Christmas Goodies

A few weeks before Christmas, Buddy and I made some yummy chocolate pretzel treats.  These are really easy and fun to make.

 We put some wax paper down on a cookie sheet, then put the pretzels with unwrapped Hershey Kisses on top.

 After putting the pretzels in the oven at 400 degrees for literally 2 minutes, we took them out... 

 and pressed plain M&Ms into the melty chocolate.  After they were all done, we put them in the fridge to set.

 We also used Hershey's Hugs and did the same thing with those.  These were my personal favorite. I liked the white chocolate flavor of the Hugs.

Aren't they pretty?  We made several of them and gave them as gifts to neighbors and friends as well as ate many ourselves.

 Another Christmas goodie we made were cut out cookies.  The kids loved decorating these cookies.  

 Jon was even able to help out and supervise.

 They look like they are really concentrating...

 And here are the finished products.  We ate a few and froze a few to save for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

I think they turned out beautifully.  

Christmas Ornaments

This year in December, the kids and I made some special ornaments.  

This first picture is a photo of a crocheted candy cane ornament I made.  I thought these turned out really sweet and added just the right touch to our tree.  I ended up making a few for our munchkins, my siblings, some friends, as well as for the grandparents.

 These next pictures are of ornaments I made with the munchkins.  They were very easy and fun to make.

All you need is some white craft paint, ball ornaments (your choice of color -we used frosted red ones), paint brushes or sponges, and permanent markers.

 What you do is coat your palm of your child's hand, with the white paint.  (You can either paint it on with the brushes or put the paint on a plate and have your child put their hand down in the paint to coat their palm. We did it with the paint brushes.)  Then, have your child grasp the ornament so your child makes 5 'snowmen' out of their handprint.  Make sure your child's palm and especially their fingers, are completely covered in paint to make the best snowmen.  

 Allow the paint to dry completely.  

(We put our ornaments on a cup to let them dry so we didn't smearing the paint.)

 Once the paint is dry, you can decorate your 'snowmen' with the permanent markers.  We also put the year and our child's name on the bottom so we can remember how big their hands were this Christmas.  That was the part I loved the most about these ornaments, that we can have a precious reminder of how small our children's hands were on Christmas, 2011.

The munchkins ended up making 3 each - one for us to keep and one for each set of grandparents.  Jon and I also made one ourselves.  

By the way, the grandparents loved their special ornaments from the Munchkins. 

The National Christmas Tree

One of the things we try to do each year at Christmas time is go down to the Ellipse in Washington, DC to see the National Christmas Tree.  Although, the past couple of years we haven't been able to make it down for one reason or another, we were excited to see it this year.  We were a bit disappointed when we did get a glimpse of it.  They had to replace the one they have decorated in the past due to the snow storms we've had in recent years.  Needless to say, it was a lot smaller than we remember it!  It's shape reminded us of a Hershey's kiss.

 There were still many train sets up and running around the tree as well as a tree decorated for each state in the union around it.  It's always fun to locate the one from Indiana as that is where both Jon and I are from!

The munchkins enjoyed watching the trains go round and round...

 A view of the Washington Monument from the Christmas Tree.

 .

 Our munchkins standing in front of the tree from Indiana.

If you look closely at this shot, you can see the White House in the background, off to your right.

One of the many perks about living relatively close to our nation's capital is having the opportunity each year to visit the National Christmas Tree!

Grandpa and Grandma Visit

Last month, Grandma and Grandpa Herman came out to visit us.  They arrived on Friday afternoon, October 14th and left to go home Monday morning, October 17th.   We had a great time visiting with them and sightseeing in Washington, DC.  On Saturday morning, we headed to DC via metro.

Our first stop was the Pentagon Memorial.

After we visited the Memorial, we stopped for lunch.  Then, our next stop was the U.S. Capitol building.  My mom was very excited that we were able to take a tour inside the building.  Every time she comes to visit, she asks about taking a tour of the Capitol building.  I'm glad it finally worked out for us to go on the tour.

 On Sunday afternoon, we went to Lake Needwood.  My parents wanted to enjoy the Fall colors and I thought this would be a good location.  It was a beautiful Fall day, so I took that opportunity to take a few pictures of them with the munchkins.

We enjoyed our time together, even though it was just for the weekend.  

Buddy just asked me today, "When is grandma and grandpa coming back to visit?"  Hopefully they'll be able to make another trip out soon!

Family Pictures 2011

Last Saturday, Nov. 5th, our family went to Brookside Gardens for a photo shoot with our friend, InShil.

  We had a great time enjoying the beautiful weather and amazing scenery.  The leaves were a little past their peak color, but still absolutely stunning.  Here are a few of the many, many pictures she took of us.  We are thankful for her friendship and talent!

We are so happy with the pictures she captured!  

I was so taken by the beauty of Brookside Gardens that I went back the next day to take a few more pictures of the trees.

Fall is by far my favorite time of year!  It is just so beautiful!