Christmas program

Last Sunday night Maya had her Christmas program at church. We tried to get a picture of both girls beforehand but they weren't really cooperating. Cora is at a crazy stage where she won't sit still for even one second.

Maya right before we left for the program. As you can tell she wasn't super into getting her photo taken either but at least she stood in front of the tree for a minute for us to snap a picture.

Maya loved singing up front and knew the majority of the words to all the songs.

This photo cracks me up. Every child has a different expression on their face, is looking around, or is doing something funny. I have no idea what Maya is doing, she looks like she's pretending to be scared of something.

Overall it was a very nice program and the kids did a great job sharing the Christmas story! 

Recipe InSeitz - Cocoa Snowflakes

We've made a few different kinds of Christmas cookies at our house over the past few weeks. It felt like we needed to bring cookies everywhere; church, school, etc. I tried out these new cocoa snowflakes and they turned out pretty well. The other cookies we have made so far this year are Spritz cookies. I make these in honor of Grandma Vermeer. She always made these and every year I make them and think of her and it just makes me smile. I also need to make snickerdoodles (Joel's favorite) and peanut butter balls. Then I think we'll call it good for this year. Maya's last day of school was today so we'll have a few days next week that we'll need to occupy some time with. I see rolling cookies in cinnamon and sugar in her future. We head to Michigan on Wednesday and can't wait to celebrate the birth of our Savior with family! Sad to say we aren't doing Christmas cards this year. I think it's the first year since I graduated college that I haven't sent any out. We couldn't get a good picture of the girls and we just decided we'd take a year off. We hope everyone has a great Christmas celebrating with their friends and family!

Cocoa Snowflakes

1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
5 Tablespoons butter
6 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup powdered sugar (for rolling)

In a medium bowl mix flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside. In a small sauce pan, melt butter over low heat and add cocoa powder, blend well until smooth. Remove pan from heat, stir in sugar until combined. It will be dark brown by this point. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and add vanilla extract, then eggs. Stir well and add flour mixture and mix all together. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2 hours. Preheat oven to 400. Roll dough into 3/4 inch balls and then roll in powdered sugar. Place the sugar coated balls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake cookies for about 8 minutes, let cool a minute, and then remove from pan and place on cooling rack. Store in an airtight container to maintain the soft chewy texture.

Ringing Bells

Last friday night we went to "ring bells" for the Salvation Army with some friends. We're trying to teach our littles a bit about giving back during this Christmas season. The kiddos enjoyed ringing the bells and greeting the people that put their change in the red bucket. They sang "jingle bells" a few times and also handed out candy canes. It was a good experience for everyone and we were lucky our assignment was at an inside location.

Half Birthday At School

This week Maya had a special day at school. It was her half birthday celebration. Because her birthday is in June and it falls outside the school year she was able to celebrate with her class this week. Cora and I were able to go to school with Maya on Wednesday morning for a little bit.

We got to see where she sits with a few of her classmates.

They have "floor" time in the mornings before class really starts. 

I think they were playing the memory game.

Part of having a special bday at school is you get to be the "shining star" and class helper for the day. Maya was so excited about this. Each student is also encouraged to share a gift with the class. Here Maya is getting ready to open her bday gift to the class.

 The kids were all very excited about the metallic markers and crayons and 25 pack of glitter glue.

Maya also brought funfetti cupcakes with purple frosting and grape juice boxes to have at snack time. Purple is still her favorite color! She had a great day and when she got home from school on Wednesday the first thing she asked Cora was "did you enjoy coming to my school today, Cora?"  And boy did Cora ever...she was a rascal while we were at school. She was into everything; pulling stuff off of bulletin boards, climbing on and off chairs, throwing parts of their nativity set. It was a bit wild and it's also why the pictures are all blurry. I was trying to wrangle my 16 month old and take pictures at the same time. I had to come home and take another shower because after being in Maya's class for just about 40 minutes I was dripping in sweat. Once again it was great we could go and be with Maya on her special day but I'm not sure Cora will be invited back.

Children's Museum in Dayton

During the Thanksgiving weekend Aunt Susanne and I took the girls to the Dayton Children's Museum for a few hours on Friday afternoon. They had a blast!  Right when we walked in there was a "hurricane wind tunnel" that they of course wanted to jump in and experience it. The pics don't really do it justice but they experienced some high winds!

There was a court room that they got to play in. Here is Judge Shealy with her assistant. This pic is for Uncle Eric and Uncle KK. (Yes both of my BIL's are lawyers.)

Going from being judge to being in jail.

There was a whole robot section at the museum that the girls were pretty fascinated with.

The girls spent the most time playing in the pizza parlor and grocery store area. However, we didn't get any pics of them making any pizzas for us. Anyway they had a fun time and were glad to be able to visit the Children's Museum in Dayton!

Thanksgiving 2014

I'm a little behind and I'm sure everyone has quickly moved on to the hustle and bustle of Christmas. But it hasn't even been two weeks yet so I think I'm safe to say it's ok to still post about Thanksgiving.

