Christmas Eve making Santa's cookies

Every good cook deseves a good apron.  Since this will be the girls first time baking cookies we had to get the Head Cookie Tester Sasha and the Head Chef Leeza their own aprons.

 They will be able to wear these for several years as they are a little big, but work really good for keeping the clothes clean.

 First we had to make the cookie dough.  The girls dumped everything in the mixer and even helped to measure out the flour and sugar.  Mama turned the mixer on and off, but the girls loved to stir and scrap the sides of the bowl.

 After chilling th dough, we then moved to rolling it out.  I can't say that they were the most even thickness cookies ever baked, but they came out pretty good. 

 Sasha says she likes this baking stuff.  When do we get to eat the cookies??

 The girls cut out the shapes with the cookie cutters and put them on the tray. We had a few 2 or 3 legged reindeer and a few deformed santas, but overall they did great.  Mama tied to get the candy canes to resemble candy canes, but they were a little rough.

 Then we had to make the frosting.  Lots of powdered sugar was flying in the air.  Lots of frosting was eaten by little girls!

 We made red, green, yellow and dark purple(Leeza blend) frosting.  Lots of sugar sprinkles, red candies, chocolate sprinkles and candy ornaments were used.  We frosted cookies after nap time so of course we had to have a change of clothes!

 Frosting cookies is hard work.  It is also messy work.  Don't even ask about the floor.

 Just don't try to take her sprinkles away fron her.  We had to use them ALL!

 The cookies came out looking pretty good for 2 three year olds frosting them.

Both girls had a lot of fun making cookies.  Then they each picked out a cookie for Santa and put it on a plate with some milk for his visit.  Santa really liked the cookies!

Santa

We tried for a picture of the girls and Santa at the zoo and failed.  They had a Santa come to their daycare and Sasha would have nothing to do with him.  Leeza did hold hands with the Santa who came to her preschool, but would not sit in his lap.  So we ended up back at the mall to see the mall Santa.  There was a short line and when we were finally next, Leeza decided that she had to go to the bathroom.  Off we went to the bathroom only to find it was being cleaned.  I talked the janitor into letting us in as Leeza was now doing the pee pee dance and holding herself.  He said he had kids and let us in.  Sometimes having 2 cute 3 year olds is an advantage as the next restroom was very far away.
 After we went potty, we got back in line- or I should say Leeza and I got in line as Sasha had decided that she was NOT going to see Santa.  When our turn came, Leeza sat on the bench near Santa, but about 2 ft away and Sasha would not go anywhere near him.  SO finally, I just gave in and picked Sasha up and we all sat down next to Santa.  Santa was not smiling.  .  Sasha is NOT happy in the picture and she did not want to be there even sitting on my lap.  Leeza had a sucker so that made her happy adn she didn't care anything about the Santa.  Then the lady screwed up the photo and cut off our feet and added the bottom of someone elses photo to the top!  I think I can photoshop it better, but here is my edited with scissors version! I guess this was just the year for no good Santa photo.

Christmas Party in Grand Ridge

Last weekend, we went up to Grand Ridge to see the Harmon side of the family and have Christmas.  There were lots of kids there and the girls had a great time.  They got to meet a lot of cousins, second cousins, Great Aunts, cousins in law .....,  Leeza was moving the whole time.

 There was lots of food, but you had to slow down to eat so the girls didn't eat much.

 Here is Sasha with her Great Aunt Shirley. 

 The girls got lots of presents too.  They ended up with a whole bag full of new toys and blankets.

At one point, Leeza climbed up onto one of these tall bar stool and grabbed one of the drinks sitting on the bar.  Luckily, I was nearby and got her before she could drink it.  The girls were sound asleep in the car before we went very far.  They slept the whole drive home.  I had hoped they would sleep late the next day, but no luck.

Santa at the Zoo

2 weeks ago, we went to Santa's PJ party at the zoo.  We had a lot of fun there.  We got to make paper gingerbread houses.

 OK, so we really just glued a bunch of stuff to the bag and it looked nothing like a gingerbread house, but it was fun.

 Both girls had fun with scissors.  Leeza uses them at school so she was pretty good, but Sasha cut off Frosty the snowman's head and cut her Christmas tree in half.

 Next was decorating cookies.  Or better known as just eating the frosting.

 After the cookies, we made pinecone bird feeders by putting peanut butter on pinecones and then rolling them in bird seed.  It was a little messy.

 Then we got to see some animals.  We saw a dove, a duck, a bunny, a ferret...

 and a rat snake.Grandma loves the pictures of the girls with snakes.

 Sasha was excited about how big the snake was.

