Happy Holidays!

Until Next Year...

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2009 Fave Christmas Gifts

We've been so busy around here that I have had little time to blog. I also caught my vacation cold....it never fails, I always get sick when I have time off from work so I have been trying to recuperate. But, we had a great holiday and I thought I would re-cap with some of the girl's favorite gifts they received this year.

Dresses, dresses and more dresses! With tights of course. Riley has been in heaven changing her outfit 10 times a day!

No dress is complete without the fancy shoes to go with it. These lovely, sparkly shoes can be found at Target.

The girls each got their own set of Melissa and Doug stamp sets. The perfect gift for any 4-year old girl!

We also bought the Melissa and Doug 60-piece block set for the girls....wooden blocks were on Riley's Christmas list. Now I get to trip over Legos and wooden blocks!

Melissa and Doug Mailbox....the girls love playing mailman and fighting over the key to the mailbox! We also bought this gift for the boys next door.

Santa threw out ALL of the broken crayons and brought 3 new boxes of crayons in on his sleigh. They should last about a week before being broken in half again!



New coloring books to go along with the new crayons. Melissa and Doug have some great coloring books!

Of course we had to stock up on the Disney princess movies. Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty were all added to our movie collection.

Life wouldn't be complete without Barbie x 3. Little did the clan of Barbies know that they would be christened into the family by participating in bath time with the girls.

With all the new toys and clothes in the house, it looks like a tornado blew through here. Let's hope mommy can get things organized in the next week!

Wordful Wednesday and Merry Christmas

The girls have been lucky enough to run into Santa at least three times this year. Santa rode in on the firetruck one night last weekend and he posed for pictures with the kids but there was absolutely NO lighting. So, since I was taking the picture in the pitch black the girls obviously didn't know where to look. The result is this picture of them all looking at something above and to the left of me. At least I got three smiles.

Wishing you all a very happy holiday!

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Plug Your Ears

I present to you the Quilao girls shout-scream version of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." It might make your ears bleed so listen at your own risk!

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Is it Christmas yet?

Think I'll get tired of answering that question in the next 24 days? Our little elves helped pick out and decorate our tree over the weekend. So now I have to convince the girls to patiently wait for the next 4 weeks to pass before we get a visit from Santa. I've got my work cut out for me....shopping, baking, wrapping, christmas cards, trying to keep all the ornaments on the tree instead of hanging off a 4 year old's arm like a fancy bracelet, and trying not to gain 10 pounds eating all the Christmas cookies. I'm exhausted already.

Christmas cuteness

It has been awhile since I have posted a video of the girls and I thought this clip from Christmas morning was a fun one to share. Please ignore the sounds of Steve blowing his nose in the background. Sexy, I know.

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I love how Makena tries to shake some hidden treasure from the gift she opens.....money perhaps? We teach em' young around here! And don't be jealous of MY super crafty skills on the girl's stockings....you too can write your child's name with a glitter pen and be the envy of all of your friends. It's all I've got. Seriously, not one creative bone in my body.

Christmas tradition...the greatest muffins ever!

My mom was a great cook and she loved to bake. One of my favorite memories is eating these melt-in-your-mouth muffins on Christmas morning. My mom would wake up early to make them for us so that they were hot out of the oven just in time to open presents.

They are easy to make and SO delicious!

French Puffs

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup of milk

Cream together shortening, 1/2 cup of sugar, and egg. In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Add milk and the flour mixture to the shortening and mix well. (I use an electric mixer).

Grease muffin cups and fill them 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

For the topping, mix 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 tsp. of cinammon in a bowl. Melt 1/2 cup of butter. When the muffins come out of the oven, roll them in the melted butter and then roll them in the cinammon-sugar mixture. Serve them hot!

Photostory Friday and Merry Christmas

What a day! The girls enjoyed Christmas so much this year. They were SO excited to open presents when they woke up this morning and then continued with their Christmas fun at my brother's house this afternoon.

Of course, we still had some meltdowns and tantrums that only a 3 year-old can throw and skipping naps made for a long day, but we survived!

Santa came through with the girl's Sesame Street Christmas wishes...Riley wanted Elmo, Alyssa wanted Grover, and Makena wanted Zoe.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Miss Riley

Miss Alyssa

Miss Makena (The tantrum queen)!

Grandpa and Nana with their granddaughters

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Say what?

The girls and I were in the car this morning admiring all the Christmas decorations. "Hey look, there's Mr. Snowman. There's Santa. There's the reindeer. And look at those Christmas lights!"

And then we drive by a nativity scene in someone's front yard.

Riley says, "Look mama, it's Baby Cheez-its!"