In true Seitz tradition the boys grilled the turkey on the Weber again this year. It was freezing outside but they managed to get the job done and it went pretty fast. I think it was done in just over 3 hours...record time for the Seitz boys. Isn't this a great looking turkey?

Putting the electric carving knife to work

The kids table. Cora decided to take her afternoon nap while we ate which made 

for a very nice peaceful meal!

 What a great looking crew!

And while we were cleaning up and throughout the weekend we had some great musical entertainment on the organ from Maya & Cora.

Scavenger Hunts

We've decided that Uncle Eric needs to start a side business as a "scavenger hunt" expert and make himself available for birthday parties and special events on the weekends! He made at least 4 or 5 different scavenger hunts for the big girls while we were at Gigi & Snazzy's over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Uncle Eric would write out clues that the girls would have to solve in order to find the next clue and then finally after about 8 or 10 clues there would be a little prize at the last one. ($1 bills, coloring books, mini size M&M's, etc.)  The girls had so much fun with this creative activity. It kept them entertained for quite awhile. Thanks Uncle Eric! Below the girls had just returned from finding a clue outside and they were looking at the next one; yes this was an inside and outside hunt. Shealy did great reading the clues and then they'd both guess what or where they thought the next clue would be. There was impressive teamwork between the two of them to find the clues! I was surprised that Maya even was able to come up with some of the answers on her own.

  

Below are a few examples of the clues that Uncle Eric came up with. So creative! Wish he lived closer so we could hire him on the weekends!

To give you a flavor of the clues, the ones above read:

"The next clue went to visit his friends Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  They all live together in one place"
"Your next clue really loves Starbuck's coffee and had a cup but didn't clean it up"
"The next clue likes cars that were built in Indiana (Snazzy might be able to help you figure this one out)"

Grandpa Maya

We had a great Thanksgiving in Ohio with the Seitz crew! If I can get it together with photos I'll try and post something soon. For some reason I'm having a hard time downloading photos and getting things posted these days. The days and weeks just seem to fly by.

The picture below, however, had to be posted now to ensure it didn't get lost in the holiday shuffle.  It is destined to become a "classic" and was discovered by Aunt Susanne on her iPad a few days after their return to Dallas.  It's hilarious on so many levels. I'm not sure when the girls staged this imitation of Snazzy taking his post-Thanksgiving meal nap. But clearly some careful thought went into the use of authentic eye wear and placement of the hand...which we're pretty sure was done under the direction of Shealy (the budding photographer)!

Push ups

So when daddy is watching a big game (OSU or the Steelers) one of the ways he gets his nervous energy out is by doing push ups when his team scores. I'm not sure if he does the number of push ups his team has in points or if it's a certain number each time they score or what. Anyway he also has some special equipment he uses to do these push ups. Well Cora thought she would try and get in on the push up action too. It was hilarious!

And then she decided that it was just more fun to play around rather than do the push ups. 

Still not walking yet but scooting and pushing things around!

Apple Pie Day

Every year Maya's school has a big fundraiser making and selling apple pies. This year they are making 4100 pies...in one day! It's quite the fascinating process and they have it down to a science. And it's all done by parents, grandparents, and friend volunteers. And I may be a little biased but these pies are amazing! So so yummy! I can't wait until next week when I can bake one and enjoy it with the family.

Here is one of the 4100 that came off the assembly line today.

Maya's 4K class had "apple pie day" at school today. She said this morning they did a little "apple pie cheer" for all the workers in the cafeteria.  And they also got to make their own mini itty bitty apple pies. How cute! Of course Maya wanted to come home and bake hers right away. However, one little bite (or a courtesy taste as she calls it) and she decided she wasn't a big fan of apple pie. But she sure enjoyed the process of making it. What a fun day!

Recipe InSeitz - Candy Corn Magic Bars

I can't believe it's already November and the holidays are just around the corner! Well we are almost two weeks out from our little trick or treat day and sad to say most of the candy has vanished. I won't say how but the majority of it's gone. We do have some candy corn left. And if you also have some extra candy corn laying around your house over the next few weeks here is a bar recipe you might want to try out. Super rich but super tasty!

Candy Corn Magic Bars
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup coconut
1 cup candy corn
1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz.)

Stir graham cracker crumbs into melted butter. (I use a box of graham cracker crumbs but if you use graham crackers you could crush them into crumbs or use a food processor to turn them into fine crumbs.) Press into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan. (You can also line your pan with foil and spray with cooking spray if you prefer) Sprinkle white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, coconut, and candy corn over the top. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over the top of the bars. Bake for about 25 minutes at 350, until they are golden brown around the edges. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Green Lake

This mama had a 22 hour getaway this weekend! Friday night I met Tabitha and Karmen in Green Lake, Wi. They had already been up there for a day but I sure was glad I could join them for one night.

It was a bit chilly but we had a nice sunny day on Saturday. We walked the grounds of the Heidel House where we stayed and took a few pics. Here we are at the end of one of the docks.

Tabitha and Karmen taking a rest and enjoying the lake views.

We took in the small town and had a great lunch at a local cafe. Then we visited a winery in the area and did some taste testing. We joked that this picture could be used for a Christmas card. 

