Hockman Family Cousin Playdate

The day after the acorn donut project we had another cousin playdate; this time with all the great-grandkids on my mom's side. It all started with lunch at Pizza Hut. My cousin Diane joined us with her daughters, Lexi (who is five) and Celia (who was three months at the time of the playdate - earlier this month). Each time I'd mention getting together with Lexi that morning, Caleb showed a lot of enthusiasm to go see her. She was so sweet to him during the meal and even gave him a piece of her dessert. He ate up the attention and the dessert. She even rode home with us and sat beside him in the car.

 

Here they are in our playroom. He is playing trains in the 

background and Lex looks like she's preparing a picnic.

I guess those little boogers didn't get enough pizza earlier. 

Picnic time! Thanks, Hadley, for sharing your toy.

 

 Eat two cookies and call me in the morning.

Lexi and Caleb weren't the only two buddies palling around that day; Hadley and Celia bonded quite a bit too. For being so little, it was cute to see how they both showed interest in each other. I think Hadley was happy to have another little person like her around.

We thought it would be fun to dress the girls alike and try to get a picture for my grandma. This proved to be a feat, especially since Hadley was sleepy and a cranky mess at that point. The poor girl did not want to smile for a picture. Her silly mommy did get her to smile through the tears a couple times though for some decent shots. Celia was in a good mood but was still too small to sit up well on her own. She tried her best and that's all we could ask. :)

Hadley and Lexi were happy to see each other too. Lex is great with the little ones. She's always been wonderful with Caleb even though he's a few years younger than her and she does awesome with her new baby sister. 

 

Part way through the playdate my Aunt Brenda came with her daughter Haley (10 yrs) and her grandson Cole (5 yrs). Caleb was sleeping when they arrived so it was nice for Lex to have Haley as a playmate. But, when he woke up, he was trying hard to get her attention back while the older girls were focused on Haley's laptop.  They did let him join in some musical fun when they were finished and made an impromptu band.

 

Cole was his own little man. He just wanted to sit back and check everything out for the most part. I think his favorite part of the playdate was looking at how many stairs we have in our house. 

We tried to get a group shot of all the kids together. So many squirmy bodies and busy little people made that task interesting. Here are a couple I was able to capture:

I'm so thankful for family and cousins who love each other. There is one more Hockman great-grandchild on the way, and we are looking forward to sharing in my cousin Kevin's joy with Blake's arrival this spring!

Acorn Project

Earlier this month, I wrote about a festival our church had to raise money for some Filipino missionaries recently. A couple of young girls from our church named Kiersten and Cassidy made these cute little acorns for the bake sale that I thought were adorable:

Seeing the girls' project gave me an idea to use with my women's Bible study group. I had planned to host a a fellowship activity for the ladies but had no idea what kind of craft to do that everyone would enjoy until Kiersten and Cassidy's mom posted this picture on Facebook. When I saw these little donut acorns, I thought they'd be perfect to try. I sent the girls' mom (Dawn) a quick Facebook message to ask how they made them. She told me to simply melt a some Nutella, dip the top of a glazed donut hole in it, roll the dipped part in some toffee bits, and stick in half a pretzel stick. She also gave me this website with similar instructions that suggests using peanut butter or chocolate frosting versus Nutella. Dave tasted tested them after my group made them and said the Nutella and toffee bits made for the perfect mix. 

Since the whole project was quick and easy, I had the idea that it might be something that Caleb and his twin cousins could try. They had planned to paint pumpkins together before Halloween but sickness upset those plans, so we decided to get together and try this idea instead.

In case you were wondering, the toddlers had a little more trouble dipping donuts in a pot full of melted Nutella and a container of toffee bits than my Bible study group did. I demonstrated how to make the acorns before anyone got started and then let the kids get try. Things started out okay at first, but, once one of them started munching, the others followed suite and the rest of the activity was a lost cause. There was hazelnut spread and bits of toffee all over the floor, half the donut holes didn't even make it from the plate to the Nutella before they were half eaten, and you can forget about the pretzel sticks. Really, how could I expect two-year-olds to wait to eat the donut holes until they made it into something pretty? What was I thinking?

The first attempts

First the Nutella...

