Christmas Advent Calendar, Day 3: Bake Christmas Cookies

Christmas and baking go hand-in-hand, so when Day 3 of our Christmas advent calendar said to "bake Christmas cookies" I headed straight to the kitchen. This year, I was determined to make a healthier cookie recipe my family and I could enjoy without the guilt. I've been trying to eat better since the end of September and I'd hate for the holidays to ruin all the progress I've made. I asked around for favorite "healthy" cookie recipes and looked on Pinterest to find the perfect one. Ultimately, I decided to make Chocolate Peppermint Macaroons and Gingersnap cookies to be served at my annual holiday cookie party.

Guess what?

They were a flop. Or technically, they were like hockey pucks. I'm not saying the actual recipes were bad, but something I did when baking them must've went terribly wrong. The chocolate peppermint macaroons were made of finely shredded coconut and cacao powder (among other things), but tasted like nothing. Weird texture; no flavor. They looked like reindeer poop, and I thought about calling them that before I eventually chucked them into the trash can. FAIL.

The gingersnaps looked fine out of the oven, but turned super hard after they cooled. I used almond flour and perhaps I over baked them? I followed the recipe though.

Sigh. At 10:30pm that night, after an entire afternoon baking cookies, I started over. I decided to make "regular" gingersnaps using butter, sugar, flour, molasses, ground ginger, cinnamon and cloves ... and wouldn't you know it? They turned out perfectly the very first time.

I also made spritz cookies using the cookie press my mom gifted me a few years ago. I'd never made them before, and decided now (aka: 11:30pm that night) was the perfect time to try. The spritz cookie dough was super simple to throw together and came out easily once I got the hang of using the press.

At least I wouldn't be embarrassed to serve these cookies to my friends!

Tory's been begging to make gingerbread man cookies this year, so we'll probably do that before Christmas Day. I've never made them before, so I might make sugar cookies and hope she doesn't notice the difference.

We did make a (paper) gingerbread man banner to hang as decoration for my holiday cookie party. I cut out gingerbread man shapes and she decorated them using stickers and markers. The banner turned out so cute! I think I'll leave it up all month long.

Bake Christmas cookies - check!

Christmas Advent Calendar, Day 2: Decorate for Christmas

A couple girlfriends and I were discussing the holidays the other day, and the topic of decorating for Christmas came up. Specifically, decorating the Christmas tree as a family. I think all (or most of us, at least) have this vision of a magical family evening where hot cocoa is sipped and memories are shared as ornaments are hung on the tree.

Let's face it - that just doesn't happen with small children. I mean, maybe it does for some people, but that has not been my experience in the four years since becoming a parent. I've learned to lower my expectations quite a bit in regards to holiday decorating.

Day 2 of our Christmas advent calendar this year was "decorate for Christmas," and I realistically knew this would take more than one day to accomplish. I have a lot of Christmas decorations and I also have two homes to decorate - our house in the Twin Cities and the lake cabin - so I started early and completed little by little over the span of several days. The whole process was kind of stressful to be honest, which is the opposite of how "the dream" is suppose to go. Completely re-decorating a living space while inviting young children to participate is a recipe for chaos. "Let It Go!," my girlfriends and I agreed, is the motto for success. It's okay if not everything goes as planned.

Andi doesn't like decorating for Christmas (and I don't force him to participate) so I probably won't have the happy memory of us all decorating the tree together. That's okay, though; I hope Tory (and someday, Aden) will enjoy decorating with me. Tory was excited about helping this year, and did so by hanging a few ornaments and placing the star on top of the tree. There was a fair amount of pouting mixed with moments of laughter and smiles, which is pretty reflective of our lives these days.

Decorating for Christmas at the cabin ...

It took me an entire afternoon to assemble the artificial Christmas tree in our living room at home, and another afternoon to string lights on its branches. On the third day, Tory helped decorate the tree with gold beads and ornaments. Andi came home from work that evening and said, "I'm guessing this is how your day went..." as he pointed to a cluster of beads hanging on one side of the tree. "Let It Go! Let It Go!" Tory had a clear vision of how she wanted the beads to be strung, so I let her do as she pleased (and adjusted them later when she was asleep).

