Santa visited us again this year!!
This year was so much fun--very different than past years, not that they werne't fun, but just new traditions. We had Aunt Kira, Uncle Jason and Gideon to join us and is he a character!!
Santa surprised us around 5, and Gideon went right up to him--confident little guy :) Amara was "shy" and Cora went to him for about 9 seconds, but that was about it.
He read the kids a book about how to pick great elves--how mermaids made the toys soggy, and reindeer couldn't hold the toys with their hooves. We all sang Rudolph the red nosed reindeer together, and Amara shared her new seek-and-find book with Santa too.
After he left, we all had pizza and mom brought over her "homemade" dessert--which was really an Aldi pie and we all got a good laugh at that.
Amara taught Gideon how to "shake your booty," to the Party Rock Anthem song, and Cora joined right in with the crazy kids. It was a really fun and memorable night for sure! Santa brought Amara a funny voice-changing megaphone toy, and this set of rainbow teething beads for Cora--perfect for our busy girls!
One last round of hugs and instructions on caring for the reindeer on Christmas eve before heading out the door.
And the two older ones walked Santa right out the front door--good thing it's only a few days till Christmas! OH--and Gideon does the funniest little "ho, ho, ho" that Kira said he's been doing for a while. Not sure if we caught it on video or not :)
We made it to candlelight service by the skin of our teeth this year! In fact the service had already started, so no chance for pictures before. We had a birthday party for our good friends the Smith's for Nathan's big first birthday (which was so fun) so we raced back home to get changed and off to church.
Beanie rode with Grandma to church to save seats for us and let the rest of us get ready. The service was very nice and Amara and Cora were just angels, smiling and making friends wherever they went.
Afterwards we got bundled back up and ready to head home and rest for Santa!
An "almost" perfect shot--at least we're all 4 in the frame. The girls had the cutest red, white, and black dresses and coats and red and black shoes--they are our precious little angels no doubt! Merry Christmas eve! (and STILL no snow in Ohio :((
Cora at 10 months is a ball of smiles and energy for sure. She is making the funniest "old man" faces and smiling with her 4 teeth as proud as you please.
She and her sister are starting to smile and share moments more and more--especially in the car where they are captively next to each other for a few minutes each day to and from work.
By 10 months she is cruising with ease--reaching and grabbing for anything in site, usually my pant legs :) And it won't be long before she's walking like a champ! She's saying dog and ball (sometimes) and Ily quite often. She's also signing yes and more and all-done (those food signs really help me, more than anything!)
She and Ily are buddies--Ily is SO patient with her, just like she was with Amara. They like to sit at the back door together and look at the passing cars--I wonder if anyone can see them--I'm sure they'd wreck over the cuteness if they could!
The intensity on Cora's face is so telling.
Pressing her face on the glass, blowing raspberries, and feeling the cold glass on her face :)
Trimming the tree was so much fun this year!! After we got the big ole girl in the house, set up and watered, it was time for decorating.
Beanie jumped right in, and started with several of the ornaments she's made for us this year.
Cora was enjoying chewing on some of the new "C" ornaments we got for her this year too.
A little teamwork really helped speed the process along! The soft needles of the tree didn't bother any of us and this step ladder made easy work for anything 4ft and under on our tree.
BOTH smiling and working together!
and i have to tell this story. While we were getting the ornaments out, Beanie went into the kitchen and single-handedly put a bell on each and every drawer and cupboard pull in the entire kitchen. Sure, they are for the tree--and we even got them 3 years ago when Amara was obsessed with bells. Neither of us had any desire to move or change them, since she was so sweet to help us--and she was so proud of herself when she was done. Even as I type this, I'm looking around the kitchen at her handiwork and it makes me smile with each bell I see.
Cookie days are always a blast, but this year was fun for a lot of reasons. First cookie day in the Copper Ct. house (frankly, first year ever NOT at mom and dads) a lot of great gals came over, and Tony even played the piano for us and we all sang carols, so fun!
We got through SO many recipes this year!! We divided it up pretty well to maximize the oven and chocolate candy making, so we ended up with well over a dozen recipes--if not closer to 2.
Tony playing for us--Olivia also plays and she jumped in on a few tunes.
Casey and Olivia (and her first cookie day with us)
Crashed campers after a long cookie day. They were both REALLY asleep!
Kind of a group shot--Cora enjoying the music, everyone singing, and another dozen or so folks in the kitchen baking away. We tried to skype in Kortney, for help with the oreo balls, but the 9 hour time difference didn't let us--but always so glad to see so many friends and family around Christmas.
Ok, wow, that makes me old. How can he be 14 if I'm only 28? Kidding.
Beanie loves her cousins SO much! She got to be there for him opening his presents and she was thrilled!
and such a sweetheart, Kalvin let her help him open some of them :)
Then she put on Grandpa's glasses and got to work--it is almost tax season for Grandpa after all!
One of our favorite things to do when we have time is bake--and I L O V E to try new recipes--now, with Beanie :) 
I spotted one for soft pretzels and as we all love them, decided to try it--the best was that it had many steps she could do, while being a pretty quick recipe. She got to brush the butter on,
and then sprinkle salt. We tried cheese, and cinnamon and sugar also, but salt was the hands-down favorite.
We did our favorite seasonal treat also, our gingerbread house--always a good time (for five minutes)...
and i'm not sure now whose attention span is shorter--beanie or daddy :)
But my favorite new holiday recipe had to be our salt dough ornaments! We couldn't decide on a family ornament this year, so we just made our own! It was so much fun personalizing them for our friends, using stamps we already had, and it was no cleanup, no mess at all really!
Our finished products were super cute--I hope to paint the girls handprints (sometime before we put ornaments away) and we also used glitter and mod podge for a little sparkle on some. All we did was mix 4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, and 1 1/2 cups water. The dough wasn't sticky at all and the ornaments kept their shapes. Bake 225 degrees for 3-4 hours. SO EASY!.JPG)
