Watch out!
Who do you think is in this picture with me? I recently sent out TONS of photos to my brothers, sister, & mother and the recipient of this photo does not believe it to be them self. So I will put it to the masses (inflated ego) who read my blog.
Santa brought some tie dye making kits to the Schneider girls for Christmas. Dad enjoyed this because he considers himself to be a tie dye professional and the girls have been super excited to break open their kits and start working on their t-shirts.
Nora and Charlotte did most of the dyeing themselves with just a little help from their parents. Nora chose the purple and red dyes to create some pink.
Charlotte choose the blue and yellow to create some mermaid swirls on her shirt.
Dad did the double swirl on his shirt with the classic rainbow. Rainbow...hehe!
I also broke open the knitting loom I got for myself for Christmas. I was confused at how to do it at first. I made Craig read the directions and show me how to do it. He had to start it for me and then I took over and made great strides in making my new scarf. Here he is checking out my progress. He didn't like me taking this picture. No, he didn't knit all that! I did. 
CAUTION: Picture heavy post. ;)
On Christmas eve, we attended 3:00 mass and we had to stand in the back. All the Christmas/Easter people were out in full force saving seats, coming late and getting up front in their saved seats. I tell you, I felt a bit smug when I pulled out our envelope and Nora put it in the basket when it was going around. Yes, I eyeballed those people in the seats who fished out their singles to drop in the basket when I was legitimate with our envelope, saying with my eyes,
"Yes, that is my seat you're sitting in, you latecomer with no envelope and saved seat!"
I think I was losing my Christmas good cheer chunk by chunk!
When we got home we feasted on appetizers of pizza dip, sausage balls, pigs in a blanket, and cheese w/ crackers during the afternoon. For dinner, I made individual servings of chicken potpie. Craig thought I served him molten lava because he burnt his mouth and then it took forever for his to cool down. He was so funny about it and God love him because he ate the whole thing! The girls and I put ours in the fridge for a later date; we were stuffed from our snacking.
The girls received reindeer food from their little friends whom they play date with last week. It was a sandwich baggie full of oats, seeds, sprinkles, and glitter with a note attached that reads,
"Sprinkle this reindeer food outside tonight. The moonlight will make it sparkle bright. As the reindeer fly and roam. This will guide them to your home.
The girls had such a blast throwing their reindeer food outside. I didn't take pictures because I was having too much fun helping them and participating! It was truely one of those moments where your heart swells with love watching their joyous faces!
So after all our feasting, we had to make some cookies for Santa. Santa told Nora that he liked Chocolate Chip cookies. So the girls commandeered the Kitchen Aid and went to town making their cookies for Santa. Flour was going everywhere and they were loving it! I was just there to make sure we had correct measurements and to help scoop the cookie dough, but they were in charge.
Craig also had Santa tracker on Norad so we could keep abreast of where Santa was at all times. Nora was SUPER excited by this. She would run around the house yelling updates.
"Santa's in Africa!"
"Santa's in Ireland!"
So when Santa hit Brazil on the tracker it was time to call it a night because the girls had to be fast asleep before Santa got to our house.
Christmas day, Nora woke up first and woke the rest of us up with screams of, "SANTA'S BEEN HERE!" We went down to the tree where we had a sweet frenzy of opening packages. Nora and Charlotte were extremely cute and sweet when they were tearing through their presents. The big hit this year was "Barbie and the Diamond Castle". They got the dolls, movie, horse and carriage.
Also opened their packages from their Laskowycz family in Rochester. Meow sweater was an immediate MUST wear! Good job SueSue and Thank you!
I've been wearing my birthday Uggs since I received them. I haven't worn them outside yet because I don't want them banned from the house. I LOVE them! Of course, I'm wearing them now, thank you SueSue!
Merry Christmas! 
Here's to you, snowbirds of the north, a picture of my backyard. 
Doesn't this dog look guilty? More likely, trying to keep a low profile and praying Charlotte doesn't look at her and remember she exists.
Move over Tarzan....me Nora.
Charlotte keeping busy cutting the bristles off her paintbrush because, you know, why do you need bristles when you paint with your hairbrush!
! I was sitting where I wanted, I earned the right! Plus, they could have sat in the front row, but they didn't. Nora's concert is this Thursday, we'll see who gets front row again!
Well, we have one Christmas tree up. This is a little pink tree from Grandma Judy that we elected to put up in Nora's room this year. Charlotte was fine with this because she will have it in her room next year. Maybe we should get that in writing from Nora, but I have a feeling we will have two pink trees by next year to avoid any unpleasantness!
Last Saturday we went to the Christmas parade they have every year in the city of Richmond. I couldn't resist getting a picture of Darth Vader, he and the storm troopers started off the parade. It's actually a pretty cool parade. They do have big balloons, not Macy's big, but Craig and I enjoyed watching them trying to tuck them over and under the streetlights.
Nora and Charlotte enjoyed the parade and I brought LOTS of snacks to feed our hungry bellies! I love this picture of sisterly love.
Ah. We finally took our annual Christmas card picture on Sunday. We have a few options, the usual one with one girl not looking, then one kid with goofy face, and the perfect shot that is blurry! Who knows what will make the cut? Here we are making some cookies to revive our spirits and give us all a break. Note the curls, I only burned Nora once...Charlotte made out great. She was second and I got the hang of using curlers again. My poor sweetie Nor!
