christmas cookies & delivery (2019)

Posted on February 20, 2020 by tara

It’s never too late to reminisce about Christmas cookies, right? This is definitely one of my favorite things to do with the girls, and these couple of pictures of us all working on cutting out cookies together are some of my very favorites. It really is worth taking the time to set up the tripod so I can get into a few photos every once in a while.Eve didn’t actually help, because she was really busy trying to eat the gingerbread dough. Maybe next year!Kaya and Kaelyn wanted to try rolling some of the cookies out themselves.. They did really well! They’ve almost put me out of a job at this point! After cutting, baking, and cooling, we decorated! Once again, Eve ate all the sprinkles and candies.Someone else was eating sprinkles, too… Just look at that green beard she has going on! Nella did actually decorate a few, though.Could they have been any more excited? No. The correct answer is most definitely not! I’m not sure who made which of these… but these were some of my favorite designs. I know that Kaya did the rainbow bear on the left, and Michael made the pretty little tree up top.I made a few other treats so we could deliver plates to friends! (white chip chocolate cookies; chocolate chip cookies)

We put on our Santa hats and headed out to surprise people. We only did 14 plates, which is fewer than some years, but I felt like it was enough. I love seeing how excited the girls are to take turns delivering the plates. I think this is one way they truly feel the Christmas spirit of giving.

christmas cookies (2018)

Posted on February 23, 2019 by tara

My goal is to be caught up with the Christmas posts before February ends. It might seem ridiculous to be so late on this, but this is the life season I’m in right now. I’m just doing my best to keep up with everything! I can’t let our holiday go undocumented, so here are our cookies from this past Christmas!

We make a pretty big deal out of Christmas cookies around here. It’s a tradition I get from my mom, and I think we do a great job upholding it. These little girls are always so excited to start making them, and they usually talk about doing it for the entire month of December (at least)!It was exciting to have Nella be able to help this year!Kaya and Kaelyn almost didn’t need me. They surprised me when they started rolling and cutting the dough themselves. I’m learning that the biggest messes make the greatest memories.The gingerbread-making process takes us a few days… Day one, I make the dough and chill it overnight. Day two, we bake and decorate, and day three, we deliver cookies. I also whip up some royal icing and always make Michael run to the store to get some more sprinkles (despite my stockpile being quite impressive)! Kaya and Kaelyn were so into decorating this year that they did the vast majority of the cookies themselves! They each did approximately 25, and Michael did 8. I think there were about 5 left for me to do by the time I finished dyeing the frosting and cleaning the kitchen. Someone was taste testing…This was Nellie’s first time decorating! She might have been eating those M&Ms by the fistful…Ta-da! Some of my favorites!Michael made that crazy-looking skeleton guy…“Swimsuit girl” has to make an appearance each year!Evie was so tired from all the decorating. I can’t wait to see her make a mess with us next year!The next day, we delivered some cookies to friends! I definitely kept the plates a lot simpler this year, with only three different types of treats. It was still so much fun to surprise people and enjoy a few short visits.We delivered 15 plates this year (and included some cute cinnamon ornaments that the girls had made with Grandma Gina)!We wore our silly holiday hats and played Christmas music in the car during our drop-offs. Gosh I love this tradition! (And it looks like I need to make another reindeer hat!)

family nativity party

Posted on January 12, 2017 by tara

The night before Christmas Eve, we headed up to Michael’s Aunt Becky’s house for a family Christmas party. This is a tradition held every year, but we haven’t attended for a few years (it seems like we stopped traveling once we started having kids). It was great to see many of Michael’s aunts, uncles, cousins and his grandpa for the first time in quite a while. Nella met her Great-Grandpa T! He loved her instantly (but with cheeks like hers, who wouldn’t?)! It really is something to see the patriarch of the family together with the newest addition. I hope that one day, far in the future, Michael and I will be at the head of a big family, surrounded by our own grandkids and great-grandkids. It’s truly amazing to me to see all that Michael’s grandparents have accomplished through their posterity.We had a delicious potluck dinner (and I practically ate my weight in mac and cheese…)! I brought this s’mores cobbler as part of the dessert buffet. Yummmm. My girls were just so excited that there were cupcakes at this party! We’d missed out on cupcakes at our church Christmas party a few weeks prior, and Kaya had cried over it for the rest of the night. She was so happy to finally have her favorite treat! The family always puts on a nativity play, which is my very favorite part of the evening. My babies were old enough to participate in it this year, which made it even sweeter. They were so excited to dress up as little lambs! Kaelyn just kept shouting “lambie!” Michael was the donkey (which was the part he played the first time I went to the family Christmas party, as his fiancée, 8 years ago)! Nella had the most-important role of baby Jesus. 🙂 We watched the play, sang hymns, and felt the awe of the birth of our Savior.

