The People I Love- Denise, Dave, Paul, Lauren, Peter

We went over to Dave and Denise's house to see their Christmas decorations, eat some amazing chili, and go see their neighborhood Christmas lights. Along the way, we judged which was our favorite. It was a very fun time.

Paul, Lauren, and Peter came to stay with us one night. He is such a cutie pie!

What a joy!

Paul proves that our piano still works and plays Peter a lullaby.

We went bowling. Bella was a little disappointed that she couldn't get the ball to do what she wanted it to do.

Victoria got a couple of strikes.

My favorite part was holding my sleeping nephew. My second most favorite part was when Paul accidentally bowled a strike for Victoria, so we let Victoria bowl for Paul, who had been leading heavily up until that point- we all had a good laugh.

Pictures say it all.

Jer and Bella try to teach Peter to crawl.

Saying goodbye.

My little monkeys spent an hour in the trees after Paul and Lauren left, thank goodness for warm Texas days.

Nutcracker Tea Party

I had a Mommy-Daughter date with Victoria and Bella on Sunday. We got all dressed up. I did their nails and let them wear a light lipstick. We went to the Sugar Plum Fairy Tea Party (from the Nutcracker). A month agoI asked the girls what was one special thing that they wanted to do this Christmas season- they both said the Tea Party. We went last year too. Basically, it's a fun event where you get to dress up, meet all the ballet dancers, drink tea or hot chocolate, eat pretty pastries and goodies, hear the Nutcracker story, and watch a live condensed performance of the Nutcracker. 

Victoria was a little shy this year when talking to all the performers of the play. The toys soldiers guard the doors of the party and allow guests to enter.

She did however love the special gift that they gave- a snowflake jewelry box.

It was fun meeting and talking to all the performers who had amazing manners. Some were very young and others older. The majority of them started dancing when they were 3 years old. One had been dancing for 11 years and she was 13 years old!

They performed a marvelous play. Bella tries to emulate it.

Bella's BFF from school Kate was sitting at the next table over. She won the raffle prize of a Nutcracker. It's funny because not but 30 minutes before the raffle Kate said, "I know I''m going to win and everyone win be cheering for me."

Christmas with Dave and Denise

You know it's going to be a fun filled day when you find your house elves zip-lining from the chandler to the Christmas tree on a string of red beads!

Denise and Dave came over on Friday night to celebrate Christmas and her birthday. I made a pot roast and we opened some presents.

Victoria was so happy with her gift-a box of cloth, ribbons, and decorative beads to design doll outfits, along with mannequin doll bodies.

Bella liked her designer headband set too.

Look where we found the elves later that night. So mischievous!

Fun times!

The next morning Victoria worked for hours designing clothes.

Christmas Cookies

One of our Advent calendar activities was to make Christmas cookies. I love making Christmas cookies, but am glad Jer takes the reigns and gets things going. He called his mom and got the old recipe that his Grandmother Max use to use. We do this every year, as we are really bad about remembering where we put last year's recipe. (Carol get use to this :)

Victoria was able to break the eggs this year all by herself and took a little control about how to make the cookies just right. "You have to stir them like this!" she explains to her sister. 

While the cookies were in the over, the girls changed into their pajamas. We set up icing stations. Once they were ready, I talked about my memory of my Grandmother making tons of Christmas cookies- she made them for an army- if you think about the nine kids she had and all their families. I have a picture that I showed them of her and her cookies (thanks Aunt Colleen.)

Let the icing begin.

I think my favorite part was watching them lick their fingers.

Victoria was so meticulous about the placement and colors of her sprinkles and icing. Her final cookie rocked!

Bella stopped icing after one cookie to reap her rewards- note the blue icing on her face. Then it was on to cookie number two.

They both slowed down to take a break.

The girls finished after about 3 or 4 cookies, then it was off to bed, while Jer and I finished the rest of the cookies.

We found our elves Shirley and Curly enjoying our cookies the next morning- note the blue icing on Curly's face.