Cookies, Cards, and Trains

Tuesday was our cookie making day. I always forget how time consuming decorated sugar cookies are. We made the dough in the morning and since it needs to chill at least two hours we didn't get to cutting/baking/decorating until much later in the afternoon. Trying to explain this need to wait before we could finish the cookies to a 2 and 4 year old was impossible. My mom got the kids this cookie cutter and stamp set from Williams-Sonoma and it is seriously neat. The problem however was when the kids stamped the cookies before baking, they weren't exactly gentle, and the dough got all messed up. I finally gave up on the stamps and we stuck to shapes, then added icing and sprinkles. The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves (and the cookies) and complained of stomach aches after we were finished. I only let them have one cookie each but I figured out later that they were eating the sprinkles and candy embellishments by the fistful. They didn't eat a very good dinner that night.Yesterday I tried to make a game out of the kids helping me with Christmas cards. It wasn't very successful. The kids put the return address labels anywhere but they top left-hand corner of each card, and eventually Warner started writing his name across the front of a few cards before I stopped the whole production. Today we went to see the holiday train display at the Children's Museum. Along with everyone else in the tri-state area. Apart from the overwhelming crowds, we had a great time.The kids' favorite part was riding the train.I couldn't help but include this picture. They were so tired by the time we left. Ha.The kids had just enough steam left to go to Kevin's office for lunch. They have only been there one other time so it's a novelty and very cool in their eyes. After lunch they delivered the cookies they made earlier this week to Kevin's coworkers. Once all of the Christmas excitement is over, I can only imagine how disappointed the kids will be with the return to our boring lives.

Activities

We're still doing a Christmas-related activity each day this month. To be honest, we've missed a few days, but for the most part we've kept on track. Warner has been all over it. Each morning he'll remind me whose turn it is to put the ornament on the advent calendar, and asks what our activity is for that day. By 5pm if we haven't done our activity, he'll remind me that we need to.Last Wednesday's event was to go caroling. We invited a few other families and went to a local nursing home to sing for the residents. What a rich experience it was. Warner and Maren were a bit shy to begin with, but after a few minutes they were singing and Maren was waving in everyone's room as we walked the halls. We returned to our home after singing for food, hot chocolate, and play time for the kids. It was a wonderful party and I hope to do it again next year. The best part: we had over 15 kids at our home and no one spilled hot chocolate on the carpet. A successful party, indeed.
Sunday's activity was a holiday movie marathon. I was (and still am, unfortunately) under the weather so this activity was a perfect fit for the day. The kids watched some of the movies but quickly got bored and played while the movies were playing. I wish I had that kind of energy. Yesterday's activity was eggnog milkshakes after dinner. We started making these a few years ago and I've decided to make them a holiday tradition. Eggnog and vanilla ice cream. Not too fancy but oh so good. Today we're tackling cookie baking and decorating. All of this holiday stuff has been fun but I'll be ready for a break come January. Whew!

'Tis the Season

We're in full-blown Christmas mode at the Platt home these days. Each year I look forward to Christmas even more than the last, hoping that as the kids grow up they will "get" Christmas more and enjoy the season with us. We have an advent calendar that my mom actually made and Meredith and I used as kids. I'm so fond of sentimental things like that. Anyway, for each day in December, the kids take turns putting an ornament on the advent Christmas tree. With each ornament I have added an activity that we complete that day. Sometimes it's big, sometimes it's small - like this day where the kids colored Christmas pictures.Other activities have included driving around to see Christmas lights while drinking hot chocolate (this picture was taken before our trip), writing letters to Santa, going to the Festival of Lights at the Zoo, buying gifts for a family in need, doing a Christmas craft, reading Christmas books before bed, etc. Here is Warner with one of his Christmas coloring pages. If you look closely you can see he's written his name on the bottom. He's so proud of that (I am too). Speaking of Warner, here's a funny story. At the Zoo last week, we visited the nativity scene they had. It was a large nativity - not life sized, but big, especially compared to our nativity at home. Warner stood there and stared at it for quite a while, then said "wow, baby Jesus is really growing up!"
Maren really loves wearing her reindeer antlers. And taking ornaments off the tree to carry around. It's been fun enjoying family time together and special activities each day to celebrate Christmas. If only I were a good mother and planned activities for my kids every day of the year. Perhaps that will be my new year's resolution?