I’m glad we could be there this year. Here’s to many more!

christmas cookie delivery 2016

Posted on January 7, 2017 by tara

I’m basically a bakeaholic, so when Christmastime rolls around, I’m very happy to have an excuse to make treats. Over the years, I’ve collected some of my very favorite recipes for holiday cookies, and I love sharing them. Here’s what we made for our traditional cookie delivery this year:

gingerbread cookies (these are the same ones my mom has made for as long as I can remember)

Michigan fudge

snickerdoodles (this was my first time making these, and they were heavenly!)

chocolate-chip cookies

We delivered 18 plates of goodies, which (I think) is more than we’ve done any other year. I really love seeing all the plates filled and organized right before we take them out! Part of this tradition includes wearing goofy hats. Two Santas, two reindeer, and then a baby in Santa pajamas. We’ll have to get her a hat next year! It’s hard to believe that we originally started doing this when Kaya was Nella’s size!Kaya was the most excited about this activity. She loved surprising her Primary president and enjoyed ringing doorbells. I loved seeing my kids feel the joy of gift-giving, and I hope that this is a favorite family tradition for many years to come.

the last of the holiday shenanigans

Posted on January 14, 2016 by tara

The weeks leading up to and following Christmas were packed with visitors and activities, so, I’m combining all these random moments into one post, and then I promise I won’t talk about Christmas for at least a couple of months. 😉

When we arrived home from visiting my parents on the Sunday night before Christmas, we spent a couple of hours with Jeff and Lelia, who had come into town while we were gone. We hung out for a couple hours, ate pizza, and exchanged gifts. Kaya and Kaelyn could not have been more excited about their new dress-up clothes! We’ve got a couple of fairy-winged cowgirls on our hands. Jeff and Lelia surprised me with a race registration for a 10k in the spring! I’ve been running for 7 years now and have never entered a race. Insane!

Apparently I found the whole thing to be pretty hilarious…

On the night before Christmas Eve, our little family went out for Chinese food. I think my girls eat more in one sitting at this buffet-style restaurant than they typically do all week. Michael, can this be a new Christmas Eve Eve tradition? 🙂

The next morning, I made a batch of homemade cinnamon rolls to take to one of the seminary students. They had a class auction (where they could use their hard-earned “seminary bucks” to get rewards), and he bought both the tickets I put in. I’m flattered that someone likes these so much! We had a couple left over… so of course, they didn’t go to waste.

During naptime, we wrapped some presents, watched “A Christmas Story”, and snuggled some guinea pigs…

And of course, we made a few more gingerbread cookies. A few days after Christmas, we went down to our local Inn, where they always have a beautiful Christmas tree display. Kaya instantly fell in love with a glowing reindeer statue…

I dressed the girls up in their matching Christmas dresses (from Grandma Debbie) with hopes of getting a nice photo of them together in front of one of the trees. They were kind of being crazy, so this is the best we could do. I love my silly kids, and they both love their Kitties.On New Year’s Eve, Ben, Brittany, and Caroline came to visit! They moved to Texas back in August, and this is the first time they were back in Virginia. I’m so glad we got to spend a whole day hanging out with them.
Caroline was so sweet and so good at giving big hugs… We got crazy playing Wii and just catching up. And yes, I have a blinking problem. Haha.

I can’t believe that they will be a family of four next time we see them! I’m so grateful for good friends.And that wraps it up for 2015! 🙂

christmas 2015

Posted on January 11, 2016 by tara

Finally, here it is, our Christmas day post! I wanted to remember all the details when we look back at this someday, so I included way too many pictures.

On Christmas Eve night, we went to our church’s Christmas Eve devotional. It is always the perfect activity for putting me in the right Christmas spirit and keeps me thinking about our Savior’s birth as I finish preparations for Christmas morning.

