Christmas at Home

Since we are going out of town tomorrow we decided to do Christmas early at the house. The girls both woke up around 7 and we got started!

They were excited to see what was underneath the wrapping paper, since they've been under the tree for about a month now!

Daddy presented one last present to the girls from mommy and daddy. In the bag was a picture of an item in our house. They had to find that item and then there was another "picture clue" attached to that item and so on. They were running all around the house finding the pictured items trying to get to their final gift. The last clue lead them outside....

Where they found their bikes! Pappy and Melody got them helmets and bells for their new bikes.

Daddy stayed up putting them together last night and they worked perfectly when we took them to the Horse Park to try them out. Hayden is a pro!

She's not comfortable at all just riding "far away". She likes to be close to us, which I think is great. Jeremy wants her to go out and explore and just ride!

Layne is going to take a while to get the hang of it. She likes to just sit and have someone push her. She's not even a fan of pedaling!

This is what she did for about half the time we were there!

Then it was time for mommy to push it so that she could just walk.

Dry Ice Fun

Today we got a package from Omaha Steaks from Dad and Melody!! Yay! Thanks, we are going to have a great Pre-Christmas dinner tonight!!

Back when I was a middle school teacher one of my teammates (the science teacher) would get a mug and put dry ice and water in it when he and I were on morning hall duty. The kids just loved it and couldn't figure it out, ok.....I loved it too :)

So, as soon as I saw the dry ice in the package I knew exactly what to do with the girls.

As soon as I explained to them that it was so cold that it would actually burn you Hayden didn't want anything to do with it.....surprise surprise!

Ross Christmas

We headed over to Grandma and Pop's house on Saturday for our Christmas. We had lunch and hung out together and then opened the presents. Jamie made these tutus for the girls! She made all of the barretts that are clipped to the tutus too!! The girls LOVED them!!

Grandma and Pop got them robes with their names on the! So cute!

The Ross Family.

The cousins!

Want To Know How To Make These?!

Go to my baking blog! Click the Sugar & Spice Sweets logo on the right. Then click on the "How To & Tips" tab! Enjoy!!

Hallmark Moment

Grandma and Pap sent a "pre-Christmas" package the other day. Just a few things to help with the long drive up to the burgh for Christmas :) Like DVDs!!

They got these cute little feety pj's that they are wearing and this adorable book. Not sure if you've seen the commercials for these. But, it's a book that you can record your voice in. So, this one is Frosty the Snowman being sung by Pap. The girls are IN LOVE with it. Hayden is trying to learn the song by listening to Pap's every word.

Thank you!!

Missing the Family

The other day when we were in the car Hayden said to me, "Mommy, when we get home I want to draw a picture of me, Layne, Grandma, and Pap." I said, "Ok, and when you're done we can mail it to them." To that she replied, "No, I think I want to keep this picture in my room because I miss Grandma and Pap."

Here's the picture that she drew for Layne's room.

We are all looking forward to Christmas in the burgh! It will be nice to see some of the fam.

Last Day of School for 2010!

I can't decide if she's making this face because she's in "fight mode" since she's wearing her Steeler's turtle neck or if this is just her "cheese" face.

She brought this shirt home yesterday. It's her foot and hand prints!!! I am in love with it!

We went with the Cindy Lou Who hair style today.

Ok....so I went back to watch Hayden's Christmas Musical again today! I just couldn't help it. It was so darn cute and Layne wanted to see it and Hayden asked if I could come again! What's a mother to do?! GO AGAIN!! This was Layne's face the whole time. She spotted Hayden right away and waved to her (sissy waved back!) and just stared at her in amazement. It was so great to see her filled with such admiration for her big sis!

As we were walking back to Layne's Christmas party we spotted sis. Layne ran up to her, gave her a big hug, and then walked hand in hand with big sister all the way back to the classrooms. So sweet!

She had to get back to her plate full of goodies!!!

We Miss You a Merry Christmas & a Happy New You!

ELC Christmas Program

Hayden and her other friends in the 3 year old class were part of the chorus of angels for the play today. I couldn't get over how darn cute they were. Hayden knew all of the words and motions to all 5 songs. She did an outstanding job-video will be posted later!

The 4 year olds acted out The Christmas Story. It really was one of the cutest things that I have ever seen! Once again....video will be posted later and then you'll understand how cute it really was!

I don't think that I will ever be able to get through any type of performance that the girls do without crying. It really is something special to see your child up on stage singing her little heart out.

Layner didn't get to see her sister perform since she was in class, but we did sneak her out early for a picture with the star angel!

Are You Sure You Want to Do This?!

So, I decided a few weeks ago that I was going to train for and run another half marathon. This time around it's in March and I am following a 16 week training plan. The plan started about 2 weeks ago and it's been COLD! I am sticking with it though. It's actually kind of nice running in the cold. My times are much faster for some reason....maybe it's just because I want to get home and warm! And my body is so numb that I can't feel any pain while I run-well...I can't feel ANYTHING!

Today I was scheduled to run 3.5 miles and it was 21 degrees outside with flurries. So, I bundled up and went!

Layner got a new-to-her winter coat!! One of our friends at DP gave it to us. She is in love with her new coat and Hayden is just plain weird!!

Last night I watched the kiddos during Life Groups. The girls loved playing with Hannah's Barbies. I couldn't believe how they all just gathered and entered into a world of pretend as soon as Hannah got them out!

On Saturday I took the girls to Kendall's 3rd birthday party at Chick-fil-A. It was so nice. The girls had a really great time. Here's the birthday girl.

