Cookie Baking Night (12/20/22)

 Tonight was Cookie Baking Night, and it was a our Niece and Nephew Christmas party. In attendance this evening: Carissa, Allison. Rylar, Enzo, and Abigail. 

As usual, we started the party by decorating a gingerbread house-shaped cookie. Eveyone loves this part. They get to show off their own style. 

But, no one enjoys this part more than Uncle Greg does. He hasn't missed a chance to decorate one of these cookies yet. 

Next, we read the Christmas story from the Bible. 

Followed by playing the dice game for prizes. 

Another Cookie Baking Night, another Niece and Nephew Christmas party has come and gone. 

As usual, a fun time was had by all. 

Cookie Baking Night 12/16/19

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night AND our annual Niece and Nephew Christmas party. In attendance this evening: Carissa, Allison, Rylar, and Enzo (unfortunately, Ethan was home ill this evening. We missed him).

Our tradition at the Niece and Nephew Christmas party is that we decorate a gingerbread house "cookie"

Uncle Greg looks forward to this as much as the kids do (seriously). 

My theory is that you can see everyone's personality in the way they decorate their cookies. This year was no exception (and it's fun to see this theory develop as the kids grow and mature). 

"thoughtful"

"detailed"

"designed"

"all guns a blazin"

Uncle Greg is the kind of artist who looks at a canvas and says "What do you want to be?" I think he nailed this one. 

To the frustration of the baker, this year the cookies turned out very crackly. The kids said to themselves "nothing a lot of frosting can't cure" but Greg saw it and said to himself "there's an old man in there". 

Aunt Katrina looked at that cookie and said, "I'm flipping it over and using the back of the cookie". My style is "simplicity". If you look back through the many Niece and Nephew Christmas party posts, you'll see that all my cookies are a slight variation on the same theme. 

The other favorite part of party evening is the "dice game". We play for small prizes. 

Enzo with his loot.

Also in attendance this evening were Rusty and Peanuts (the family cockatiels). Greg got a pretty good close up of Rusty. 

Another Cookie Baking Night and another Niece and Nephew Christmas Party has come and gone and, as usual, a fun time was had by all (even Rusty and Peanuts). 

Niece and Nephew Christmast Party 12/01/2018

Today was our 15th annual Niece and Nephew Christmas Party. We decided the ages were just right to return to Bunker Hills Stables for a hayride. We opened it up to the whole family this year, so in addition to the kids, Diana (Greg's sister), Dan (Greg's brother), and Larry and Monica (Greg's uncle and aunt) were able to join us. It was a balmy 34 degrees today. 

One of the favorite parts of the ride for the kids is the stop we make halfway through the trip to climb up and roll or slide down the "big hill". 

Awww

We also enjoyed a little jumping off the back of the wagon

and our favorite hayride game "cover Uncle Greg in hay"

This year we did something a little different than usual and had the whole party at the stables. 

We used the party room for lunch. Rylar nicely arranged all of the drinks for us. 

We played the dice game again this year with a little twist this time. Each kid had a bundle of small toys and candies wrapped in plastic wrap. Whenever they rolled doubles, they got to unwrap a layer of plastic until they reached a prize (each kid had an adult helping them out with rolling doubles). I think it was a hit. 

We ended the day by roasting marshmallows by the campfire. 

It was a fun time. A lot of memories were made. We're grateful to God for the wonderful day.