Sunday, December 13, 2009

getting into the spirit

we had our christmas pageant at church this evening. it was an enjoyable time. we played the holy family. owen was a 'sheep' - he didn't want to dress up, so ry wrapped him in a fuzzy white blanket and held him . . . like a sheep. it was a good time. aleida slept the whole, thus playing a very serene baby jesus. she even slept in the nice manger. what a good little actress. then after the pageant, there was the cookie social. many people brought delicious cookies and we all ate them. hot apple cider was served, too. it was a yummy and christmassy occasion.

aleida just fell asleep on me without me putting effort into getting her to go to sleep. usually when she's really tired (and at this time of night) she gets kind of cranky; having her fall asleep will involve pacing the floor and little patting her back. but not tonight. yay!



we made christmas cookies for church fellowship time. and for our new family tradition. delicious ginger cookies. owen LOVED cutting the cookies. he did a fine job of it, too.




sleeping happens whenever one can get it. (though i have decided that i must refrain from afternoon naps because no matter how tired i may be, sleeping in the afternoon means i will not fall asleep until too late at night.)

Thursday, December 10, 2009

there is a hearty, thick layer of snow on the ground. I am glad! i love that snow has arrived, and given the temperatures, it will remain for a while. We're decked our apartment with the warm glow of Christmas decorations. Our tree is up and beautiful. Owen requested purple lights (cousin lillian's fav colour is purple and so he seems to like it a lot right now, too) but we settled with a string of lights that has yellow, green, red and blue. He loves the tree and the ornaments. The first thing he does in the morning is turn the tree lights on. We very well may burn out all the lights on these string of lights cause they are always on!
We had talked that we wanted to go for evening walks to look at the lights but the cold has settled in in true minnesota style and it doesn't seem like a good idea to take Aleida out. And so she stays in while one of us takes Owen out to observe the beauty of winter at night. There are a couple houses a few blocks away from our house that are especially decorated for Christmas. Owen LOVES these houses! The last time he and I walked to look at the lights he sat down on the sidewalk and just wanted to sit there for a while. It was super cute.

I have hopes of baking Christmas cookies soon, and other holiday treats. Baking, to me, is an integral part of the Christmas season. I am excited that Ry and I are forming family traditions and I want to be sure to incorporate certain things within our family tradition. One thing that I want to do is make ginger cookies, shaped and decorated appropriately. Another, which will involve a little digging, is getting a recipe from my Aunt Japke - she always made these fun little mice cookies at Christmas. They were so delicious: the body was a soft chocolate cookies (not baked), the eyes, ears and nose were little candies, and the tail a piece of licorice. I looked forward to eating these cookies. Certainly the kids in my life would like to eat these, too.

We haven't taken any photos lately, but there are some older pics that we haven't posted yet.

Aleida at 5 days old:


a little over 1 week old. Bundled up after a bath:


Aleida at 2 weeks old: