(no subject)

G. had to work today, so Christmas Eve is pretty low-key so far. After dinner we will wrap and watch tons of Christmas movies and maybe there will be popcorn and hot chocolate. And more cookies. Today I baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies and defrosted the school fundraiser cookie dough I shelled out for earlier in the year. I also finally made those dry-in-the-oven citrus slice ornaments, and a batch of sugar cookie dough to roll out later.

We took the kids to Aquatic Park for a break while the sun was out since Steven was available for transport and the sun was shining bright. Simone immediately adopted an older boy on the playground and first played hide and seek, then Star Wars with him. By the end of the afternoon she was asking whether we could go to his house for a play date. "Wow, she really gets along with older boys," his mother remarked. I think we were both relieved to let them run around and burn each other's energy off. Speaking of which, April played in an epic game of chase with the same boy -- and although he was faster (older, longer legs), she wore him out. She just chugs along at cruising speed indefinitely. Some weekend I'm going to take the whole day off and see how long it takes before she's truly winded and done.

Also, I went to three different stores just to find a loaf of crusty bread for dinner tonight -- piperade, because I bought a bag of red peppers on sale at the grocery store. Next year it's Chinese food all the way.