I'm feeling major guilt over not putting up a "family" Christmas tree downstairs this year. The smaller artificial tree is where I typically hang our homemade and heartfelt ornaments. I just couldn't bring myself to devote another afternoon assembling (and eventually un-assembling a Christmas tree). "Let It Go!"

One decoration that's been a huge hit with the kids this year is the wooden nativity scene that Aden received as a baptismal present. Tory and Aden have spent many minutes this month playing with the characters in the manger.

Tory said to me one day as she played with the nativity set.

Tory: "Why do you only have one sheep in your Ranger?"

Me: "Manger ... it's called a manger."

Guess we've got some work to do around the ol' Christmas story!

Christmas Advent Calendar, Day 1: Open a Present

This holiday season, I've come up with a list of Christmas advent calendar ideas for our family to do together. I oscillate between feelings of love for the way these advent calendar activities get me into the holiday spirit and fear of disappointment when things don't go as planned. This year, I planned activities around our December calendar and tried to mix in easy ideas (i.e.: open a Christmas present) with new, more exciting events (i.e.: visit the Macy's Santaland display in downtown Minneapolis).

Day 1's activity was "open a Christmas present" for which I'd washed and wrapped up new holiday pajamas for the kids. I'll toot my own horn for being fairly organized this year by ordering these monogrammed pi's in July ... yes JULY. Rockstar mama-ing takes planning, yo.

The kids were beyond thrilled to open a gift under the Christmas tree. Tory'd been anxiously waiting to open her gift all day so when I gave the go-ahead following dinner that evening, she ripped the package open in a matter of seconds. Aden glanced around the room like "what's all the hullabaloo?," but quickly followed Tory's lead. He's her #1 fan these days, so anything Tory's excited about seems like a pretty good idea to him too.

Is there anything more adorable than a big ol' toddler belly? Gah, so cute! Aden looked like he was straight outta the movie Elf in his green and white stripes. Standing next to Tory, he seemed more Christmas-y.

I'd pulled our collection of children's Christmas books out of storage earlier in the day, so the kids and I sat in the rocking chair and read stories before bedtime. Andi snapped this picture of us curled up together, and I love it. This is my life, and I'm so thankful.

Happy holiday season! It's going to be a great month of celebration.

Thanksgiving 2015

Happy Thanksgiving from Nebraska! This is the first Turkey Day we've celebrated with my family since, well ... I'm not sure exactly. For many years, I worked Gopher football games in Minneapolis the Saturday after Thanksgiving and wasn't able to travel back to Nebraska. And for whatever reason, we've stayed in Minneapolis the years since I stopped working at the U. This year, it was such a treat to be "home" for Thanksgiving. I can't believe how much I missed my family's holiday traditions.

Driving was another thing we haven't done in forever; the last time being when Aden was four months old. Airline tickets were ridiculously expensive from Minneapolis to Lincoln this time of year, and now we have to buy four plane tickets since Aden turned two. For those reasons, we decided to give driving back to Nebraska a try once again. I packed up the car on Wednesday afternoon, swung by Andi's office to pick him up, and together the five of us (Andi, Tory, Aden, Chloe [the dog] and I) made the seven hour trek back to my hometown. Surprisingly, the drive wasn't too painful. The kids both slept on and off, and I brought plenty of road trip activities to keep them busy. We also stopped half-way at a Chick-fil-A to eat and to let the kids burn some energy at the indoor play place. All in all, it went pretty smoothly.

My mom and dad hosted Thanksgiving at their house this year, and whoo-boy did my mom go to a ton of work. I never realized when I was younger how much goes into hosting a holiday event like Thanksgiving. So much coordination with cooking the food and finding places for everyone to enjoy their meal. She pulled it off, and we all had a great time.

My Aunt Cheri and my mom, the hostess with the mostest

The Three Amigos -- Tory (4), Brooke (8) and Neeley (3)

Uh-oh, somebody found the pie!

There it is! My sister Ashley made a yummy chocolate pie that was a big hit with everyone. 

Our Thanksgiving meal was delicious. My mom served turkey with gravy, ham, mashed potatoes, yams, stuffing, and green beans. In addition, my cousin brought cauliflower rice, my Aunt Cheri brought corny macaroni and my sister made homemade dinner rolls. It was a feast!

