The Christmas holiday is in full swing

Whew! The last few weeks have been busy a bit crazy with all the holiday prep, school for Lance, George interviewing, and Jude and I trying to stay sane at home.

A few years ago (the first Christmas after George and I were married) we made most of the ornaments that went on the tree that year. One project we did was painting the inside of glass ornaments. Lance was barely 4 at the time but still remembers and wanted to try it again this year, so one night before baths we broke out our paint and some extra glass balls I had laying around.

Lance was being very meticulous about what colors went where.

Swirling the paint around the inside.

 Jude wanted to join the fun, too. I love the look on his face here.

Carefully tapping the ball so the paint spreads out. He did a pretty good job being gentle.

Finished product. (Side note... there was WAY too much paint in his ball, so it ended up puddling at the bottom and making the design streaky. Oh well.)

I told the boys to go into the bathroom to get ready for their bath while I cleaned up the paint. When I walked into the bathroom, I found this:

Hmm. I guess Jude was really excited about taking a bath.

Lance spent a weekend up at his dad's house. George had a bit of a break while he was gone and got to try his hand at some new recipes.

Jude helping daddy make homemade noodles.

Yes, that's an uncooked noodle in his mouth. 

Another night George made some osso bucco. It was amazing! Okay, so part of me felt a little bad for eating a baby cow, but honestly, it was worth it!

When Lance is at his dad's house, we usually get to Skype each night.  It's so much better than just talking on the phone because we actually get to see each other.

Lance and his dad made cute Angry Birds from yarn one night while he was there. They turned out very cute!

We were invited to a Christmas party one night, so we decided to make our favorite sugar cookies. I thought it would be fun to let the boys help cut out the shapes and after much deliberation as to which Christmas shapes we should do, we started rolling out the dough.

You know those cute commercials where the parents are cooking with the little children and everyone is smiling and having a great time and it looks like it's the best thing ever? This is what I envisioned when we started out making these cookies. I have to admit we cut out one sheet of cookies together and then I finished the rest after the kids went to bed. It was a mess of gargantuan proportions when all was said and done. Ah, memories!

The next day I set out some of the cookies and had the kids decorate them together. That was much more fun than cutting out the shapes.

Jude loved "painting" the cookies and kept switching out the colors he used.

Killian and Kendall came over and got to decorate with us. They did a great job!

And we've moved on to the green...

Lance was very careful to decorate his cookies just so and took his time.

Jude managed to mangle his cookies, but was proud of the result.

Concentrating.

I saw a lot of tongues while we decorated. Lance kept his lines nice and straight on the edges of his cookies by employing a similar technique that Jude is demonstrating. I made sure to bag up Lance's cookies in a bag by themselves. Lance didn't mind. :)

Still going strong.

Lance's masterpieces. I think the look really good!

It wouldn't be cookie decorating without lots and LOTS of tasting.

Here are the cookies we took to the party. After looking at the pictures above, you can probably understand why Lance and Jude's cookies got to stay at home for kid-consumption instead of making it into the cookie basket to share.


This year we've been doing the Lego Advent Calendar like last year. This year, however, is pretty cool because it's a Star Wars Lego Advent. We've had a good time opening and constructing a new little figurine or ship each night before we go to bed.

Lance especially thinks it's cool and Jude is getting more into it as well. It's fun that Jude is now old enough to understand what's going on and be a part of the family activities.


We are now up in Northern VA to celebrate Christmas and New Years with our families. Most of our time here so far as been relaxing with our families, but we have managed to (almost) complete our Christmas shopping. It's been fabulous staying with family because I've been able to run errands child-free! For those of you with kids, you know how wonderful that is.

Lance spent this past weekend with his dad while Jude spent the time playing with extended family at both Grandmas' houses.

Diesel is getting huge (he's only 4.5 months old) and loves to try and play with Jude. Jude likes it too, most of the time. :)

Grandmom helping Jude put an ornament on their tree.

Only 6 more days until Christmas! Woo Hoo!