'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

We were baking and stirring,
Making cookies for Mr. Claus! 

As Evan promised Santa last week, we made Santa cookies to leave out tonight.  And we added some Frosty cookies too, just for fun.  After church and some of the Polar Express movie, Evan dictated the note he wanted to leave for Santa, and we left the cookies on a special plate.  We didn't leave them on the hearth, as Evan was afraid Santa wouldn't see the plate when he came in and might step on the cookies, so instead we left them on a side table.  Then, off to bed we went, with visions of sugarplums dancing in our heads! 

Drew took a little photoshoot today in his Santa outfit.  Remember Evan's first Christmas photoshoot in the same outfit? The outfit was a little big for him, but it fit Drew perfectly.  He didn't want to keep the hat on his head for long and wanted instead to eat the pompom.  Silly, adorable little Santa baby!

Santa Visit 2011

'Tis the season! We took Drew for his first visit to Santa, and we decided to live on the wild side and take Evan too.  His history of a desperate fear of mascots includes Santa... last year we couldn't enter the mall from the side where Santa sits, and forget shopping at a store within sight range of his throne.  But Evan mustered all his courage and agreed that he would "help his little brother" because he's so little.  Aww.  We went on a random weeknight, hoping the lines wouldn't be bad, and we were rewarded with only a 20 minute wait.  (We laughed at the other family who said the line was too long and they'd come back Saturday... because THAT's sure to be a shorter line the last weekend before Christmas - ha!)  Anyway, Evan was ready... until he saw Santa. Then he changed his tune to "no way!"  But the waiting in line did have it's advantage, as by the end of the wait, Evan was ready to see Santa, no problem. 

While we were waiting, we asked Evan to practice what he wanted to say to Santa, and his first comment wasn't what he (Evan) wanted, but what he'd tell Santa that Drew wanted.  Even in school, when Evan wrote a letter to Santa, he included Drew's "wishes" too.  What a fantastic big brother!  We're constantly impressed with his desire to look out for Drew, help him, and love absolutely everything about having Drew in our family. 

When it was our turn, Evan walked right up to Santa without hesitation, and launched into his story.  "I want a Chugger and Drew wants a baby with a pacifier..."  After a short chat, and Santa complimenting him on looking out for his little brother, Evan climbed right up on Santa's lap for some photos and even gave him a hug goodbye.  Santa told him to be sure and sleep on Christmas Eve so he could visit (Evan said he'd make sure mommy and daddy were sleeping too), and as we walked away, Evan rushed back to ask Santa what kind of cookies he'd like us to leave out (then told him we'd leave him Santa cookies). 

The visit was a total success!  When we came home, Evan couldn't stop talking about Santa.  He put on his winter boots (just like Santa), and had us all sit on his lap and repeat the entire encounter, nearly word for word.  Christmas is thrilling through a 3 year old's eyes, and it can't come soon enough!

Tree Decorating

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  Our house has been glittered and lighted and decorated top to bottom, except for the tree.  So tonight we set it up and Evan wanted to do all the decorating.  It's the first time that he really gets the season and all the traditions - it's so magical to watch through his little 3 year old eyes!  We spent a glorious evening letting him put up (almost) all of the ornaments, while Drew happily chewed on a couple very baby-safe ornaments and toys, watching his big brother's every move.  He had a very interesting decorating scheme - he picked out a couple places on the tree and put as many ornaments on that one branch as possible before moving on!  He did spread his "spots" throughout the tree though, even sneaking around back to make sure that part was covered as well.  Evan had a blast, and the tree looked great!  (Though I did add just a few more ornaments, the breakables ones, after he went to bed and filled in the holes.) 

Cookies with Grandma Barb

Grandma Barb was here for an early Christmas celebration.  She and Evan took a few minutes to make delicious Rollo Cookies...  Everyone had their doubts that they'd work, but they were delicious! 

