Christmas Cookies

This Christmas holiday has been extra special since Avery is old enough to enjoy so many fun things! For example, she loved making and decorating DeeDee's Tea Cake Cookies (aka Sugar Cookies)! She is the sneakiest cookie dough eater I have ever seen. She can distract with one hand stamping or decorating while the other hand is stuffing globs of dough into her little mouth! I would tell her not to eat any more so she of course asked over and over "more bite?". The funniest part was how she "added" her sprinkles. She would take a pinch of sprinkles out of the bowl then act like she was going to sprinkle the cookie, however, she would also get a pinch of dough then eat it! This went on as long as I let her decorate her cookies. I didn't get a final picture, but needless to say, her cookies had a few holes. We did glaze some of the cookies and added more sprinkles and she too took part in this, however; that was just too much of a sticky mess for the both of us so I didn't get a single picture. But you can imagine how much she enjoyed it as well as how much more she ate!

The "ah, can I eat it?" face...

Clever way to sprinkle...Look ma!
What a beautiful mess...
Oh look, she's eating more dough...

We also have an Annual Christmas Craft Day with the gals in my family. This year we each had our own different projects to tend to, sooo, who else to take pictures of but Avery working on her project. She made some beautiful Christmas frames to stick on the fridge. This was the perfect activity for her since she loves stickers!Nani and Yaya helping the project along...

DeeDee is finally feeling better and was able to join us this day!

Nanny was feeling good as well, eventhough she just had skin cancer removed from her nose and was having dizzy spells.

A Differect Perspective...

When I was young, I loved laying under our Christmas tree and looking at the lights and ornaments through all the branches...soo...I taught Avery and she seems to love it too! She tells me, "lay down, Mommy" and we enjoy it together! You should try it too, it's fun!

Gingerbread House in the Works...

Gotta love Christmas projects! Well, our family does anyway! This year I picked up a Gingerbread House kit for us to make with Aves. Nani and Yaya got in on the action and we're so glad they did. They helped hold the thing together in the beginning plus played candy guards so that Avery didn't eat all the candy! But boy did she try! She was much more interested in eating the candy than sticking it on the house as you can tell from most of the pictures. She usually ate two candies for every one that she added to the house. Plus everytime she pulled her fingers back, they just happened to dip themselves in the icing which of course she had to lick off. What would the holidays be if it weren't for the sweets?!

Wishing that candy dish were a little closer...
Posing with Yaya as she helps our roof stay on...

Yes, eating candy and licking the icing off...

Not sure if she is decoration or swiping icing...

Our final product, isn't it cute? And yes, again, she's eating...

Sea World: Part II: Christmas Edition!

Oh, I do love the this time of year...it is The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...the lights, the garland, the sparkle, the baked goods, getting shopping almost done before Thanksgiving, wrapping gifts, the smell of a fresh Christmas tree (even though ours is fake, I can still get the scent in a candle jar)...oh, I am just so happy this wonderful time of year! And it's even more fun the older Avery gets...she is talking more and more, so she can say Santa and HoHoHo and snowman though it sounds more like no man. David hung our outside lights two weeks before Turkey Day which was just great and every since Avery has said "e you lights, Daddy" which you should all know by now means, thank you for the lights, Daddy. She is just so sweet and always thanking us for little things. I put a small tree (which was my tree for my room growing up) in her room so she thanks me for those lights. She is bursting with personality, loves babies, loves to dance to the Fresh Beat Band, her favorite song right now is Barbaranne by the Beach Boys which she asks for by name "I want Barbaranne, too", by the way, she adds "too" to the end of most sentences, she still says "I wanna eat" several dozen times a day, loves to swing and sit on her dog Rainy, and enjoys reading books on the potty. There are so many more things she loves to do and so many cute things she says, if it weren't for those two year old tantrums life would be perfect right now!

But back to this wonderful time of year...What could be better than Christmas?! How about Christmas at Sea World! If you love Christmas shows and lights and trees and enormous wreaths then this is the place for you and your family! The weather was perfect, we actually were sweating at times on this first of Dec weekend. Since we went this past summer, Avery still remembered Shamoo and the dolphins and squealed with much excitement when we told her where we were going. She said a dozen times, "feed dolphins!" with eyes and mouth wide open. And yes we did, again, we fed those dolphins and she loved it. At one point the dolphins got a bit excited, started to roll around and splash and completely soaked Nana! So now everytime we mention the trip, Avery grins and says, "splass Nana" and waves her hands toward her tummy showing where the water went. She can't quite say splash so it makes it even more cute. We even say Santa though Aves had nothing to do with him again this year. What made the trip even better for Aves was having Nana, Marty, Kreek and Kaegen there. We met more of Daves family there and took a trip down the River Walk on a boat to see all the lights down town. 3-D glasses made it even cooler. We ate at Rain Forest Cafe which Aves also loved, especially when the elephants and monkeys did their thing. What a great way to kick off this holiday season!

They loved posing together...and were so good at it for 2, 6, and 9 year olds!

Sun-grins on our balcony..

I love these kinds of pictures...

My high-tech, Christmas light looking girl...
Hello Christmas at Sea World!

The excitement begins...

She loved the Shamoo show, obviously. On his last jump he came completely out of the water and hit a ball that was dangling from the sealing, with that she watched, then thought, then turned to Nana and said, "Cool." I wonder which cousin she learned that from this weekend, haha!

Waiting to see Santa...

The "Not so sure about this guy" look...

Candy Cane Lane...one's eating it, one's trying to steal it and the other is just ready for bed...

Just wanted to share with you all some beautiful pictures of our beautiful girl taken by our beautiful friend...Eventhough Avery acted like a real two year old that day, we still came away with lots of fabulous pictures! Merry Christmas! Enjoy! And thank you Keva Dawn Photography!

A Day of Thanksgiving...

What a great day it was...lots of food, lots of family (though we were short several members this year). Mom and I cooked a day early which made the morning of Turkey Day much smoother with more time to sit and visit before stuffing ourselves. We had our first of the day get-together with my family at mom and dads with Aves grandparents, great-grannies, great-aunties and uncle and a second cousin with her boyfriend too. Then we usually head to Iraan, however; this year the Iraan bunch came to us, including little two week old Cayla. Again, this made for an even more relaxed holiday...no driving, no traffic, no hoping Avery will fall alseep between this time and that...like I said, much more relaxed. David's family came to our house for a late afternoon stuff-fest just in time for the guys to watch the game. On this side, we were joined by Aves grandparents, great-grandparents, aunt, unlce and new baby cousin. Aves is no longer the only center of attention, but she handles it well.

What a great day to be thankful for!

The men talking it over...Not sure what, though, based on Davids' face.Mom did not burn the marshmellow topping, yah mom!

Standing a little too close to the desserts, I see...

Alot of table with alot with alot of family.

Bye-bye Nani and Dops, on to the next house...

Welcome Great Granny and Peepaw!

Ash and baby cousin Cayla...her turkey shirt said, "I'm stuffed." So cute!

Hoping that's a yawn...Avery trying to make Cayla "beep" her nose.

Another delicious meal and great company...except, who's missing?...
Oh yes, there he is...oh well, the game was on, haha.