Christmas cookies & more...

Let the Christmas cookie decorating commence!

This weekend Caleb and the other Little Toewsies got together to do some cookie decorating.  

They took their job very seriously.

As you can see... the sprinkles were flying.

It was a spontaneous cookie decorating party... so I had to scrounge around in my kitchen to find decorating supplies-- I managed to find some of those candy cover black licorice goodies.  They looked festive and colorful, the kids loved decorating with them... but after the cookies were eaten I found little pieces of half chewed black licorice pieces all over the kitchen.  I asked for it.

Silas was not so into the decorating.  Eating was more his style.  Actually, licking off the icing and discarding the cookie was his preferred activity.

Last Sunday I forgot to take and post a picture of Emerson in her Sunday best.  I was scolded in church this morning for the slip up :)  So, here's this week's cute little outfit.

Emerson decided against a dress this morning-- since she had a few new items to wear after our shopping trip earlier in the week.

Hello jeggings.

And every girl needs a pair of sparkly gold flats-- gotta match Mama :)

And Daddy walks into the room.  Emerson likes her Daddy.

 And a pink headband compliments of Mama.

Oh Emerson, what a big girl you are!

O Christmas Tree...

 How's that for a lame-o completely unoriginal title?

 So, we set up our Christmas tree last week!  We were trapped in our house Thursday night due to the snow and icy road conditions, so... why not put the tree up?  It felt like a Christmas-y thing to do with snow on the ground and cold weather conditions!  We decided to make it a family affair-- we popped a huge bowl of popcorn and let Caleb stay up to "help" us.  It was as horrifically painful fun and stress-free as you may imagine setting up a tree with a toddler might be.  There were ornaments, lights, popcorn, and boxes everywhere.  Caleb wanted to touch everything.  In the end only one ornament was broken.  The vacuum cleaner was only pulled out twice.  I'm going to go ahead and call it a success.

And, here is the finished product!

 My ornaments are blue and gold.

A little on the unconventional side, but I like it!

I even set up a mini-version in the kitchen.  This used to be our main Christmas tree-- we finally had enough room to upgrade to a big one when we moved into this house.

It makes me feel festive while I cook.

Now, there is still one element that I'm undecided on.  The tree skirt.  I don't have a normal tree skirt since most of the ones available for purchase in the stores are either too expensive or too ugly.  Instead, I went through my fabric collection and found two pieces that could be wrapped around the base of the tree in place of a skirt.  Unfortunately, I can't decide which one I like better.  Here are the two options:

This one says:

"Hi!  I'm traditional.  If you're feeling safe today, choose me.  BTW, I'd make great throw pillows for your living room post Christmas."

I like.

 And then there's this one.  It says (I'm using 'it' because I can't decide on a gender):

"Hi!  I'm modern!  If you're interested in a tree skirt with a nautical side, choose me!  I am a nice compliment to the blue ornaments on your tree."

I also like.

Again... option 1.

And, option 2.

Who knew maternity leave could be filled with so many stressful decisions?  

Just jokes.

Which would you choose?

Making my girly look a little more girly

Here's one of my pet peeves... Emerson can be wearing a pink outfit and is wrapped in a girly pink blanket and people still ask if my baby is a boy or girl.  I decided that it was time to add yet another girly item to her attire-- headbands!  I looked at ALL the options on Etsy-- there's some really cute ones out there-- but I wasn't about to pay 10 to 15 bucks plus shipping.  So... why not figure out how to make them myself?  The cutest ones had little fabric rosettes, so one day this week while the kids were napping I decided have a rosette making party until I figured out how to make them.  After much trial and error, I finally mastered the technique!

Guess what I made them out of... a couple of my old T shirts that I had been planning on shipping off to MCC.  I used the sleeves to make the headband, and then cut a bunch of different sized circles to make the rosette.  After attaching it to the headband and a bit of hand sewing you have the cutest little headband.  A FREE headband!  This one took me about 15 minute to make from start to finish.  I plan on making many more in the near future.

 Thanks for the cute headband mom!  You're the best... wink wink :)

On to another topic.  Snow.  Or should I say "snow"-- the stuff we got this morning was pretty wussy.  But Caleb thought it was the real deal-- I've got a city boy on my hands!

 Watching it snow this morning got me excited to set up my tree... is it too early?

When do you all take the plunge and decorate for Christmas?

So far, all I've got up is my wreath :)

And yes, my front door is purple.

Christmas Pics

I attempted to put these pictures in chronological order-- but gave up. Here's what we did in Saskatchewan over Christmas (in random order):

Once we got to Saskatoon (our 3 hour flighted ended up being more like 12) we spent a week and a half with my family on the farm.

Caleb had his first ride(s) on the quad. He is a boy through and through. Cars, trucks, tractors... anything that drives is his favorite. Needless to say, he loved the quad.

The view from the house:

Even though it was -40... it was still warm enough to goof off on the quad!

Caleb was very excited to have his first tour of my uncle's dairy farm:

Doug and I celebrated our birthdays over the holidays... even though they were in 2 different years!

Goofing off for the camera...

Caleb spent many fun-filled hours with Papa-- his favorite person in the world. Probably about 10 times a day you could find them in the garage looking at Papa's truck.

Opening gifts. Caleb opened them all himself. He ripped it apart piece by piece, throwing every bit of paper to the floor before starting on the next. Yes, he is definitely a lefty! Taking after mom...

One of the baby calves having his dinner...

Smiling for the camera.

Guitar hero anyone?

Sunset

What would you say if I told you that each of these cows have their own waterbed? It sounds crazy, but it's true. For real.

Checking out the sheep in Papa's barn. Yes, it's as cold as it looks. It was -40 out, but Caleb didn't complain. He was too excited about the animals-- that and he had about zero exposed skin.

And, once again-- another 12 hours in the airport on the way home.

That was our vacation. To sum it up-- cold, furry, airports, family, and definitely worth it!

I Win...

Just for today, I think I can claim the title of the "best wife in the world". (according to Doug anyway.) For months Doug has been talking about how he really, really wants to get an electric guitar. Whenever I would ask him what he wanted for Christmas he would say an electric guitar, but I always said it would definitely be out of our price range. However, since his birthday and Christmas are so close, I decided to go for it. About a month and a half ago, Nate (Doug's brother) helped me pick out the perfect one, a Les Paul Epiphone. Well, Doug was certainly speechless. We wrapped up the guitar strings, and when he open them he just kept saying "no, no, you didn't." He was in disbelief. Here is a picture of the two of us enjoying his new gift.
As you may have already guessed, tonight was the Toews' family Christmas. Micah was very excited to help Keziah celebrate her first Christmas. Micah was also a great helper tonight. Not only did he distribute everyone's gifts, but also helped us unwrap all of them. (I must admit though, he did have a tough time giving up some of the gifts to their rightful owners.)

Here's one last picture of Doug and I. Happy (early) Christmas to everyone!!!