Our Gingerbread House

I decided last year that building a gingerbread house would be a Christmas tradition and we had such a fun time together building our first last year. The tradition goes back many years with me, sort of. I can't remember a year when my Mom and I weren't making elaborate plans to build the best gingerbread house ever (from scratch), but somehow we never actually did one. One year when I was in high school and my Mom was recovering from back surgery, my Grandma and I made one and that was the only year that we did it. So, I decided I really want it to be a part of our holiday celebrations. This year it's been so crazy that we finally found some time on Sunday afternoon, even though I think all three of us were so tired and just wanted to relax. However, I was determined so I set everything out on the coffee table and we started to decorate. We did have a problem with the gingerbread kit's icing - it was too thick and was very difficult to spread, so it took a lot of effort to spread it out and use it to decorate. Sofia soon lost interest and after I took a few pictures, I ended up going off and doing something else while CK did a great job decorating the house. Next year we'll be a little more focus (and have better royal icing!

The gingerbread house and all it's decorations


Sofia and Papa are all set to decorate


Getting started


Sofia liked making a "waterfall" with the frosting


Papa, the master decorator, hard at work


The finished house


It's beautiful!

Oh Christmas Tree....

We finally got around to getting a Christmas tree....before Christmas is actually here! We stopped by Blooming Colors over the weekend and found the tree for us. It's actually a little smaller than I'd like, but CK made a good point about how much more we'll need to decorate if it's larger. Once home, we set to decorating it. I love taking out the boxes of ornaments and going through all that I have. I've had the majority of them since I was very little and nearly all have been gifts (mainly from my Mom). CK and I added the lights while Sofia tried to help as well when she wasn't going through all of the ornaments. Sofia helped me decorate and then we were ready to add the angel. CK tried to lift Sofia up so she could add the angel, but she's getting too big so he did it himself. After, I went ahead and added the gifts that we've already received under the tree to be opened at Christmas. We look forward to a fun Christmas!

Our tree! Sofia helped me pick it out, of course.


Ready to decorate!


Trying to add the angel


The angel goes up!


The finished tree! It's beautiful!


Our Christmas mantel all decorated and ready for Santa


All four of us


The girls by the tree

Olivia's First Baron Flight

Yesterday CK took Olivia on her very first Baron flight! CK had plans to meet his flying buddies at Lancaster airport for lunch so they could drool over the new paint job, and we all decided to go so that Olivia could enjoy her first flight (or if she didn't enjoy it, we'd know now instead of the first long trip we took). Plus, I wanted to get some good photos of the Baron with it's new paint job. As usual, Sofia was very excited and "helped" CK pre-flight the airplane. Once we were ready, we loaded up and the girls and I got comfortable in the back seat. CK cranked up the plane and Olivia was oblivious. The flight took under 15 minutes and Olivia was very content to sit in my arms and look around. I know if the flight was longer Olivia would have been asleep (and Sofia for that matter). We had a nice lunch with CK's flying buddies and after talking about planes and looking at every painted surface of the Baron, we headed back to Arlington. After we arrived in Arlington, we took some "glam" shots of the Baron, although the background could have been a lot more interesting....It was a fun excursion and now we are ready for our first real trip somewhere with two girls.

Sofia "helping" CK get the plane ready


The girls and me...


Olivia and her pilot Papa


Looking down on the Texas scenery


A very content little girl


Sofia clowning around under the wing


Infront of the Baron at Lancaster Airport


CK and his pilot friends


All of us next to the Baron


Me and my girls in the backseat


CK and his "new" Baron - the glam shots


I love this picture!!

Decorating Christmas Gifts

Given that I have a big family, I always try to either make gifts (usually dozens of cookies that I package up and send out which is completely exhausting) or try to come up with something that is nice and doesn't break the bank after I've bought enough for five siblings and three sets of Aunts and Uncles.... This year, I must confess I sort of stole the idea from my brother and his wife, Pancho and Julie. Last year they sent us a box of chocolates and a wood frame that was obviously decorated by their kids along with a photo of their three kids. I love it and love gifts like that since our kid's youth is so fleeting and the may not enjoy doing crafts like that for too many years. Plus, I know from all of my "Joy" ornaments, several of which I made when I was little, that it's fun to be reminded of prior Christmas memories and reflect on the year that has just passed.

