Christmas 2011

We really enjoyed our Christmas Eve at aunt Ann & uncle Steve's house in Stillwater this year -- mostly because Ben & Maddie were finally old enough to go off to another part of the house and play with their cousins. Jamey and I got to enjoy adult conversation and a relatively peaceful dinner! Awesome.

Santa came to visit, as usual, and for the first time ever, Maddie decided she would sit on Santa's lap (without crying!). She saw her cousin Olympia do it and then Santa gave Olympia a candy cane. Maddie eyed that candy cane and asked if she could have one. I told her she had to sit on Santa's lap and then he would give her one. So off she went, without a moment's hesitation!

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Santa gave each of the kids a harmonica and Maddie thought that was the greatest thing ever! She had it mastered before we left Stillwater. And when we got home she asked if she could put it under her pillow. This morning she asked to wear pants with pockets so she could carry it around!

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This morning we opened presents with my brother, David. The kids got an enormous haul of gifts that hopefully will keep them entertained for many months. Ben gave up on opening gifts after he opened his new truck, with trailer (from Santa) and then he spent pretty much the rest of the time driving that thing around. Maddie got to open all the presents (which she loved). She kept handing Ben a present and saying, "Here Ben, open a present" and he would shove it away and say, "No!" It was kind of funny.

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Christmas with the Calgrens

Sonya made an AWESOME English supper -- roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and trifle -- and we exchanged presents. The kids were wild banshees, as usual, and we all had a great time.

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Christmas photos

My good friend Hillery took photos of Ben & Maddie for our Christmas card (which I haven't gotten back from the printers yet!). Here are a few of the out takes...

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Christmas cookies

I made cookies today, starting with Jamey's favorite Peanut Blossoms. I also had hoped to make Spritz but couldn't find my cookie press. Finally after searching the house high and low, I found it in the last possible cupboard. Whew. So I'll get to those another day.

I also tried to make sugar cookies in a special pan I bought a few years ago. The spots for the cookies are recessed and have different shapes. The recipe said to press the cookie dough into the cavity, but didn't say anything about how much dough. So I filled each cavity, not thinking about how thick they would be. They ended up being like mini cakes! Obviously not correct, since it took way longer to bake and didn't make as many cookies as the recipe said. So if I try those pans again, I'll have to remember to make them really thin!

So then I made rolled sugar cookies, this time trying out new recipes for both the cookie and the icing. Both turned out fantastic!

Here's the cookie recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/the-best-rolled-sugar-cookies/

And here's the icing recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sugar-cookie-icing/detail.aspx

My first Google Fusion map

Percent Hispanic population by MN County:

Wishes for Santa

On Saturday, Ben & Maddie got to sit on Santa's lap at a Moms of Multiples party. Ben was gung ho and was even a bit upset about having to wait his turn. Maddie on the other hand was reluctant and ended up sitting on my lap, next to Santa. After pictures, Santa asked them what they wanted. Ben piped up with, "Christmas tree!" And Maddie said she wanted "candy canes."

Santa gave me a sly grin, clearly conveying my thoughts: "wow, those are easy requests!"

I'm guessing next year (and the year after, and the year after...) won't be quite so easy.

You can see the picture here: http://stpaulmomssantapics.shutterfly.com/pictures/85

A poem

Found this online today....

Two faces to wash, and four dirty hands
Two insistent voices, making demands
Twice as much crying, when things go wrong
... The four eyes closing, with slumber song
Twice as many garments, blowing on the line
Two cherubs in the wagon, soaking up sunshine
Work I do for twins, naturally comes double
But four arms to hug me, repay all my trouble.
~Author Unknown

Stationery card

Here's our Christmas card. Shutterfly offered a $10 gift certificate if you posted your card to your blog. I figured, why not?!

