal- thanks to the ever devoted Emma. She freaking loves that dog! She had fun picking out a toy for him at Petsmart tonight.

I'll have to post some pictures of his royal highness...

Halloween 2009

We had a great Halloween... even though both kids have colds!

Jack was in charge of answering the door once we got home from trick or treating. He did a great job of watching for the kids and then telling them to "take a handful!"

Mouth full of candy!

Such a lady- showing me her mouth full of candy!

They couldn't be happier as they check out their loot!

Yes, I wear that sweatshirt a lot. It's my comfort outfit!!

Emma wasn't too thrilled about getting dressed up since she had a cold. But once she was handed her first piece of candy, she was all over it!

Jack was a zebra again this year. He fell in love with the costume and insisted on wearing it again!

From a few days ago, happy to be having a Popsicle for dessert!

See what I mean about falling in love with the costume? He insisted on wearing it to bed earlier this week!

It's been a great "just the 4 of us" weekend. We got new winter coats, cleaned the house, and are looking forward to watching the Packers kick some purple butt!

Fall 2009

What we've been up to recently...

We took a trip to Chicago to see my grandpa.

We got some raking done

Emma was not too happy about the hat

Ali and Emma

Aunt Rita, Kerry, Ali, and Emma

Kerry and the kids

We took a trip to our favorite pumpkin patch

Thanks for looking at the camera and smiling guys.

Jack was really into the hay barn this year

Emma... not so much

Thoughtful on the train ride

Grandpa took both kids on this ride

Emma loved the slide again this year- next year I'll send her down by herself

Jack loved the slide again

Thanks for the skunk hat, Moe Moe!

Me and Ali before the 5k- we are wearing garbage bags so we'd be warm at the starting line!

Jack has his cast off now. He just has a splint that he has to wear at school. He's getting used to using that arm again- hopefully just playing and moving the arm around will be all the physical therapy he needs. He goes back in about 2 weeks for a range of motion test. Jack gets to be Star Student of the Week next week. We worked on his All About Me poster yesterday and he's excited to bring popsicles in for his special treat. I'm also going to come in and read a story to the class. I can't wait for that! Jack is learning French at school and now knows his colors, hello, goodbye, and some numbers in French! He's still loving school!

Emma is talking more and more each day- I'd say she has way more words at this age than Jack did. She's also more outgoing and independent than he was. I guess that's how it goes for the second child!

I'm finally done with report cards and conferences. The last 2 weeks have been super busy and I felt like I was never home! This week will be fun as we look forward to Halloween. Jack can't decide between being a t-rex, a rock (????), a witch or a baseball. Emma will either wear her tinkerbell costume, or Jack's dinosaur outfit from when he was her size. She's happy to just dress up in anything- so she might be a random selection of dress up stuff!

Jack and Emma went to church with my parents this morning- so I'm off to enjoy a morning of peace and quiet!!