Cooking With Mommy!

Olivia loves to "help" me cook. No matter what I am cooking or baking, she wants to "cook" too. (Please disregard that her shirt is on backwards...she dressed herself!) She is constantly pushing a chair over to the counter yelling "help, help!" She is a good little helper. Granted, her help is like having the Swedish Chef in your kitchen, but it is still fun to watch her try to do everything I do. Her favorite thing to make is water in a pot! She's very good at this dish, and it's easy for her to clean up.

SANTA CAME TO TOWN!



On Christmas Eve, we went to our friend's house to eat food, and play games. It was lots of fun, but our girls were exhausted by the time we came home. (Which, of course is what we were hoping for) We all opened our pajamas, put them on, said prayers, left a note and fudge for Santa and carrots for the reindeer, and headed off to bed. As I took Monique to her room, she told me "Mommy, no songs or stories tonight, I have to go to sleep for Santa." True to her word, she was asleep within 5 minutes! In fact, I couldn't believe how quickly all the girls fell asleep. Kirk and I proceeded to clean up, and make preparations for morning, and headed to bed around 1:00 am.
At 6:15 am, Izabella was whispering in my ear. I told her to go back to bed because we told her no earlier than 7:00 am. She kept telling us it was almost seven, so we should get up. Now, we may have given in to her pleadings, if she wouldn't have started crying and telling us what mean parents we are, and how we never let her do anything. At that point, Kirk determined she had to wait until 7:00 am, and not a minute earlier. We are terrible parents, and counldn't help laughing at the fact that she was laying on our floor crying on Christmas morning just because we wouldn't give her what she wanted. Poor Izabella. Someday, I'm sure she will be a much nicer parent than me!

Once we went downstairs, everyone became very excited. I love this moment on Christmas morning when the children see what Santa has left for them. Suddenly, all the waiting was worth it. Izabella received four HUGE stuffed cats, and a stocking full of fun stuff. Monique received a large trunk full of dress up clothes, make-up, jewelery and a stocking full of more accessories. Olivia received a baby doll, baby crib, baby buggie, and a stocking full of bottles, and other baby items. They were all quite pleased with the gifts.

We took our time opening gifts this year, and everyone enjoyed looking at all the gifts. Olivia was really into it, and wanted to help everyone else with their gifts as well. Kirk gave me a new watch, some pretty earings, bath stuff, and a really cute sweater. I gave a PS2 with a bunch of games, our new favorite game Blokus, and some games and accessories for his Nintendo DS. The girls received way too many presents, and couldn't decide which to play with first. Monique dug to the bottom of her trunk and started trying on all her outfits. Izabella dragged her huge lion all around the house with her, and Olivia played her new keyboard and fed her baby. It was a wonderful, lazy day. Just the way we like it.

This picture is the best part of the whole morning!

All because she wanted Monique's candy and not her own!
Priceless!