Christmas Highlights

Hi Everyone,

Did you meet my new best friend?

Grandma and Grandpa gave her to me for Christmas, and now we do everything together!

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At first, I wasn't sure what to think of her.
I was already a little overwhelmed by all of my new toys!

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But, then it was love at first sight!
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And now I can't be away from her!

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We also made cookies together!

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Don't tell anyone, but I snuck a cookie too!

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Merry Christmas to All!
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And to all a Good Night!

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Sorry for my absence!

We are enjoying a very nice Christmas/New Year's holiday with Grandma and Grandpa O'Donnell! I will try to put more pictures and videos up as soon as possible!
Mommy and Daddy got a new video camera from Gramps and Grammie so I will be able to have more videos on the blog now!

Merry Christmas everyone!
Love, Ada Marie

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve everybody was busy baking cookies and wrapping presents. So, I thought I'd make myself busy and try to climb!

Christmas Party!

This week we went to a Christmas party with Daddy's work friends.

This is me with my new friend. She likes to make silly faces that make me laugh!

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These are all the kids of the staff!

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Here are the grown-ups having dinner.
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This is the group picture taken at the end of the evening.

As you can tell I'm very tired.

I fell asleep as Mommy and Daddy were taking me home!

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Kiss Cookies

Mommy and I are moving down our list of holiday baking.

Yesterday and today we made kiss cookies

which Grammie always makes at Christmas.

Instead of Hershey's Kisses we used broken chocolate bars

(some dark and some white).

Both tasted really good, and tomorrow we are taking them

to an open house at the bookstore.

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To protest my not being allowed to taste the cookies dough,

(Mommy had some silly excuse about raw eggs in the dough)

I bit the cookie sheet and refused to let go.

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***Disclaimer from Mommy***

I did not want to post the above picture as there is laundry on the couch,

but David thought it was too funny to pass up! Plus it's clean and folded.

So, I gave in, baby cuteness triumphs over imperfect housekeeping! :)

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I mean business people, this is my official statement of protest!

I don't think this is fair!

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Despite not being allowed to taste the cookie dough,

I did enjoy helping Mommy bake this time!
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I think it is important to taste things frequently when baking!
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Yes, even empty containers need to be tasted now and then!
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And I have gotten very good at stirring things!

I think I will be a great baker someday...

if I can refrain from biting the cookie sheets!

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SNOW = BOOTS = UNHAPPY BABY

Sorry, but this post has a bit of a prologue:

So, Mommy and I needed to go to the store today.

And, since it was still snowing, Mommy decided to put her foot down and make me wear my winter boots! (no pun intended ... hahaha)

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Now, if you know how much I HATE socks and shoes,

you can imagine how I feel about boots...

yes, boots... big, hot, uncomfortable, slow-me-down-when-I-want-to-run boots!

Yuck! So, this whole process of getting my feet into the boots was a total disaster

that involved a lot of sweat and tears on both our parts.

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Once, I was finally ready, Mommy thought I looked so cute,

she wanted to take a picture.

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But, since I was not in the picture-taking mood, I decided to protest by simultaneously pulling off Mommy's hat and grabbing her mouth as she snapped our self-portrait!

(You can't see it, but her hat is in my other hand.)

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Ahh, that's better, she got her hat back on now, well, sort of,
and I'm warming up to the idea of a photo. See that smile coming?
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Yeah, I just might smile ... despite these silly boots!
Afterall, we are going outside to see the snow, that's worth a smile!
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There it is! There's my smile! Hurray for snow!

Once we got outside I was so amazed by the snow,

I forgot all about my boots. Mommy is hoping that they stay forgotten!

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SNOW

This morning as I was calmly eating my fruit and yogurt for breakfast...
Mommy suddenly jumped up and yelled, "SNOW!" as she grabbed me out of my high chair and ran to the window. Needless to say, I was a bit startled and unsure what to make of it all!

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I gazed out the window, and sure enough, big fluffy snowflakes were falling!

(You can see I still have yogurt on my face!)

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Mommy was so excited we were jumping around and singing,
"Walking in a Winter Wonderland!"
(She is a bit silly when it comes to snow!)
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You can't see the snow falling very well, but you can see it on the rooftop!
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Daddy was getting ready for work, but he came to join in the fun!
Once I figured out what was going on, I got pretty excited about it too!
I enjoyed watching the snow for a long time! Snow is amazing!
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Can you believe it?

Time to update the Advent Calendar!

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I like to arrange and re-arrange the nativity scene.
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I also like to closely examine all the people.

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Can you believe it? Only 8 days until Christmas Eve?

Wow!

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Slice of life...

Ok, so right now:
I'm thinking...
that my pop-up books are so much fun I wouldn't mind reading them again. Even though Mommy read them to me at least 10 times today.

Outside my window...
it's very cold. We actually had snow this morning. The snow on the ground melted, but there was still some on the roof tops and the parked cars.

I'm thankful for...
my baby dolls because they are my new best friends.

I'm smelling...
Mommy in the kitchen frying fish because even though it is 9:11 at night, Daddy isn't home yet from basketball and she is waiting to eat dinner with him.

I'm wearing...
my oh-so-warm-n-cozy pajamas!

I'm going...
to bed soon, if Mommy has anything to say about it! :(

I'm hoping...
that Daddy comes home before I fall asleep!

