Christmas Eve 2008

On Christmas Eve, Nee Nee and Mo Mo came over with the dogs, Bailey, Lucy and Lily, and Uncle Brian came over. We had five dogs (counting Rosie and Joey), one gerbil, and six people at our house this year for Christmas! We were all excited for Christmas! Finally everyone started to wind down and get ready to go to bed. I can't wait to open all those presents!

Lucy rolls out of her bed all the time. Sleep tight, Lucy!

Don't bother Santa when he comes, Lily!

Night-Night Bailey!

Sweet dreams, Daddy and Lucy!

This year, I made star-shaped salmon sandwiches for Santa. I thought he might be a little tired of cookies by the time he got to my house.

Our family picture, Christmas Eve 2008!

Cookies of the Week- week 4

We made so many cookies this week, and we forgot to take pictures of the final results. We made Snickerdoodles, Chocolate Drops, Chocolate Mint Snow Drops, Chocolate Fudge, and Chocolate Chip Coconut bars. We put most of them into cookie tins and gift bags, then on Christmas Eve day, Mom and I went down our street and handed them out to our neighbors with our Christmas cards. It was fun! We saved some of the cookies and fudge for ourselves too! Dad made the best Chocolate Croissants with the fudge!

Cookie of the Week- week 3!

We finally made the cookies I have been waiting for: Snickerdoodles! YUM! They are so fun to make into little balls and then roll in the cinnamon sugar!

I can't wait to eat them!

Cookie of the Week- week 2!

We were so busy last week that we had to cheat on our weekly cookies and make a batch of strawberry rice krispy treats with chocolate drizzled on them. They were good anyway!

Rosie and Joey have been fighting over this bed all week. Note the empty bed right beside them. They bark at each other to get out of the favorite bed, and then Mom puts them in together.

It's the extra blanket that makes it so cozy!

Princess Lucy and the Pea! Lucy just climbed right in and went to sleep. The beds were stacked to get them out of the way for a minute, but she didn't mind.

Lily stretches out on the bigger bed. They have both gotten so big! They still act like puppies though, they are so cute!

My Snowgirl project for school. Mom and I got creative! I finger knitted the scarf, and Mom and I knitted the hat on a knitting circle. We filled the spheres with fake snow that grows when you add water.

Sarah Kate the Snowgirl had to have hair like mine!

Cookie of the Week!

Mom and I decided to make a different batch of cookies each week in December instead of making so many batches right before Christmas this year. This way we can enjoy them all month. These are the first batch. They are Chocolate drop shortbread cookies. YUM!

My Great 8th Birthday Adventure!

My 8th birthday was November 30! It was over the Thanksgiving weekend this year. I decided to have a trip to Atlanta instead of a birthday party this year! It was a quick trip, but a great adventure! We did so many things! First we went to the Georgia Aquarium! It was very crowded, but it was so awesome!

The Belugas were my favorites! There were three of them, two females and one male. The male was called Miko and he loved to show off for us! It was so neat watching them swim!

Miko is waving at me! Hi Miko!

Another really neat part of the aquarium was this tunnel that went through the Ocean Voyager area. All the creatures were so big and came so close to us! This is the underside of a huge ray! See it's smiley face?

A really big shark! The biggest were the whale sharks which were bigger than Mom's car!

I am riding the people mover through the tunnel! I have a big card to help me identify different fish! It is so amazing to see everything swimming around!

Dad and I check out the tropical fish. When we left the aquarium, we walked across Centennial Olympic Park and played in the water fountains for a little while, then we walked to our hotel which was right next to the park. That evening we went to dinner at Ruth's Chris in our hotel. It was so delicious! The waitress even brought a special birthday dessert for me! Then the next morning we went to the mall and most important, the American Girl Place!!! I was so excited!

Here I am at the American Girl Place in Atlanta! It is the neatest store I have ever been in! Katie is behind me in the chair, getting her hair done, and getting a spa treatment at the salon! She loved it! I got a new doll for my birthday while I was there. I decided to get the historical doll, Molly! She got her ears pierced at the salon, and she was very brave. Everyone at the store said "happy birthday" to me.

We had lunch at the Bistro in the American Girl Place store. Molly ate lunch with us while Katie was in the salon. I ordered the mini hotdog and mini hamburger to share will Molly and it came with this tiny ketchup!

Molly can't decide what to order! The bistro was awesome! They sang "happy birthday" to me and gave me a special sundae! We got some accessories for Molly and everyone had a great time! Afterwards, we shopped for the rest of the day. We went to an awesome bookstore that had two floors and tons of books to choose! I bought 8 books for my 8th birthday! That evening we went to the Melting Pot for dinner.

The Melting Pot was awesome! It was so fun dipping our food in the fondue! We had cheese fondue, then salads, then a broth fondue to cook meat and veggies in, then the best part: Chocolate Fondue! It was quite an experience!

Dad and I played video games in the hotel in the evenings! That was fun!

Katie, Me and Molly get ready for our last day in Atlanta. We checked out of our hotel and then drove around Atlanta a little bit. We saw Dad's law school, Emory. Then checked out Mom and Dad's old house. Then we went to Stone Mountain Park, which Mom and Dad used to go to all the time when they lived there. It was kind of cold and rainy, but we had fun anyway!

We shopped around some, and saw a 4D movie of the Polar Express, we had lunch in an old-fashioned restaurant, and then rode the train around the mountain. It was raining and very cold, but I had a "unicorn horn" lollipop to keep me happy! I never get to have these, so it was worth it! Mom and Dad didn't even really mind me getting sticky!

The last thing we did at Stone Mountain was go in this huge ball playing area where we collected "fruit" (sponge balls) and then got to shoot them out of air guns at people! It was so fun! There were huge slides to go on too. I was a little nervous that I would fall through the net floor on the upper levels, but Mom and Dad went on them too, and I got over it. It was a great birthday weekend! I hope I can go back to Atlanta again soon!

My cousins Michael and Kevin gave me this pogo stick for my birthday! BOING!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I did. Mom and I made a pre-Thanksgiving Dinner on Wednesday night and Nee Nee and Mo Mo came over to share it with us! We had a traditional Thanksgiving feast, and I made the green bean casserole. The puppies and Bailey came to visit too! On Thanksgiving we all went to the Club for a Thanksgiving Buffet which was delicious! I liked the salmon best, I had both smoked salmon and baked salmon! YUM! The chocolate cake was really good too! We played "Stick the Pilgrim Hat on the Turkey" and Nee Nee won! It was funny to see everyone blindfolded and spinning around!