 Then Mr and Mrs Santa finally made their appearance.  They read the kids a couple of stories and then the kids lined up to see Santa.  We went last as the girls were tired by then and not wanting to wait in a line.

So where is Sasha?  She wanted nothing to do with either and would go no where near Santa.  Leeza would not sit with Santa, but did sit with Mrs Claus.  After the picture, I took Sasha up to santa so she could tell him that she wanted a monster for Christmas, but she would not go without me.

Christmas Wish

Well, it looks like I am not going to get my Christmas wish.  All I wanted for Christmas was for the all the girls health issues to be over.  Except for some speech delays, Leeza has overcome all of her medical issues and is healthy with good results on all her tests. She is now at normal height and weight(although I would like her to gain a few pounds). Sasha has moved up the growth chart and is just a little short and at normal weight, but Sasha has one remaining health issue.  We had another blood test last week to see if it was resolved or not.  I was sure it was going to be in the acceptable range now, but it is still slightly high.  It is so close to acceptable that her Doctor isn't worried, but I am Mommy so I get to worry.  Now I have to wait another 6 months before we test again.  They have come so far and overcome so many issues, I just really wanted this last one to be gone. 

Vacation

We went to Arizona the first weekend in December for a visit.  The trip started off with a 3 hr drive to St Louis to get on the plane.  It shouldn't have taken that long, but we stopped to eat and had to go to the potty 3 times.  Then as soon as we were back on the road, Sasha declared she had to go potty and we had to stop at the next rest area.  Of course, once we got to the potty, she mysteriously no longer had to go.  This should have been a warning because Leeza will do that, but Sasha usually has to go when she says she does.  We pull into the airport parking lot a little late, but not too late and just as I say "Yeah! We made it!", Sasha pukes all over her clothes and car seat!   So we change her clothes standing in the middle of the parking lot in the freezing weather, throw the puke covered clothes in the trunk and hope the car is not going to smell too bad when we get back in 5 days!  We hurry through the airport and end up walking right onto the plane and it takes off about 15 mintues later.  The rest of the trip there was uneventful.

 While there, Grandma and Grandpa took us to the zoo.

 We watched a wild animal show while the girls had a gummie bear snack break.

 Later on, we took a train ride.  The girls had a good time and had fun running around the zoo.

 Niki and Debbie came with us and had fun on the train ride too.

 I'm glad the fence was there as the girls would have walked right up to the lion if they could have.

 It was a long day at the zoo and something about the car seats they had out there made them fall asleep every time they got into them.  Sasha found a good use for her new hat.

 Leeza just fell asleep.

 We had Christmas while we were there and the girls got to wear their Christmas dresses.  Sasha loved to pick the oranges and lemons off the trees in the yard.

 Aren't we cute!

 The girls helped to set the table and reset it and rearrange it.....

 They had a good time playing on the chairs in the living room after the tables were moved around for dinner.  Sasha fell asleep shortly after this picture and missed dinner.  Too much excitment and no naps proved to be too much.

 We also made our traditional gingerbread house with Debbie and Niki.  Well, since we have done it 2 years in a row, I am calling it our tradition!  We had so much candy on the roof that the whole roof kept sliding off.

Cousin Niki gave the girls red sparkly shoes for Christmas.  You gotta have red sparkly shoes if you are a little girl!  They go great with the dresses.

 Leeza  loves to get presents.  She is really good at opening them now.

 Sasha loves books and she got a pile of them for Christmas.

 The girls were really good travellers on the plane.  They had their own backpack stuffed with a blanket, stuffed animal, necklace, water bottle and coloring book.  Everything a girl needs for a 3 hour flight.

Oh, you can't forget the suckers and gummy bears- the other essentials for a good flight!!

CHristmas tree

We put the tree up and it only took 2 days.  Having help really slows down the process, but last year I had to put up a fence so they wouldn't pull it down on top of themselves.  This year Leeza put on about half the ornaments. 

 She did really good on the bottom half of the tree.  She ever put them on the back of the tree.  OK, that may have been so she could go back there and play with the tree, but she did spread them out.

 Sasha put a few on at the beginning and a few at the end, but she just wanted to hang out.

 Leeza had a system and I was given the ornaments she wanted me to have.  She was in charge of the ornament box. 

They picked their outfits out this morning and dressed before I even got to the room so no holiday clothes today.  Leeza did have pants on at one point, but that didn't last long.  Sasha is looking off at the TV since Dora was on at the time.

Sasha spent most of the day looking like this.  The pants are Leeza's and are 3 inches too long.  She was sweating in the stocking cap and mittens.  If you look close, both shoes are for the left foot-one is hers and one is Leeza's.  but she loved how she looked!