Sugar Cookies With Grandma

Mom brought a book for Bella called Cookies With Grandma. The book tells a story, and it came with bear-shaped cookie cutters to do your own baking!

They had great fun rolling out the dough, using the cookie cutters, and adding sprinkles!

Rolling out the dough...

Cute and covered in flour!

Helping Grandma press the cookie cutter down.

Evelyn trying to get in on the fun!

Sweet little smile!

Bella kept trying to overlap the cookie cutter shapes because she wanted them to hold hands.

Gnawing on a cookie cutter.

Adding the sprinkles! Bella did a lot more eating then decorating, but she still managed to overload every cookie!

You gotta love this many sprinkles!

Taking a break from cookies to snack on some cereal. Evelyn is feeding herself! A lot of the pieces still end up on the floor or stuck in her lap, but she's getting better with practice!

Bella's Christmas Musical

Where to start???

Last year, I was sitting in the front row during Bella's preschool musical, and she started crying as soon as she saw me. The music teacher finally asked me to come get her from the stage, so the happy children could continue their song.

This year, I was prepared. We talked about her Christmas songs, and how she would see Mama in the audience, but would have to stay with her class. I decided to take my chances and sit in the front again with Steve's mom and dad (and Whitney, of course!)

When she first came out with her class, she saw us and got very excited! She obeyed Miss Cheryl and didn't react when she had to stay with her class. As her class came on stage, she waved really big at me and then saw Trey! She yelled out, "It's TREEEEEEEYYYY!!!!" 

So you would think at this point that the cards were in our favor, right?

Unfortunately, Bells' sense of justice is a little misguided. She felt that the little girl standing next to her was a little too close, so she nudged her over. The little girl (who, by the way, is extremely sweet!) grabbed Bella's hand, and it was all over from there. Bella thought the little girl scratched her, so she started crying loudly.

Miss Cheryl did such a good job of trying to calm her down and listening to her "grievance", but Bella never really shook it off. She cried during the first song and pouted during the other two.

Getting comforted by Miss Cheryl.

Miss Cheryl moved her to the end, so she had more space, but the little kumquat doesn't "shake it off" very easily. Bless her little over-sensitive heart!

Her whole class in their Christmas best! I love that some of Bella's classmates are turned around to see what's going on!

Finally stopped crying! Miss Cheryl tried to get her involved with drumsticks, but it didn't work. So close!

Not even exaggerating...as SOON as Bella came down off the stage, she was all giggles! She was smiling and bouncing up and down!

Truthfully, I was so disappointed about today. I was looking forward to seeing a calmer little preschooler up there, actually singing and smiling. She did look adorable in her red dress and long hair, though!

Looking forward to next year!

Catching Up With The Squirt

Three posts in one day! What! What! Trying to post when I can! I finally got a chance to take pictures of Evelyn for her "7 months"! Get ready for a bajillion pictures of an incredibly beautiful baby!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I could look at her little face all day! New milestones: Evelyn can sit up on her own and she's just started eating baby food!

Swinging With Bella And Evelyn

Or maybe this should say, "swinging with Grandma and Grandpa". We had gorgeous weather today, so it was a great chance to play outside on the swings. This was Evelyn's first time on the swings! Bella had a great time with Steve and Dad, and Evelyn got to sing in the baby swing all by herself!

Grandma and Evelyn. The girls are loving the extra attention from Grandma and Grandpa this week!

Our action shot!

Evelyn loved the swing! She had huge smiles and a few giggles!

Little eyes and little toes...so scrumptious!

Almost playing together! Evelyn loves watching everything Bella does, but Bella is definitely not equally thrilled yet.

 Getting pushed by Grandpa with her little fuzzy head sticking out.

Mama's turn to swing with Evelyn.

Our "Slumdog Millionaire" Gingerbread Houses

We are three days into our advent calendar, and today, our activity was to build gingerbread houses! Since Bella is only three, we knew this wasn't the year to really care about style; we were definitely just out to have fun!

We used graham crackers and melted white chocolate to keep it easy.

Bella thought the big tray of candy was just for her to eat! Mom and I had to show her the idea and she eventually loved it!

Daddy supervised our progress.

We got very focused on our little project. It was a challenge to keep the walls stuck together and get candy on at the same time!

Our poor little houses didn't have peaked roofs! We were lucky that they stood up at all! What we lacked in form, we made up for in candy bling!

Bella's first gingerbread house!

All of our houses with the advent note for today. It was a really fun treat!

Breakfast At Bethlehem

This past Saturday was Eastside's Breakfast at Bethlehem event. I have been so excited for Bella to do this since before we were even expecting any children! Our wonderful Children's Department people decorate the Fellowship Hall, bring in live animals, and set up a real nativity scene with Mary, Joseph, shepherds, and the angels. It's only for 3-5 year olds, so this was Bella's first year. 

It coincided perfectly with Steve's mom and dad coming down, so Grandma got go with Bella! I had some work to get done at church, so I drove with them and got to spy on them a few times during the festivities. It was so much fun!

I knew Bella would love the animals, but I was a little nervous about her attention span during the Pastor's telling of the Christmas story. Mom said she did great, though!

They started off in a classroom, making crafts and playing.

A special breakfast! Mom said that Bella pigged out on donut holes and juice. Yum!

 

The animals being brought in! Bella was literally bouncing up and down in her chair!

Little Christmas ornaments that each child gets to take home. (And look at Bella's cute stockings! I love the gold stars!)

All of the kids got a chance to interact with and hold the animals. I was amazed at the patience of this poor hen! Bella was so excited, but not very gentle; at one point, Mom said she tried to pick the chicken up by its feathers! Oops!

Baby Jesus was not a real baby, but "Mary" was holding a live bunny! (So much more exciting in a three-year old's mind!)

Bella's favorite was definitely the baby goat. When I came in to meet them at the end, she was hunched over in the goat's face, trying so hard to feed the goat a piece of straw!

She came home, squealing and bouncing off the walls! I'm so excited that she got to take part in the fun this year and that Mom got to go with her! Between Bella and Evelyn (and future children), we have a lot more chances to experience this with our kids, but it was so special that Mom got to be a part of it this year!