Of course, there was pie ... pumpkin and chocolate to be specific, as well as blueberry salad, green pineapple Jell-O, apple crisp and ice cream. The kids' eyes were as wide as saucers as they peered over the top of the countertop at the big selection before them. 

After dinner, it was time to get serious ... about Bingo. It's a Thanksgiving tradition in my family, after all. Everyone from young to old grabbed a card, and for one reason or another I was nominated to be the caller. Tory Bean acted as my trusty assistant.

Those who didn't play Bingo poured over Day-After-Thanksgiving sales ads and populated their shopping lists.

Aden found a quiet spot under the table to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on his iPad.

Baby Ben's first Thanksgiving!

Ten grandkids at our Thanksgiving this year. We have so much to be thankful for! 

47/52: A Weekly Photo Series

Winter is coming!

Two weekends ago, it was 50 degrees and sunny at the lake cabin. We walked around the trail loop on the 40-acres of woods by our cabin in light jackets and stocking hats, brown leaves crunching under our feet. It seemed like white powdery snow was a million lifetimes away. It was difficult to envision the lake ever being frozen enough to walk on ... let alone drive an ice house on top!

We knew winter would be on its way eventually though, and sure enough it is. Last weekend at the lake, air temperatures dipped into the 20's and ice began to form in the bay by our cabin. It was breathtaking to see the sunrise above the lake while steam billowed from its icy surface.

We were just swimming in this spot, weren't we? It sure seems like it. Now, only the ducks and swans are brave enough to dip their feet in the water.

Yes, winter is on the way...

Aden's 2nd Birthday

Aden turned two years old last week. We kept things low-key with a small celebration on Thursday (Aden's actual birthday) and a party with family at the lake cabin the following weekend.

The birthday boy woke up Thursday morning to homemade pancakes, breakfast sausages and mangoes (his favorites)! Okay technically his favorite is frozen Eggo waffles, but we were out so homemade pancakes had to do the trick. I planted two candles in his pile of pancakes and Tory and I sang "Happy Birthday" to our brand new two-year-old.

Thursday was a regular morning of activities for us. After we dropped Tory off at preschool, Aden and I ran to Costco (exciting birthday times!), then went to music class. The kids sang "Happy Birthday" to Aden once more, and he loved every minute of the attention as he danced around the room. We picked Tory up from school, had lunch and Aden took his afternoon nap while Tory and I packed for a long weekend at the cabin.

It wasn't until our drive to the cabin later that evening that Aden fell sick. I looked back at him at one point during the drive and was surprised to find him sleeping. "Hmm, that's strange," I thought as he'd just taken a nice, long nap that afternoon. A bit later, Andi, Tory, Aden and I stopped for dinner at Logger's Restaurant in St. Croix Falls. The minute we placed our food order, Aden started to fuss. I tried to distract him while we waited for our food, but something clearly wasn't right. Aden's forehead was burning up with a fever so Andi switched our food order to-go and we took off again for the lake cabin.

The night of Aden's 2nd birthday was a rough one. I gave Aden some Tylenol to bring down his fever, and I ended up staying up with him from about 1:00am - 5:00am. He couldn't seem to settle to sleep and cried unless I held him. Poor little buddy was miserable. It's no fun being sick, especially on your birthday!

Friday was more of the same. Andi and Tory ran to Clear Lake, WI to pick up Andi's new ATV while Aden and I laid in bed watching episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. The more he fussed and moaned, the more I started to think he needed to be seen by the doctor. Andi called around to clinics near the cabin and snagged the last appointment available in Clear Lake that afternoon. An hour later we had a diagnosis and an antibiotic for a double ear infection. So thankful to live in a world with modern medicine! By the end of the evening, Aden was already on the mend.

Andi's parents Jim and Janie, sister Lindsay and her husband Kyle came to the cabin on Saturday for Aden's birthday party. I'd planned a small get-together anyway, so it seemed to make sense to go ahead with the party even though Aden was under the weather. Also, let's face it, if there's anyone else Aden would want to be around when he was sick it's Grandma Janie. The eight of us hung around the cabin Saturday morning, played toys and visited with one another. For lunch, Andi ordered broasted chicken and mashed potatoes from The County Line, Janie made a salad and I rounded out the meal with corn on the cob. We ate and visited some more. It was the perfect low-key celebration for our boy.

