Say no to crack

My big question in relation to this picture is "why, why, why are the jeans they make for three year old's hip huggers that won't even cover their little booty cracks?   Jason just came back from the states with these jeans for Naomi from target.  Nothing on them indicated "stretch" or "slim fit" or anything to that affect- seemed to be very normal size 4T little girl jeans.

The classic thing about this picture that you really can't tell is that Naomi is bent over here in all of her sweet little three year old glory playing with a hammer and screw driver!

Christmas cookies

In continuation of a long standing Cox family tradition, Christmas sugar cookies are a must in December.  We got a little creative this year and went beyond simply decorating with sprinkles.  This year we also made candy cane cookies and iced some after they had baked as well.  Jason's mom sugar cookie recipe is great and always gets rave reviews.  Here are some pictures of our sugar cookie decorating afternoon.

The little chefs are ready (all wearing aprons made by Memommy)

Such concentration!

Little artists at work...

 

After we decorated with the traditional sprinkles before baking, we moved on to making candy canes.  We dyed some dough red and some green, rolled and wrapped.  These bake up really big since there is so much dough, but they were having so much fun, I just let them go at it.  We had some really big candy cane cookies this year.  Note that Abbey had lost interest by this point as we were well into hour 2 of cookie making...

 

Abbey came back when we started icing cookies, and of course the best part of the afternoon was the taste testing...

 

 

Yummy!  So worth the wait!

"L is for the way you look at me, and O ......"

I walked into the kitchen the other day and found Naomi standing on the bench singing and dancing at the top of her lungs.  We've recently watched the new version of The Little Rascals which is apparently where she got her version of this old classic. 

Dancing her heart out...

She gets her moves from her daddy...

Christmas tree skirt

I admittedly am not the most crafty person in the world- especially when it comes to coming up with my own creative ideas- typically it just doesn't happen.  For that reason I must confess that as homey as our little tree skirt may look, I am pretty proud of it.  Completely my own original idea.  When Abbey and Maddie were itty bitty and we lived in the states, I actually made use of my sewing maching a good bit. (overseas it has not come out of the closet because, well, honestly I think I've forgotten how to use it and I'm afraid I'll kill it with the wrong transformer).  Anyway, back in the day  I smocked and sewed dresses, play outfits, even curtains and other things for the house.  For Maddie's first Christmas (Abbey was 2), I wanted to come up with a fun tree skirt that we could use over the years.  I used a basic white thick durable fabric that we could paint on, sewed a border around it, and so the tradition began.

Every year since (minus a few when we have been in transent or in some weird place where I couldn't find green paint) we have put the girls handprints  along with the date and a little design.  They have so much fun looking back at their little hands from years past.  Today Maddie was showing Naomi how her hands were the same size as Maddie's when she was three.  And let's just be honest, fingerpainting is always fun...





Yes, Abbey has somewhat of a pained look- she's never been too thrilled with getting dirty- fun or not...

Maddie on the other hand couldn't be more thrilled...

And Naomi was ready to join in the fun...

Here's the finished handprints:

 

 

I'll post a final picture of the tree skirt back under the tree when I bring it back in tomorrow after the paint dries...

The Jesse Tree

A few years ago a friend sent me an advent devotional guide called, "The Advent Jesse Tree".  It's a great little book and is becoming one of our favorite Christmas traditions.  There is a devotion for each day of advent (one written for children and one for adults) and each has a corresponding symbol with directions for making it into an ornament to hang on the tree.  Basically it tells the story of God's redemptive plan for the world using symbols beginning with creation and going all the way through Christ.  At the beginning of the season, I wrap up each different ornament (some are homemade some are not) and put it under the tree with that days number on the wrapping.  We unwrap each and hang it on the tree after reading the story.  Some examples of the ornaments:  a globe representing creation, an apple with a snake representing the fall (we used a play food apple  with a playdough snake), Noah's ark, Jacob's ladder,  Joseph's coat of many colors etc.

Here's a picture of the ornaments wrapped under the tree.  Some of the homemade ones need to be updated a little bit, but you get the idea.  It's been a great way to talk through the entire story of scripture with the girls. 

Pirate Buttons

Naomi is such a unique little person and keeps us in stitches most of the time.  As you can tell from the picture, she is not much on clothes these days.  In my defense, this was close to bedtime.  She prefers to "sleep naked"  (in only her panties) and I typically let her.  It's not that cold here yet, and this is just a battle I"m not going to fight.  

Ever since we came back from the states this summer where she played pirates a good bit with cousin Caleb, pirates has remained one of her favorite things to play.  Above she is sitting on the foot lockers of winter clothes that I had pulled down from the closets but not yet unpacked.  She had already been playing on her "boat" for a good 15 minutes when I took this picture.  She had an entire dialogue going that I wish I could remember.   In the picture above she is demonstrating her pirate patch. 

The picture below was taken when I glanced up and saw her poking herself in the chest saying, "look Mommy, pirate buttons..."

When Daddy's away...

Jason left yesterday morning for the states and it has been a long couple of days indoors.  The weather has been yucky, Maddie has had a fever so we've just been hanging around the house.  Overall the girls have done great, but the days have seemed rather LONG.....  

Yesterday morning we worked a 500 piece puzzle, and then yesterday afternoon and this morning, we worked a 1000 piece puzzle.



Naomi and I built a "polly pocket world" store and that kept the girls entertained for several hours.  I admit that I was having fun too...

  Later on, I was listering to my Bible study CD in my room and the girls had started playing dress up.  They came up with these outfits by getting inside their tube shaped scarves from Claire's

My little fashion diva:

Naomi has discovered gameboy- at least she thinks she has. I"m not really convinced that she's doing anything but she loves it.  I found her yesterday evening curled up on our balcony watching the rain and playing.