Photostory Friday and Santa

The girls have had a hot and cold relationship with Santa this year. They always LOVE to talk about him. And they love all the Christmas decorations. But when it comes down to getting close to him, you never know what you're gonna get. And of course there's the domino effect that happens. If one is hesitant and starts saying "No Santa" then her sisters are sure to follow.

So we tracked down Santa at a tree farm near our house and waited 10 minutes for Santa to get back from his lunch break. I couldn't keep my laughter to myself when I saw Santa walk out of a little shed right next to the picture area (the shed was apparently Santa's break room) and he had a bag of Doritos in one hand and a Pepsi in the other. His beard was all cockeyed and Santa looked like he was about 25 years old.

But the girls were thrilled. Alyssa walked up to him and said, "Santa, I love you." And then the domino effect happened. All three of them were in love with Santa and happy to take a picture with him.

And apparently I need to go out and get a bag of chips and a Pepsi to leave out for Santa on Christmas Eve. Not sure if cookies and milk will cut it this year.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Suspense

Alyssa and I had a fun little conversation tonight at dinner....

Alyssa: "Mama, I make you a present at school!"

Me: "Oh yeah? Don't tell me what it is. I think it is supposed to be a secret."

Alyssa: smiles..."Okay."
*she waits 5 seconds*

Alyssa: " I painted it and put sprinkles on it."

Me: "Ahhhh. I can't wait to see it, but don't tell me what it is."

Alyssa: "Okay mommy. But I made it for yoooooouuuuuuu."

Do you think a plane ticket to Hawaii comes with fingerpaint and sprinkles?

Christmas Cookies

It's time for holiday baking and I thought I would share one of my favorite recipes.

Mexican Wedding Cakes--yummy!

(a.k.a. Russian Tea Cakes)

1 cup powdered sugar

2 cups of butter, softened

2 tsp. vanilla

4 1/2 cups flour

1 cup of finely chopped nuts ( I use pecans or walnuts)

1/2 tsp. salt

Mix together powdered sugar, butter and vanilla.

Stir in flour, nuts and salt until dough holds together.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls.

Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees.

Roll cookies in powdered sugar while warm.

Cool completely on wire rack (about 30 minutes).

Once the cookies are cool, roll them in powdered sugar again.

This recipe makes about 6 dozen cookies so you can easily cut the recipe in half for a smaller batch.

The search is on...

The girls are looking for Santa. Everywhere we go they ask for him.

Where is Santa Ca-laus (as Makena likes to pronounce it)? They are so excited by all the Christmas decorations. It really is fun to hear the excitement in their voices this year.

Last night we were driving home from a Christmas tree lighting event in our community and the girls were little chatterboxes in the backseat pointing out everything they saw.

Yelling out "Hi Christmas lights" was all we could hear.

And then something magical happened.

Makena said, "One, Two, Three" and then in unison they all shouted "Hi Christmas lights." It was really cute.

So I'm hopeful that we might get a good picture of the girls with Santa this year. A picture where Steve and I don't have to sit with them on Santa's lap to keep them from running away. And I am going to enjoy all of their innocent excitement.

From what I hear, this is the last year of innocence before the commercialism of Christmas sets in and they start asking for specific items from Santa.

Cause as it stands right now, they don't have a care in the world. Except to find the jolly ole guy himself.

Now that the dust has settled..

I can share about the fun we had over the holiday. In between bouts of whiny, fussy, clingy girls. I'm convinced there was just too much going on for too many days in a row and it threw them totally out of whack.

So out of whack, that Makena had a temper tantrum on Sunday morning the 23rd and split her chin open after throwing herself onto the tile floor in the kitchen. All because she didn't want me to hold Alyssa. I guess chipping her tooth and making a trip to the dentist on Friday wasn't exciting enough for her. Fun times!

Luckily, the cut didn't look too horrible so we fixed her up with a butterfly bandage until my friend Ly (who is a nurse) brought us some Dermabond in the afternoon so that we could close up the cut a little better.

Makena sporting her bandaid.

We celebrated with Steve's family on Saturday the 22nd. The girls love to see their Lolo and Lola (Steve's parents) and were thoroughly spoiled with presents.

Auntie Stephanie tried to get one good picture with the girls. Sorry about the nose-picking!

On Sunday we celebrated with BF Jess, my friend Ly, and all of our rugrats (a.k.a "The Village").

A picture of our seven kids all aged 3 and under. This picture could also double as an ad for an emergency room poster. Makena with her banged up chin, Alyssa wearing a sympathy bandaid for Makena and Ly's son Aiden, who lost a fight with the footboard on a bed.