We wrapped a few last presents and set everything up. It’s always so magical to see everything all put together under the glowing lights of the tree.

We always tend to stay up too late on any given day… but on Christmas Eve, we stay up even later. We are just a couple of big kids, too excited to lie down and close our tired eyes. We finally went to bed around 1:15 am, only to wake up to Kaya needing to use the bathroom at 5:30 am. Luckily, she fell back to sleep in our bed… until 8 am! I was surprised at how late they slept.

Their big shared gift was a princess castle tent. The squeals and giggles we heard as they entered the living room couldn’t have been any louder!

Obviously, this was a big hit. Kaya insisted on putting each of her gifts in here after she unwrapped them!

Kaelyn still doesn’t really know what to do with candy, but she loved her stocking anyway.

Puppy for Kaelyn, cat for Kaya (of course).

Lately, Kaya has been obsessed with Silly Bands. She got a pack of pet-themed ones in her stocking and usually insists on wearing all 24 of them at once. Haha.

This is real life… one sister always wants what the other one has. But hey, an Olaf backpack is pretty cool.
Don’t worry, Kaelyn had plenty of her own things to open, too. She was so good at ripping the wrapping paper off of everything!

Olaf had to read his own story, obviously.Perler beads were one of my favorite things as a little girl… I think Kaya might still be a little young to use them on her own, but we’ve had fun sitting down together and making something.
An aquadoodle for the girl who already loves to draw…I ended up wrapping a few of the things I bought to use for our preschool lessons. Why not?A Daniel Tiger trolley! This was the only thing she specifically said she wanted for Christmas.Kaelyn was so excited for her special gift…… a baby doll! She tried to take her out of the box before we could even undo the packaging.One very happy little girl.You can’t really tell from this picture, but Kaya has been loving Minnie Mouse lately and was SO excited about this little dress-up set.Michael got a new Star Wars t-shirt…… and something I’ve been wanting to get for him for a while… K’nex! He and the girls have already had a lot of fun making different things to play with together (usually Daniel Tiger fits perfectly inside whatever car/truck/hot air balloon they make, so that’s pretty convenient)!And, you can’t really tell what’s going on here (besides Kaelyn screaming), but Michael’s big gift was a hammock! It will be so nice to have when we go camping (hopefully when it warms up), or just to set up outside whenever we like.We kept breakfast super simple and enjoyed some snowman donuts…… while Michael temporarily set up and enjoyed his hammock. I’m pretty sure this was the perfect gift for him this year.
Someone else really liked it too…

My gifts were some bluetooth headphones and a selfie stick, so of course, we had to put that to good use. Here’s to getting in more pictures with my family!

Michael spent most of the day building helicopters, stars…… and a camera! This one was my favorite for sure.Uncle Karl and Kaitlyn stopped by on their way back into town. They had presents for the girls… an Olaf hat and a ball pit! Needless to say, Kaya was having a blast.We ate our Christmas dinner late, but it was so delicious. I’m definitely improving at this whole cooking-holiday-dinner thing. We had pot roast (in the crockpot), the best, creamiest garlic mashed potatoes I’ve ever had, broccoli, and homemade rolls from the Teerlink family cookbook.Kaya thought that Jesus should have a birthday cake on Christmas, so we made this Norwegian chocolate cake (Sjokoladekake). It was less than beautiful (especially since this picture is after I already cut off a chunk to send home with Karl), but oh so delicious. I’d love for this to be a new tradition.

The festivities ended, and all I could think about was how much I loved seeing my whole family smiling all day long. Their joy is the greatest gift they could ever give me.

christmas cookie delivery 2015

Posted on December 31, 2015 by tara

Delivering Christmas goodies is quite possibly my very favorite holiday tradition. There is just nothing like gifting a homemade treat to your friends and neighbors! It takes me about two full days of baking, and it’s so worth it to see the joy on people’s faces.

I used a lot of the same recipes this year (why change something that’s already excellent?) and tried out a couple of new ones too. Here’s what we handed out:gingerbread cookies
Michigan fudge
candy cane cookies (mine ended up looking more like a mess instead of candy canes…)
no-peanut-butter kiss cookies
and buttery spritz cookies!

We delivered 15 plates again this year, same as last year.

