christmas cookies, belated.

Every year the kids each pick out a cookie to make with mommmy. This year had new ones and an old favorite:

Princess Cutie Pops picked delicious Eggnog Logs. I was surprised to find that it called for absolutely no eggnog, but did in fact taste rather egg noggy in the end. 

As usual, Scoochy chose a decadent and rather upscale cookie. She has such a sophisticated palate. Chocolate mint wafers...oh my goodness. Dark chocolate flavored wafers sandwiched around chocolate mint ganache and dipped in chocolate. To. Die. For.

"Hmmm...which one to eat as soon as Mom is done taking pictures?" Dodge is just like his Daddy. Why try a new recipe when we know Peanut Butter Blossoms are delicious? I'll give you one guess what he'll pick as his cookie next year...

Our little emp is trying to grab Tank's plate of Chocolate Meringues. These babies were melt-in-your-mouth delicious and super simple to make. The only drawbacks were having to pipe them and the 2-hr baking time. But hey! That's what Christmas cookies are for, right? It's that extra little oomph that we don't want to give cookies the rest of the year.

She's got it all figured out.

Princess Cutie Pops' birthday is Christmas Eve. We asked her what she wanted for her birthday. She answered, "A horse. And I want a horse for Christmas, too."

Daddy shook his head, "Sweetie, that's a waste. You can only ride one at a time. Why get two?"

Confidently she replied, "Because next year I'm asking for a chariot!"

Who says kids never plan for the future?

san antonio zoo time

inseparable

The emp and Chewy (short for Chewbacca) have become fast friends. I don't know any other dog who would put up with that little girl's mauling of her. The emp is completely fearless and Chewy is completely docile. What a pair.

a pocket full of rye and then some

We have a gigantic map on our dining room wall. It is the topic of many dinner conversations, tonight included. After answering many "Is this a country or a state?" questions, the kids noticed that Russia was rather large. This got us discussing how a country's size doesn't always match how powerful and rich it is.

"Mom, does the United States of America have a lot of money?"

"Yes, we're considered a rich country and that's one of the main reasons we're so powerful."

"Is England rich?"

"Yes, England is considered one of the rich countries."

"...and portable!"

"What? Portable?"

"Yeah, it is so small you could just drop it in your pocket."


Kids...Where do they come up with this stuff?

God, Himself, would want some

Biscuits and gravy is my most favoritest breakfast on the planet. With that as a base, you can take it for granted that we love biscuits and gravy in this house. LOVE it. I make it about once or twice a month for specials. (kids term) Today was one of those days. We had gone to the pool at 8am (no need for sunblock, the pool water hasn't heated up to a simmer yet, and the only other soul we see there is Mr. Bill  from Long Island on occasion). Soooo, we were there and my oldest jumps in and almost immediately jumps back out again. It was along the lines of watching a jump in rewind it was so impressive.

Apparently a snake of unknown venom-capacity had decided that he loved the pool in the morning as well. After chasing him around with the long hook thing that you use to pull drowned people to safety, I finally managed to flip him out and crush his head with the handle. I'm usually not one to kill snakes, especially when I'm not sure they're poisonous. They are highly beneficial animals, buuuuuut I couldn't run the risk of him finding his way to my little one year-old's chubby little foot. Not when we've got water moccasins, diamond backs and coral snakes to deal with here. Sorry snake. All of this to say that our normally fun time was a bit overshadowed with tension. Every shadow now had to be investigated and "ok'd" by mom.

On our walk back we talked about what to have for breakfast and we all agreed on biscuits and gravy. It was just that kind of day. My oldest took his first bite and after the unavoidable "Mmmmmmm!" he said, "Mom, this is Heaven's Breakfast."

I couldn't agree more.

oh, the possibilities...

My kids are in the back of the Sienna one-upping each other on "What God could do if He wanted to."

"You could grow to be as tall as a tree if God wanted you to."

"You could shoot fireballs out your hands if God wanted you to."

My youngest son, Tank, not to be outdone, pipes in, "You could live to be a million but still be a baby and learn to say "hello" if God wanted you to, and grow a beard."

Silence.
Then eruptions of laughter.
Hmmmm, methinks we've got a winner.