Visit with Santa

So far this year with Santa and 2 kids has gone way better than last year! Check that out here!!! We were going to take the kids to see Santa at the mall, but that place is always just so crowded and rushed. Well every year we have a tradition of going to Chicago to see the windows at Marshall Fields (oh, sorry Macy's, whatever, it will always be Marshall Fields to me!!), and then we head over to Daley plaza for a German Christmas village. So this year we thought we would take the kids to see Santa up there for a change. It was great!!! There was a decorated, interactive line for the kids to wait in. It really helped get the kids even more excited to see the big man! The workers helping with the line were great too, they would talk to the kids, and ask them questions. Then we got ushered into a room with just us and Santa. Both kids sat on his lap and told him what they wanted. (By the way, L asked for "Big trucks", and D asked for " a pretty dress".) He gave each kid a button and out we went. D was so very shy when talking to him, but at least she didn't cry. (Which, if you know D, she is anything but shy! The girl doesn't stop talking!!)

So, I am doing Christmas cards, they will be a bit late, but here is the picture. I hope everyone out there has a very Happy Holiday season, and a fantastically Happy New Year! I do have more cookies to bring you, I just don't have the pictures up loaded yet. I promise to do at least until the end of the year, and then I think it will just be a cookie of the month. I really do need to get back to what the blog was about. My family. So thanks so much for everything!

Merry Christmas from Hippie Mama Kelly, Adam, L and D!!!

May your days be filled with fun and joy!

Where I have been

Alright, so you may have been wondering what the heck happened to me. Well it was an extremely busy and stressful weekend, and I'm still trying to play catch up!

Day 13: We had Adam's brother, Ben, and our friend Jackie over for dinner. I made a BBQ turkey pizza, and side salad. For dessert we had a pumpkin layered loaf that I made and then the Heet family nutroll! My father-in-law has taken up the tradition of making his mom's famous nutroll and boy does he do a good job. After dinner and the kids went to bed, we played Jenga and Uno. A good time was had by all!

Day 12: What a crazy day! We headed out to my mom's house 1 1/2 hours away for breakfast with Santa. Adam stayed at a coffeeshop to do work while we went to the breakfast. Long story short, he had my phone, I left my mom's house to go get him, the kids were sleeping in the backseat, got a flat tire, the spare was flat, I had to call mom's boyfriend to save me. My mom came to get the kids and I, while Jerry worked damn hard to get the tire off to find out that both the tire and the spare were trash. So they bought us 2 new tires! We headed over to a friends house that night to watch 2 horrible movies, and spent the night out there. Didn't do much just the 2 of us but we spent tons of time together!

Day 11: My brother-in-law Tom graduated with his Master's degree. We are all so very proud of him. It was a long day and we didn't get home until late. We were happy just to spend the night in our own bed!

Day 10: I had a Mom's Night In with the moms from my mom's group. So no real togetherness this night, but after the weekend we had I think that was alright!

Day 9: Brother-in-law Ben came over for dinner. After he left Adam and I made some applebutter again. Don't tell anyone, but that is what they are getting for Christmas from us. I am using recycled glass jars, and made a tag and everything so they look really nice. I will put another post up with all the pictures because I'm jsut too lazy to start all over again!

Day 20 and shoppig with Santa

Day 20: Adam and I made spritz cookies! We have tried this so many times and this is the first year that it actually worked right. We were very happy. Now if you don't know what spritz cookies are they are basically a light sugar cookies that is squeezed out of a cookie gun in different shapes onto the cookie sheet. I know what you are saying, that doesn't sound too hard, well it is! You need to have the dough chilled, you need the right pressure on the gun, and you need to have the right thickness of a cookie for it to all come out right. We decided to use almond extract instead of the lemon that it calls for and we sprinkled sanding sugar over the top of them for fun. They turned out fantastic! They taste a lot like a madeline cookie if you know what that is.

Shopping with Santa: A local church just down the alley from us sent us an invitation to shop with Santa. It was great fun! They had adult helpers that took the kids shopping for mommy, daddy, and siblings while mommy and daddy went downstairs to shop for the kids and home goods. They had tons to choose from and had everything set up according to age group. D freaked out of course when the nice lady wanted to take her shopping, but L was like sure, I'll go with you stranger! Where to! I picked out a baby doll for D, and a truck with blocks for L. They also had books, movies, little toys for stocking stuffers, home decor, a candy. It was great. We then went up stairs to see the big man. As soon as D say him she was yelling, Hi Santa! But once we got over to him she really freaked out. It was alright from a distance, or as long as daddy held her. And Santa was a trooper. I felt bad because D was kicking with her boots on so I know that had to hurt. L came running back in after shopping and getting his presents wrapped. The adult helper picked out things for D to give us, and while they were being wrapped L got to play in the nursery. When he came back, as soon as he saw Santa, he ran over and climbed into his lap. It was very cute. Santa gave each kid a gift bag filled with age appropriate things. When we got home L told daddy that he got Christmas for him and wants to wait to open them. That just melted our hearts!

We got 3 cookie sheets full

A close up shot

Being silly

My artist hubby wanted to get an artsy shot

I have my mom's old cookie gun from when I was little. I has a tag on it from True Value!

Checking to see if they are done

Poor Little Miss D

The pacifier didn't even help

L saying cheese on Santa's lap