Family Pictures

We have finally taken family pictures. If you haven't already noticed them on the side of our blog...then here they are. We went to a park in Chino Hills. I really wanted our family pictures by the lake but it was a bit muddy and the geese and ducks insisted on being in all the shots. The geese would literally walk right in front of us looking for a handout. Any other time it would be cute...but it did start to freak Mylie out a bit. After the pictures just weren't turning out the way I wanted them we decided to take them on the steps close to the lake. They turned out nice. My Sister-in-law, Kristin took them for us. I took the individual pictures. I hate taking family pictures but I love to have them.

I realize Hunter and Kora aren't smiling that great in this picture but Mylie is smiling and the biggest one for me, was that Kelly had a great smile in this picture. Sadly, that's a rare find so although my oldest 2 kids weren't smiling, they still looked good. I love Kelly's smile, wish he would do it more in pictures.

Hunter's 6 year picture. I hate pointing this out but my little 6 year old is actually wearing a size 4T shirt in this picture. He's so little. I love it because he's perfect regardless but I do hope he grows some day.

Kora's 4 year picture. I actually love this picture of her. To me it shows her spunkier, 'I can do anything' side of her. To me, this picture shows her truest nature.

Mylie's 2 and 3/4 year picture. I already took Mylie and Kora to get their pictures taken professionally this year. In case you were wondering, I didn't take Hunter because he takes them as school now. There is something about a school picture that's just not cute. I just love that they wait till the end of the day, after they spilled their lunch on their shirt and their hair is a mess to take a picture. Mylie's picture turned out cute but she has a cheesy fake smile. I think by the time I took it she was done taking pictures. I was just glad to get this one.

What is it about taking pictures of my kids backs that I think is so adorable? I don't know but I love these shots. The fact that they are holding hands is a nice touch too. Who cares if I had to threaten lives to get them to do it. Just Kidding, my kids love to be nice to each other in public. Now, how to get them to be nice to each other at home...

Christmastime means Christmas Cookies!

Christmas just isn't Christmas without making a batch of cut-out cookies. The kids love this because they LOVE helping. I tried something different this year with my cut-out cookies. I tried it one other time before and it worked out great. Instead of rolling the dough in flour I rolled it in powdered sugar instead. The texture or flavor of the cookie doesn't change and then there is no white flour mess on the cookie after you bake. I did find that the last batch of cookies didn't make it because I rolled it out too thin. Apparently, when you use sugar instead of flour and you roll it out too thin the cookie will be oversaturated with sugar and get tough. So, easy solution for next time...don't roll it too thin!

The kids helped me mix the dough and helped me roll it out and of course cut. The recipe made a lot of cookies so it was nice that Mylie was taking a nap while her brother and sister were helping me. By the time they had lost interest Mylie had woken up and helped me cut out the rest of the cookies. Once it was time to frost, everyone was interested in helping out with that...and of course taking a finger scoop for themselves every now and then. What's the fun of making cookies if you don't get to sample along the way?

Christmas Tree

By looking at the picture on the right you would guess that I have never taken a picture with this camera before in my life. That's not the case but unfortunately, this is the best picture I was able to take while we were tree hunting. I was trying to get the night settings working and I guess our camera doesn't take night pictures without a tripod. So, ignore the blurry picture and enjoy the experience!

This year we got our Christmas tree at a Christmas tree farm. This farm is right by our house. If we do go again next year we might consider going during the day, but we were too anxious to wait until the weekend. The kids enjoyed looking for trees but were a little freaked out by the darkness. When you arrive at the farm they give you flashlights and you go out hunting. After looking at nearly all of the trees we finally found a good one. You pull a tag off, pay for it and give it to the cutters so they can cut it down for you. While you wait for your tree to be cut they had a metal trash bin with a nice warm fire in it. It was a fun experience. The tree lasted a bit longer than if we had bought it at a pre-cut lot but the experience was so much better....and the smell lasted so much longer.

In the next picture the kids are helping me decorate the tree. They did a GREAT job decorating the bottom half of the tree. I just had to just take a few and put them near the top to even it all out. What a fun time. Nothing better than Christmas and starting new traditions in our new home. Loving it!