Holiday Baking

I was told to bring a cake to Christmas dinner at Nana's and Oupa's. And since the boys were playing so nicely with their toys I decided to head into the kitchen pronto.

I caught a glance of my new sassy jammies.

 And after a few minutes I caught a glance of my baking buddy.

 I told you before that I was baking my way through this book. I made the caramel cake for a visit to Karen's, and now I was making this recipes.

And when it went into the oven I was able to convince my baking buddy that the floor was too cold to lay on, and that he should sit on the counter instead. And eat some vitamin C, please.

 And then we made this. I remember my aunt Valerie making these when I was little, but mom swears she made them, with vanilla cake and apricot filling. And Karen remembers it being chocolate. Who knows what really happened.

 The cake is easy, except for the rolling part. You have to get your concentration face ready for the rolling face, with a little tongue sticking out.

Delicious.

On Christmas Day

Now updated with comments.

On my way to the computer to post, I stopped to get some filtered water. Instead, I saw an open bottle of white from a visit with friends last night. Merry Christmas to me! So, this post brought to you by the white label with the rooster on it. It won 30 gold medals, the label said, so who cares if it cost 5.99?


We slept till 7:20AM this morning. This is wonderful. We've been hovering between 5-6:30 for morning wake-up time, so 7:20 feels like the best gift this set of parents could get. 


And when we woke up, we saw that Santa did come! Turns out we were all good boys after all. Gift opening recap coming later, for now the rooster becons.

Santa knew one cannot have too many matchbox cars.

This thing below sings. You've probably seen them in toy stores, online or even at drugstores. I think it's hysterical, as does Grady. Cole, on the other hand, played with it for a minute, pulled a face and said "I not like it" as he handed it to me. What was Santa thinking?

See? Grady loves and can now replicate the exact tone the singing thing makes. Exact.

I know it looks like Cole was giving away his presents. He was not. He's just showing.

He was very talkative this morning.

You can't see his lips, but Grady is saying OOOOOOOOOH, pwaydo!

And here we have the clear winner of all the presents Santa brought. A flashlight.

Cole said "open it!"

More excitement and more "ooooooooohs."

And then we went to the kitchen so Momma could make breakfast and all three boys could enjoy playdoh.

After breakfast Madam supervised Keith's toy assembly.

And dont let the smile above fool you, he was struggling with the one toy. I was put on child distraction duty, so the hamster toy thing and I entertained the boys.

While Keith muttered under his breath about the toy parts.

And the toy assembly moved from the floor to the table, and I could no longer distract Grady. See how he's inspecting Dada's work in the background? I did wrangle Cole with a little organization task.

And, finally. Finally. The toy tower thing was ready. I fixed a part Keith didn't get right (I would tell you more, but I'm not one to point fingers or brag, you know) and the boys played with it for a while.

I took advantage of this quiet time and got busy in the kitchen. More on that soon.

On the Eve of Christmas

On this day before Christmas, we all know we need to go to bed early so Santa can come. This will be a caption+photos type of post. Today, we:

Finally got pictures from BellyMomma & kids' ice skating excursion. I was also relieved to hear that she will take the boys ice skating when they are 4. 

Went to see Santa. He was so nice. The boys weren't scared of him, but got a little tongue tied once they were on his lap. 

Got mail from Grammie and Grampie. 

Watched Santa on the computer!

Divided and conquered. Cole ran an errand with Dada so Grady stayed home, baked cookies, took the trash out and did a load or two of laundry.

We did a few other things, but we'll share those later. Sleep tight, people!

Hello, Santa

Christmas Greetings from the Corners of My Brain

I did something really dumb. I ordered someone's Christmas present online, and when it arrived, I didn't check the quality/sizes. Until two nights ago when I realized that the gift just won't do. So guess who is dashing through the mall today? (points at self). This girl. Damn. Wish me luck.


I do get to have lunch with Keith, bonus!


I mentioned babies yesterday, right? No fewer than 4 sets of friends of ours have had babies in the last 4 weeks. FOUR new babies to ogle! I'd share pictures of all, but I only have permission from one. Actually, I don't even know if I have permission. In my mind, if you email me a picture, that's like granting permission, FYI. So, Amy sent, after much pestering, me pictures of baby Aidan, born Nov 16. I know labor for her was hard, but surely not as hard as the hours I sat staring at my phone waiting for an update that day? Right ;-) I jest. The girl is going to need to step up the photo correspondence if I'm to be Aidan's favorite Auntie. So here he is, or as Grady would say, "dere's my baby Aidam". Grady claims all babies to be "his". Currently he still walks with a picture of Baby Maya. She's either "my baby" or "my baby sister". 


