Christmas cookies

A few days ago Oliver and I had fun baking Christmas cookies and making a mess. I was juggling a few batches in and out of the oven, decorating with Oliver and acting silly to distract Madelyn while she waited in her exersaucer. She eventually started crying so I turned around to switch batches and pick her up. In those 2 minutes Oli had "decorated" a batch of cookies and taken a bite off about 7 of them! It was funny to see him concentrate as he decorated. Brian didn't seem to mind what the cookies looked like. They were all gone in 2 days! 

What an adorable little baker! 

Notice all the flour on his shirt.

The lovely cookies decorated by Oli. 

Some of these gingerbread men are missing heads or legs.

These are the cookies that I decorated :)

Oli preferred his cookies.

Ready for Christmas!

This past Saturday we played Christmas music all morning, put up the tree and enjoyed drinking hot apple cider. This year Christmas is more fun because Oliver talks and understand so much more than last year. We've been talking about baby Jesus and reading a bunch of Christmas books. Every afternoon we play Christmas music and dance around the house. His favorite song is "Santa Claus is coming to town." Madelyn gets excited when she sees Oliver dance. If only she knew how magical she and Oliver make the holidays!!! We're sooooo grateful for our two little gifts from above; we love seeing life through their eyes.   

Little helper #1

Little helper #2

"Relaxing" on the couch.

These are a few pics from Thanksgiving Day at our house.  

My mom cooked the turkey and it was yummy as usual!

This is the only photo that Oliver cooperated for.

Madelyn- 6 Months old

Unlike her brother, Madelyn is lucky if she gets an update on the blog every few months. Sometimes she has been doing something new for a few weeks before I get a photo. She is 6 months old and is rolling over. She often gets stuck and upset when she's not able to roll back. She reaches for anything in sight and puts everything in her mouth. So far she's eaten rice cereal, butternut squash, carrots and sweet potatoes. 

 Sweet potato mess 

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! We went to a Trunk or Treat and had fun collecting candy.  

This is the ugliest pumpkin I've ever seen.

 Firefighter and Little Frog

  

Eating junk.

 

Little Pumpkins

The Fall weather feels so good in the mornings and evenings. We visited a local pumpkin patch a few times and got pics of our little pumpkins.

Oliver's first time helping Daddy carve a pumpkin.

Here are some photos of both of them to compare and remember how cute they looked the first time they visited a pumpking patch. Oliver was 4 months old and Madelyn is 5 months old.

This was at Oliver's preschool. 

Madelyn was all dressed up to take portraits with her big bro.

I love her crazy hair :)

Oli at Preschool

Oliver started preschool 2 weeks ago. We visited a few times before I registered him and he seemed to really enjoy it. We only signed him up for 3 days a week from 9am-12pm, so I still get to enjoy a lot of time with him.  The teachers said that 2 year olds usually take a few days to adjust, but he fit right in the first day.  It makes me happy that he loves going and that I get to spend some quality time with Madelyn. I feel blessed to be able to send him and to have a break now and then from taking care of both of them at the same time.

Still, it was a bitter sweet moment when I let him go that first day.