Second Annual (mini) Bake-a-thon

Tabitha is one of my favorite people in Charleston. We connected the first time we met because we both love music, the beach, and baking. She's fun and easy to talk to and she likes to hang out with me. That's a bonus, you know. We got together last year to bake Christmas cookies, so this was officially the second annual bake-a-thon. If you can really call 5 hours of baking a bake-a-thon. Probably not, but it is as good as a full-time nurse anesthetists student and full-time mommy can do. We had fun and plan on continuing our tradition every year. Maybe someday we'll turn our event into a real extravaganza. How fun would that be!?!

I decided to only make 3 kinds of cookies this year since I was limited on time. 

Egg nog cookies. I have to admit. I wasn't a huge fan of these. I saw them on Pinterest and thought they looked delish. Really, they came out more like glorified sugar cookies. They weren't bad, but the egg nog flavor wasn't super distinct. 

 

 Parker really wanted to help Tabi dip her chocolate peanut butter balls. I was able to dissuade him.

I'm telling you, this kid loves to bake. He just stood and watched. Don't feel too bad for him, though, I had let him do his reindeer cookies just a few hours prior to Tabitha coming over.

Though totally easy and requiring little work, these 6 layer cookie bars are so scrumptious.

The last ones turned out pretty yummy. There are a few tweaks I need to make to the recipe, but they didn't disappoint. Watch out! Next year, you won't be able to eat just one. 

What sugary things have you baked this season? Do share!

not me

"I not eated the chocolate."

Shopping, Cookies, Lights...and Tears.

Our calendar activities continue. 

Day 16- Decorate Cookies 

Day 17- Go shopping for Mommy, Daddy, and Brother

Day 18-Drive around to see lights.

The boys waiting for mommy to check out. They had so much fun shopping for each other. Graham only mildly understands the concept of something not being for him, but better to start early right? 

 The funniest part about this picture other than the fact my husband was taking a picture of me with a shopping cart in Target is...

 ...what my boys were doing under the cart.

 There were a few flakes falling on our way to load up the car and Parker was trying to catch them in his mouth.

 Rolling the dough.

 Graham did a superb job decorating his reindeer. If you can't tell, his masterpieces are on the left.

 Parker was very particular about the color and placement of his m&m's.

 Graham shut the party down when I wouldn't let him eat the raw cookies. I probably should have left this activity up to just Parker. Oh well. Here's to a good try.

 You can see how happy he was about the cookie decorating.

 My little baker.

 Waiting for the cookies to be finished. A long 8-10 minutes.

 Ready to find some lights! We decided to just stay close to our house because it was getting late. These big smiles are from the egg nog I put in there sippy cups ;)

 I told the boys to pick out their favorite house. This one won.

The victory for this house had nothing to do with the fact that they had a Brachiosaurus, a train, and a helicopter all in one yard.

 Really enjoying this year and the memories I am making with my boys. Maybe next year Graham will actually get the idea of cookie decorating and find some joy in the process. Let's hope. No more baking drama.

A Movie and Popcorn

It was family movie night again, and this time we busted out a real classic. No, not Rudolph or White Christmas. We laughed and ate popcorn to Elf. I mean Will Ferrell totally = classic, right? The only way to get Graham to watch a movie and sit still is to pin him in his high chair. As long as he has food and a seat belt, he's good to go. He watched the first 30 minutes and then it was his bedtime. I wasn't sure if the movie would bore Parker, but he actually really enjoyed it. I thought he was going to choke on popcorn from laughing so hard when the Raccoon jumps on Buddy.

 

nine through fourteen

I'm really not good at the whole witty title thing. Sorry.

Day 9: decorate initial ornaments

Day 10: St. Alban's lights
(my gangsta 4-year-old)

Day 11: See Santa and pick out 2011 ornament
Well, mommy made a little mistake not checking to see if Santa was going to be at the mall on Sunday at 5:00. He wasn't. Ooops. I decided to let them pick out an ornament instead and take them to see Santa on Monday night.

 

Day 12: paper snowflakes

 We didn't get to do Day 13 as planned. Parker got in trouble with the YMCA childcare leaders for being disobedient, so we didn't celebrate by making the planned yummy s'mores. He was sad, but that's life. Bad behavior hurts. He should learn it early.

Day 14: make a birthday card for Jesus

 Can you believe we only have 10 days until Christmas? Wildness.