So, with that in mind, we headed to Michael's and stocked up on frames, paint brushes, red and green paint and decorations to add to the frame. Then, one day I set up our dining room table so Sofia could paint her frames. She was so excited and loves to paint or draw, however, she generally likes to layer every color on top of each other so that she basically ends up with a black or darn brown drab creation. So, I told her for this craft she had to paint the whole frame either red or green but couldn't mix them. She was fine with that rule and got busy. While she painted she made up some sort of story and talked her way through her creations.

Hard at work creating


Our little Picasso


She really loves to paint or draw and I should set out such crafts for her to do more often


Moving on to green

Sofia and Her Stories....

Here is Sofia creating some sort of story while she paints Christmas gifts. I really love just listening to her stories, which are usually about trains. I had to cut this one short since you'll notice I had another little girl who needed my attention....

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

We decided to use one of the professional photos of all of us from when Olivia was first born for our Christmas card this year, but when I found the card I liked had room for two more photos I decided to make my own photo shoot of the girls to include recent photos of them on our card as well. We had about a week of very cold weather after Thanksgiving and I knew I had to await for a decent day before sending them outside in their Christmas dresses to take photos. Finally, we had a clear morning and it wasn't too cold so I got them both dressed and we headed down to our little pond for our photo shoot. It went better than I anticipated and Sofia did a great job of holding Olivia AND smiling AND looking at the camera! Olivia, for her part didn't fuss at all and I actually captured a few photos of her looking my way.

After, we returned to the house where I took a few photos of them with their heads together. I think I captured a few good shots - either way they will be heading out on our Christmas card this year!

Olivia is wearing a red silk dress that was Sofia's and is one of my favorites. However, since it's silk it's really slick so Sofia had a hard time holding her without pulling her dress up too high. Needless to say, we didn't use this one on our card.


Such cute girls








The girls with the fountain


One of the two used for our card


Sofia by herself - such a big girl now!








Our girls! I really love this one, but Sofia's hands are in a weird place


The other photo we used for our card


There was a similar photo at the hospital of the older and younger feet but I couldn't really capture it....

Decorating Gingerbread Men

Yesterday we met our friends at the Gaylord Texan where we walked around the atrium and enjoyed the amazing lights and Christmas decorations. Of course, Sofia was glued to the trains that are set up in the atrium and probably didn't even notice the rest of the decorations. It's absolutely magical this time of year and since it was a Thursday, there was practically no one there which was great since the weekends can feel like the middle of Time Square. After enjoying the atrium and taking photos of each other, we headed over to the gingerbread decorating house. We were the only ones there and had a great table. The kids were really excited but I think Sofia was even more excited to meet Gingy, the gingerbread man.

After meeting Gingy, the kids got busy decorating their two cookies. Sofia basically dumped all the decorations on her first gingerbread man and then wanted to eat him. I must confess we hadn't really had a true lunch yet so I know she was hungry. The second one she decorated became "Princess Anna" which she brought with her everywhere, until a few days later she got stepped on in the car and had to be thrown out. Again, Sofia wanted to eat her once she was broken into pieces but she had literally been everywhere with us for two or three days by that point so there so was no way. Since Princess Anna's demise, Sofia has asked when we are going to decorate our own gingerbread princesses.

Sofia watching the trains


Me and my girls


Olivia and I


Sofia and her friends Milani, Gigi, and Thomas


Gingy! Sofia nearly knocked him down with a hug when she first saw him


The decorating begins!


Adding frosting....notice the bite out of her gingerbread man's head!


All decorated! Now can we eat him!?!


Moms and cookie decorators


Princess Anna


Sofia and her finished creation


Princess Anna and her decorations


Princess Anna the next morning with Sofia and Olivia