Friends.

They fight. They make up. But when you can tell they actually love each other...that is what it's all about.

Gathered in front of the tree. After looking at this picture, I think I might do a post on Tank's wardrobe choices, or lack thereof.

Goofing around to the music. Maybe a little "So you think you can dance?" in their future?

In the Disney film, The Emperor's New Groove, one of the lines is "A toast to the emperor!" When we have fancy beverages, we are often found toasting the emperor, whoever he is. This being Christmas time, they changed it to "A toast to Jesus!" One of those proud mommy moments.

Handsome.

This picture of Tank is so handsome, I had to post it. I can almost see what he's going to look like when he's grown up...

Princess Cutie Pops marks the fifth year of her reign!

On 24 December we pretend that it really isn't Chrismas eve and focus solely on our little red-head. A little after 10am five years ago, she entered our lives. And the whirlwind hasn't stopped since.

Having all four children's birthdays within six months (three within three months) we decided on birthday parties every other year, filling in the off-years would just be family and cake. Two kids on, two kids off. This year is Princess Cutie Pops' year for just the family/cake.

Her decision? Eggnog Cupcakes with Bourbon Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting. Considering the cupcakes call for bourbon and rum, the eggnog pastry cream calls for rum and the frosting calls for bourbon, I felt compelled to make a few adjustments. Using rum flavoring and vanilla, I turned these into a more kid-friendly dessert.

Princess Cutie Pops had this to say, "This means I like them: thumbs up. Thumbs up, Mom!"

What made five such a big year was that it was the official ungrounding of the Princess. About six months ago she and Tank laid waste with markers to a patch of carpet in the school room. In my fury, I forbade her and her cohort to touch markers until their fifth birthdays. Since then, she and her brother used each other as human canvases and I added another month.

On the evening of her birthday she asked if she could write with markers again. I reminded her of the second infraction and she hung her head and agreed, "Okay, Mommy." We told her she would have to wait for our decision until the next day. I had already relented, though, and in her stocking, unknown to her, was a package of washable markers.

Christmas morning. She pulled the markers out of her stocking and looked at us, confused and unsure how to feel. Daddy delivered the verdict, "You are old enough to use markers now, Princess."

You should have seen the look on her face. To borrow a line from I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, "What joy and what surprise!" She was so happy. Don't you wish you could always reprieve your children without it spoiling them?

Here are a few more pictures from the event:

Our Christmas!

Before: Serene, peaceful, pristine...
After: Not as serene, surprisingly not as unpeaceful as you would think, and what is the opposite of pristine?It all went rather well. The kids were patient beyond all dreams. We didn't get to bed until almost three with pre-Christmas preparations and the kids let us sleep until 9am. Not too bad. They were up at seven or eight (I was delirious, I'm not sure of the time.) and I asked if we could wait until nine. They agreed. Princess Cutie Pops' birthday was the day before (our little Christmas Eve baby) and they played the game she had received. I don't know what else they did, but they didn't get into their stockings or the presents and at 9am sharp! they were at my side.

I have to admit the Christmas morning atmosphere was a bit exhilirating and the not-so-horrible six-hour sleep, surprisingly rejuvenating. I was ready to go. Popped the breakfast casserole into the oven, rallied the still-sleeping men and we were off.Princess Cutie Pops and her Chef set. Of all the kids, she was the most entertaining to watch open gifts. Every gift she opened would be met with a squeal of delight and a frenetic waving of her hands. She was soo excited for each one. As a parent, she made me feel the most appreciated.Tank was Mr. Independent. He had that big Cars truck set open and playing with it before we knew what had happened. This is the first year we didn't have to prompt him to open his gifts. Last year, he just didn't get it.Uncle Chris had received a PS3 game from our friend, Trenton, the night before and had played it all through the night. (Respect to the true gamer.) He had just laid down to go to bed when it was time to open presents. At least he was present in body, if not in mind.Dodge was pretty ecstatic over two specific gifts: Halo trading cards (budding gamer) and a rock polisher (budding geologist). Gaming and rocks. At age 8, those are his two loves.Although this picture isn't very good, it still caught that look of pure joy when Dug realized how much his wife really loved him. Yes, I got him Assassin's Creed for Christmas, knowing full well how many hours I will not see him unless I go to our TV room and watch him play. There was a bit of selfishness involved, though. That game looked super-sweet and I'm not ashamed to say that I might spend a few hours of my life playing it as well.Here's Scoochy unloading her stocking. This was her year for art supplies. She got a massive art set from us and her Grandma Teri gave her a paint-by-numbers set and velvety black box filled with pencils, glitter, gems, etc. Remember those posters covered in black fuzz except the parts where you were supposed to color? They still have them except now it's a step above. That coloring surface covers the little box from Grandma Teri and even lines the drawers. Every bit of that little art box is itself art. In those now famous words, "What will they think of next?" Here he is, the Trent-meister. Our buddy, Trenton is from Alaska, living in Portland and spent the holiday with us. The guy has a heart of platinum because all four of the kids practically hung off him the entire time and he wasn't cross about it. Not even once. And they can be rather overwhelming to the uninitiated.

