family baking

my mother was a great baker (for that matter so was my father), and clif's mother makes the best breads. so every year since clif and i have been married, we have used one of our family's recipes to bake goodies for all our neighbors and friends at christmas. this year BOTH kids got to help.

vivian was great at decorating the gingerbread men (and women).
bauer was a good dough sampler.

yep, he really DID take a bite!

look at that proud chef!! :)

ready to hit the oven...and then on the neighbors!

gingerbread party

all the festivities of the season began with a bang...our dear friends the reeves' hosted a great gingerbread party.

each kid got to decorate their own house. the were SO cute (and personally i think the adults had as much fun as the kids)!!

happy shower cap\birthday man!

almost always when traveling clif brings home all of the hotel "goodies". for some strange reason we were having a conversation about how when we were kids there were always shower caps, but now-a-days you never see them. for some reason or another one of the kids needed me and our conversation quickly ended. then out of the blue, about ten minutes later i get this....

well....i guess a picture is worth a thousand words!!!! here is to the man that makes all our words AND pictures even better!! we love you, daddy....happy, happy 32nd BIRTHDAY!!!

thursday night lights

since tonight was one of the warmer nights that we have had recently, (and to celebrate clif's return from denver) we decided to fulfill the long awaited promise of taking the kids to see the neighborhood santa.

i had suspicions that vivian would be afraid, (for the record she has said multiple times that santa's beard in "yucky") but she quickly gave him a hug and thanked him for her candy cane.

we were lucky enough to be joined by the loibner's. all the kids really enjoyed the singing and dancing elves and santa.

but wilson, (being the oldest) quickly mastered their dance, and then kindly demonstrated it for us. well done, wilson!

then it was the younger boy's turn to talk to mr. claus.

back in the warmth of the car, we were able to enjoy more wintery high"lights" (the blow up extravaganza in windsor valley, and the woody's forest display) but decided to call it a night and head to peter's place for hot cocoa. now i ask you...wouldn't you pay $4plus if drinking something could make you look as cute as this kid? he should totally be starbucks new spokesman!! ;) and speaking of spokesperson (not that i am official or anything)...i would just like to add that if you haven't had the signature hot chocolate...you haven't had hot chocolate...to...die...for!!!

the three year olds really enjoyed themselves too, and their yummy cookie. thanks guys for going with us, we had lots of fun. we'll have to make it an annual tradition!

oh yeah, i almost forgot...earlier when we were at target (what?! don't you go to target everyday?) vivian saw the adult version of her own elephant pj's and said, "mommy, santa claus would LOOOOOVe it if you had those pj's." ahhh, the power of three year old sweetness. so tonight, after experiencing a big dose of christmas spirit, we donned our matching jammies for the camera....hey, but check out the old lady rockin' the haribow!! ;)

ooops!!!

ok, so maybe...just maaaaybeee, i forgot to publish this little post entitled, "what we have NOT been doing". it was all about how i was a slacker and hadn't "put up" the tree, and finished decorating the house.

how we (bauer, vivian and i) spent an entire day inside last week. (yep, folks that is a RARE thing around here!)

and how it was the best day i can recall in a loooooong time. even sweet little mr. bauer, who is normally so energetic took an extra nap on his "special pallet" that his big sister made for him.
the kids also discovered a new love of the dora car...and shared BEA-Utifully!!

ohhhh, but alas....i must have forgot to post. and by the time i figured it out....this cute little girl was posing in front of...

