The Kassel Family Project Life 365

Laura had her Holiday Party at school today.  I went as a parent volunteer, which turned out to be a fun time.  There are four Unit A classrooms and each had an activity.  The kids spent 15 minutes in each room.  They got to make a snowflake out of pipe cleaners and beads, play marshmallow bingo, read an interactive story, have their face/hands painted, and eat a snack.  I was in Laura’s classroom, which was the “snack” room.  The kids made Marshmallow Snowman snacks and had apple juice.  As Laura usually does, she made her Snowman exactly as it was supposed to be.  I took a few different pictures as she made the snowman and of the finished snowman.  I let her look at the pictures and asked her, “What do you want to be Picture of the Day?”  So, without hesitation, here is the Picture of the Day!

This is the Combined Server Group (CSG) Windows Team on-call phone.

I think it’s safe to say that I hate this phone.  Andy has to be on call once every nine weeks or so for work.  His shift lasts seven days, starting and ending on Wednesday mornings at 8 am.  Why do I hate the phone?  Because, it can ring at any time and Andy has to take the call.  We’ve had plenty of nights where that was at 3 am.  Admittedly, it’s easier now that he no longer deals with Linux Team calls (they have their own on-call rotation), but it’s still a pain.  We can’t make any big plans, and Andy is often overly tired during that week.  This shift has been fairly quiet and I hope that it stays that way for one more night.  On-call shift, I won’t miss you for another eight or so weeks.

Apparently, it was necessary for both John and Laura to show off for Uncle Jeremy who was here for dinner.  John does this thing with his eyebrows where he raises and lowers them with a completely straight face.  He showed it to Uncle Jeremy tonight, who said, “Yes, John, but can you make yourself burp?”  John said, “Sure.”  Then, he proceeded to pick up his milk, take a drink, and make himself burp.  All the while, John was laughing hysterically.  Jeremy had an “I’m not sure what to think” look on his face.  Andy and I were laughing hysterically.  Laura did NOT want to be outdone by her little brother.  After some thought, she proceeded to pat her head and rub her tummy, leading me to wonder…  Is there something in the water in our house?????

We made Christmas cookies today.  It’s the first year that I have been brave enough to make cookies that actually have frosting and sprinkles with the kids.  We all had a blast and I loved seeing the smiles on their faces.

We started by picking just the “right” recipe.

We put all the ingredients in the mixer and then sat back and watched the mixer do the “heavy lifting.”

While the cookie dough refrigerated, John took a nap and Laura and I made frosting so those sprinkles would have something to stick to.  After John woke up, the fun began!  We gathered up the cookie cutters, the cookie dough, some flour, the mat to roll and cut, and the sprinkles!

I rolled out the cookies and the kids picked their cutters.  Laura went first and chose the candy cane.  John chose the star.

After cutting out 20 cookies, it was time to bake!  Thank goodness these only had to bake for 8 minutes, because the kids were ready for frosting and sprinkles.  I frosted all the cookies and the kids took turns with the sprinkles and colored sugar.  Laura was the careful shaker; John was the dumper.

The kids were both very proud of the finished Christmas cookies.  Laura said, “Yippee!” when she showed off her cookies.  Then, she asked politely if she could eat one.

John showed off his plate of cookies and then ate one of the candy canes.  He said, “Can I eat a candy cane?” after he had taken three bites.  🙂

As a kid, I remember piling into my parents’ car and heading out to look at the Christmas lights around Astoria.  I say “as a kid,” but I distinctly remember doing this on Christmas Eve the first year that Andy came to my house for Christmas.  I don’t think I really qualified as a kid anymore at the age of 21.  That aside, I have always really loved to look at all the Christmas lights.  As a kid, I thought the lights were magical.  As an adult, the lights remind me of the season and bring back memories from when I was a kid.  Tonight, we piled the kids into the car and went driving around.  This house made us all smile (love the “Candy Cane” roof!) and made me think of those times as a kid…  Maybe some day Laura and John will remember these times when celebrating the magic of Christmas with their own kids.

John has a bin of cars – Hot Wheels, Matchbox, etc.  There are a few planes thrown in for good measure.  He plays with these all the time, and not just a few favorites, but *all* of them.  He usually goes to bed with one in each hand.  Santa is bringing more for Christmas.  Our little boy can never have enough cars.

While at dinner tonight, John started taking drinks of milk and making himself burp.  Andy said (with a HUGE grin on his face), “Congratulations John!  You’ve earned your boy card!”