That leaves just me. And guess what? I was the photographer! We didn't get any pics of me. Sorry guys. (esp. you Deborah!)

Last but not least: the feast. We had pink Tom (our turkey, long story), honey ham, cranberry salad, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, red eye (ham) gravy, turkey gravy, cornbread and sausage stuffing, green bean casserole, but no rolls. They didn't rise for some reason. Well, that's not entirely accurate. They did rise, but it took them four hours to do so. We gave up on them. And for dessert, coconut cream pie and peanut butter pie. It was an amazing pile of food and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. After dinner, Uncle Chris did the dishes and I took a nap. The adrenaline rush was over and I went down hard. Unfortunately that meant that I wasn't the least bit sleepy until about 3am yesterday. Dang it! The cycle continues...

HRH Princess Cutie Pops chooses a cookie.

We finally made Princess Cutie Pops' cookies, Kellog's Chocolate Scotcheroos. Poor thing. She's been on me everyday, "When are we making my cookies, Mommy?" For whatever reason, hers was the last of the kids' choices. Lucky for me, they were a not-so-difficult take on Rice Krispy Treats. Not very Christmas-y but more special than the usual.

The Scotcheroos had one major difference compared to your standard Rice Krispy Treat. No marshmallows were harmed in the making of this bar cookie. The base was sugar, corn syrup and peanut butter. After adding the Rice Krispies, you spread melted chocolate and butterscotch chips over the top. Super simple recipe.

Warning: these babies are sweet. I gave the kids each a normal Rice Krispy Treat size (2"x2") and it was too much. They all said it was too sweet. Can you believe that? Too sweet for a kid? It's true. These are some sweet little treats. (I sure said "sweet" a lot in that paragraph, didn't I?)

Speaking of sweeties, isn't that little red head adorable? How can you look at that picture and not smile? Okay, sorry for falling headlong into "Mommy bragging." Continue doing what you were doing...

The Choice of Dodge

If I am in a mood of rich, decadent desire, this is now my "turn-to" cookie. Dodge chose Caramel Filled Chocolate Cookies for his Christmas cookie. Basically, it is chocolate cookie dough wrapped around a Rolo. When baked, the Rolo melts into a caramel filling for the cookie.

When asked how he would describe them, Dug said, "Oh my goodness! Those cookies are soooo good. They are one of the best cookies I've ever eaten!"

Grandma Teri called them, "Simply delicious!"

Here's Dodge's take on the process:
"It was fun to eat the cookies. They don't taste good. They taste delicious. My job was to peel the wrappers off the Rolo's, and I put the ingredients in for the cookie dough, Mommy put the Rolo's in the chocolate dough, I dipped them in sugar and put them on the pan. It was fun to make them. I want to make them again."

If you were to only add one more cookie to your baking arsenal, this is the recipe to add.

Scoochy's Cookies (say that three times fast)

In the grand cookie experiment, Scoochy chose Molasses Sugar Cookies. The only real difference between these and gingersnaps is intensity. These are a little milder. Mild in spicy-ness, big in flavor.

Her choice was one of the most understated, but might be one of my favorites. Tank's peanut butter cup cookies were delicious but you needed milk, as in it was almost sweet torture to have nothing to wash down the richness. These you can walk by and pop one in your mouth and just enjoy. Milk is good with them, but not necessary.

Scoochy always surprises me by her mature taste. For her birthday last year she wanted "Almond Cake," which was more of an almond shortbread. Delicious, but not what you consider kid's birthday material. Molasses Sugar Cookies are an understated cookie with a spicy flavor that finds it home during Christmas. Of course, Scoochy would want it. What says Christmas more than nutmeg and cinnamon?