Aren't we so well color coordinated?

At one point we all lived in Chicago together and now we live in 3 different states. The three of us try to get together at least once a year in Chicago but this year we have been able to see each other twice. Lucky! So great to get away and to catch up with these two special friends this weekend.

Halloween 2014

Happy Halloween! We had our trick or treat on Sunday. I still have no idea why West Allis does this and think it's so silly. I think I shared that exact same thing last year. Anyway we had a fantastic day of weather; it was around 65 and sunny. Perfect to be walking around the neighborhood. So I guess I'm a little glad we had it on Sunday because today it's absolutely freezing out and it actually snowed here this morning.

Here's our little Winnie the Pooh and Kitty cat.

Maya was a little shy this year for some reason. She wasn't quite sure about going up to the houses to get the candy. But here she is waiting patiently.

Some houses didn't have anyone giving out the candy. They just had bowls of candy out and you were to just take one.

 Here's another house that said to just take one or beware. If you look closely I think I see Maya has two things.Yikes! Hopefully this neighbor doesn't come looking for us.

 We went around the neighborhood for about an hour and then we went back to our house to hand out candy for the last hour. A good compromise and I think Maya liked that just as much. Overall it was another successful trick or treat day not on Halloween. So silly.

Cabinets

Like I mentioned Cora is a climber and is getting into everything! Yesterday I found her cleaning out the cabinets. She's just learning that she can open cabinets and it's so fun to get everything out. We didn't ever use safety locks with Maya but I'm beginning think we may need to with Cora.

Here she is grunting and pointing (telling) me to go away...she wanted me to leave her alone and let her continue to go about her business. Even though she isn't exactly talking yet she certainly knows what she wants and knows how to communicate to get it!

Last week we had a few days off from school so we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Cora got into the kitchen island there too, of course only after cleaning it all out and throwing everything on the floor first. I'll be honest this is not my most favorite stage. It sure creates a lot of work for this mama.

14 months

Cora is ALL over the place and already 14 months! She is not walking yet but is getting close. She is a climber! Cora loves this little blue chair for some reason. She pushes it all around and then she loves climbing up on it and sitting in it. She thinks she's pretty big stuff!

Pumpkin Farm

Maya's 4K class had a field trip to a pumpkin farm earlier this week. She had a blast! Here she is with Sam and Megan two sweet friends in her class. Look at all the "huge" pumpkins!

Megan, Maya, and Emily on a hayride

It was a damp Fall day but Maya had a fun field trip.
She even got to pick out a pumpkin to take home with her!

Recipe InSeitz - Neiman-Marcus Cookies

I had a MOPS craft night last night at a place called Bloom with some ladies. I am so not a craft person but I put my game face on and the end product was a screen printed trick or treat bag that says "boo!" on it. I don't even know what screen printed means, I was just doing what the craft lady told me to do. We used old t-shirts, some special scissors with a fancy edge, and did a little bit of sewing. Phew! We'll see if Maya wants to use it for trick or treating or not. She'll probably want to stick with the generic plastic orange pumpkin. Perhaps Cora will be excited to use the fancy screen printed "boo!" bag?

Anyway we each brought a snack to share last night and I brought cookies. I think I got this recipe way back in high school from a friend. It was at the bottom of my recipe box and I haven't made these cookies in years. It was fun to try out an oldie but a goodie!  

Neiman-Marcus Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 cups oatmeal
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups chocolate chips

Cream together butter and sugars. Then mix in the eggs and vanilla. Add flour, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda and mix well. Then stir in the chocolate chips. Roll into balls or use your cookie scoop and don't press the dough down. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350. If you want crunchy cookies bake a bit longer.

Recipe InSeitz - Danette's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Two weekends ago I went on a retreat with the leadership team of our MOPS (Mother's of Preschoolers) group. It was the first night I had been away from both girls and didn't have to feed Cora before bed. Yay! She did great and daddy did just fine on his own too. I think I need to go away more often because Maya slept through the night but hasn't since then. Hmm...

Anyway we had a great retreat on Pearl Lake. One of the mentors hosted us at her beautiful lake house and it was the perfect setting for our 24 hour retreat. We had tons of great food and treats and one of the treats one of the mentors brought were these cookies. So yummy!

Danette's Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup crushed corn flakes
1/2 cup coconut
2 cups chocolate chips

Cream sugars and butter together. Add oil, egg, and vanilla. Mix well. Add the rest of the ingredients in the order above. Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Makes 4-5 dozen cookies.

Here's most of our MOPS leadership team for the year. 

Such great women and leaders and very dear friends!

Zoo Scavenger Hunt

It has been absolutely beautiful here this week! We are enjoying the amazing Fall weather. We went to the zoo Thursday morning with a few friends. One of my friends is a past school teacher and she is always coming up with creative things for the kids to do. This week she brought a zoo scavenger hunt for the kids to do; how fun!

Here is Olivia, Maya & Jackson taking a little break from looking for all the animals on their scavenger hunt.

I'm not quite sure we saw all the animals on this list but according to Maya we did. She had a great time!