a zoo holiday

sometime last week (or perhaps the week before? the head cold makes it hard to think), grant decided the girls needed to experience the...:

disappointment  of watching the polar express instead of dora. after purchasing tickets, we meandered around the zoo, slowly making our way to the theater. we took a family portrait or two:

smiled at a dragon:

 and expressed joy in autumn:

 before reaching our destination:

 once it was time, we rocked our glasses:

and sat back to enjoy the show. it was quickly over and the girls weren't too scarred by the loud noises/pelting ice/shaking room.  as we left the zoo we passed by the rhinoceroses:

and the leopards:

and ended our visit after hazel took a picture: 

fa-la-la-la-la la-la la la

our christmas was superb. we had our traditional christmas eve dinner with some good friends:

the christmas crackers were a hit. lucy went crazy and popped open half a dozen (luckily we had two packs). everyone donned on their crowns and tooted the whistles:

there was a smorgasbord of yummy foods:

roasted asparagus, caprese salad, cranberry sauce, turkey (this time with legs & wings), corn, asiago garlic & herb bread, rosemary potatoes (made by erin), santa's favorite cake (red velvet and white cake swirled together with peppermint frosting [made by erin]), and pumpkin cream pie (with a chocolate crust).

to keep them out of our hair, grant allowed the kids to have a present early:

much fun was had:

and if you can believe it, mater is still standing. the adults were able to chat in semi-peace and it was good.

later, the girls received another present:

their christmas pjs. they went to bed. grant and i watched some of our favorite christmas simpson's episodes ("i'm a buddhist!!" . . . "bacon up that sausage, boy!") and put the presents under the tree.

bright and early christmas morning, the real fun began:

even oliver received a little somethin' somethin'. i guess santa missed the hairballs the cat has been leaving all over the floor... anyway, the kids dug in:

playing as they went along:

my blood pressure is aok, fyi.

and hazel's ticker is still, um, ticking. the girls found many wonderful and marvelous things under the tree:

i was the recipient of some crazy awesome gifts: a sweater and shirt, athletic socks, chapstick, music gift card, chocolate covered cherries(!), pens, a camelbak for running, some protein snacks and these wicked high stilettos (yes. i can walk in them):

grant was also gifted magnificent things:

a cd (that contains his new favorite song), york peppermint patties, pens, smarties, eyeglass cleaner, chocolate coins:

oh and a bike, some spare tubes and white lightning:

so very spoiled.

as if all of that wasn't enough for one day, we had sweet rolls (aka cinnamon rolls) and berries for breakfast:

then we all got ready for church and rushed out the door, sadly without time to take a picture in our sunday getups. we got home, ate some lunch, took a nap, watched movies, played games, skyped with family, had dinner, and went to bed. not to shabby for a holiday.

we hope y'all had as good a day as we did!

'tis the season to be busy

some of us anyway.

we've been doing many, many christmas activities as of late. at the end of november, i took myself on a date to a christmas concert a friend was performing in at rice. it was spectacular.

on the 3rd of this month, i went to a christmas treat exchange with some of my fabulous houston buddies:

amanda made these pumpkin spice donuts/cookies:

jan made this white chocolate fudge with dried apricots and almonds:

and these candycane cookies:

i made this salted chocolate pepermint bark:

 shandi made english toffee:

 kelsy made buckeyes:

and they were all sooooo tasty!

last tuesday, we went to our ward's roadshow, which was really well done.

saturday was our ward christmas party. the girls' were really excited to talk to santa:

(they're wearing their cute knit hats my mom sent for christmas. it is finally feeling like winter here) lucy bolted over to santa and hesitated in front of him, but warmed up quickly: 

hazel marched right over, sat on his lap and said she wanted a "car that drives with a remote":

hopefully she'll forget that as she opens her gifts christmas morning...

and finally, sunday we had our third annual gingerbread house decorating party:

hazel and lucy finished up quickly, barely letting the icing dry before plucking the candy off and popping it into their mouths. so we put on some spiderman and the adults got down to business:

it was a tough call but i think we're ready to give out the awards:

for best use of spinkles:

g&r

for best reconstruction after a natural disaster:

m&a

and for most curb-appeal:

g&m

last night after dinner grant and i decided to let the girls eat as much of their houses as they wanted:

we didn't have to tell them twice:

while mr. grinch is away . . .

the girls and i will play:

last friday we dropped grant off at the airport. he left us for this: 

he went to this conference two years ago. it's kind of shocking how much changes in two years. anyway. grant presented his paper saturday morning and it went well, so i hear. i'm excited to say that in about an hour, we'll be heading to the airport to pick him up. it wasn't too bad for me. i kept the girls from pining for daddy by telling them it was our girls' party weekend. we rented gnomeo & juliet and ate at panda express the first night. saturday night was our babysitting co-op, so i was able to go to a friendsgiving without the kids (awesome). sunday, the girls and i decided to put up the christmas tree to surprise grant.

he's not really a grinch but every year i end up nagging him to put the tree up and i usually find that he doesn't do it soon enough after thanksgiving for me. so to save us that drama, i dug the tree out, tried to keep oliver from electrocuting himself, gave up the tradition of paper ornaments and entered the brave, new world of glass ornaments with kids (and a naughty cat).

a couple of years ago, i picked up these colorful ornaments on clearance for the purpose of making one of these wreaths. well the wreath never happened and the ornaments were just gathering dust. i hit up hobby lobby and since all of their christmas stuff was 50% off, i snagged some sparkly snowflakes, a snowflake topper and hooks to supplement my ornaments:

the "snow" block-thing hazel spotted and liked. i told her if she could sound out what it said i'd get it for her and she did. she's gotten very good a sounding out words, the little smartypants.

here the tree is in all it's glory:

still no tree skirt. i used leftover gray fabric from lucy's costume. the kids are learning boundries. the cat has somehow figured out how to get the small balls off their hooks so he can chase them around. today i had the couch pillows lined up around the tree as a fence to keep him off. we'll see how long it keeps him fooled...

before grant left, hazel berated us for forgetting to celebrate oliver's birthday. hazel and lucy colored pictures to decorate his "playground". they both drew mice: 

oliver liked them:

then, because i pull out all the stops for any pet of mine, i made him cupcakes:

ha! just kidding. this was a leftover from what i made for a friend's baby shower. lucy helped oliver with the candle:  

and then both girls helped him eat it:

they were the tasty cookies 'n cream cupcakes my sis-in-law made for her daughter back in july. try them! try them! and you may [like them]. try them and you may, i say.