Cookies!

I was seriously behind on making Christmas cookies this year!!  We were almost out AGAIN and were going to the Halsey's for dinner so I spent two days making tons of cookies - this should last through Christmas!!!

Declan loves meatballs

 Declan and I went out for the day and did a bit of last minute Christmas shopping.  We are pretty much done now!!  After hunting down blanched whole almonds at Whole Foods in McLean, we had lunch at Noodles & Co.  It's always a winner because they have meatballs!  I tried to order just a side of meatballs for Declan because he never eats the pasta BUT this is what came to the table!  I think they made spaghetti and meatballs with extra meatballs!! You should have heard the shriek of delight when the waiter put the bowl down in front of Declan!  He scooped up his spoon and dug in!  We had a very nice lunch, he promptly fell asleep in the car, stayed asleep when I put him in the stroller and slept for two hours while I got the last of the shopping done!!  Win - win!!!

Aoife's First Front Tooth

 Aoife's front teeth have been hanging by threads but she refuses to wiggle them or let anyone near them!!!!  I finally was able to pull one of them out tonight!  It was a struggle but we made it through and now she's super happy and so proud of herself!!

Gingerbread House making with Aoife's Class

 Today I went in to Aoife's class to help them decorate gingerbread houses!  If there's one thing about Kindergarten, it's that there are always plenty of parent volunteers!  I think at least one parent per child was there - and some kids had both parents there!  It's sooooo different from any other school we've been at!  The kids had a great time covering their houses with TONS of candy!  Aoife's teacher had made each child a house of their own in her "spare time".  Mrs. White is really a special teacher! 

The kids are also studying bears and hibernation.  Mrs. White had sent home a paper bear and asked us to make a bear to hibernate through the winter.  I had (mistakenly) thought that Aoife was supposed to decorate the bear.  No, no!!  We were supposed to MAKE a stuffed bear.  I am by no means any kind of seamstress.  I have a sewing machine - that I'm not sure that I have all of the parts to and hasn't been used in maybe 5 years. I also don't have lots of spare (any) fabric lying around.  I found some old baby sleepers that had somehow evaded being given away, traced the bear, cut them out and hand sewed them together.  I do have needles and thread!  I had to stuff it with cotton balls but it came out OK!  If I'd had more time, I would have sewed buttons on for eyes but Aoife seemed to like it just fine!  Crisis averted!!

Trimming the Tree!

 We got a real tree this year although I am still scarred from our bug infestation a few years ago!  The ceiling in this house isn't very high so we got a small tree but it's still really nice and super cute with all the ornaments and lights!  The kids had a great time decorating it and Declan loves to undecorate and redecorate it everyday!!  They are too funny!!

Breakfast with Santa

 Today we went to Army Navy Country Club for Breakfast with Santa.  The food was delicious and Declan was in heaven with as many berries as he could stuff into his belly!  There were cookies afterwards so all the big kids were happy too!! 
We had been prepping Declan for Santa in the hopes that he wouldn't cry like he did last year!  It was a success and although he wasn't thrilled, Declan did sit and didn't cry on Santa's lap!  He hopped down faster than I've seen him do anything when it was over but he didn't run away and did talk to Santa for a minute!  YAY!  My little baby is growing up!!


Heading upstairs!

Declan enjoying berries and other not as delicious foods:

 Try this!

 Emmy and her cookies!

 Aidan being a good big brother and helper!

 Aoife!

 Crafts (and Minecraft) before Santa

 NO TEARS!!

Chrismtas Picture Taking

We got our annual pictures accomplished!!  I've been so busy taking other families' pictures that I was late getting ours done this year but here they are and they turned out great!!!