I'm hearing...
Christmas music that Mommy is singing along to on the computer.

I'm looking around the house...
and seeing lots of laundry hanging on the rack, a fire in the fireplace, and lots of toys that need to be picked up before bed time!

This week I plan to...
read, play, talk, sing, clap, dance, read some more, make cookies with Mommy, go for a walk, do my baby puzzle about a dozen times, push my babies in the stroller about a million zillion times, chit-chat with Mommy, learn to say, "Super Grandpa!" and pick up Grandpa and Grandma at the airport! :)

Something funny is going on around here...

I think there is something suspicious going on!

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Let me tell you what happened!
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You see, yesterday Mommy and I finally got around to making the much-anticipated apple pie!

Keep reading to find out what happened...

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Something funny continued...

Somewhere in the pie making process, I got tired and decided to take a nap.

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So, as soon as the pie was in the oven,

Mommy and I got comfortable and she snuggled me down for a sleep.

Leaving Daddy to take it out when the time was up!
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Then, when I woke up, this is what I found.
Now, I know this is my first time making pies,
but I'm pretty sure it didn't look like that going into the oven!
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What do you think?

Did my parents sneak a snack without me?

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Well, perhaps I will never know...

But, what I do know is that the pie was very successful

according to Daddy who said it was the,

"Best apple pie I've ever put in my mouth!"

Advent Week 3

Guess what?

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Only one more Sunday between now and Christmas!
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Basketball

On Saturday we went to Daddy's second basketball game of the season.

Mommy was able to get just a few pictures of me while we watched the game before his game.

Then she couldn't take pictures while Daddy was playing because we had to cheer!

I enjoyed clapping with the crowd and pointing to my daddy on the court!

And ... they won! So right now they have a perfect season!

My new favorite food ...

Well, this doesn't count as baking, but this is my new favorite food.
It's Mommy's Christmas Quiche.
Everone was surprised that I ate a huge helping
because I don't normally care for red and green peppers.
I like to keep Momm and Daddy guessing about what I will eat...
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And these are the Backwards Cookies.
Alas, they are all gone because we took them over to a friend's house last night.
That's ok, now we can move on to the much anticipated Apple Pie!
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Speaking of which, this is the lonely apple picture that I promised!
Daddy would like me to clarify that he didn't eat all the apples himself!
Some friends stopped by and he gave them fruit and some cookies with their tea.
So, he did have help with the apple eating!
And besides, he had no idea they had been pre-destined to go in a pie.
But, now we have a new bag of apples, so expect pie baking instructions to be posted today or tomorrow!
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In the meantime, here are pictures of me helping out around the house in other ways!
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Holding the dust pan for Mommy!

Sweeping is actually very hard when you have to

chase a one-year old to get the dust pan back!

Just ask my Mom.

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Taking the Baby for her daily walk.
Well, actually it's usually her hourly walk.
I like taking the baby for a walk!
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And look at that -- I'm hiding under the table!

I have really started to enjoy playing hide and seek!

Don't tell Mommy and Daddy, but I always hide under the table.

Despite this, they still look for me everywhere!

They are so funny!

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Apple Pie Technical Difficulties

Well, Mommy and I were suppose to make an apple pie together today. I know this, you know this, and Mommy knows this. However, Daddy didn't seem to know this. Mommy had a big bag of apples for the pie and Daddy, um, he ate most of them. So, today we were all set to make pie, only to discover one lonely apple. So sad. Not to be outdone, we rallied our forces and made "Backwards Cookies" instead. I know they aren't on the list, but these are fun because the cookies are chocolate and the chips are vanilla which makes them look, well, backwards. I really did play a role in these too. I held the measuring spoons for Mommy. There are no photos of this however, because I got quite upset when Mommy wanted to use the measuring spoons to measure stuff ... imagine that? So, we were both a bit flustered and didn't take pictures. I will, however, post a picture of the final product. Oh, and I can post one of the lonely apple too!

I promise that as soon as we get a chance to buy more apples we will make a pie. Maybe on Saturday?

How to bake snowflake cookies... as promised!

Well, I realize that this picture has nothing to do with cookies.

I only included it so that you could see my fun owl shirt!

You know, "The wise old owl is a curious fellow!"

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Ok, now for something more to the point.

This is me in my fun owl shirt making cookies with Mommy!

By the way, Mommy wants you to know that the stuff on the floor is there because I'm playing with it and not because she leaves things like that on the floor. She's so silly!

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Anyway, when making cookies, I think it is best to begin with a nice big spoon.
This one here will work nicely!
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And it's also good to have a big pot of some sort.

This one will do just fine.

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Sometimes I like to put the spoon in the pot...
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Or it can be fun to just bang the pot with the spoon endlessly!
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Or if you want to you can even get in the pot!

Kids, do not try this at home, it is very tricky business I tell you!

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Anyway, while you are busy thinking of things to do with a pot and a spoon,

Mommy mixes up some stuff and turns knobs on the oven and stuff like that...

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And before you know it ... voila! Snowflake cookies!

Here is a sampling of what we made.

Mommy wanted to make snowflakes on all of them,

but I thought that was taking way too long.

In fact, I though it was high time we sat down and read a book together.

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So we did some snowflakes and some dots and some just brown or white.

All of them were good though! I know because our guests ate them all

in five minutes!

Next time I'll show you how to make apple pie as we work through our list!

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