However, this was the first year ever that it was almost too warm to wear our traditional festive hats! We were out there delivering cookies in short-sleeved t-shirts and no winter coats. We still wore our hats, although Kaya wanted to trade her reindeer for Daddy’s Santa one.

I already miss having a reason (excuse) to bake lots of cookies! Kaya is excited to decorate some again when Valentine’s Day rolls around. 🙂

christmas cookies 2015

Posted on December 22, 2015 by tara

As always, we made our favorite gingerbread cookies to give to friends and neighbors. This was Kaelyn’s first year being able to help! We started rolling and cutting cookies while Kaya was at preschool, so it was a special mommy-daughter time with just my littlest.

And really… with that smile and a smudge of flour on her cheek, she couldn’t be any cuter. She mostly just tried to scoop the dough out of the bowl and eat it, and when she wasn’t doing that, she was wearing the cookie cutters on her arm like bracelets.

When we picked Kaya up, she was super excited to help out, too.
I baked them all (and ended up with a total of 55 cookies!), and then Karl and Kaitlyn came over to help decorate them later that afternoon. I really like Karl’s “santa” made out of a stocking. We did pretty good work. (I also made a “bathing suit girl” on the top left that I found too funny… hey, gingerbread people go swimming too, right?) The kids napped through the first part of our activity, but Kaya was eager to jump into it as soon as we returned from visiting Santa. Kaya has been a sprinkler-extraordinaire this year. She’s always so willing to help me in the kitchen. I’m excited to see what she creates as she gets older!

3 more days!

seeing santa (2015)

Posted on December 21, 2015 by tara

On the day that Santa was scheduled to come visit our neighborhood, Michael was out of town on a business trip. It was sad that he couldn’t be there, but I wasn’t going to miss taking the girls for their traditional Santa visit, so we decided we would go anyway. Luckily, Karl and Kaitlyn came along with us, so I still had a few extra hands to help out while I snapped the pictures.

Plus, I think it was pretty magical for my brother to see Santa through a child’s eyes again.Kaya was so excited to see Santa. For several reasons, I told Kaya the truth about Santa this year (I was on the fence about this ever since last year, and I really could write a whole post just about this topic alone). Anyway, she knows he’s “pretend”, and it’s all just for fun… and this is the first year she hasn’t cried when meeting him (besides when she was a half-asleep three-month-old). She was still just as happy as can be.

She looked forward to this moment for weeks. She was still shy around him, but her joy was obvious.Santa babies.Of course, there has to be (at least) one totally crazy picture.Santa gives everyone who visits him a special button from the North Pole. Each child gets to close her eyes and choose one out of the bag.The biggest of all hugs. 🙂
I was surprised that even Kaelyn remained tear-free and managed to choose her own button.I absolutely love watching my little girls discover the magic and excitement of the holidays.

4 more days!!!

christmas parade 2015

Posted on December 15, 2015 by tara

We kept our tradition of attending our town Christmas parade two weekends ago. It was one of the coldest days we’ve experienced this season so far, so we were all bundled up to the nines. Sweaters, winter coats, hats, hoods, mittens, and the heaviest blankets we have covered up my girls as they watched the parade from the stroller. Kaelyn sat so quietly and took everything in. She didn’t want to keep her mittens on, and it was so cold that I was afraid her fingers would freeze! Luckily, she had her nice warm blanket (made by Grandma Gina) to snuggle with. I whipped up this reindeer hat a few hours before the parade for Kaya, since Kaelyn is now wearing the one that she used to for the past couple of Christmases. Kaya was the happiest girl in the world wearing this little hat, and even told me “I really wuv mine reindeer hat. ‘Cause mommy made it for me”. And yes, that made my heart melt into one giant puddle.The most hilarious car in the parade had to be the one with the giant panda hanging out the window and waving. I have a thing for pandas, and I’m still cracking up looking at this picture.

Waving! _MG_0183 I love seeing all the cultural diversity here. Santa and a Chinese dragon walking next to each other… pretty cool!Several floats always throw candy, but this year, Kaya really hit the jackpot. She got quite a variety of sweets and was so excited to have them all piling up on her tray.
Olaf was there, of course. I always love the ponies. Thankfully, the firetrucks didn’t blare their sirens this year, so Kaya wasn’t afraid, like last year. 🙂 The Big Man himself finished off the parade. Kaya was so excited to see him waving!

10 more days!

Michael and Tara

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