Hayden with her buddy the cow. You know that Layne didn't want to have anything to do with that cow!!

Girls Dancing to the Music

(Keep an eye on Layne!!)

Layner Dancing to the Music!

Super Sweet Delivery!

The girls got some special mail this morning. Gingerbread Kids from Pappy! We just HAD to do them as soon as we got it. The girls were so excited!

Pappy put these foam triangles in the package to keep the cookies extra safe. Layne just loved these new elf ears!

We sat at the table and git right to work. I would spread the white icing where they wanted it and then they decorated.

They used the red gel icing and drew the mouths on by themselves. Oops....squeezed a little too hard.

Hayden was quick to let Layne know that that was NOT a mouth.

Masterpieces!

Time to enjoy!

Besties

Yesterday Hayden's school/neighborhood buddy came over to play after school. They get along so well. The even better thing about it is that Abby loves Layne too! So, the three of them played together all afternoon....until Layne got sleepy and had to take her nap.

They loved playing the bike computer game together.

Andy they read books....

Yesterday was also daddy's birthday! So, we went out to eat for dinner. We had to get all bundled up since it didn't even get out of the 30's all day yesterday!!! Talk about a cold run in the morning!!!

Just Hangin' with My Peeps

Happy Birthday Grandma!! We hope you had a great day!

Layne's Love Hate Relationship...

Last night we went to the girl's preschool for Cookie and Cocoa with Santa! It was so cute and very well done! I skipped to the most eventful part first, but I will show you about the whole night.

We start with a split screen of the girls with Santa in 2009 and in 2010-Same story a year later...as you can see. This year Hayden has learned how to keep her smile and composure amidst all of the screaming and commotion-great work girl. That is not an easy thing to do!

When it was our turn Jeremy went up there with the girls. Hayden sat right on his lap and Layne clung to Jeremy like a medical leech on a patient. Jeremy tried the pep talk and everything. I was standing with the photographer waiting for "the moment" to snap away. The photographer just looked at me and said, "Have your husband just put HIM on Santa's lap and we'll snap a quick picture." The fact that she didn't know our sweet little Layner was a girl considering she had pink shoes on and earrings should have tipped me off that this was not advice that I should follow! But you know me...I said, "Sure." So, Jeremy hesitantly put Layne on Santa's lap, shot me a nasty look, and walked off the stage...and the picture above is what happened! As I stood there I got the sense that every single person in the gigantic room had stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the child screaming bloody murder on Santa's lap. After we got the picture Jerm briskly took Layne from Santa, shot me another look, and took Layne away in order to comfort her. Oh geeze! Do I dare turn around and face all of the other dirty looks and stares?! Right at that moment someone came up to me and whispered in my ear....."What kind of mother are you?!" You know that feeling you get when you are humiliated? It's like all of the blood rushes up to your face like a burning fire and suddenly it's like your heart skipped a beat and dropped to your feet all at once?! That's how I felt until I turned and saw that it was one of Layne's teachers who I know and she was totally kidding. I still did kind of look around though to see who was "judging" me. Couldn't find any guilty people in the crowd though.

Then we saw Ms. Melodie (Layne's teacher) and she made Layne's world right. I just love to see how much Layne adores Ms. Melodie. I can tell how Layne feels about someone or something just by looking at her big blue long eye-lashed eyes. Seriously, Layne's eyes just light up when she sees Ms Melodie (Layne refers to her as "My Melodie") and that doesn't happen with a lot of people when it comes to Layne. She is very cautious and picky when it comes to loving people (unlike her sister!). Layne even told Ms Melodie that she loved her the other day!

She's the perfect teacher for our little Layner.

Sweet Hayden with Santa. This was BTSSB (Before Traumatic Show Stopping Breakdown).

We made a Family Plate!

The tree and star were hand painted and the plate was glazed with something. The girls got to dip their fingers in different colored paints and put "ornaments" on the tree. So Cute!!

Eating cookies in the same room as Santa!

They made their own little baggies of "Snowman Soup" (hot chocolate mix) to take home. It was SO cute. Each blue container had something different in it and there were instructions beside it that let the kids know how many spoonfuls they should put in their baggie. Layne loved the "smarshmellows"!

Each of the girls got to make 2 ornaments. That darn smile again!

It was such a great night. Layne will even tell you that she loved every minute of that night! I just love their preschool!!!

Cuddling with one of the Christmas bears.

Sarah's here!

The latest phase of the European Deer Mount process! Jerm would not let me take a picture of phase 2 of the process, so here's phase three. Phase two was when it was strapped to a tree trunk using a truck tie down. A few details that you need to know about this: 1.the tree was right near the back garden in full view of any of our visitors... perhaps someone coming to pick up a cake or other sweet treat. Delicious thing to see!! I couldn't take a picture of it because it would "disgust" our blog followers, but it was not too disgusting for my customers?! "Here's your scrumptious cake, oh and the mental picture that will be burned in your brain of the deer skull with rotting flesh handing from it that's strapped to our tree that you'll see to your right as you back out....well, that's free of charge! Bon appetit!" 2. The skull was about 5 feet up the tree so that "the dogs and cats wouldn't get it, but the flied and maggots could"!!! The words of a true southern boy!

So, Phase 3 was boiling the skull in the turkey fryer to get the rest of the "meat" off. Anyone want to come over to our house for Thanksgiving next year? We can fry up a turkey in our turkey fryer?! Yikes!