Family Fun

I love Family Fun magazine. I've been a subscriber for years, but as the kids get older I'm finding the activities are more age-appropriate. A few nights ago we had these for dinner:
... thanks to Kevin working late (= I was not cooking) and the idea from this month's magazine.
The kids even ate the celery part of the earmuffs. And they don't like celery.I also got the idea for these Q-tip snowflakes from the magazine. I realized after we got started it was not best suited for 2 year olds, but Maren did really well. The article suggested using tacky glue and glitter, but glitter glue was as wild as I was willing to go. Can you imagine Maren and glitter? In my kitchen? No thank you.After I helped Maren finish her snowflake, she continued making art with Q-tips and glitter glue. I probably should have started with this - she was just as excited about it as she was the snowflakes.
It's important to me to keep little hands and minds busy but I'm not creative enough to come up with everything myself. Thanks to magazines like Family Fun and now Pinterest (oh my, how I love Pinterest! You can follow me here) I have plenty of ideas up my sleeve to keep us occupied this winter.

Two

Maren has been spending a lot of time in this corner of our house lately. The time out corner. And unfortunately the time out process is not proving to be a very effective form of discipline for our spirited two year old. I'm fresh out of ideas on how to make this little girl behave.A few days ago the kids were screaming at each other and generally driving me crazy and it was only 10am. Thinking a change of scenery and a nice workout for Mommy would benefit us all, we packed up and headed to the Y. After 45 minutes of Arc Trainer therapy for Momma I went to pick up the kids a refreshed woman. I was determined to be patient and loving and the perfect mother. Not 60 seconds later Maren was screaming "NO! I NOT!" as I chased her around trying to put her coat on her.

And that was it. All of my determination from 60 seconds earlier was gone. Patience, love, and perfection? Nowhere to be found.

Another favorite Maren phrase: "Mommy, I really mad at you". Really? Really. And she's two. I can only imagine what drama the teenage years will bring.

Thankfully our diva is also one of the most loving, caring, and sweet little people I've ever met. This morning I brought her into bed with me after listening to "Mommy, I done beeeeeping!", hoping to get a few more minutes of rest before Warner woke up. As we sat there, she rubbed my hair, looked me straight in the eyes, and said "I wuf you, Mamma".

I'm thankful for those moments. Because without them, I'm quite certain I would go crazy.

Thankful.

We celebrated Thanksgiving in two parts this year. Part one took place Thursday in Muncie. We began the day at my Aunt Kathy's house making turkey cookies with the kids.
Kathy made these cookies with Warner either last year or the year before. I don't remember which. But Warner has not forgotten about the cookies. He has talked about these cookies and Aunt Kathy ever since. He has randomly asked if we can go to Kathy's house to make turkey cookies (throughout the year), and even this past summer when she came to the lake he asked if she would bring the items to make the cookies.So, making them again was a huge treat for my little man. He was quite good at them, I might add. After a bit of direction, he was able to put them together himself.Emme participated in the cookie assembly as well. I think between my two children alone 6 cookies and at least 4 Reese's cups were eaten. So you can imagine how little they ate a few hours later at our actual Thanksgiving dinner. This was taken right before Maren started eating whipped cream directly from the can. What can I say, we're a classy family.Saturday we hosted Kevin's parents and his sister's family at our home. I enjoyed every minute playing house and even used all of our good stuff - formal china, table linens, and my Grandma Holbert's silver. The silver looked extra beautiful thanks to my husband, who polished it all the night before. The kids enjoyed the time with their cousins and spent most of the afternoon outside, thanks to unseasonably warm (and dry) weather.At preschool the kids were asked what they are thankful for. Maren said she is thankful for Warner, Mommy, and Daddy. Warner's list was a little different: broccoli, his friend Drew, and his toy owl. I am thankful for too many things to name, but family is certainly at the top of my list.

BFF's

I am so thankful my children like each other. Being 21 months apart in age wasn't exactly the "plan" and let's be honest: the first year or so was a bit rough. But now I wouldn't have had it any other way. Maren tells everyone that Warner is her best friend and I really think she means it. She follows him around, doing whatever he asks her to do (mumbling "otay, Norner" as she goes). If Warner isn't within site she'll say "where's Norner, mommy?!" and go running to find him. She shares her toys very well with him for her age and generally thinks he has hung the moon.Warner loves his little sister. He cries when she gets put in time out and is upset when she is upset. He loves showing her how to do things and shares his toys with her well too. They do most everything together.They hide together. Behind our big (and by big I mean 5+ feet tall) stuffed bear in the study generally.They play quietly together (iPad for Warner, books for Maren).They're silly together. I know they're young and really haven't had much of an opportunity to develop relationships with people outside of our immediate family yet. But I'm praying they stay close. Siblings are the best.

