Cookies Cookies Cookies!

Today was cookie baking day with Grandma Cindy. Before we got started, Charlotte opened a beautiful apron that Grandma made for an early Christmas present!

But then she wasn't interested in baking. She pulled off the apron (bottom right of picture) and sat down to read. Here she is reading part of the Christmas story and she's opened up to her favorite part, King Herod and the Wise Men. What a strange kid.

She wouldn't come in to the kitchen to help until we got to the good part...licking the cookie dough off the beater.

Yum!

Mama and Charlotte

While the cookie dough chilled, we made wreaths (corn flakes and marshmallows). Charlotte was in charge of the red hots. The one right in front of her got a little overloaded.

Then we took a little break to decorate Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas tree. Charlotte had lots of fun playing with the ornaments. Here she is making a rabbit pull a poodle on a sled and to her left is another poodle on a sled. Those silly poodles.

Now that the dough is chilled it's time to roll it out!

Grandma showing Charlotte how to roll it out just right.

Yep, that's a Play-Doh rolling pin!

And after the baking comes the frosting...and the sprinkling...and some more sprinkling...and then just a little bit more.

Until it's just right!

Charlotte's collection of frosted Scottie dogs. She did them all by herself. Nobody else will want to eat them as there was a fair amount of licking fingers that went into the making of these.

The finished product(s)! What a lot of work. What a lot of FUN! What a lot of deliciousness!

Joy

I was teaching Charlotte to sing "Joy to the World" this week. She paused and said, "Josh has two children." Just when I was about to say "What?!" she finished "and his wife's name is Joy!" Ah yes, she made the connection between the name of the song and our friends Josh and Joy in Duluth.

I then asked her if she knew what the word joy meant. She didn't, so I told her joy meant really really happy, that joy was bigger than happy.

She replied, "Oh, like when you're prancin' around?!"

Really?

At supper a few nights ago we had some potato wedges that were rather large. I asked Charlotte if she wanted one, offering the one that was closest to her on my plate. She looked at it for a second, then said, "No! That looks like a dead hamster!"

Unexpected wisdom

Last night we were praying with Charlotte. We were praying about some decisions we are making regarding a trip to Africa, and we were quiet for a while. Charlotte asked why we were being so quiet, and I told her we were waiting to hear what God had to say. We've talked before about how God sometimes talks in a quiet voice in our hearts. I asked her if God was telling her anything. She said simply, "That His Kingdom is good." Indeed.

I love listening to her

I'm trying to be better at remembering the funny things she says and write them down. Here are two from today.


I asked Charlotte today, "Do you feel puffy in your new winter coat?"

She replied, "puffy like a muffin!"

Also, earlier today we were listening to a jazz CD in the car. The song was "What a Difference a Day Made," and the lyrics include a part that goes "...twenty four little hours..."

Charlotte pipes up from the backseat, so excited, "she said little olives!" I didn't have the heart to correct her. :)

Awwww...

While laying in between mama and daddy in bed this morning, Charlotte said--"I just can't stop cuddlin' you!"

Sassy

The other day Charlotte was being reprimanded for doing something naughty. At the end of our discussion I asked her, "What do you say now?" (The answer I was looking for was "sorry for hitting you, Mama")

Charlotte answered "supercalifragilisticexpialidocius!"

Obviously; the word you say when you don't know what else to say.