cookie monsters

'tis december, and the month of cookies.  5 years ago, i started one of my favorite traditions- a cookie party with close friends- and it still remains one of my very favorite nights of the month and something i put on the calendar months before december actually rolls around and anyone is thinking about the christmas holiday.  each person brings half-dozen homemade cookies packaged up to share with each friend who comes, as well as a recipe card, and has to explain the meaning behind their cookie choice.  peppermint martinis are poured.  appetizers and cookies are tasted.  prizes are awarded.  and then we have several dozen cookies in a variety to nibble on and share with others over the next few weeks before the holidays.  it's simply the best.

another tradition we started after harper was born was making sugar cookies for santa.  i used to do all the decorating myself, but in the past several years, i have eager helpers anxious to get their hands into frosting and sprinkles.  we've invited friends over occasionally to help, and share in the wealth.  this year, our very good friends, lucy and molly, came over to help.  lu and harper were more interested in eating the sprinkles after decorating a few cookies each.  molly and crosby only wanted to decorate their one cookie to eat, after all, the toys and play time together were just beckoning them too much.  

my girls decorated a handful before our friends arrived.  and in the end, it was the mamas who were left to decorate more than half.  we also had to sample a few of them as we chatted and sipped our starbucks.  

i always love the finished products.  we prefer to make the frosting in more fun off-the-holiday-tradition colors, but keep the sprinkles mostly in standard reds, greens and whites.  and we always set aside our favorites for the santa plate, this year it was the ones with the most decor on top because we assume santa likes sprinkles.  i hope we're right.

make

 harper seemed more interested in camps this year, art camps in particular.  she is drawn to coloring, drawing, creating, and says she wants to be an illustrator when she grows up.  so we tried out this new studio close to us, and had nothing but positive experiences all week.

harper took the camp with her friend, lucy, and there were only 2 other campers.  groups this small are what harper prefers.  she often gets overwhelmed and nervous when groups are too big and she doesn't know many people, until she accesses the situation and eventually gains more confidence and gets more comfortable.

the kids were able to express themselves all week in any manner they wanted.  there were planned activities, but when those lead to other ideas brought up by the kids, the fabulous teacher went with it and allowed them the freedom of expression.  

on the last day, which happened to be harper's birthday, the teachers had hung up a banner they made.  afterwards, we all celebrated with a walk to get some ice cream.    

i couldn't have been more pleased with everything about this camp.  i think it is for certain one camp that harper enjoyed the most.

in summerrrrrr....

it's summer time.  it's time for swimming, splashing, hanging out by the pool.  my girls have grown gills over the years, so we love to swim as often as we can.  but this summer it seems we've found ourselves poolside a whole lot more often.  we are very blessed with an amazing friend (and neighbor) who allows us access to her pool most any time, so i took the risk of photographing in full sun as practice for another online photography class i'm taking.  i was super pleased that i took that chance.  some of my favorite new photos emerged.

here is a saturday poolside with our family...

cheers to more hot, sun shining, summery days in the blues. 

our easter weekend

we just returned from a quick 4 day vacation to visit topher and teppie in virginia in their new house and to celebrate easter with my entire family.  we decided to bring our easter baskets along, just in case the easter bunny wanted to find us and fill our baskets.  the girls and i decorated eggs the day before, and awoke sunday to the egg bowl empty and the eggs and baskets hidden.  the girls were up before anyone else, so we hunted while the rest of the house was sleeping.

we celebrated easter mass at topher and teppie's church, and then spent the rest of the day doing a little of this and a little of that- hiking at a local park close to the potomac river, helping with outdoor chores, and cooking up a late-night meal.  unfortunately, nana fell as she was getting out of bed friday morning and broke her humerus bone in her arm, so she was relegated to the couch for a majority of our trip.  teppie brightened up her view with tulips, which made for a really fun photo prop.

on monday, the girls and i headed to the salon to get hair cuts with teppie.  she was able to clean up the girls' chlorine hair from their weekly swim lessons, and give them fresh, shorter cuts for spring.  they soaked up the relaxation of the salon, and all the attention that two little girls with plastic bags and heaters on their head will gather.  they were amazingly well behaved, and i am just in love with their new cuts.

over the weekend, we were also able to squeeze in a visit with our cousins and their new third baby girl at a fun, local park so the kids could run around.  and monday evening, i met up with a friend i've known through instagram for almost 2 years, and since she's a photographer, we had our entire family pictures taken.  it's funny meeting someone for the first time who you've only known through social media.  we knew so much about each other, because pictures and stories and snippets into our days for the past 2 years tell you a whole lot about a person, but it was still the first time i was "meeting" her.  we talked and talked and talked outside a coffee shop before the photo shoot, and could definitely have talked some more.

tuesday morning, we packed up and headed home.  the girls were fabulous travel companions and our trip each way took less than 8 hours.  and now we're home and getting ourself back to the rest of our spring break week, enjoying these last couple of days before hitting the home stretch of school before summer vacation.