Christmas Highlights

Finally starting to go through pictures from the holidays. Here are some highlights ...



Cookie trays 09. Supposedly, there are fewer varieties this year, see how skimpy the trays look?



Two of the cookie helpers, my adorable aunts.





Christmas Celebration #1.



Getting ready for the pageant.



Santa!!!





Christmas Celebration #2: Favorite gift of the year: Lazer (with a "z") Tripwire. Theo is now much more calm and relaxed, knowing that his stuff is protected.



Red and purple box of goodness.



Christmas celebration #3: trying on new slippers.



Another favorite gift, Bakugan Xbox game.



Dora's awesome gift from Grandpa. It's purple!



Onsie for baby Elijah.



Mini golf morning.



Moments before the meltdown. We're now two-for-two with meltdowns and mini golf. Do we keep trying, or avoid mini golf forever?



Me giving Clark a KO while playing soft block boxing.



New Years' Eve toast, a rare moment of sibling happiness. Of course, alcohol is involved. (Just kidding!! It's grape juice!!)



Dora got her birthday wish ... snow for sledding.

Why We're Idiots

Two things are happening with our television right now. The first is that Jeff is trying out a series of external hard drives in an attempt to expand the minuscule amount of hours currently available on our Time Warner box. The experiment ... is not going well. Things record for awhile, but then the drive shuts down and programs previously recorded become no longer available. Imagine the awfulness of a weary mom and a cranky three-year-old, going to turn on the tv, longing for a few minutes of quiet, hoping to relax with the gentle comedy of Peep, only to find that THERE IS NO PEEP, PEOPLE! Bad things happen.

The second happening is my doing. In the fall, excited by the upcoming Seinfeld "reunion" on Curb Your Enthusiasm, I decided to order HBO for the first time ever. I called Time Warner to find out the price.

Me: How much for HBO?
TW: X amount.
Me: GAH!
(Pause)
Me: Any - ahem - deals or specials going on right now?
TW: No. Suck it.

I went ahead and ordered it, because hey, Jerry's worth it, right? We got to watch a few episodes of the new season before the DVR decided to poop out. Luckily, the new season is available on the HBO On Demand channel. Ahh, I can relax knowing that the new episodes are tucked safely away on channel 920.

Fast forward through December ... life has been crazy busy. Lots of orders plus getting ready for Christmas, plus everyday stuff like keeping the children bathed and fed (they're so demanding!) No time for frivolous things like television.

And finally, last night ... new year, guests have gone home, to do list is (slightly) shorter. It's time to sit down with my hubby and watch some tee-vee.

Me: Hey! Why don't we get caught up on Curb tonight, so I can finally cancel HBO?

(I think you can see where this is going.)

Curb is no longer available On Demand. And all the episodes that we had recorded are being held captive by our Home-Improvemented DVR. Which means I have just paid GAH! amount for HBO for the last four months and didn't even get to see the show I ordered it for.

These kinds of things happen to us ALL THE TIME.

The only silver lining to the whole event is that our short time with HBO did allow us to get hooked on Flight of the Conchords, so I am trying to look at the bright side. (Don't mention that the price I've just paid for four months of HBO would buy both seasons on DVD. Don't even go there.)

Last of the Crafting and Baking

Party day at school! This was snack for the second graders.



A little army of reindeer, ready to go.

We also needed some little godparent gifts. Traditionally, we've given ornaments, and I like when the kids can help out with the process. I was on a search for things we could do quickly, using materials we already had around the house, and would actually look good on a tree. My quick web search led me to this idea, which Dora chose and did a fabulous job. We used Sculpey and alphabet rubber stamps.



Theo chose to do Shrinky-Dink self portraits.



And Theo chose these silver and black beads to make keychains for two teenage cousins.



I had work to finish up today, an order for my favorite customer. I constructed these paper envelopes during naptime ... each one has a set of personalized notesheets inside.



I was able to sneak out for a quick meal and chat with good friends, then back home for more baking ... 32 dozen for our crazy family cookie exchange! These are pics from last years' goodness:





Happy Christmas and more to come in the new year!

Baking Monday - Gingerbread Cinnamon Chip

Had a two week break from baking Monday. One week because another friend took a turn making treats and one week because I was terribly sick and didn't think anyone would want to eat if I had baked anyway. Oh, I also made chocolate brownie cookies one week, but did not take any pics (they were good.) Today we're back with Gingerbread Cinnamon Chip cookies. This is my favorite gingerbread recipe. It's made with whole wheat flour, so it has that nice slightly gritty texture, and the cinnamon chips add just the perfect amount of flavor. These are fun to make with the kids, usually if there's a day home from school. When we've made them as cutouts, they pick out whatever cutters they want, which makes for an interesting assortment. (One time we had a mix of race cars, teddy bears and the state of Texas.) They take such care embellishing with the chips, so it's a nice way to burn some time, too. Cinnamon chips don't taste that great until they're baked in something, eliminating the temptation to taste while decorating.



However ... some days I want the cookie without all the work, so I've been curious to see if these would work as drop cookies. Answer: heck, yeah. The key to these cookies is keeping them soft. They are heavenly just out of the oven, but tend to get crunchy after awhile. My sis taught me the trick of keeping a slice of bread in the cookie container, on a sheet of wax paper, right on top of the cookies. The moisture from the bread keeps these cookies nice and soft.

Christmasing

The tree is decorated ...



Stockings are hung ...



Snowmen have come out to play ...



Little touches everywhere ...



Even if I'm not ready for Christmas, the house is and it feels good.

Cross-Stitchin' Tuesday

I've been working on these Minipops cross-stitch projects for the kids and finally finished them last week. The idea came from this Flickr set and this artist's work. (Cross-stitch Duran Duran? Seriously, how can you resist?) I would love to do a big series like the one featured above. I already have all the figures picked out but decided it might be smart to start small. I can't read in the car, but can sew (go figure!), so I've been taking advantage of our many long road trips to work on these projects.



Superheroes for Theo.



Sesame Street for Clark.



Fairies for Dora of my own design, based on the other figures. I made a ton of mistakes on the wings, don't count the stitches! Also, I accidentally made the middle fairy's skirt too short, so it looks like she has a little Marylyn Monroe skirt blow going on.



Here's a snowman project that I started when I was pregnant the first time around and had LOADS of time on my hands and no better way to fill it (apparently) than with cross-stitch. I did a bunch of projects that fall. This one for me was the last one started and then whoops! I went and had a baby, then two more, then before you know it, it takes eight years (EIGHT!) to complete one project. I finally finished this one up in the fall.



This project was from a kit that I tweaked a little bit and am very happy with the result.



My mom just found this in her sewing basket! I'm guessing I did this circa '82-83, when I was in middle school. Before I got to high school and became SO popular that I would never have time for trivial things like sewing. (BWAH-HA-HA!! Excuse me while I wipe away tears of laughter.)



Look how sloppy!



I've gotten much neater since then.

Last Week's Sewing and Baking

Last week was crazy busy. I had three layout jobs, two sewing orders and a cookie order on my plate. All things that I love to do, but all things that were due at the same time, so it was just a teeny bit stressful. I'm proud to say that everything was completed on time, and I caught up on my sleep last night. Some of the things are holiday gifts for friends of friends, so I can't post pics until I know they've been given as gifts.

Some superhero capes for an Etsy order ...







Bib and burpcloth ...







And some Union Endicott Tiger cookies.