The Cutting Family

Saturday, January 02, 2010

Anna's ELMO Party!

We had Anna's 2nd birthday party at The Magic Castle. It was so fun and I didn't have to do much at all. I had two teenage kids as our helpers the whole time. It was wonderful!! The party was a Sesame Street/Elmo theme. It turned out pretty cute with the primary colors and Anna LOVES Elmo so it was perfect for our two year old!

Birthday Girl with Nuna & Papa

The loot bags that were sent home with all the kids to thank them for coming and celebrating with us!!

The magnet we sent home with the adults!

One of the centerpieces!

Elmo cake!

Ready for the kids!!

Lots of GIFTS!

I loved the way the cupcakes turned out!

The birthday girl playing at The Magic Castle!

Landon about to eat all the icing off his cupcake!

Eating her birthday cupcake!

Claire was Anna's helper in opening her gifts!

Playing ski ball!

Only Grandparents allow a child to walk on the ski ball ramp!

... AND put the ball in the '50 point' hole over & over! She accumulated a ton of tickets illegally!

Playing a game with Papa!

Deanna, Olivia & Landon having a good time!

Papa & Grammy with the Birthday Girl!

Uncle Scott & Cat playing!

Our sweet 2 year old!

More of Anna's Party

We had two cameras going at Anna's party so here are the pics from my camera. The post above are pics from Grammy's camera!

The adults watching the kids play!

Such a sweet birthday girl!!

Opening gifts!

Most of the group (minus the babies!).

Friday, January 01, 2010

Cookies for Santa

Although we don't push the whole Santa thing, we did make cookies for Santa! The girls and I had soooo much fun doing this together! I played Christmas music (The Chipmunks Christmas and The Birthday Party... the same music I listened to with my Mom when we made Christmas cookies & decorated the house!). The kitchen was a disaster area after we were done, but it was definitely worth the mess!

Got the chairs and ready to go!!

A little sampling is a must!!

Helping me add and mix the ingredients!

Such helpers!

Ben's BFF, Phil, was in town for a week over Christmas and we got to see him a lot! He's always fun to have around and Ben has an X BOX partner!

Using the rolling pin is their favorite part!

Cookie cutters are pretty fun, too!

Decorating and sampling! Goes hand-in-hand!

Sprinkles!!!!

Anna showing off her cookie! So proud!

The finished product... Cookies for Santa!

Boonshoft with Daddy

On Anna's 2nd birthday, Ben took the girls to Boonshoft for some Daddy time (and so Mommy could get some baking/cooking done for Christmas!). Anyway, he had fun taking them and as you can see from the pics... they had a blast too!!!

Kind of surprised that Daddy even bothered putting the waterproof apron on the girls at the water table!!

Our little monkey! Anna does LOVE to climb!

The grocery store is always the highlight of the trip for Claire & Anna!

Cashier Claire!

More climbing!!

Pre-School Praise Performance

Claire and her cousin Caroline were in their very first performance at church recently. They were in the Pre-School Praise group for 3-4 year olds. They have been practicing since early September to perform their Christmas program. It consisted of several songs, motions to many of the songs and they even used bells! It was pretty cute, if I do say so myself!

Waiting to go into the service for their big debut!

Look how cute!

Claire with her bell!

Doing their motions! So entertaining!!

Claire BELTING it out! My Mom said I was singing solos at church when I was three... not so sure that's going to happen with my Claire Bear!

Whew... it's over! Coming out with her cousin!

Brunch at Grammy's

After the Pre-School Praise performance, Grammy hosted a lovely Christmas brunch at her house. We had a fun time eating delicious food, chatting and watching the girls play & sing their songs! Thanks for having us, Grammy & Papa!