Wishing You Merry Christmas Card

Find unique and Personalized Christmas cards at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Turkey Macaroni Bake

I just made this for dinner tonight, using some of the leftover Thanksgiving turkey. I doctored it a bit, adding peas and the orange and white purees that I add to mac-n-cheese. The orange puree is carrots and sweet potatoes. The white is great northern beans. Put them together and they have a cheesy flavor that blends in well with cheesy things. We'll see how this one turns out!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/turkey-macaroni-bake/detail.aspx

Thanksgiving 2011

My brother, David, spent the day with us -- and cooked us an awesome feast -- and my aunt and uncle, Ann & Steve, came for dinner. It was a great day! Here are some pics...

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One sister giving thanks to her brother....

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The cabin! The cabin! The cabin!

We went back to the cabin for a long weekend the past four days -- the first time the kids have been there since Labor Day. Needless to say, they were so excited! We've been talking about it for a couple months and even had a calendar on the wall, marking off the days. When we drove onto the road going up to the cabin, the two of them started yelling at the top of their lungs -- in pure joy -- "the cabin! the cabin! the cabin!"

The first thing they really wanted to do was ride their Barbie Jeep Power Wheels, but I told a little fib and said we needed to charge the battery since we arrived just at lunch time and nap time was coming up fast. But when naptime was over, they were back out there!

Here's a video:


Then they "helped" us rake the leaves (or more accurately "blow" with the leaf blower). Ben absolutely loved standing in the spray of leaves. Maddie wasn't quite so sure.

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On Sunday, the weather was pretty crappy so we were inside most of the time. After nap (while Ben was still sleeping) Maddie watched a "Sid the Science Kid" episode where they built a cave and explored the concept of darkness using flashlights. Maddie wanted to build her own cave -- so we did! Of course, we had to have flashlights, too. By then, Ben was awake. They especially loved Jamey's headlamp, which has red and green lights, in addition to the white one.

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Then we checked out the cool things you could do by shining the flashlight up at the white ceiling!!

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A couple other random pics from the weekend:

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Pretend play

Ben & Maddie have been doing a lot more pretend play lately (which is fabulous!). On Sunday Ben asked me to take out the closet (where I hide the extra toys), the "pizza set." Somehow he had remembered the Melissa & Doug wooden pizza set that they haven't played with in months and months! So I took it out, along with the other wooden play food. The two of them went crazy, "cooking" and then setting up their little table with food, plates and tea and then sitting down together to eat. It was one of the most civilized things I've seen them do in awhile!

This morning they wanted to do that even before TV, which is unheard of! So I got a few pictures...

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The latest words....

Ben and Maddie are talking up a storm these days and the funny things that come out are endless. Unfortunately, I'm not doing such a good job documenting them. But I'm going to try harder!

The latest comes from Maddie. When one of us tells her that she can't do something, she goes running to the other parent (who might be just a couple feet away and within earshot of the original "no") and she puts on this whiny voice and says, "Mommy says...." and repeats whatever the first parent said.

So for example, the other day I was home from work and I thought it would be fun to take them to a drop-in ECFE class that we've been wanting to try. So I was telling them that we were going to go to school, and they were both so excited. Then I remembered that it was MEA week and thought I better check the schedule -- and of course, all classes were cancelled this week. So I had to tell Maddie, "school is closed. we can't go."

Jamey was sitting right there and Maddie turned to him and said, "Mommy says school is closed. We can't go," with her full pout face on and the saddest eyes ever!

It's pretty dang hard to not laugh when she does this. It's just too cute!

Pumpkin muffins

These are the most delicious (and easy!) muffins. I tweaked by adding brown sugar and cinnamon on the top before baking.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/easy-pumpkin-muffins/detail.aspx

Goodbye to Lindsey

Today we went to Hastings to join the Beissel family say another goodbye to Lindsey, who is heading to Dubai to teach English.

The kids had fun, including playing in the leaves with Lindsey:

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Before we left I took a couple pictures of Ben, including this one where he was hugging his lovey:

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