Danielle the Decorator.


For Christmas Danielle got some kid kitchen tools. She loves to cook with me and she is so darling. So today when she asked we made a cake with the star cake pans my sister in law Kathryn gave me a while ago. Danielle was very good at mixing the cake up- even though she was a little disappointed that she didn't get to roll it out with the kid roller.
Then came the decorating. She put whipped cream on it and blueberries. I meant to ask John to buy three little packages of blueberries but I asked him to buy three pinks of blueberries instead- which is a lot of blueberries. So we used a lot of them. And of course topped it with about ten million pounds of red sanding sugar. Just a little fourth of July goodness in December. Danielle said she loved it but really wished she could have made a bigger one. We've been storing the pans in the box they came in, which features a three layer cake with blueberries and strawberries.
After we made the cake we ate it. and I threw away that stupid box.

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Merry Christmas!


First of all did I mention this year we finally found the perfect tree topper? I am in love with it. So Christmas was destined to be perfect.

I think there is nothing more rewarding than having kids at Christmas time. Everything we got Danielle was just what she wanted. She was so happy with her presents. Even her winter boots that we wrapped up were just what she wanted. She was pretty happy about the wall art I made her from the Rapunzel fabric she picked out. and the Rapunzel dishes and dress up clothes. She likes everything. I like that I can wrap up her winter clothes and she thinks Santa has been generous. Danielle came down the stairs after our upstairs breakfast and asked to open her stocking. darling. Mark went straight for the big present. We wanted Santa to bring the kids one big present- a ride on powered car. Then I wanted it to be good for both kids to I got a blue one. I looked all over for the best deal and finally bought it on Black Friday. I couldn't wait for Danielle's reaction. Then it came- Danielle went for the big reveal, saw the car, and asked to open her stocking. She said- "baby Mark loves his car." HIS CAR. that's right. The powered ride on is Mark's. He climbed right in and claimed it for his own. Since then Mark has been carrying things he likes to the car and storing them there. The put all his candy from his stocking in the car. Danielle showed him some of the buttons but calls it Marky's car.


Mark kept coming back to climb on different parts of his car. He got stuck once but then he got free so he was OK.
I guess that's OK since we didn't get Mark much of anything else. Turns out Mark is the unlucky kid. Every family has one- in my family every year Claire would get money in addition to her presents- because they realized the night before that she didn't have as much as anyone else. Mark pretty much got some candy in his stocking and a toothbrush and shoes. And presents from other people. We got him one thing-a kid computer. He loved that present. He always tries to steal the laptop so I thought we should get him his own. HOURS OF FUN. I like the deep transformer voice asking him to pick a game. Mark seemed very concerned about getting a comfortable chair.
Danielle was thrilled with how many books she got- and her Rapunzel stuff. We talked about baby Jesus and I'm not sure if she knows who is better- Christ or Santa Claus. Do children ever ask if Jesus is real when they lean that Santa isn't? this seems like a difficult topic.

of course right now Danielle likes playing princesses and loved all her Rapunzel stuff so maybe I don't have to worry about it too much. She knows that the witch wasn't actually Rapunzel's mother after all...

I loved this Christmas. I loved my presents and the whole day was great and best of all I loved my kiddos! Whoever said I wish I was Santa Claus was right. I loved it. I also learned that Danielle never stays still, so we don't have as many pictures of her. I tell her I am going to take her picture and she starts running around in circles. Can't so much capture that.

Less awesome- my struggling camera not wanting to get the kids in focus. It's hard to tell kids that they need to sit still so you can get a picture that may or may not be in focus. It's especially discouraging since baby Mark smiles so infrequently to begin with. I'm so frustrated my camera is supposed to be nice :-(

We took the kiddos to the Jewish Deli for our new Lunch Christmas Tradition. It was the sabbath though (which I felt a little guilty about) so they couldn't cook on the grill. I had a BLT (with beef) and John had what he said was the best Reuben he's ever had. Mark loved his food, especially that we let him eat the black and white cookie on the way home when Danielle didn't want it. You might think we feed our children only junk food- but hey- It's Christmas!

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Merry Christmas Eve.

I love Christmas Eve. We made cookies and read the story of Jesus' birth and then picked a spot for our stockings and opened one present. The kiddos loved their new pajamas and Danielle loved the princess shoes Mark picked out for her (with a free ten dollar Kohl's coupon I might add). Mark got the book "Good Night Gorilla." He carried it around for a long time and loves it. Then he loved one of the cookies we made for Santa. Danielle drew Santa a picture of himself and the sippy cup Mark"wants." She helped us write Santa a letter.
Sometimes her prayers are a little bit like her requests to Santa- we told her that Santa gives kids presents for Jesus' birthday. Now she wants to know what kind of cake we are making for Jesus.
Good question.

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Home Again Home Again


well given extra time Danielle likes to ask to visit Eddy and Maya and Lucy and Aida. She loves playing with them. so we went to New Jersey so she could see her best friend ever- Eddy. Also it's a little weird when she calls my uncle dad but I'll get over it some day. And Mark and Sara have the coolest bathroom ever. That's all I'm saying.

On the way home we stopped at the dinosaur museum- the Museum of Natural History in Philadelphia. The kiddos loved it. While John was paying at the kiosk I tried to capture a picture of the kids on a bench. Mark was not pleased.

What he was pleased with was the Mark sized automatic faucet in the bathroom. Danielle loved the butterflies- at first she was quite frightened that she was going to step on one and kill it. So frightened she didn't want to move. Maybe we overstressed that lesson. We was also really good at practicing her crocodile walk.


Speaking of frightening Danielle was quite frightened of the tyrannosaurus rex. She told everyone that they walked on two foots. She told the girls that were preserving a new fossilized dinosaur that. And the security guard. and a random stranger she wanted to go home with. at the end of the day we got home and she got to watch dinosaur Dan. She wasn't quite sure why the dinosaurs at the museum weren't just like the one's in the show, but I think she loved it anyway.

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6 Years


Did I mention that John and I had our anniversary yesterday? We went out to lunch while we were visiting Mark and Sara. I was super sick with a cold so we decided not to celebrate until a little later. No one wants to have a snot nose at their wedding, or their anniversary.
I still can't believe I am married. It is nice. also nice- a laid back anniversary where I get to sleep a lot and Danielle gets to play with Eddie.
6 years! That's longer than high school. I loved my wedding. and I love John.

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