First Snow

We got our first real snow of the season today. It lightly snowed from 9:30 this morning until 6:00 this evening, giving us about two inches in all. After getting home from school, Evelyn couldn't wait to play outside.
I know, I know . . . leaves and grass are poking up through the snow. However, according to Evelyn, there was still enough snow to swish around to make a snow angel.

After making her snow angel, Evelyn was ready to break in her new sled. Here's an action shot of her sliding down a hill.

Nothin' but smiles at the bottom of the hill. :)

Tip the Box

Before I could flatten this box for recycling, Julia climbed in and made up a game: Tip the Box. The first time she rocked backwards, it took her completely by surprise. But she enjoyed it so much that she kept asking me to pull the box upright so she could tip the box again.

Santa at the Train Museum

We spent most of the day at the B&O Train Museum today, primarily to enjoy their holiday events. We looked at a couple of model train layouts, took a train ride with Santa and decorated Christmas ornaments. Here we are on the train ride:
As you can tell from these pictures, Julia is all about smiling for the camera this year. These decorations provided a perfect photo-op.

Julia actually sat (somewhat) next to Santa! She was totally at ease and told him what she wanted for Christmas - a pillow pet and trains. I think Evelyn influenced Julia's wish-list . . . Evelyn told Santa she wanted a pillow pet and train layout accessories. Monkey see, monkey do!

Here's Evelyn, checking out one of the model train layouts.

And here are the girls, coloring and stamping wooden (train) ornaments. All in all, another fun day at the train museum!

Christmas Baking by the Numbers

We girls made a plethora of Christmas goodies this weekend. We not only made treats for ourselves, but we also made sweets to give to teachers . . . thus the reason for the abundance of desserts.
Julia was totally in her element, using her rolling pin to roll out flour and sugar cookie dough. Her shirt was completely covered with flour after 30 minutes of cookie-making.

When it was time to decorate the cookies, Julia started with a decent amount of frosting. Since she kept snitching while spreading the frosting, not much was left by the time she was done. (I'm sure you understand why we let Julia eat that cookie.)

Naturally, Evelyn had a different approach to decorating the cookies - she took her time so they looked nice.

When all was said and done, we used a total of 14 sticks of butter and 14 cups of sugar to make 120 Russian teacakes (also known as snowball cookies), 20 sugar cookies, 40 peanut butter bon bons, 66 spritz cookies, 48 mini cupcakes topped with Hershey's kisses and a batch of fudge. Thank goodness I had help!

Frost Crystals

During the walk to school this morning (with the air temperature only 20 degrees), Evelyn came across several leaves with frost on them. This sycamore leaf took the prize for best crystals, though. Evelyn loved how the crystals were standing up. They were pretty amazing!

Julia's Gingerbread House

In Julia's art class this morning, the kids made gingerbread houses (the walls are really graham crackers built around a small paper milk carton). I let Julia do her own thing with the candy placement, and she did a pretty good job!

Ever-Changing Princess

Our Julia has been taken over by the three Disney princesses shown above. If you call her anything other than Cinderella, Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, she gives you the business. "I'm not Julia! I'm Sleeping Beauty!" Or sometimes she will ask you to ask her what her name is. That means she has changed from one princess to another.

True to princess form, Julia (or, should I say Cinderella?) dances around the house in her glass slippers, singing all the while. Sometimes she sings recognizable songs like Cinderella's "A Wish is a Dream Your Heart Makes" or Sleeping Beauty's "Once Upon a Dream." Other times she just spins around and sings a made-up tune. Every now and then other characters show up to hang out with our princess, like the Fairy Godmother or one of the Seven Dwarfs. Good thing we own the "Sleeping Beauty" movie and she will get "Cinderella" for Christmas!