Rolo M&M Sugar Cookies:


Buy:
Refrigerated break-n-bake sugar cookie dough
Bag of Rolos
Bag of M&Ms

Place one little square of dough in each space in a mini-muffin tin, and bake according to directions. 
While they're baking, unwrap a bag full of Rolo's (many people use Reese's, but with a peanut allergy, we substituted!). 
Also separate by color a bag of M&Ms.  When we make these cookies for UVA football games, we pull out the blue and orange.  For a Packer party, the green and yellow were used.  For these Christmas cookies, of course, it was the red & green. 
When the cookies come out, immediately put one Rolo on each cookie, pressing gently.  The Rolo will melt down into the cookie, creating a little pocket of carmel-chocolate goodness.  Working quickly, put 3-4 M&Ms on each melting Rolo - they'll stick as the Rolo melts! 
When cool, pop them out of the tin and enjoy!  Easy-peasy, and yummy to boot! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so much to be thankful for... the blessing of Drew's first Thanksgiving, Evan being a wonderful big brother, great friends and family, and so much more.  Mommy cooked this year - a "kidfriendly" meal in the hopes that Evan would dive right in, but alas, despite the crockpot turkey, muffin and apple turkeys, apple stuffing cups, and chocolate ice cream potatoes, the only things he ate were the apples off the turkey and a Pillsbury crescent roll.  Sigh... maybe next year.  Drew thoroughly enjoyed his Gerber peaches and sweet potatoes though - at least he was somewhat in the Thanksgiving meal theme!  We hope you had a great Thanksgiving too! 

Below:
Drew's first Thanksgiving!
Ice cream potatoes?  Chocolate flavored?  Definitely! 
Muffin turkeys for everyone.
Drew looks longingly at a table filled with good food.
Evan can't wait to dig in.

Song Time

There's lots of singing going on lately!  Evan and his class sing daily, and on Fridays Ms. Garry comes in with her guitars and drums and other fun instruments and spends half an hour in each class singing.  The result is Evan loves to sing and is constantly teaching us new songs.  Below:

1. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
2. Sunrise, Sunset (by the Imagination Movers)
3. Circle Time
   It's Circle Time today, it's Circle Time today!
   Time to learn and have some fun, it's Circle Time today.
4. Miss Hannah Had the Hiccups
   Miss Hannah had the hiccups, hic-hic-hic-hic-hic-hic!
   And all those hic-hic-hiccups made Hannah feel quite ick.
   Her daddy did not worry, he knew just what to do:
   To scare away the hiccups, he simply hollered, "BOO!"

Halloween

I know, I know.  Those of you who read this blog regularly have been sorely disappointed in my lack of participation for the past few months!  I apologize, and promise to renew my blogging fervor... next week.  I'll be posting from throughout the summer, so be sure to check the table of contents for what's new since... ahem... June.  But instead of a long drawn out boring explanation on why I've been so derelict, let me offer you our Halloween photos in the hopes that two very cute little trick or treaters will provide a good distraction from your disappointment. 

We've been anxiously awaiting Halloween for weeks. Decorations were up, school parties were planned, we talked about pumpkins and dressing up and candy - lots of candy.  School had a Halloween Carnival on Friday, and everyone wore their costumes and trick or treated each class.  Mommy even got to go help with the festivities!  We carved pumpkins at home on Sunday night, and Evan was right in the thick of it.  He hesitated, but braved the goop to dig out the insides of his pumpkin (with an ice cream scoop), and picked out the design he wanted ("a monster face").  Evan was dead set on dressing up as a fireman (except for the two weeks when he insisted on returning his costume to be a police man instead...sigh), and Drew of course wanted in on the fun. So--what better sidekick to a fireman than a fire dog?  On Halloween itself, Evan wasn't feeling well and was home most of the day with a fever.  But none of us wanted to miss trick or treating, so we got Drew from school early anyway and went out for just a little bit.  It was perfect weather - crisp and chilly, but not too cold.  Down we went to the Lawn to trick or treat at the UVA dorms with hundreds of others.  It took Evan a while to warm up to the idea, but once he realized that you just had to go up to a college girl and smile, and you'd get candy, then simply walk 10 feet to another door and repeat?  Heaven.  His bucket was filled in no time!  We got home in time to do a little neighborhood trick or treating too, and try to fit a little bit of actual food on top of all the candy he'd eaten.  By the end of the night, Evan was feeling much better, mommy and daddy got to take out all the peanut-based candy from his bucket (oh, darn), and we were all exhausted from a great Halloween.