Happy New Year!

Hello folks! I can't believe that it has been over a month since I last put something up here. December flew by. We were so busy. I had some crazy cooking experiences - 30+ cups of chili and cornbread for a potluck at church, 120 cookies for a cookie exchange, 400+ truffles/peppermint bark/hot chocolate on a stick for friend gifts, 80 meatballs/sauce/Dr. Pepper cake/bread for a church group dinner at our house and an Italian feat for New Year's Eve. We have really enjoyed preparing for Christmas and having a visit with Christian's parents.

I finally found some time and energy to post some of the pictures we've taken over the past month. Enjoy! I hope you had a great Christmas and have a wonderful New Year!

Chocolate Mystery

I have been doing a lot of cooking for the holiday. Today, we had an Italian feast. I made some mozzarella cheese for fried cheese sticks. We also had fried ravioli (I bought the ravioli this time), caprese salad, veal piccata, linguine with clams, and tiramisu.

I got some chocolate out for garnishing the tiramisu. I just left it on the edge of the counter and went to do something else. I came back to find this.

I went around the corner and found the culprit. Ha ha!

Nonna and Grandpa Piccolo

Nonna and Grandpa Piccolo (Christian's parents) came to visit for Christmas and New Year's. We have had a wonderful visit with them. Christmas was magical (except for the trip to the ER with Erica due to a possible head injury from a fall off the recliner - she's fine). The girls have been thrilled to spend time with Nonna and Grandpa.

Nonna got Stephanie a (fake) makeup kit. Stephanie LOVED it and was a quick study after watching Nonna one morning.

We took the cars in for an oil change one day. Stephanie sat down with Erica to "read" her a story. It was such a sweet sister moment and Stephanie did an amazing job.

Grandpa joined the girls in the play house.

Nonna got the girls a special treat at the popcorn store.

Trying on Nonna's shoes!

Thank you, Mrs. Oliver!

The weather finally got cold enough to warrant wearing the sweater that Mrs. Oliver made for Erica. It is beautiful! Thank you!

Miscellaneous Pictures

Christmas Baby

Erica loves to climb up on this toy box or the hearth and bounce up and down.

Does this mean she's weaned?

Ha! Yeah, right.

Artwork and Collaboration

The girls sat down to do some painting one day. I gave Erica a bowl of water to "paint" with. She really enjoyed it and got into it. I sacrificed a sponge and cut out shapes for her to stamp with.

They collaborated on this chalk drawing without any fighting!

Decorating the Tree

Stephanie LOVED decorating for Christmas this year. It was so amazing to watch her. She really got into it. She even chose not to come to the dinner table until she finished hanging the decorations that were out on the table. She did a very good job distributing them around the tree. She also made good decisions on which ones should be put out of Erica's reach.