Then the toffee bits...

Forget the pretzel stick! Time to taste test!

I'm not sure Dan's first donut hole ever touched 

the Nutella before he took a bite. 

 Maybe the big kid in the green shirt can handle the task?

The acorns didn't quite turn out like the ones the kids at church made. They made me smile anyway. :)

Toddler creations

My acorn

The look isn't nearly as import as the taste though, right? There was definitely lots of tasting going on. (Maybe that is why none of the kids went down for a nap at Granny's....)

What do you think, Anabella?

  Anyone else want a bite?

Most importantly, the kids enjoyed it. I think we needed more adult hands and one-on-one guidance, plus a separate photographer. Live and learn and then make some more acorn donuts!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Yesterday we began busting out all the Christmas decor. Both our kids had colds - Hadley's was left over from Thanksgiving and Caleb's had just started - and a indoor activity around the house was a good way to spend the day.

Hadley and Rudolph (whose antlers were decorated by 

Caleb) are formally introduced.

Caleb didn't need anyone to tell him how to decorate the tree. Before Dave even had it assembled, Caleb was hanging ornaments on the branches. Dave helped him put a couple on the top part of the tree and I gave him a few pointers about not putting all the balls right in the same area, but for the most part he did a nice job on his own.

 

 

 

Hadley was more interested in tasting the Christmas balls than hanging them. As usual, she was happy to explore something new. 

 

 

 

The balls I let the kids use are plastic ones I found a local discount store a couple of years ago. I thought they'd be pretty kid friendly and to a degree they are. Caleb figured out that they can bounce though and that you can pull the tops off which he had to be scolded for a few times, especially after he broke a few. On the plus side though, he was mature enough this year to leave the ornaments on the tree once we were finished, so I was able to decorate more than just the top half like I ended up doing last Christmas. Not only did he like putting up the decorations, he thought it was also a lot of fun to compare them and find matching Christmas balls.

 

Finally our tree was finished. It's pretty sparsely decorated at this point but is good enough for now. The glow of lights makes the short days of this time of year a lot more tolerable and the house seems warmer.

 

 

Gobble Gobble!

Thanksgiving was pretty relaxed this year. We only had one place that we were supposed to stop - Granny's This made it so nice with little ones because we didn't feel the stress of rushing around to get to multiple places on a timeline. I didn't get any pics of the actually dinner but here are a few cute ones of Hadley on our way in to see everyone. (My cousin Stacey found this beautiful coat at a yard sale. We love it!)

 

 

After dinner, my grandmother Nora Ann had some desserts at her house that she invited us to come enjoy if we were up for it. Since we didn't have to rush anywhere for another meal, we enjoyed a leisurely afternoon at Granny's while Caleb napped at my parents' house and then headed up to Grandma Nora Ann's for a relaxed evening with my grandparents, mom, and Aunt Susie.

When we got home that night, Dave fed Hadley her turkey and vegetable dinner. There's no better day to have your first bite of turkey, right?

 

The Thanksgiving festivities weren't over for us though until Saturday. While we still do things with our extended family on my dad's side, he wanted us to have a special dinner with just our immediate family. So, Mom and I got to cookin' this past weekend.

Sadly, my dad ended up getting sick and not being able to enjoy the fun, but my mom, my sister and her boyfriend, and all three of my grandparents were able to have a nice meal with us.

 Aunt Courtney introducing Caleb to her iPad. 

 Hadley loving on her great-grandparents 

Silly boy

We had green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese, broccoli casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potato casserole, yeast rolls, potato salad, corn pudding, stuffing, spinach dip, and, of course, turkey - not to mention the desserts. It may very well have been the best meal ever! My mom set a beautiful table too.

 

 

 

 My plate - it was cleaned completely.

 Caleb wanted me to take his picture eating his supper. 

 Hadley played in her saucer beside the table while we ate.

 

 

 My Granddaddy cracked me up! He said he was going to 

eat at the counter so that he had elbow room.

 Hadley, are you drooling over all that good

 food or the pumpkin pie on your shirt?

 

Don't worry! We brought a turkey dinner for you too, Sweetie Pie.

Our leftovers are getting low, and I'm dreaming of next year already!