THE tree!!! :) finally all dressed in it's "mardi gras" glory (that's clif's nickname for the frou frou topper.)

and my mother's nativity...safely displayed on top of my china hutch.

and beautiful little boy's in christmas plaid, posing in front of the tree.

we even managed to rake all the leaves, and finish the outside decorating. (with the help of our noble steed, josie "gigi" griffin.)

and the trash bag counter, vivian. please note: cathy, vivian asked me to go inside and get the camera and take her picture "posed" in front of the bags. i think, i might have created a monster! ;)

for example, last week at school vivian brought home the cutest (and yummiest) gingerbread man. AGAIN, she asked to pose. teeheee....i GUESS i am willing to oblige!

i mean, with two cute and super loving subjects like these...

wouldn't you be willing to pick up the camera?! :)

the doctor

i almost forgot that last week, the day after we got back from florida i had to take bauer to the after hours clinic at ach. he was running a fever and wasn't acting quite like himself.

but wouldn't you know just like a car when you take it to the mechanic...he was just a little ham, by the time we saw the doc.

"oh mom...you are such a worrier!" good thing though, we had a nasty ear infection...sheesh...BUT the good news is this is the FIRST antibiotics for the little man! not too shabby at fifteen months!

it's chriiiiiistmasssss....time in the city...

ohhhhh the weather outside it frightful......but the fire is so deeeelightful...so, maybe i don't know the lyrics exactly...but you get the drift. i was going to write a very loooong post, about my obscene hatred for the almighty commercialization of christmas, and how that target\hobby lobby and all their counterparts are shoving it down our throats by the end of october (i even had pictures of the disarray i encountered on monday at garden ridge)...BUT i have decided to go the other direction and leave that post for another day.

so with my soap box temporarily set aside, i will share with you the little visions of vivian-esque sugar plum fairies dancing in my head. i absolutely LOVED going to "look-e-see" with my mother at christmas time. (this is NO way means purchasing oodles of unmeaningful trinkets!! it is just as its name indicates a LOOK and SEE. i still use this as an inspiration and reflection for the impeding season, NOT a must-have-the-glitter-filled-turquoise-poinsettias-i-saw-at-holiday-house-or-i-will-die time. but i digress...) it is a tradition i have already began to carry on with vivian. here she is checking out a princess christmas tree (which she loved, but we did not buy)...i especially love the pose...

and speaking of chirstmas trees. we made the decision to get our first real christmas tree this year (more of an economic decision than a green one, i know). AND the man at home depot was so NICE, and helpful...maybe that is why i am temporarily shelving my little speech...he really renewed my faith.

OR maybe it was the old school feeling of driving home with a 7 1/2 foot tree strapped to the top of my truck. :)

little miss vivian was only too happy to pose.

we then set out to decorate HER very own tree (a $6 knock off of the $29.99 disney tree)...

when it was all finished, we put it in her room.

what did bauer do while we were decorating? ohhh...he found a way to amuse himself.

i love those crazy kiddos!!!

finally, mr. b went to bed and vivian and mommy settled down to watch the grinch.

then after vivian went to bed, clif and i began to tackle the big tree....with help from momo, of course. pictures soon to come... :)

vacation (the wrap up)

alright folks, here is the deal...i have just downloaded 396 photos. yeah, i know i need ba (bloggers anonymous) it is a SERIOUS addiction. that being said, i am going to wrap our little vaca up with this one post (in no particular order) and then move on....

uh-oh, it looks like even little bauer is tired of mommy taking pictures...

is this a conspiracy?! ;)

wait...there is an excited little girl...whatever could make her this happy?!

could it be her first night in a hotel?! growing up in the day family staying in a hotel was a big deal...clif says they were allowed to jump on the bed and eat fried chicken. sounds fun to me! so we continued the tradition (although we had chicken nuggets from wendy's...where is kfc when you need one?) and the kids had a blast!

yeah...

i think those faces really sum it up.

ohhh...i almost forgot that their favorite part was the trolley thingy (its real name escapes me). vivian says "look mom, no hands!".
however, before we left florida...bauer spent a little time playing ball with his gege...

and we did manage to get a family picture with mawmaw...

and we had a quick visit with sunny and joe.

although riddled with bits of stomach flu...it was a wonderful vacation. we are so blessed to have so much family, and we loved visiting with everyone.