Christmas Eve found us at home getting ready for the Christmas Day festivities. After the girls went to bed, Steve put together their new play house. He enjoyed a glass of Scotch while he worked and then hammed it up for the camera.

Christmas morning started bright and early with Makena waking up at 5 a.m. Steve and I tried to get her to fall back to sleep for the next 3 hours with no luck. She must have sensed that something was up. We decided to wake up Alyssa and Riley at 8:00, which didn't go over too well. They obviously take after me in the sleep department. Lesson learned for next year...DO NOT wake up the kids early.

Lissy showing off their new house!

Makena playing with the new shopping cart.

Lissy trying out her new drill.

We spent Christmas afternoon at my brother's house which is always a guarantee for good food and good company. Each year will just get better as the girls get older and run around after their cousins.

Riley showing some Christmas cheer!

My step-sister Kristen with our neice Sophie. At least I managed to take a couple good pictures of the day.

Now for the goofy pictures....

Casey, Jodi, Katie, Kristen and Sophie acting like the dorks that we are.

There was one gag gift this year and my brother was the lucky recipient. He is a bit follicly challenged, so Steve found a golf visor that had a built in hair-piece. I have a feeling that this gift will provide much laughter in years to come!

My dad was a good sport and tried the visor on for fun!

Big thanks to all our friends and family who celebrated the holidays with us. The girls loved all of their gifts and we are so thankful for the love and thoughtfulness you all bring into our lives.

Exhausted

Lissy got the phone call confirming that Christmas is finally over.

Thank God. Because my kids have been absolute whiny, cranky, fuss-buckets for the last 3 days.

I was ready to wrap them up and give them away as presents today. But I kept them. And I'm hoping for a good night's sleep with a fresh start tomorrow.

Please Santa...just one Christmas wish for mommy!

Santa and the Christmas tree

We packed the girls up on Saturday afternoon and went looking for a Christmas tree. The tree lot we went to had Santa there as well so we were able to skip the trip to the mall just for the Santa photos this year.

It was probably a good thing because the girls were not thrilled one bit to sit on Santa's lap by themselves. So this year, Steve and I also got our picture taken with Santa!

Riley was thrilled to find a little sleigh full of snowmen in the gift shop

Daddy and his girls looking for the perfect tree

Riley

Makena

Makena & Lissy

Lissy is flashing her signature look. We see it at least 10 times a day..she'll just call out "mama" or "dada" and when we turn to her she gives us this face!

Our girls, holding hands on the way home

The tree is up with the superyard around it and the monkeys have already figured out a way to get inside

Shhhhh....don't tell Riley and Makena that Lissy helped mommy make some cookies when she woke up early from her nap

She was in charge of dumping the flour in the bowl and holding the recipe for mama

Mmmmm....my first cookie plate is ready to give out. I have to hurry and get them out of the house before I gain 10 pounds eating them all!

Holiday baking

One of my favorite things to do during the Christmas season is bake cookies. Lots and lots of cookies. Before the girls were born, my sister-in-law and I would set aside an entire Saturday and bake all day long. Now that the girls are here, I will bake a batch of cookies at night after they go to bed.

This is one of my favorite memories of my mom. She would bake cookies and package them up on pretty Christmas trays and wrap them in cellophane and give them away to her co-workers or friends. The cookie stash was kept in the freezer so they would last and we always knew where to look if we wanted a treat.

My mom passed away 15 years ago when I was just seventeen years old. She battled Leukemia for a year before having a stroke and leaving us much too early. Christmas was one of her favorite times of the year.

She would have been so proud of her granddaughters.

This is one of my favorite pictures of my mom...her senior picture before she graduated high school.

I've started my Christmas baking this week. Magic cookie bars, sugar cookies and butter spritz cookies have been the first on the list. Makena fussed about going to bed tonight, so she was able to stay up a little later and watch the cookies in the oven.

Magic cookie bars have to be one of my favorite treats. They are SO easy to make and SO tasty. I usually make 2 batches of these every year!

1 stick of butter, melted
1 ½ cups of graham cracker crumbs
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup of chocolate chips
1 cup of flaked coconut
1 cup of chopped nuts

In a 13x9 dish, sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs over the melted butter and mix them together. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the dish for the crust.
Pour can of sweetened condensed milk evenly over crust.
Top with chocolate chips, coconut and nuts.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
Let cool and then cut into bars.

***You can add more chocolate chips if you’d like. I have added peanut butter chips or butterscotch chips to the recipe for even more sugary goodness***

What are your favorite Christmas cookies? I'm always interested to hear what other people bake and love to exchange recipes!