Rice Krispie "Gingerbread" House

If it is "craft" like and edible, Beatrix wants to do it. She saw this rice krispie gingerbread kit at the store, so we bought it and put it together. We will do our real gingerbread house on December 19th at the Middlebrook Family Christmas, but this was just enough to get her through the wait.

She added candy...

...and icing.

The finished product.

Second Week of Advent

Beatrix has really caught on with the Advent celebration leading up to Christmas. She loves saying the prayer, even saying it more than once. She just wants to go on and on. Charlotte has caught on too, singing the song we sing prior to lighting the candles.

Both girls are singing our Advent song and lighting two fingers. This week it is: "Light two candles, Christ is coming. Christ the way of the world! Light two candles, Christ is Coming. Christ is coming soon!".

Omi's Birthday

Today, we celebrated Omi's birthday. Beatrix enjoyed going to the bakery and picking out a cake for her Omi. She wanted this very festive Christmas themed cake, so I indulged her. It is December after all!

We sang "Happy Birthday" to Omi.

Charlotte was very interested in the cake.

Beatrix picked out a hat for Omi so she can wear it in her garden.

She enjoyed wearing Omi's hat too.

Charlotte enjoyed sitting on Omi's special little bench.

Yes, I'm Sadistic

 Beatrix has a way of putting herself in compromising situations. This time, she got stuck in her Tinkertoy bucket. I couldn't resist getting a photo of her first. Well, maybe a few photos.

Daddy came down to see what all the ruckus was about...

I suppose she is lucky that Daddy works from home, as I'm still taking photos!

There she goes again!

St. Nicholas Eve

Tonight we read a story about St. Nicholas and his generous heart. The girls left out there shoes just in case someone decides to place gold foil wrapped chocolate coins in them. 

Daddy's Big 4-0

Today was a special day because we celebrated Steven's 40th birthday. It was a very low key event, just us and Steven's mom (Omi), but we had a wonderful time visiting, giving Steven our gifts, and eating Star pizza and Marble Slab ice cream cake.

The girls love their daddy so much. I just love the capture I got of Beatrix giving her daddy a kiss.

Ice, Ice, Baby...Skating at Discovery Green

I took Beatrix ice skating today at her repeated request. She had only been one other time before when she was 2. We missed last year due to my back surgery. I wasn't really sure how she would do with it, and she surprised me somewhat. She skated around the big rink, holding on to the rail all the way around. She would let go at the openings, and managed to keep her balance. She fell a few times (mainly when she was getting overly confident and trying to show me a new trick), but brushed it off and kept on going. We then found this little rink for kids 4 and under.

 Thanks to a very nice lady, Linda, that I met at the rink, I got a photo with me and Beatrix. Linda was so kind as to send me the photos she took through email. Whenever I get down on people in this world, it is people like Linda who lift me up and remind me that there really are good people out there.

Beatrix really didn't want to leave when it was time to go. I admit that I didn't want to go either, but we had to get home.