Big Cinderella

When Olivia was three she was in love with all things Cinderella, so when some friends offered us this child-sized doll we took them up on it. "Big Cinderella" joined our family on Christmas morning, about three weeks before Alexander came along.


She's been a pretty fun toy, especially because her clothes are made to fit children, so Liv could swap outfits with her.


Sometimes though, she's a little creepy. I’ll feel like someone’s watching me and see her out of the corner of my eye, not realizing for a second it’s just Big Cinderella. Or I’ll walk into an empty room after the kids are in bed and she’ll catch me off guard. Like this:


A few days ago the kids were playing Cinderella Ball, and I told Xander to dance with her so I could take their picture.

He is so not going to Prom. Ever.

Snowpocalypse 2010

Here are some pictures taken during and after the huge snowstorm we had this weekend.

Xander's First Steps

Okay, these aren't EXACTLY his first steps - we were too excited to film those. These are probably his 19th+ steps.

I love that smile on his face - SO happy and proud of himself. (Plus, he'd just finished playing with his big sister's princess paper dolls while she was in bed and couldn't stop him.)

A very good night for my little guy.

Are my eyes playing tricks on me?

Xander's birthday photo yesterday reminded me of something:
his sister when she was 1.

Is this crazy or what?


I'm going to have to keep my photos organized, because in 20 years I don't think I'm going to remember who was who!

Happy Birthday, Alexander!

My 1-year-old didn't mind that he had a quiet birthday today, but his sister sure did! She woke up and ran into the kitchen looking for donuts and cake and balloons and presents. Oops.

Lesson learned.

The birthday boy had a great day.

Happy birthday, sweet son.

Making Christmas treats with young children

Olivia LOVED making "Muddy Buddies."
They're chocolate and peanut butter covered Chex cereal coated with powdered sugar.

Liv's favorite parts?
Stirring the chocolate and Chex together.
Tossing them in powdered sugar.
No cooking waiting.
Calling them "Lil Buddies."

The real Lil Buddy!
What does his shirt say?

Don't tell his sister!!

Another favorite treat is making Christmas cookies with Dad.
The best parts? Using the (ancient) cookie shooter.
Touching every cookie as it came out.

A Potential new favorite: Ice cream cone Christmas trees.

We haven't tried these yet, but you just get some sugar ice cream cones and flip them upside down. Then let the kids frost them with green frosting and decorate with little candies. I don't know how this could fail to be a hit.

Click here for the Muddy Buddies recipe.
Click here to head back to "Works for me Wednesday" for more great ideas.

The Men in my Life

My two favorite guys!

(This wasn't posed, I swear. If I was posing this I would have made sure the baby's eyes weren't half open. Both my kids do that with their eyes while they sleep.)

Wordless Wednesday

Give us this day...

Today was beautiful but cold. Autumn is turning into winter so fast. It even snowed a little bit today!

I decided the day called for some good comfort food: Mom's minestrone soup and home-made bread.

It was the first time I've ever made a loaf of bread without a mixer or bread machine and it turned out perfect. I think I've had 8,709 pieces. Or 5. A lot, anyway. Can you see the butter melting on the bread? Can you see how perfectly it would soak up the soup?

Can you blame me for eating so much?

For dessert I had the creamiest, coldest eggnog from a local farm. It was so rich and decadent.

Xander's been refusing to eat baby food from a jar. Tonight I cut up the veggies in our soup and gave him minestrone mash instead. He loved it! I love the forehead carrot look.

It was a perfect day to usher in the cold weather.

Pizza Night

Friday I picked up some whole wheat flour and fresh mozzarella cheese to get ready for our first time making pizza from scratch.

Here's Olivia mixing the dry ingredients and Alexander licking the salt shaker while threatening to fall off the counter.

What concentration!

I'm not a big salad fan, but I love this one. I made it while the pizza was cooking and then bribed Olivia to eat it by offering her a cheesy poof for each bite of salad she ate. Strawberries, feta cheese, candied nuts and dressing, yum! Thanks to the Oak family for introducing me to this treat.

I don't think pizza baking should be so smoky!

Here's a picture of the finished product. It is pesto, mozzarella and tomato. We also had buffalo-style and regular cheese with black olives. This one turned out the best.

Fun in Bed

Not that kind of fun!

This was what my bed looked like when I got up this morning.

(Notice that no one is sleeping on my pillow?)

Not a lot of room left over for the official bed occupants!

I also found out today how to do color and different sizes in my posts, yay!