Making Cookies!

Erin helped Mommy make cookies for the cookie exchange. She really enjoyed rolling the dough in colored sugar (i.e. getting colored sugar on her fingers and licking it off).

She is so proud of her cookies. She shares them with everyone that comes over and shows them "her" cookies!

Erin also knows that Santa says "Ho Ho Ho!" Every time she sees the big guy in the red suit, she says "Ho Ho Ho!"

Cookie Exchange/Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest

It's that time of year again! Time for my fourth annual Christmas Cookie Exchange!  I get a group of my friends and family together to exchange cookies.  We have a small gift exchange, food and drinks and a sampling of the cookies. This year I decided to have an Ugly Christmas Sweater Conest. And were there some good candidates!!  Melissa won with her Helicopter Santa sweater.  Mary Jane came in a close second.  This may be a permanent addition to our holiday festivities!

Erin even had a sweater on!  (Except hers was really cute!)

Abby and Erin helped open the gifts.

The whole gang!

Diana, Abby and Jocelyn

Melissa and Erin

Mary Jane and Amanda

Erin's First Snowman!

Daddy and Erin made a snowman! (Yes she isn't wearing any gloves! She took them off!)

Then she gave it her paci.

Craft Day!

My annual tradition continues: Craft Day 2009!  My sisters and Ryan's sisters came over for a full day of crafting goodness.  We make homemade gifts to give our family members in lieu of buying them things.  My aunt started this tradition 20+ years ago for my cousin and I to be able to give our parents gifts "by ourselves".  It has just continued on and become a really great tradition in our family. 

Erin really got into it this year and made eight different things.  (Mostly using markers, paints and stickers!) She really seemed to enjoy herself.
Painting an ornament

Megan and Katie

Allison and Katie

Working hard!

Oh the concentration!

All of our goodies!

Tuckered out after a long day of crafting!

Five Days of Crockpotting

I used my crockpot everyday for five straight days. Some turned out better than others. One thing I learned. Never, ever under any circumstances listen to a recipe that tells you to cook the noodles in the crockpot. DON'T DO IT! They are awful. Cook them in a separate pot and if desired add them to the crock at the end of the cooking time to heat through.

Tuscan Chicken - ICK, not worth a mention (Well I mentioned it only to mention it wasn't worth mentioning to save you the trouble of making it.)
Taco Stuffed Peppers - The filling was delicious but the peppers left much to be desired.
Jambalaya - Ryan's favorite meal of the bunch. Nice and spicy. I added some Emeril's Essence Creole seasoning blend at the end
Italian Bow Tie Pasta - (or in our case Italian Rotini Pasta as I was fresh out of Bow Ties) My personal favorite recipe of the week
Cheesy Chicken - Easy, peasy and delicious

Erin Loves All Things Pretty

Erin climbed up on a kitchen chair, got a candleholder down and filled it with crayons.  Brought it to Mommy and Daddy and said "OOOOOoooooooh!"  (That means pretty!) She makes us smile so much!

The Manger

Erin helped Mommy set up the manger and was very interested in it.  I found her playing with it the other day.  She had pulled up a chair and was repositioning each figure and checking them out.  It was too cute!

Erin Playing with the Manger @ Yahoo! Video

Busy Busy Busy!

Erin loves coloring in her giant Christmas coloring book. She is getting very detailed in her coloring and is deliberate about each stroke of the crayon.  Whereas before it just seemed like random scribbling, she is now attempting to color within the lines. As you can see, she also insists on taking EVERY crayon out of the box in order to color properly.

Erin the Photographer

Erin has really taken to stealing Mommy's camera and taking her own pictures.  Some of them aren't half bad! 

Some are just entertaining. 

If she is a good girl, maybe she'll get her own digital camera for Christmas!

Visiting Santa

Despite the reaction to Santa at the tree farm yesterday, we decided to give it another go. This time the big guy in red was scheduled to be downtown by the Hall of Fame.  We took her there last year and decided to take her again as we thought she would enjoy it more this year. 

The reaction to Santa was the same (Possibly worse???) than yesterday. But of course as soon as she got a candy cane she calmed down.

This was her pre-Santa face!

Pre-Candy Cane

Post-Candy Cane

We redemed our stickers at South Bend Chocolate for a chocolate bar and took the opportunity to play on their slide.

I got a pumpkin spice au lait and Erin tried hot chocolate for the first time.  It was adorable to see her with a little coffee cup!  She loved it!

Daddy and Erin played on the gridiron at the Hall of Fame for a bit.  Doing Erin's favorite thing "Down, Set, Hike" and then Daddy picks her up and runs for dear life!

Down, Set, Hike @ Yahoo! Video

The Hall of Fame had cookie decorating, coloring pages for kids and a gingerbread house display.  Erin decorated her own cookie (and ate it) and colored a pretty picture. 

Erin decorating a cookie @ Yahoo! Video