Mr. Turkey

We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house for the Platt side of the family this year. I am beyond excited, as cooking/entertaining/being a Martha wanna-be is totally my thing. I've made a turkey once before and enjoyed decent success. However five years, a few books, and one viewing of the movie Food Incorporated later, I have become ever more conscious of the food we eat. So a frozen Butterball loaded with antibiotics and hormones while being raised in a cage just isn't going to fly at our house this year. And since we are hosting, that's our choice to make. :) So. Enter Tewes Turkey Farm in Erlanger, KY. We visited the farm yesterday to place an order for a bird. I'm not sure if it was a good idea to bring the kids (or me). Upon our arrival I peeked around the back of the barn to find a sea of turkeys ready to be, well, you know ... prepared for Thanksgiving dinner. The kids thought the turkeys were pretty cool. But I don't think they understand how the turkey goes from the farm to the table. Warner did sing his turkey song with the Tewes employees however:

Mr. Turkey, Mr. Turkey
Run away! Run away!
If you are not careful,
you will be a mouthful
Thanksgiving Day, Thanksgiving Day.

So there you have it. We pick up our bird on Wednesday. Let's hope it's good!

Bowling and Running

Fidelity had a bowling night for the Cincinnati branch a few weeks ago and Kevin's coworkers kindly invited me and the kids to join them. The kids had never been bowling before but were excited to give it a try.Where's Maren? Clearly 2 and 4 year-olds aren't supposed to be bowling because the bowling balls weighed about as much as the kids combined. Warner did get the hang of it though, and was able to get the ball down to the pins, be it ever so slowly. He even legitimately (well, with bumpers) got one spare. Warner's favorite part was spending the time with his Dad.Last weekend we hosted our first 5K run/walk for MMCCF. It was funny listening to Warner's questions about the Foundation and specifically this race.
Warner: "Why are we doing a 5K for the Foundation, Mommy?"
Me: "So we can raise money to help people who are sick with cancer."
Warner: "Do I get to run?"
Me: "Yes, there's a kid's run and you and Maren both get to run."
Warner: "Do I have to run really, really, really fast?"
Me: "Yes, but you just run as fast as you can."
Warner: "Well, Maren's not very fast, so she shouldn't run."
Turns out he was pretty fast, although that's very relative since there were only about 10 kids running. He came in first place but it should have been second because the first place kid was afraid to run through the flag finish line. Ha!Maren wasn't quite sure what was going on, so she did a combo walk/run for the tenth of a mile that the kids covered.All the kids got blue bead necklaces and goodie bags for running which thrilled my children to no end. We had 201 runners/walkers at the race, exceeding our expectations tremendously for our first 5K. It was a fun day for me personally with the Foundation, and having my family there to participate was icing on the cake.When I picked Warner up from school the following Monday, his teacher told me that he shared about his weekend and the race. When she asked if Mommy ran the race too, he said "No, she was too old". I'm hoping he was referring to the kid's run, and not the real race? Sheesh. And so it begins.

Halloween 2011

We began our Halloween festivities yesterday with pumpkin carving. Surprisingly, Warner enjoyed taking the goo out of the pumpkins while Maren would have nothing to do it. This is exactly opposite of our norm. Warner is very neat and tidy (and, if I'm being honest, sort of dirt-phobic), and Maren loves all things dirty, messy, and sticky. Go figure.I liked the "M" and "W" pumpkins so much from last year so we made them again this year. Warner chose the face for the big pumpkin in this picture. He wanted it to look scary. Warner decided he wanted to be a pirate, like Jake from the Disney TV show. My mom made the vest, sash, and bandanna. When I asked Maren what she wanted to be, all she would say is "pink". I found this pink crayon outfit and seeing as she loves both the color pink as well as coloring, it was a perfect costume.The kids were thrilled to go trick or treating. They have talked about it for days. Over the past few weeks Maren has told nearly everyone in Northern Kentucky (grocery store employees, neighbors, strangers on the street, etc) that she was going to be a pink crayon and Warner was going to be a pirate, like Jake, for Halloween. Then she'd say "trick or treat!", in case they weren't sure what she was talking about. Warner was very serious about the trick or treating business, but also very polite. He thanked everyone for the candy. Maren was actually a bit shy at the houses, but friendly with people we passed on the sidewalk.We made it up our entire street and back, which was quite an endeavor for two little kids. We then returned home to pass out candy. That didn't last long, since the kids gave handfuls out to each trick or treater. What can I say? We have generous kids. Happy Halloween!