Jessica
Jessica & Tessa
Jessica & Tessa
Jessica & Rachelle
Tessa
Jessica
Tessa & Jessica
Tessa & Jessica snuggling on the couch watching a cartoon
When my niece Jessica and my cousin’s daughter Tessa get together they are inseparable best friends. And both so cute! These photos were taken of them at the cookie party where the loved sampling all the treats, especially Caroline’s wreath cookies, and decorating the Christmas tree.
Amanda & Jess getting the ornaments out
Jessica and Tessa
Jessica
Mom & Jess trying to reach the top of the tree
Amanda gets a chair
Jill, Tessa, Amanda, Jess, Kelly, Rachelle
Stephanie
O Christmas Treeeeee
Jessica and Tessa did a good job decorating the Christmas tree at the cookie party on Saturday. They only had help with the taller branches. It looks great. I think Jess had fun looking at all of the ornaments. She kept showing them to me to take a photo. They also made sure they put all the Packers ornaments in the front and hid all the Cowboys ornaments in the back.
Jess sure is still shy. It’s only when she is in the other room with playing with Tessa and my mom or Aunt Sue that she actually was talking. I have to keep reminding myself that even though she’s not talking it’s not that she’s not thinking or caring. Her brain is still going a thousand miles an hour, you can tell my her actions, even if she’s not saying anything. Hopefully someday she’ll snap out of it.
Tags:amanda·Chicago·christmas tree·cookie party·cowboys·football·jessica·jill·kelly·logan square·mom·packers·tessa
On Saturday I hosted a cookie and tree trimming party. It was nearly ruined because I stayed out so late the night before at the Roundarch holiday party and I felt so sick on Saturday morning. It didn’t help that I got a call at 8:30 a.m. from our developer saying that the tile contractor was outside my door. Surprise! OMG. So, no sleep and a hangover. Luckily, my mom and my aunt Sue got to my house early and helped me clean and make appetizers and get everything ready. Otherwise, I’d have been laying there moaning on the couch unshowered in the middle of my messy house when my guests arrived. I could barely eat a cracker that my mom forced me to eat. I was so mad at myself for being such an idiot the night before. Luckily around 1 p.m. or so when everyone arrived at the party I started feeling better. I was so afraid I wouldn’t be able to eat cookies at the cookie party, but it all worked out fine. I owe my mom and my aunt big time!
Anyway, on to the party – many of my friends and family came over and each brought a few dozen cookies. We laid all of the cookies out and sampled them over the course of a few hours.
Front: Amanda, Caroline, Jessica, Rachelle, Cory, Auntie Glenna, Auntie Laura
Back: Auntie Gail, Aunt Sue, Tessa, Kelly, Stephanie, Jill, Heather, Jen, Jessica
Not pictured: Mom, Kate
Dallas’ Family: Auntie Laura, Cousin Heather, Auntie Glenna, Cousin Cory, Cousin (sort of) Caroline, Auntie Gail
Cookies!
Jess & Kate
I also served a cheese plate and a mix of crackers, Lit’l Smokies (cooked in chili sauce and grape jelly – don’t knock it til you try it!), and tortilla wraps to counter-balance all the sweets. To drink we had hot apple cider (spiked or not) which I still make from Julene’s Chicagoist recipe.
Rachelle & Cory
Jen & Jill
Aunt Sue helping out the whole time (thanks!)
We passed time talking and eating. Tessa and Jess were playing around and so cute, they were sources of entertainment. Jess and Tessa had fun trimming the tree (I’ll have separate posts on that). I had “It’s a Wonderful Life” playing on the TV. Most people know that movie by heart, so I just played holiday music while the movie was muted. Last year I commented on how I only took a few photos of the cookies and didn’t take any photos of people. This year Stephanie was using my camera and really getting into it. I was helping to give her tips on basic photography like how to frame photos better and what to take photos of. She did a really good job and this year we have a ton of photos of the party. There will be several posts after this one.
Stephanie
Rachelle & Stephanie
More Cookies!
These are all the tasty treats we sampled:
The votes were really close last year so this year we did the voting a little differently. Instead of writing down the cookie you like best, everyone ranked their top 3 cookies. Steph and I tallied up the votes by giving a 1st place vote 5 points, a 2nd place vote 3 points and a 3rd place vote 1 point.
Jill carefully making her vote
Amanda helping Jess vote. Jess is pointing at her favorite cookie (the wreaths)
Some suspicious votes. Handwriting analysis is needed.
Vote tally
The results? In 3rd place were Jen’s Emma Cookies. In 2nd place was Jill’s Buckeyes. And the winner was Heather’s Chewy Chocolate Peppermint Cookies. For winning Heather got a holiday spatula and oven mitt as well as Marth Stewart’s cookie cookbook.
Tessa helping Heather open her gift
Heather, Tessa, Jessica
Heather’s gifts
I think my cookie party was a success. It seemed like everyone had a great time. I’m already looking forward to next year’s party!
- Photos from the 1st Annual Cookie and Tree Trimming Party
Tags:amanda·Books·caroline·Chicago·cookie·cookie party·cooking and baking·cory·gail·glenna·heather·it's a wonderful life·jen·jessica·jill·kate·kelly·laura·lit'l smokies·logan square·martha stewart·martha stewarts cookies·mom·movies·spiced cider·stephanie·sue·tessa
Tessa
Stephanie
Jessica
Tessa
Tessa
Tessa
Stephanie helping Tessa get her shoe back on.
Rachelle & Charlotte
Charlotte, Rachelle, Kelly
Charlotte & Dad
My cousin Kelly, her husband Jeff and their daughters Tessa and Charlotte live in De Pere, WI. They were the ones that got us tickets for the preseason Packers game that we went to. Before the game we got to visit a bit at the house. We also stayed there overnight after the game. Kelly and Jeff have a patch of raspberries growing in their yard and all of the kids were out there picking them and eating them. Funny how Tessa was picking them and shoving them in her mouth immediately, whereas you can see Jess was saving them up in her hand and then eating them. It reminded me a lot of when my brother and I were young. We were always outside eating raspberries. Our dog even got into it. I can’t remember my method.. if I was more pick and eat like Tessa or pick and hoard like Jess.
Tags:charlotte·dad·depere·jeff·jessica·kelly·Nostalgia·raspberry·stephanie·tessa·Wisconsin
Rachelle & Charlotte, Oak Creek, WI
Rachelle & Stephanie, Oak Creek, WI
Back: Jacob, Tessa, Caitlin, Gavin, Brice. Front: Jessica, Kayla
My brother had a barbecue at his house on Saturday. I took the Amtrak up to attend. Amanda and maybe Richard (?) have done a lot of work on their yard these past few years and it’s looking great. They got some new patio furniture and we all sat outside while the kids played on their swing set and slide. The weather was great for a few hours. Then it rained and we ran around picking everything up and stayed inside for a while. And then it was beautiful out again and we played bocce ball for hours.
I was glad Kelly and Jeff made it down for the party because I’d never met Charlotte before. She’s about 2 months old now. We figured that was about how old Tessa was when I first met her out in Washington DC. Now, of course, she’s running around with the older kids and talking like crazy. All of the kids were having a great time chasing each other around and playing.
Saturday night mom and dad drove me back to Chicago and stayed overnight here. We went to brunch at Sola and ran a few errands on Sunday and then they start their drive home. It’s kind of windy and cloudy here now. Hopefully they didn’t catch any rain on the way.
Tags:amanda·amtrak·bbq·brunch·charlotte·cooking and baking·dad·grill·jeff·jessica·kelly·mom·oak creek·richard·sola·stephanie·tessa·Wisconsin