A Yummy Winter Activity

My sister sent the girls this super cool cake-pop maker for Christmas. They've been begging almost every day to use it since the day they opened the package.

We try to limit their sweets so I wasn't going to break it open until all the Christmas goodies were out of the house.

FINALLY, last week I surprised them and told them the day had come that we could use the machine. I can't even tell you how much fun this thing was!

They especially loved the chocolate dipping part. Can you blame them? We tried white chocolate but it never really melted, so we had to stick with the milk chocolate. No big sacrifice there!

If you look closely, you can see the chocolate on her lips!

Then we got out all the sprinkles we had in the house and I let them decorate.

The  finished product

Yum-O

They turned out so cute we brought some to our little neighbor friends for an after school snack. The little boy kept saying "Wow, you really made these?".

We plan to make them again for Valentine's Day (a HUGE event in our house).
A nice way to spend a winter afternoon.

The Best Way to Ring in the New Year

This year we tried something a little different for New Year's Eve.
We started out the day by going to Navy Pier in Chicago for our annual trip to Winter Wonder Fest. We go every year, but usually before Christmas. Boy have we been doing it all wrong! Going after Christmas meant no lines, no crowds, no waiting! It was our best year yet. We went on ALL the rides at least once before lunch.
The best quote of the day was from Tia who said...
"My three favorite places to go are Disney World, Winter Wonder Fest, and Nonna's house". I'm pretty sure that means she had a good time!

And here's a little video clip of the kids and D.R. on the Tilt a Whirl. It was while taking this video that I realized how easily I get motion sick!

After spending the better part of the day there, and doing everything there was to do, we headed for home. We were shocked to find there was NO TRAFFIC. How can that be? We've been stuck in rush hour traffic at 2pm. on a Sunday before, so this was such a nice surprise.

Once home we started our new family tradition of having a sushi making party. The kids love to make sushi rice and help Daddy with all the preparations...

The expert

The apprentices

After eating way too much fish and sushi, we all got in our pajamas and had a camp out on the family room floor. We had done that last year and they both remembered it, so of course we had to do it again this year!

OK, I have to admit I wimped out and went up to my own bed just before midnight. I'm the only one in my family who can not sleep on the floor!

So this is how our family does New Year's Eve.
We hope you had a safe and healthy holiday.

Happy New Year!