Saturday morning Flora went for out for donuts with Daddy for breakfast, Saturday afternoon we all went to Peacuddy’s for lunch (now closed, sniff sniff), and Saturday evening we all went to Rang Indian Bistro (her pick) for dinner followed by a Peacuddy cupcake for dessert back at home.
It’s a Batchip, Batman.
Christmas Eve dinner at Taiwan Cafe.
Evidence that Santa and his reindeer were here.
The tree, minus a few ornaments.
The stockings.
Christmas morning loot.
Unwrapping presents.
The aftermath.
Christmas Dinner table. Flora filled out the seating cards and decided where everyone would sit.
Flora and her American Girl doll, Lizzy (short for Flora).
Charley getting steamy with Amma in the hotel hot tub.
Flora dunking her head in the hotel pool.
In between these gingerbread cookies and those Halloween cookies, we made Thanksgiving cookies, too! The kids and I love to decorate cutout cookies. Charley sneaks lots of frosting licks and samples the decors, and Flora gets to exercise her creativity. My Mom and I used to make and decorate cutout cookies for Christmas, so it’s now a family tradition, except we spare no holiday in our house!
Apparently smoothies make for good Joker faces.
Flora reads her “My Thanksgiving Book” during our Thanksgiving Meal Halftime Show. By the end of the meal, we were all stuffed on turkey, scalloped potatoes, spinach souffle, stuffing, roasted root vegetables, butternut squash, bread (Flora’s favorite), cranberry sauce (Charley’s favorite), and pie! We were all thankful to have Aunt Tracy, Uncle Chuck, Cousins Gregory and Jen, and Cousin Alex at our table this year.
Just for the fun of it, we took the commuter rail to subway into Boston to meet Marty for lunch. After Charley terrorized the offices, we all picked what we wanted from the very swank cafeteria, then walked across the street to the Chinatown “fountain” to eat dessert and dip our toes.
We celebrated Charley’s third birthday with a “Superhero” party at The Klubhouse. He and his friends had a blast driving on the track, climbing the pirate ship and castle, and bouncing in the inflatables. Cake was enjoyed by all, and the kids went home with a very super goody bag!
Charley’s third birthday started off with a play date with best girlfriend Elsie, followed by making cupcakes for his class, enjoying one after dinner, and opening presents from the grandparents.
Guess who’s hooked on peeps ever since Marty made this carrot cake topped with them?
Inspired by my friend Hilary in Wisconsin who makes homemade pretzels with her kids, we thought we’d give it a try. Although there was lots of waiting (after making the dough, two hours for it to chill; after twisting the shapes, 45 minutes for them to rise; after rising, 20 minutes in the oven), the verdict was delicious! Flora shaped hers into traditional pretzel twists, Charley shaped his into “snakes.” We made black and white sesame seed, everything, plain, and cinnamon sugar. Flora dunked hers in spicy mustard, and Charley dunked his in catsup. That’s right, catsup.
Flora chose Rang Indian Bistro for her birthday dinner where she happily chowed down on mixed Tandori grill, saag paneer, basmati rice, naan, and a mango lassi. Then we came back home for leftover unicorn cake.
Since we’re having Flora’s princess tea birthday party at Sugar Plum Parties this year, we made her birthday cake a day early to celebrate with friends at school. She debated between a castle and a unicorn, finally settling on, well, you see.
Our last big snow hadn’t even melted away yet, and we got another couple of feet in a quick but powerful storm. After baking and decorating cookies, Charley braved the outdoors to slide down, dig tunnels through, and climb on the snow banks. Despite frozen hands and cheeks (even switching into big sister’s waterproof mittens), he insisted on staying outside until it got dark. Flora and I, on the other hand, insisted on staying inside where it was nice and warm.
Christmas Eve, Taiwan Cafe.
Charley’s Christmas.
Christmas Morning Loot.
Flora’s Christmas.
Christmas Gingerbread.
Christmas Card Posing.
Christmas Turducken.
Christmas Visitors.
And yes, Charley confirmed they tasted as good as they looked.
Today was Flora and Charley’s last day at the Y, and to say goodbye to our friends, we brought in FIFTY cupcakes to share! Flora requested pink, and Charley requested chocolate. On the 7th they will be starting at a new school with smaller class sizes and an emerging curriculum where the kids’ and teachers’ interests and passions determine what they learn and explore, rather than sticking to predetermined lesson plans. We’re very excited!
New Englanders consume more ice cream per capita than in any other part of the country, and I’m pretty sure Flora and Charley are helping maintain that statistic.
… from Flora’s garden. She put the T in my FLT (facon, lettuce and tomato).
Soc’s in Saugus has really good ice cream. Cherry Chocolate Chip for Flora, Brownie Sundae for Marty, and Oreo Cookie for Charley.
