Holiday Baking!

So we had a baking evening. Luke enjoyed running back and forth between us and eventually setting up shop by standing on a chair next to where I was working. It had been far to long since I made chocolate chip cookies from scratch. They are delicious. Yum. Plus, it's lotsa fun with a stand mixer. Andrew worked on fudge while I made the cookies and both turned out rather yummy.


Here is the man himself stirring like crazy!


And here his little helper thinks he needs a bit more vanilla.

Luke, making sure he has the right fit with his apron, just like Mumma.


"Hey guys, check it out! This thing has a pocket!"

Here's Luke, giving me advice on what I'm doing wrong.

He kept busy measuring things for a while and let me finish putting the dough together.



Then he helped to stir in the chocolate chips! How very precious he was, if a little too helpful at times!

Quick taste to check for salmonella before mom or dad could stop him. Yum.

Overall, I'd say it was a success! And I just enjoyed a few cookies and they're still good! I love freshly baked cookies. Although I did just set off the smoke detector while making them. Apparently the wife saver I made earlier bubbled over. Oops!

Christmas Bubbles

Bubble Wrap

One of the things we found to keep us busy on a cold winter's day? Bubble wrap. Great fun. I don't think you can hear the video too well, but he was having a really good time. You always miss the good parts when you get out a camera, but hey, I tried! He's such a funny little kid. I remember being so excited when Mom would let us pop the bubble wrap when I was little. She usually saved it, so we didn't always get to.

Sleds and Snowmen

Here are just a few more pictures of our winter antics. Enjoy. I'm hoping to have a good video of Luke crawling on top of the snow maybe tomorrow or something. We'll see how it turned out.



We were working on a snow man...



Luke and I going down. These are from yesterday (or the day before? I'm so confused) so it wasn't icy yet.




My two silly boys. I can't seem to make both of them look at the camera at the same time to save my life! Gotta love 'em!

Window Watcher

He absolutely LOVES to look out the window and watch Andrew do... well, whatever it is he's doing when he goes outside. I love it! We mostly watch Daddy walk down to the mail box, talk with Mr. Brown, or shovel snow of late.



And, here's another of him dressing up to go outside, just for kicks. He is too funny and I just get a kick out of watching him explore his world... most of the time. :) (excuse the pile of winter wear in the background)



You may or may not also notice that the kid has a Thomas pajama top on in nearly all the pictures. He has two and basically lives in one or the other. They're totally not just for sleeping, at least not in this house! I don't think he'd ever wear anything else if he had it his way. And the excitement and joy I see on his face certainly makes it worth it to dress him in the same two tops for days on end!

Cuddle Time

Daddy and Luke getting in some snuggles after playing out in the cold. I think that's enough said.

Lukey and Daddy on the Sled

Here is a quick clip of Andrew and Luke going down our little hill. We had a blast today playing in the snow. And, the bribery of a snack and special drink got the kid to come in without crying. Of course, he then threw a fit cause I wouldn't let him eat all the graham crackers he wanted... I guess you can't win them all.

But, we were each taking turns going down with him and counting. He loved yelling "Twoooo! Free!" but never "One." Oh well. I didn't get much of that in this grainy clip, but he does yell "two!" as they get started. He just had such a good time.