Homemade Pizza, Yumm-O!

What's Cookin"?

Some Pizza Pies!!!

First, we brushed (spatula-ed) olive oil over the dough.
Then, we used spoons to spread some yummy pizza sauce. Next, was the mozzarella cheese, we sprinkled it on pretending it was snowing on our pizzas. Then, Daddy gave us pepperoni to place on top of the cheese. Now, it was ready for the oven!
Wow, this pizza is the best! I think I did a great job for making my own pizza dinner!!!

Amelia's pizza that she made must have been delicious as well, since she ate almost every crumb!

Thanks Daddy for teaching us how to make such a fun, yummy dinner!

We think we should do this every Friday night!

Must Be Santa

Advent Activity Day 11:

The Classic Cotton Ball Santa

This was a great opportunity to explore mixing colors to create pink!

(OK, I know this is a bright pink for Santa's face, but I didn't want to waste anymore white paint to lighten it. Call me cheap!)

Amelia did such a nice job adding some "Po-pos."

They were so much fun to make, that we thought each set of our Grandparents need one for their house as well!

James' Santas are the top row and Amelia's are one the bottom, notice the middle one with the tilted hat...I LOVE IT!

A Message From Santa?

We had some very exciting email to open to night, it was a video message from the big guy himself, Santa!

James was so excited to see Santa deliver his special message on the computer. James made sure to answer aloud each and every question and comment that Santa said to him. He knew what hair and eye color he has, that he has been working very hard to use good manners and that he is asking for trains for Christmas! What an amazing night it was!

Santa didn't forget about me either, he sent me a special video message too!

He also knew the color of my hair and eyes and that I have been a good girl all year long! He even knew that I wanted a "baby" for Christmas!

Also, James and I saw in Santa's book a picture of each of us, so that means we are in the book as "nice" children! Phew!

Thanks Santa for our special Christmas messages! We will make sure we leave plenty of milk, cookies and carrots for your reindeer!

Here Comes Santa Claus

Advent Activity Day 10

Santa's Missing Buttons

This was a simple activity that both seemed to enjoy. I found a container filled with fun, chunky buttons to use with this activity. The objective as to find 3 of the same buttons to put on Santa's coat.

Since I only printed one Santa picture, they had to take turns finding different groups of three buttons to complete Santa's coat, James had fun just manipulating the different buttons. James then thought of making a rainbow using the buttons, so I said "Sure!" Just as I was going to help him start to sort all of the colors to make an "arched" rainbow using many buttons, I looked up as saw this...

Needless to say, he had one proud Mama looking at him!

Snoopy's Christmas

Advent Activities Day 9:

Sponge Painting a Wreath

Today, I had another idea for our Advent activity, but I was ruled out by the kiddos! So, we decided that we needed to hang more handmade Christmas art around the house an settled for sponge painting a simple wreath. Amelia's is on the left and James' is on the right. Amelia was mighty proud of hers, so proud that once Mark got home from class she raced up to him and said "Look it! Look it!!!" So cute! I was impressed with James taking his time to make sure every part of the paper plate ring (wreath) was covered in green paint. Nice work James!!!

These were two activities that we made last year with old Christmas cards.

James is working on a Christmas card puzzle and Amelia is finding the missing pieces on the several cards surrounding her. Simple activities that they can do alone, is wonderful thing at times!

* The title of the post was choosen because we read A Charlie Brown Christmas for our bedtime book, I know another stretch!*

Let it Snow!!! Let it Snowwww!

Today was the first day of the season to frolic in the fresh snow. Like Daddy says "We made freshies today!" We all worked together to gather some snow to attempt to make a snowman. Well, this is what the end result looked like, a child sitting on it's knees with a very creepy face! Oh well, maybe tomorrow might be a better day for snowmen building! (The snow just stopped and I think we are up to at least 6 inches of snow!)


This year Daddy decorated the arbor with some pretty lighted garland (curiosity of Miss Heather) and a multi colored wreath. We all enjoy looking at it out our back windows.

YUMMY!!!!

This was Amelia's first real experience playing in the snow, and boy did she have fun! She let out the cutest little giggle as she made her first steps in the "crunchy" snow. We estimated that she ate about 3 medium sized snowballs, while we were playing outside! Needless to say, she really enjoys the chilly, white treat!

It's time for some SNOW ANGELS!!!

I have been waiting all year for this!

After an hour of playing in the snow, it was time to warm up!

Advent Activities Day 8:

Ornament Counting and Number Recognition

James was able to count to at least 12 (Amelia was being a bother to him during this activity) randomly placed ornaments on the tree and had no problem identifying each of the numbers. Nice work James!!! Mommy is very proud of your math skills!!!

A Different Kind of Christmas (Tree)

Advent Activity Day 7:

Trimming a Tree GameA simple tree shape cut out of poster board and some miscellanious items to decorate the tree, and presto! You have a very pretty/interesting looking Christmas tree!

The best part of this game is that you can easy swipe it clear and create another beautifully decorated tree! No, two trees look a like!
Here is a red and white themed tree that we all worked on together.

(Gotta love early childhood ideas books, there are just so many awesome ideas out there!)

Playdate with the "Z" Family!

As usual we have a wonderful time playing and hanging out with Liz, Lauren and Ryan "Guy." We got to play with the sensory table that was filled with beans, the coolest part was that we were in their house while we played!!!

We love the beans!!!!

Thanks "Z" family for a lovely lunch and a great time playing together...FINALLY!!!