Cookies and Ornaments

When we trimmed our tree, Rock helped me make Christmas Snickerdoodles. Don't ask me why he looks terrified here.

I made the dough and rolled it into little balls and then Rock smashed them rolled them in green sugar and cinnamon.

He also spaced them nicely on the cookie sheet.
Then we made some "apple spider juice" and ate cookies while we trimmed the tree.
First Rock put his ornaments up.
Then he played with this snow globe ornament from "Coffee Starbucks"...
While Fix and I filled up the rest of the tree.

Proof that the baby bump is growing.

And I think we are now done decking the halls of our house for this year!

Snow Day Walk

When Winter comes around, I wish for snow days. Last Saturday we got our wish.
Rock and his dad suited up in their cold weather gear and went for a walk.
Rock didn't exactly love the snow. It was "too wetty."
But he loves Starbucks and that was the ultimate destination.

Rock and Fix shared a vanilla steamer while I drove over and rescued them from a wet walk back home.

Family Night at the Science Center

Last Friday we went to Family Night at the Owens Science Center to see our friend Patty's planetarium show. She was fabulous - even with a little boy continually whispering in my ear that he wanted to turn the lights on. Then we explored the rest of the Center.

Rock met a bunch of fun animals including this snake...

And this alligator...

And this turtle...

And this newt...

And this millipede. Rock was really fearless and loved interacting with the animals. Especially this next one...

Mr. Harrington was Rock's favorite animal of all.

Like Patty, Mr. Harrington is an old family friend who works at the Center and he has a way of making Science super fun!

Who else could hold a two-year-old's attention like this?

Picking our Tree

I have really been enjoying all of my friends' posts showing their happy families going out to Christmas Tree farms and cutting down their own fresh trees.  It's a beautiful tradition that makes for happy memories.

We Fixes also have a tree-picking tradition.  We pick a cold nasty night and go to Home Depot for a cheap tree.  We also force our child to smile as though he could possibly be enjoying this adventure.

Last Monday was particularly cold.  And it was definitely raining.  So we went to Home Depot, looked at about 4 trees, picked one and left.

No time to strap it down to the top of the van.  We just chucked it in the back with Rock.  That's one of the many advantages of a small, skinny tree.

Back at home, Rock wore his Christmas Camo pajamas while he and Fix strung the lights on the tree.

We moved it into position in the living room then Rock got the honor of putting the star on the top of the tree.  And that was all the tree trimming we had time for that night.

 For the record, despite having picked this one in haste from Home Depot's parking lot, I think it's our best tree yet.

The Ghost of Fixmas Past

I forgot to mention in my last post that the Ghost of Fixmas Past visited our Mothership gathering!  And we captured him on film!  First he hovered by the Christmas tree.

Then he got a little more confident and snuck over to Joanna...

And whispered something in her ear.  You'll have to ask her what he said.  He was gone before I could find out.

Mothership Thanksgiving

I didn't get any pictures of our real Thanksgiving at Papa and Nana's house 'cause I forgot my camera.  You'll just have to take my word for it that it was wonderful.  BUT, I remembered my camera when we went to the Mothership Thanksgiving Celebration on Saturday.

If you don't already know, the Mothership is a group of dudes -- Fix and his friends to be precise. To be even more precise, it consists of the six guys in the picture above.

Will loves being a part of the group.

Rock loves that Dan is part of the group.  He and his lovely wife Samantha hosted this event and provided scrumptious food at their beautiful rowhome in DC.

These days, when the Mothership gets together, there are a bunch of kids that come along.  This is Geneva.  She's Will's daughter and she's fabulous.  Will's wife Christel (the gal I referenced here) is due the week after I am and we are both having baby girls so that'll be fun.

Rock really likes Geneva too.

They played together at the piano...

And outside while the guys played on Dan's bike.

Apparently it's a pretty cool bike.

Back inside, I ate some pumpkin pie and chatted it up with Joanna, Isaac, Robert and Dan.

Zac (Isaac and Joanna's baby boy) is another delightful addition to the group.

Then we all Rock helped Dan and Samantha trim their tree.

It's always a party with the 'Ship.

GIVEAWAY!

I am participating in SewMamSew's Giveaway Day and it's not too late for you to enter.  Just go to my design blog and leave a comment for your chance to win!  I'll be accepting entries until 11:59pm EST on December 6th.