Christmas...

Brings a smile to my face!

Hope Santa was as good to you as he was to us!! Next stop...2010!!

It's a...

Famillllyyyyyy tradition!

My mom and I have been baking cookies with "the gang" for, well, for FOREVER! As long as I can remember! Lele would come over and bake, along with Jenny and I'm sure Rach came at times...Gary was always around with Eric and Nick held his own. We were some decorating, baking, icing fools back in the day and I am proud to pass this tradition (and mess) onto my girls! They love it. I love it. Mimi loves it (she doesn't love the mess). We love listening to the Jackson 5 and jamming to "Sannnnntaaaa Clause is comin' to town (ohyyyeaaah!!)", while dancing around the kitchen. The girls love to taste test and I love to decorate.

This is an all day ordeal. No joke. We start in the morning and finish, feet barking, stomachs aching and needing a HUGE glass of milk around 7 pm. We make a TON of cookies...from coconut macaroons, to sugar and snickerdoodles and everything in between.

We then like to pack some up and send them to Eric (in the deep blue sea, sea, sea) and split them between us. I'm not going to lie, I then give them to the girls for breakfast, lunch and (duh!) we wait until after dinner for the last one....ha! Just kidding...well kind of, if we are in a rush, I may let them eat cookies for breakfast :) I've also found them when I wake up in the morning with chocolate around their lips...stinkers!

It goes to say that this is probably one of my most cherished holiday traditions. I love spending the time with my mom, destroying her kitchen (some day we can destroy my kitchen...promise!) and teaching the girls the way in the kitchen. In fact, Big wee one would like to be a chef (and a cheerleader) when she grows up...she's got the bug!

What's your favorite family holiday tradition??

Sugar Rush

If you can keep your wee ones from eating the decorations, Gingerbread houses are pretty cool. This is our 2nd attempt at making one (and Paul bought an extra one just incase this one didn't work out), the first one just would not stay together. The girls had a blast eating the icing and the candy and I (of course) got anal with perfection...at least I can admit it...hehe! (I get it from my dad!)
A nice warm break after playing in the snow. Stay warm!

Candle Night

One of my favorite days of the year, Candle Night in downtown C-burg. Paul and I used to go this event before I worked for the Downtown Business Council and now we enjoy it with the girls. This Friday night was a beautiful evening. Not too cold, no breeze, no rain...just a beautiful evening with my family and friends. Big wee one enjoyed seeing Santa, not once but probably 4 times! She asked him if there really was a rudolph and she also let him know that she'd leave cookies out for him.
The wine shop was packed and good spirits were abound on this evening. Pictures below are from last night...a little taste of Christmas in C-burg.

Just about 1,000 luminaries line the streets of downtown.

Our giant tree that sits on the square as you drive through downtown.
Just a little picture with Little wee one...of course she's not looking, are you surprised? I'm not!Busy, busy at the wine shop. I am (again) so proud of my parents and the hard work they have put into making this dream a success.Who is that among the crowd??Little wee one just loves her daddy...I'm pretty sure he likes her too :)One of the many pictures (this one just happens to be the least blurry) with the Jolly man himself.Strolling...Olympia Candy Kitchen has the most beautiful window displays, and some of the best chocolate ever!The sounds of the season rang through with this brass band, a saxophonist and strolling carolers. Love it!Big wee one taking a peek in the window of Here's Looking at You. She had some of the cast members of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" in her window.She's wishing and hoping she gets lots of presents for Christmas...I'm pretty sure she will ;-)The reason for the season. I hope you all are enjoying your holiday festivities...Christmas parties are starting, shopping and wrapping are steady and lots of chatter about the big man and his helpers are filling our house. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Trick or Treat, Smell my feet...

What a busy Halloween weekend! The weather held out for Trick or Treat on Main St, so we were able to go downtown and enjoy our morning/afternoon. As soon as I was done announcing winners for the costume contest, and everyone went their way, rain drops started falling. We made it back home for naps and a late lunch and dinner, then we headed back out for trick or treating in our neighborhood.

Oh goodness...this costume made me laugh everytime I looked at it!

Little Duck and Pumpkin Princess

The girls were pretty lucky that they ran into Batman to protect us and to remind Big wee one to hold on while walking down steps (she fell at one house, the bricks on the man's steps just crumbled under her feet! Do you know that he didn't even ask if she was ok?! Crazy right! Rude man...).

Once the girls started to get tired, we invited Batman over to trade his peanut candy for peanut free candy (allergies and all). He ended up with some good loot and the girls ended up with a lot of delicious chocolate!

We brushed our teeth and hit the sack. Paul remembered to change the clocks back, but that didn't stop the girls from coming in our room around 5 am. Oiy! Don't they know that they can sleep past 5:00 am?? Hopefully that doesn't last.

I had 3 photoshoots on Sunday, so be sure to check out T Flo's Photography blog. I'm hitting the sack, I'm adjusting to the time change, even though we gained an hour, I certainly don't feel like I've gained anything!

Easter

We had such a nice day on Easter Sunday :)

But first, we decorated eggs on Saturday and the girls had a ball! I think I may do that more often, just for fun.

This is Little wee one showing me her teeth, I was trying to get her to smile at me, "Show me your teeth, say cheese!"

Not only did we enjoy Easter, but we also celebrated G-pa's birthday, sadly I do not have pictures of that part of the day, but I do have pictures from the rest of the day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY G-PA!!

We started with a 7:00 am wake up call from Big wee one letting us know that yes, indeed the Easter bunny had visited our house.

**Side note** I am sitting outside typing this up while the girls are playing and I am enjoying an ice coffee from Dunkin' D's. The point is that the girls are playing so well together. I LOVE this age! They look so cute running down the hill and playing in the sandbox...*sigh* so sweet.

Back to Easter...

Next, my Secret Sister (a fun MOMS club thing we do leading up to our Mother's Brunch) left me some chocolate pancake mix, so I made those for breakfast...YUM!

Next, the girls decided to play with their treasures and paint their garden gnomes. I would like tp make a planter box for our backyard and I thought these (along with seeds) would be a nice treat for the girls. They loved painting them and now we just need to get Daddy on the ball with our planter box.

After breakfast, we got dressed and headed over to Mimi & G-pa's house where this went on...The girls had a blast searching their house for eggs and eating all the treats immediately. I bet that took up a good 2 hours. After filling their tummies with treats, we headed outside to play on the swing set.We topped off the afternoon with a freaking fabulous ham and fixings, cupcakes and cheesecake. What a nice and relaxing day, with beautiful weather, and nice family to surround ourselves with.

**Side note #2** Little wee one now does this: YEAH!!