Saturday, December 19, 2009

Cooookie

The holidays are fast approaching. Radio stations are playing Christmas tunes all day long, there's plenty of snow outside, and the tree is up and decorated. We even received an early Christmas gift today; Mom got to stay home from work! So, we spent the afternoon wrapping gifts, relaxing and then took Grandma's suggestion that we help Noah make some Christmas cookies. Noah wanted to make sure he was the head chef in the kitchen this evening, so he climbed up on a stool and took his place in the middle of all the action. Mom and Noah got to work by pounding out the dough and rolling it thin.

It was then the time to use the cookie cutouts. We have what every household probably has: angels, trees, bells, stars, and Bobbos (aka rabbits). Noah was in charge of pushing down the cutouts. He did his best, standing up on the kitchen stool and putting all of his weight on the little tin cookie cutters.

After creating the first batch of trees, angels, and bells, Noah thought that we needed more Bobbos. In fact, that's all he said we needed to make going forward. We tried to help him make some other shapes; however, he would grab the rabbit tin and push down the cutout multiple times in the same area of the dough. Sometimes, he would take his tin and push it down on some of the previously cut out cookies. I think he was trying to make a beautiful picture of Bobbo hiding behind some trees with angels flying overhead.

We placed the cookies on a cookie sheet and let them bake for awhile. Then, it was time for the frosting and decorating. Dad started with the frosting while Mom was going to show Noah how to decorate them. Mom quickly found out that Noah has probably done this before; maybe the at baby-sitter's house? He grabbed the sugar sprinkles and started shaking and dumping various colors all over the cookies. As soon as Mom took one color away, Noah was reaching for another color to add to the cookie. The red sugar sprinkles were the dangerous ones. The opening, for whatever reason, acted as a large hole rather than the small little holes. Let's just say that there were some cookies that were decorated in one color with frosting, only to be colored red with sprinkles.

We decorated a couple dozen cookies before Noah began asking whether or not it was okay to eat one. Here he is looking at me to make sure it was really 'okay' if he finally ate one before he headed off to the bathtub.
Noah approved of the cookies and declared it a job well done. There are plenty of Bobbos for everyone to enjoy.

-Curtis

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Noah's Birthday Story, Chapter TWO!

Last year for Noah's birthday, we began his Birthday Story, which you can read here. In continuing this tradition, the following is a new chapter to his story.

After his first birthday, Noah saw all the seasons pass again. In the spring, he helped his Mom and Dad build and plant a garden full of wonderful things to eat.

In the summer, he went on a special trip up north where he spent a whole week with his Mom’s family and met some of his cousins for the first time.

By autumn, Noah was saying lots of words, singing songs, and could run very fast. He played in a pile of leaves and went to a local farm to help pick out pumpkins for Halloween.

Then it was almost winter again and Noah was two years old. His Mom and Dad were thankful for his smiling face every day. They especially liked it when he would climb onto their laps, lay his head on their shoulder and give a ‘baby’ hug, just like when he was a tiny newborn baby. It was becoming more difficult to lie on Mom because inside her belly a new baby was growing. Noah liked to kiss her belly and rub it gently. Soon he would be a big brother!