Christmas Cookies

This turned out to be a three-day adventure that I had nothing to do with (phew!).  Dwayne loves to make these Christmas tree cookies that remind him of his childhood Christmases.  (Dwayne, nostalgic?  I know!)

 

First, one must make the dough and let the kids help.  Then role the dough into logs of three different sizes and freeze.  Slice the frozen dough into little cookies and bake. And bake. And bake. Do three times the baking you would usually do to create these tri-layer cookies.  Then make twice as much frosting as needed.  Once the cookies are cool, allow children to layer cookies with frosting and add lots of sprinkles for decoration.  This took Dwayne and the girls Friday through Sunday to complete. 

 

 

But look at the results!

 

They’re pretty good for not having any chocolate—or rum—in them!

It Looked Smaller Outside….

The Christmas whirlwind starts as soon as Thanksgiving is over in our household.  Earlier, if we don’t host at our house.  The first thing we did on Friday was go out to Snohomish for our Christmas tree.  Wesley, who managed to get two ear infections and a sinus infection this weekend, fell asleep in the car.  This meant that Dwayne and the girls were in charge of finding the perfect tree while I stayed with Wes.  Uh, oh, I hope you are thinking to yourself.

 

 

 

We like big trees, but I thought the rule of thumb was a tree about as tall as we could reach if we stood on our tiptoes and stretched our arm as far it it would go.  Dwayne thought he’d go with what looked the right size.  Outside. 

 

This is the beauty he found.  It was a clear and sunny morning and it took little time to kill and bag it.  Nice hunting, Babe!

 

 

This wonderful farm had a huge fire to warm up next to and a kettle corn stand.  It’s pretty much all we require in a tree farm.

 

We took it home and set it up fairly quickly.  And then tried to get it inside the house.

 

Hmmm.  Thank goodness for cathedral ceilings.  And ladders.

 

The girls did most of the decorating, so many of the lower branches have three, four, or even five ornaments hanging on them.  The breakable ones are hanging up high enough that even kids on ladders can’t reach them. 

 

There are lovely, tasteful trees.  There are themed and splendid trees.  And then there are ones that are beautiful, as the eye beholds.  And I love our family Christmas tree.

Super Powers

If Piper has a super power, it would be how she can eat an entire candy cane while simultaneously wearing that same candy cane.

 

Wesley’s first candy cane.  Clearly, Piper hasn’t tutored him in the art of eating it.  Yet.

 

Kyla would never let so much candy cane go to waste.

Grateful

If you follow my SIL’s blog, this will look eerily familiar.  I took most of the pictures (with much more enthusiasm than skill) with Julie’s camera, so we have the identical shots from Thanksgiving. 

Julie and Keith opened their beautiful house to the dozen or so of us.  Julie sets a table that could be featured in any ladies’ magazine. 

This is the exquisite Julie.

This is me. 

It’s really quite astonishing we are friends.

 

This is my other sister, thanks to Brian’s excellent taste.  Welcome to the family, Sandi! 

(Kyla and Piper can walk into any room and immediately identify the suckers who will read long, tedious books.)

Here’s another sucker.

 

This is the scarf I am knitting Piper for Christmas.  “Why is your mother knitting it if you claim you are knitting it?” you might ask.  But I’d rather you didn’t.  Ask, that is.

 

These were easily my favorite shots of the day.  Wesley Scott and Parker Scott are only 7 months apart, and finally, those 7 months seem less than they did a year ago!

 

Cheers!  I love my family!

 

They are all so funny….

 

 

 

The ABCs of Piper

	Athletically Built Climber
	Amazing But Creepy
	Dwayne: Augh! Breakable Closet Door

I began with an ABC motif because I wanted to tell you this story, until Piper’s spidey senses distracted me.

Last week at preschool, the sound of the week was /i/,  the short sound.  The students try to bring an object that begins with that sound .  Piper and I came up with insects.  (Note to other parents looking for insects in November—try looking in your light fixtures! We founds lots, I’m sorry to report.) 

When I picked the girls up that day after preschool, her teacher whispered to me that when it was her turn at circle, Piper stood up and said in her serious, nodding way, “/i/ is for DEAD BUG.” 

She’ll catch on when she’s four. 

That’s Not a Leaf Pile…

 

THIS is a leaf pile!

November Gardening

It’s mid-November, and I still have a few containers blooming beautifully. And two white rosebushes are producing, as well.

 

But November isn’t all about waiting for plants to die. 

 

It’s about watering already soggy lawns.  Thanks, Piper & Wes!

Afternoon at the Farm

A friend and I went to pick up produce at our local farm two days ago..  21 Acres has cooking classes, local produce, goats, and even compostable toilets.  It’s quite the experience! 

Isn’t that gorgeous?

 

Little M (a few months younger than Wes) exploring the “forest”.

 

This very affectionate goat nuzzled my affectionate daughter (Piper, lover of all things animal) right before he grabbed a huge tuft of her hair and pulled.  He gobbled up a hairball before we could do anything about it. If I had that much hair pulled out of my head, I wouldn’t be so tough.  Piper just shrugged it off.  She’s an odd duck, but she is made of stern stuff.

 

This building is a platinum LEAD building, which means it’s about the greenest building in Washington state.  Hence, the compostable toilets. This hill is great for rolling down (sorry, no pictures, but I even rolled down it myself) and even better for running down at full speed.

 

Every farm trip should have some version of the hayride!  Wesley is a great size to play with now, but no longer a baby, so Piper gets her baby fix whenever she can.  Luckily, she’ll get to see cousin Parker soon!