catching up

This is one of those time where I feel so far behind in my blog (pictures)...it seems hard to find the time or space to get it going again. We've been on vacation the past week and have a million pictures to go through...plus Christmas...plus what is coming up for New Years! I really want to get Christmas done but have a few videos to upload first. I'll try to get to that tonight and get the post done in a few days...just didn't want ya'll to think I forgot about you....

Just in case you were wondering where we were....

Happy New Year everyone!! Praying for a blessed 2011 for you all!!

Christmas Eve

Cameron woke up Christmas Eve in high spirits and was running full speed all day long. Timo on the other hand was having an off day and spent much of the morning in time-outs...but managed to pull it together by mid-day and end on a high note.
We started by opening our last door on our advent calender. It's the biggest door and the kids have been waiting all month long to open it and see baby Jesus!
We got ready and headed downtown, as per our tradition, to see the big Christmas tree in Union Square, the gingerbread castle in the Westin Hotel, watch the ice skaters, visit Santa in Macy's (which means riding escalators) and have a nice lunch at Scala's Bistro.




It was getting late in the afternoon by the time we finished lunch and the kids were reaching their melting down point...getting back to the car proved to be a bit challenging. We passed a street performer singing Santa Baby and the kids were mesmerised...seeming to forget how upset they were. To our good fortune, he gave the kids a candy cane which made everything better. We got to the car, buckled in and on our way home without one tear...singing Santa Baby all the way. Yeah!
We got home, took a short nap and left for our Christmas Eve Service at church. I don't have any pictures because I was walking around with Timo the whole time. They didn't have child care and Timo doesn't have the attention span to sit still for an hour...so we cruised the halls of the church, drew some pictures, read the Christmas Story, etc...
We came home, put cookies out for Santa and Young read the Christmas Story from the kid's bible before bedtime.
The kids were all nestled in their beds, visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads...so Santa could get right to work! We try to unpack and assemble almost everything that night so we can break down boxes, clean up and have less to do in the morning...

Cookies For Santa!

Our final baking project was on the eve of Christmas Eve...decorating cookies for Santa. Everybody know you need to leave some cookies out for Santa and his reindeer and we were no exception!
We got started by mixing the cookie dough and rolling it out. I gave each of the kids a small mound of dough and a rolling pin...they took to it like complete naturals! Before I could turn around they both had the dough rolled out and ready to cut...hum, who knew it would be so easy??
We cut and baked them in no time, leaving plenty of time to rest up for the real creative part...icing and sprinkles! While the cookies baked, I gave the kids the scraps of dough and let them roll and "cut" as they wanted...over and over again. They played for an hour...an hour, quietly at the kitchen table, just rolling and rerolling and cutting and rolling and cutting...not to self, rainy day project!
I mixed up some icing and let the kids decorate as they wanted. Timo was big on just green sprinkles but I finally got him to branch out into the red, green and while sprinkles.

Cameron was like an old pro with her spatula, spreading the icing on...and just enough sprinkles to make it pretty...
We even got Daddy to help out and finish up the last few...
Ta-Dah! We finished...what a good lookin' batch of cookies!
And of course, a little quality control...gotta make sure there is just the right amount of icing and sprinkles for Santa!

Merry Christmas

As the song goes, "So this is Christmas, what have you done. Another year over, a new one just begun..."

I am reminded of the many blessings we have and how easy it is for me to take for granted the wonderful things we have in our lives and miss the beauty of them in the present. I am also reminded of the grace I need and how Christ set an example by laying down all that He had to come into this world that I might know Him.

We are grateful for each and every one of you we call family and friends. We covet your love, friendship and prayers.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Ko Family.

Making, Baking & Decorating

Our weeks leading up to Christmas have been full of fun crafts, candy making and decorating. I love that all their friends are on holiday break from preschool...it's helped us fill up these 10 straight rainy days with activities.

We had another gingerbread decorating day at our friend Lucia's house. Lucia's mom, Timmie, and I had planned this one back at the beginning of the month and I found these houses on sale. Since the kids had just decorated the little houses a few days before, they were like old pros. Cameron knew exactly what to do with the icing and Timo went straight to work on his roof masterpiece.

All done!

The next day we made candies for the Christmas goody plates that we pass out to our neighbors. These are the white chocolate haystacks...white chocolate, pretzels and raisins. I think they did a pretty good job of dropping out little "haystacks".
And of course...Timo did a pretty job of tasting it too!
Then we got to hang out with our best buddy, Jasper. We decided to make chocolate candies to add to our Christmas plate of goodies. My mom had brought a bunch of chocolate molds, paint brushes and colored chocolates in hopes of doing this with the kids but time went by too quickly...so she left it all for us to do, Thanks Granny! It was the perfect activity for them. I melted the chocolate and all they had to do was "paint" it in the molds, creating beautifully decorated Christmas candies!


Like all the other times, we tried to get the kids to hold off on the eating until all the work was done. They couldn't wait to eat one of the chocolate lollipops...the taste of sweet success!
Our final rainy day projects were reindeer and Christmas ornaments. I got the reindeer idea from my cousin Lauren...she did it with her kids and I thought it was so cute. It's a great way to mark the kid's growth over the years using their hands and feet!
The ornaments weren't anything special, just paper, stars stickers and a pipe cleaner. Cameron knocked out two ornaments during the time it took Timo to make one because he went through all the stars and picked out just the red and green ones. It was perfection in his eyes...and mine too!

Whew! How busy we have been and it's not even Christmas yet! I love this time of year because of all the little projects for the kids to do. I might have to get creative and drag some of them out into the next year...like gingerbread white houses for Presidents Day!