Lindsay, Kyle and Grandpa Jim left later that evening, and Grandma Janie stayed at the cabin to hang out with us until Sunday. Aden was feeling much better by this point, and finally had enough energy to play with all his new toys.

We celebrated Aden's birthday once more on Thanksgiving with my family. I went the easy route (which seemed to be the theme of this birthday year) and ordered Mickey Mouse cookies for everyone. There was too many other Thanksgiving desserts to complete with a birthday cake. We sang "Happy Birthday" and the kids O.D'd on sugary frosting.

It's hard to believe our baby is TWO! Happy birthday Aden Boy.

Holiday Gift Ideas: Toys We Love

This has been the year of downsizing at our house. So! Much! Stuff! How did we accumulate so much? No trendy KonMari methodology here; just some good old-fashioned purging of items we don't use anymore.

My closet was first; next Andi's; then 20+ totes of baby clothes I'd stored away for a rainy day. I gifted several of Tory and Aden's gently-used baby outfits to friends and family with newborns and it filled me with delight to see those sweet babies wearing tiny outfits I'd once loved.

Next up, TOYS. I'll admit, I'm the culprit in wanting my children to have every single toy on the market. We have a pink Little Tikes Cozy Coupe, for example, but my brain keeps telling me Aden needs his own blue Little Tikes Cozy Truck. Isn't that excessive? They also make a gas pump for the little cars, and wouldn't it be adorable to have one? (Ahh, make it stop!)

There are some toys Tory and Aden absolutely adore and play with often. I'm totally fine with those things taking up real estate in our house so long as they're being used. I thought I'd share some of our favorite toys for anyone looking for winners in the toy department this holiday season:

Fisher-Price My First Dollhouse

Hands down, THE BEST toy we've ever purchased for Tory. She received this dollhouse for Christmas in 2013 and has played with it non-stop since then. Like, every single day for hours at a time. Tory loves the little dollhouse family and affectionately calls them "Mom," "Dad," "Big Girl" and "Baby." Sometimes, the dollhouse people even sleep with her tucked into bed at night. It's fun for me as a parent to listen to her imagination run wild as she plays. I also like how sturdy the pieces are (no small parts) so Aden can play with it, too.

Fisher Price Learning Home

This toy has seen a lot of mileage in our house, too. Tory received it as a first birthday gift and it continues to be played with by Tory, Aden and every other kid(s) who happens to visit our home.

Pottery Barn Anywhere Chairs
Tory and Aden each have one of these over-sized kid chairs and they LOVE them. I'm not sure why exactly, but the kids play with them everyday. They tip them over and build forts underneath them; they sit and read books in them; they fight over who gets to sit in which chair (even though they're exactly the same).

Disney Dusty the Plane 4-in-1 Ride-On

Aden received this as a birthday gift last year, and it's been a great transitional toy. We keep it inside the house, and he used it in the rocking mode with safety belt when it was on the younger side of age one. We've since removed the base and now he tears around the house using it as a ride-on toy.

Melissa & Doug Princess Dress

Tory received this princess dress last Christmas, and it's my favorite of all her dress-up clothes. The material is soft (not scratchy) and sturdy (no rips like many of our Disney-brand princesses dresses quickly aquired). It's definitely held up to many hours of play. Best of all, Tory can pull this dress on and off by herself.

Disney Magic Clip Princesses

These Disney Magic Clip princesses have been a top toy in our house this year. Tory plays with the tiny princesses in her dollhouse, carries them with her in the car and on airplane trips, and totes them to the cabin on the weekends.

I love the holidays, but I am already dreading the amount of *stuff* we'll collect when it's all said and done. (Total princess problem, I know; don't I sound horrible saying that?) I have a feeling there'll be another round of purging and donations in 2016 to make room for all the kids' new toys and gadgets. At the same time, I'm also excited to see what new, fun things they'll receive.

Happy shopping!

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