Annual Cookie Baking Day

Last Saturday we had our annual cookie baking day...and for the first time, Grandma was in town, so we decided to hold it at her house!  The kids had a great time playing together...although they weren't too excited about the actual cookie baking.  We did get them to do a few things, but for the most part, they really just wanted to play together (which I LOVE).  Here are some shots from the day...

The chairs provided the perfect boost they needed to reach the counter!

Isabella tasting butter...Grandma's idea....ewww!

"Cheese!"

crushing vanilla wafers for 7 layer bars

Kai & Leah

My ADORABLE niece and nephew!

Demi getting in on the action

Kai helping G'ma pour (and Bella deciding her finger works better than a spoon)

Working together!

Y-M-C-A

Sprinkling...

making melt-a-ways

Grandma bought the kids their own Christmas tree...and they decorated it!

Even Demi got to put an ornament on!

Taking a break from cookies to play some Christmas Carols

Isabella LOVES her baby cousin!

We attempted a group shot...as you will see...it wasn't too successful!

Chaotic...but cute!

As I said...Bella LOVES her baby cousin!

One of my all-time favorite pictures of these kiddos!  So cute!

How cute is this little guy??!!

Buddies!

Success x 2

As of yesterday, both babies can officially pee-pee on the toilet.  Is this picture TMI?  Oh well...I am excited!!  Heidi has been AMAZING with potty training the girls...I absolutely give her 100% of the credit for the fact that both of my girls can pee on the potty on a regular basis!  She has been working with them all week and just yesterday, Bella finally figured out how to do it!  Who knew figuring out how to pee would be so tough??  Anyway...I am a little nervous because next week I am on my own for potty training while I am off school for Christmas break...but...I will do my best (and thankfully, if I suck...Heidi will be back in a week to pick up where I am slacking!)! 

*Side note:  Hope this post didn't gross you out too much...I guess if I was looking at a toilet of pee about someone else's kid, I would think it was nasty.  But...oh well....this is my baby book, so I need to document these milestones.  He he he!!!!

Santa

Here is our anual picture with Santa...

Oh..the girls are missing...yep...they are!

That's because they were TERRIFIED of Santa.  Well...Leah was, and therefore, Isabella became terrified.  Grandma came over last night and went to dinner at Ledo's with us because Santa was going to be there.  I knew we were in trouble when Santa walked by our table and Leah got a little weepy.  Isabella said Hi to him and seemed OK, but Leah was having nothing to do with him.  We asked them if they wanted to go say Hi to Santa, and Leah kept saying, "No Santa, No Santa."  We tried to bribe them with candy canes and bells (he had a bell and Leah loves bells).  Leah finally agreed to get out of her chair and walk over, but she wouldn't go near him.  By that point, Bella realized that Leah was scared and figured she must have a reason for it and didn't want to go near him either.  We even tried to get them to just stand in front of him, but no such luck...So, we let Santa hand us candy canes, said "thank you and bye bye" and went back to our table to eat pizza.  Guess we'll try again next year!! 

Gingerbread House

The girls made their first Gingerbread house today (with A LOT of assistance from Miss Heidi!).  It looks like they had a lot of fun!  She said it took them a while to realize they weren't just supposed to dip the candy into the icing and lick it off!  Weird that my kids wanted to lick the pure sugar!!

"Ta-Da"...very proud of their accomplishment!