Oh. Right. Talking about Aidan. Here is his cute little face. Dont you just want to snorglekiss those cheeks?

And here he is, in what we call the Butt In the Air sleep position. 

Once his mom gets her hair done, I'll demand some family shots to share. In the next few days we'll hopefully get to videochat with them, I can't wait!


And we'll meet Baby Alex's new sister, Kate. No pictures of her yet, but we'll be taking the camera along when we meet her. Other babies, Hannah and Brennan, will hopefully be visited soon, too.


Can you believe it's Christmas time already? I feel like Keith just put the outdoor lights up, and soon we'll be taking them down. It's become a little ritual to turn the lights on when the boys come home. They stand in their favorite spots, we all count to three and I turn the lights on. And then one of them yells TADA! 


This is Cole's favorite spot. 

 And Grady is partial to running on the porch, he seems to love the wrapped pillars.

More ornaments came home! I'm currently looking for a good way to store them. I'm thinking of making a Christmas album or scrapbook. Eh. Album. I don't have the long term project attention span to finish a scrapbook. Sister in law Angela rocks a scrapbook, though. If only she wasn't about to have a baby, I'd talk her into making me one...


How do you store handmade ornaments, anyone?

BellyMomma took her kids to go ice skating. I fear rollerskating, ice skating, skiing. It's just not natural to glide you know? I'm rather slow and clunky just on my own two feet, no need to speed things up by gliding across slick surfaces, ya know? Let's hope she wants to take C&G when they are ready. Eager to see pictures of their outing. . 

Our boys are so fortunate to have so many people in their lives who clearly adore them. We went to see Keith's grandparents, Nanny and Papa, and his aunt Ava and Uncle Ronnie also stopped by. The boys played with everyone and I couldn't help but notice that all the adults mostly sat and stared at the boys. I interpreted this as adoration at the time, but now when I see the pictures,I feel they might have been wondering when the kids were getting another haircut. To them I would say whenever they let me cut it. There's no telling them to sit still. 

 The Santa next to sings,  and our musical one loved contributing his voice. That kid makes a joyful noise.

From when they were little, a certain someone has been a hoarder. He would take small items, hold on to them for hours, and then later I'd find them in odd places. A spoon tucked into a hole on side of the highchair. A remote in the toy bin. Toys tucked behind a certain pillow on the couch. Coveted toys in the laundry room hamper. If we ever move from his house, I'm sure we'll find the most random items tucked in obscure nooks and crannies. 


Every Sunday I clip coupons, and Cole wanted one. So I gave him one, and he sat with it in hand for 30 minutes, watching Mickey. Grady also got one, but tore it fairly quickly. Then things got busy and I forgot about the coupon. Until later that night, after the boys were in bed and I was (trying to) pick up the clutter. I went to put the boys shoes into the cubbyhole shelf we use for their shoes, and look what I found! 

The worst thing you can say to a person with very young twins is "oh, I'm sure it's probably easier for you because they play with each other". Or a similar comment how its easier because they're both at the same developmental stage at a given time. In the words of a friend AP, that comment deserves the Death Stare. No. No, it's really not easier with twins. I've firmly believed that and labeled all people who said that to me as morons. 

But! Slowly and I mean, VERY slowly, I'm noticing that we are playing with each other. I showed you legos yesterday, but check it out. These broders are having such a good time with each other. Chasing, wrestling. While wearing jackets indoors, of course. 

 

Grady is laughing here, not crying, if you're worried. There would only be crying if Grady were the one on top. Someone is good at dishing it out, but not yet so good at receiving. 

 

 

Who didn't love building a fort when they were little? I remember doing it with BellyMomma and cousins when we were little and they visited. You put chairs up, then drape blankets and sheets and you create a whole new world in which you can play. Keith created our own version of these, "tunnels". From your tunnel you can watch your favorite morning cartoon while the parents crawl back into bed for 20 minutes. 

And lastly, Christmas has come a little early. There are so many presents from family that we know we can't possible concentrate on all of them on Christmas day without input overload. And we wanted to try to make sure the boys knew who the gifts were coming from. So on Sunday we opened the gifts from Aunt Linda and Uncle Fred.  When I first asked who gave the gift, they yelled "Santa!". We took a second to look at  a picture Aunt Linda sent of their family first, to make sure we knew who we were talking about. "oh wes", the boys said. They remembered these people. And what did these people send? Entertainment for many, many afternoons. 

 

 

 

 

I tried to get a picture with his eyes open, but he keeps closing them when he smiles. I'll take what I can get. 

These toys were such a hit that they played for hours. And apparently we, as the parental unit, showed too much interest in their toys, because they took to finding a private spot to play with and admire their toys. 

Now wish me luck as I dash frantically through the mall.