Everything you never wanted to know about our family and various other subjects.

Monday, December 28, 2015

Cookie Baking Day

Last Wednesday was Cookie Baking Day,
the little boys got in the spirit by making their
own nativity out of blocks...
 
 
great job, guys!
Now on to the cookies...
 
 
aprons are a must for the littles...
 
 
since they were anxious to get to work...

 
some more than others...

 
we started with the mixing...

 
and a little smoochin' thrown in...

 
some were put to work cutting up meat and cheese
for the next day's festivities...

 
then we called in the big guy...

 
to muscle the spritz gun...

 
the littles started in on the decorating...


obviously, more supervision would have been helpful...
(Dad claimed that was the best tasting cookie.)
 

 
we had to use a new recipe for cut outs,
since I lost my old stand by...

 
Timothy pronounced this one a winner, though...

 
Gabriel hung with us to the bitter end.
What a trooper...

 
while some camped out in the hallway
 half way through the day...

 
it always gets a little messy toward late afternoon...
 
 
On Thursday morning...

 
the decorating commenced...

 
it was a great way to start Christmas Eve!

 
As always, we missed you
Grandma and Grandpa.
Soak up some sun for us!

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Annual Christmas Tree Craziness

Dec. 20th was scheduled as Christmas Tree Gettin' Day...
we were missing a few kiddo's, though
Joe was in Bemidji...
Stephen had a final left on the 23rd (what's up with that, Uof M?)...
Clare had to work...
 
ah well, off we go with the rest of the bunch...

 
Timmer came with his game face on...

 
and the living room was all ready for the new addition...
 
 
so we hit the road...

 
Francis was unimpressed with his mittens...

 
and plenty of snowballs were flying right out of the shoot...

 
but Miss Marianna was ready for some fun...

 
we all spread out to find our personal favorites...

 
maybe this one?

 
Stephen paused in pursuit of a tree to take on a younger brother...
(he surprised us and came home for a few days before heading back for that last final!)

 
the Cleopatra kid had to get a few snowballs in...

 
then the Big Guy in Charge called everyone back to order...

 
this tree?

 
oh, wait...how 'bout this one?

 
ok mom, get the picture over with...

 
maybe this tree?

 
there was some serious thought about this tree...

 
Marianna even got a little attached...

 
but everyone else moved on...

 
maybe eating snow will ease the pain...

 
one final takedown by Stephen...

 
some Santa wannabe's...

 
shopping the pre-cut's...

 
Therese takes a detour...

 
decision made...

 
time for cocoa and candy canes...


 
yum, even better than snow!!!

 
back to the ranch for some trimming...

 
yikes, who picked out this tree??

 
Therese got into the spirit of decorating right away...

 
taking out old favorites...
 

breathing deeply through the mess...

 
oh, we're getting there...

 
Grandpa and Grandma's extra lights in action...

 
FranMan's taking it all in...

 
Success at last!