We managed to get outdoors today and squeeze in some sledding and snow stomping before the storm hit. We are now snuggled up inside thawing out our frozen noses and cheeks--the heat turned up to combat the challenging combination of a drafty house, high winds and cold temperatures.

Watching the snow rapidly fall. The neighborhood kids are out sledding, the adults are shoveling. Currently, we're all loving the snow.

Little Peach has discovered how to crawl and her favorite travel destination is the Christmas tree. She's keeping us busy removing lights and branches from her hands.

I've managed to keep Christmas ornaments out of her reach, but not out of Pooke and Fig's reach. Sadly a number of these ornaments have suffered as a result of curious fingers...

My husband bought me these glass balls to decorate our very first Chistmas tree with. For purely sentimental reasons, I might just have sneak one away to save for myself--then I can rest easy as toddler curiousity destroys the rest!

I've finally started in on some handmade Christmas presents for the girls. As they spent a good part of the summer pretending to fish (using my bamboo garden poles and some jute) I thought some fish and a fishing pole might be enjoyed.

I've been drawing some fish on muslin, stacking some batting inbetween the front and back and machine stitching around the edges. The plan is to place a washer inside the fish and then have a magnet lure to catch the fish with. So far...I think it will work. I'm keeping the batting pretty thin and the fish pretty light weight so they should be "catchable."

And I'm pretty sure the girls are guaranteed to like them. They've already run off with the clownfish prototypes and are requesting more. Phew!

Paint, markers, paper, glue, popsicle sticks, and a little help from Mommy....

...meant that Pookie now had a gift to give to Daddy for Christmas.

(That's a lion in case you were wondering.)

She's very excited about her gift. So excited...I'm worried that present might have to be unwrapped before Christmas.

Want the bowl.

Got the bowl.

Dropped the bowl.

The End

And the whoopie pies were a success! I finished them just in time for the party--frosting the last one ten minutes before walking out the door. My favorite part about getting to take a dessert to a party...

...finally getting a chance to use this vintage platter.

Other tasty pleasures...

...these chocolate filled advent calendars. This year we have two identical calendars. No arguing over who's is who's and no more splitting tiny chocolates in half. Now if only there were some way to solve the "only one chocolate per day" disagreement we keep having...

Successfully found and decorated a Christmas tree. The girls' Christmas excitement has now nearly doubled.

Had quite a bit less success with sugar cookies.

The good, the bad, and the ugly. Crunchy, but still an exciting (and, at least as concerns the unburnt ones, tasty) experience for the girls.

Maybe we'll have more success if we try "Christmas" whoopie pies instead.