Growing and Going

The girls love to attack the piano together.  We love that this piano has volume control . . . and you can even plug in headphones if you don't want to hear it at all. :)  We also love that they can play music to their little hearts content.

I found this note when I was pulling out milk for cereal.  Trust me, I don't feel worthy of such adoration.

Clairey is starting to make grown-up little girl choices (kind of an oxymoron in that sentence but I like it).  When she screams we ask "How do you ask nice?"  and she will stop and say "I 'ont' more juice . . . feeze."  She tends to alternate between "peese," "weeze," and "feeze" in place of "please."  It's cute.  I also love that Claire starts "p" words with "f."  i.e. fetzels = pretzels, fuzzles = puzzles, fuh-wuh = pizza (not sure where that came from)

Our old play tent was in disrepair (torn to shreds and unuseable).  Then, much to our surprise and delight, Target had two tents -- on 75% clearance!  Oh happy day!  Let me also state, ever since we bought those tents toys have exploded on every level of our house.  We used to contain them to the family room and now they have taken over the world!  Oh well, at least I am still caught up on laundry.

Hallie is doing brilliantly with our anti-thumb-sucking initiative.  She earned her Tiana crown on Monday.  And we haven't caught her sucking her thumb since.  We are fairly certain she does it in her sleep, but the elimination of day sucking is huge!  We're very proud of her.

Daddy came home for lunch break on Friday and invited Hallie to go back to work with him.  She was sooooo thrilled.  We packed her preschoool backpack with snacks, coloring books, and reading books.  Chris said she was really well-behaved.  But then, in the last class . . . she took matters into her own hands.  She was reading a Richard Scarry book when she announced to the class, "Okay. . . who wants to be the pig?"  She then assigned roles of Santa Clause, a Hippo, a Lion, a Tiger, a Gorilla, a Big Gorilla, and a Pumpkin.  The class was entertained by her and we might have yet another educator in our family some day.

Claire is taking the world by storm in walking.  Yesterday she walked up and down every aisle at Joann and Target.  If she goes to far, I say "Claire, come back."  She says "Okay" and turns around.  All is well and good until she gets tired.  She was walking downhill in between Target and Home Goods and decided she needed a break in front of Office Max so she parked it on a curb.  It took forever to get her going again because I knew she would not tolerate me picking her up.  Finally the faithful "see you later, Mom is leaving" trick worked and she was up and following me again.  She starts physical therapy on Tuesday.  I am still glad for the help, but I don't think she will be in it for too long.

The story behind a family picture . . .

What is family time without a family picture?

Everyone wears their best smile and for one moment in time, all seems calm.

Moms and Dads look young and well-rested.  And cherubic children look angelic.

Moms and sisters alike look fresh and fun.

But what is the real story behind the family photo? 

The two hundred photos before you find "the one."

The ones where you have to round up the kids . . .

Or crop out the other kids . . . because you never would believe it but the other two looked morbid.

Most of the pictures end up looking like this.

And then you find one in the bunch like this!

And then, for our family, after our eyes adjust from the blinding flash . . .

the baby throwing contest begins . . .

Or, if you're my child, without a dangerous bone in your body, you settle for "flapping your wings" while Daddy "flies" you around.

And that is the story behind our family pictures.

Snow Day

When I was little I imagined that Colorado was akin with the North Pole in snow amounts.  So, when I married a boy from Colorado and he told me it just didn't snow that often where he was from, I kinda didn't believe him.  Here, in my fifth Colorado winter (and after three humbling Idaho ones) I believe him.  I find myself longing for snow.  Where is the magical white stuff?  We just don't get enough of it around here.  Or, we stay dry all winter and then get pounded with snow in March and April when we are all ready for spring!  Sure, Vail and Aspen are white wonderlands -- but here in the shadow of the mountain, we wait.  So, even though Hallie has been gearing up for sledding for months, there was one lone day where we had enough snow that it would be appropriate.  And wouldn't you know, we didn't feel like driving the car on those snow-packed roads, so we played in the frount yard instead.

Celebrate the everyday

A series of mini-catastrophies happened this week. My work computer stopped working and I had to rush across town to meet a deadline to overnight it to Boston. That very day our dryer broke -- with two sopping wet loads waiting. I actually laughed when it happened.  Our house is ten years old and Chris and I are sure that low-level dryer has been here since the first people moved in.  The loads took 3-plus hours to dry.  We knew it would die soon.  However, having clothes hang drying on every banister, shower curtain and door knob makes things a tad clastrophobic.  So yesterday afternoon, I popped the kids in the car and decided to celebrate. Why? Because it's fun.  Or . . . I'd like to think it was in honor of brown boots day.  Yep -- in memory of each receiving boots for 75% off.  Thanks to Target and Kohl's and the mad clearance skills and shopping patience my mom ingrained in me.

How could you not celebrate an honor such as brown boots on all three girls?

We headed to our favorite indoor play place.  It's huge, it's great, and it's free.  This made the six dollars I spent on two tiny kids ice creams later not seem so bad.

There is a stage and camera that shows the children on a TV screen.  Hallie was bombastic.  I can't think of any better word.  She was booming out songs she composed with phrases about "following your heart" and "just believing" and "finding your voice."  I had to pry her away from that stage.

Clairey is yelling "Cheese!" (which sounds more like "Chaaaaaayze!").  People in the entire complex could hear her enthusiasm.

This trip was great for Claire -- since she is a new walker.  When we first walked in she was shy and asked me "I hold you, Mommy" (particularly in the dark rooms).  After a full run-through, she was so excited!  She was running around at her record speeds and squealing with delight.

The ice cream store was too close by.  And, I'll be honest.  I knew saying ice cream was next would be an easy way to get my children to agree to leaving the play heaven they were in.  Hallie had vanilla with m&m's and Claire/I had red velvet with cookie dough chunks mixed in.  I am not usually a huge ice cream fan but that was the best stuff ever.

Then, to continue my fun streak we went to Dollar Tree.  Each girl got to select a mylar balloon and coloring book.  Claire chose a Care Bears coloring book and Elmo balloon.  Hallie selected a Strawberry Shortcake coloring book with Disney Princess balloon.  I chose Valentine's plates, napkins, and a banner for our family Valentines' party I decided we will have.  A couple unplanned Care Bears books and twelve dollars later, we were out the door beaming.

Daddy knew we had a good day when we picked him up from work with smiles and the sounds of balloons being bashed together at high speeds in the back of the car.  Since, Daddy works close to Costco, we decided to do that too.  The kids sampled applesauce and craisins . . . could they be an happier?

And that was our impromptu celebration and fantastic day. 

Later in the evening, Shanda came and took me out for my birthday dinner.  The food was good and the conversation, of course, was unrivaled. 

Happy everyday to me . . . and Hallie . . . and Claire . . . and Daddy since all three girls were in good moods.

Hello again, Blog!

Hi Blog,

It's been awhile.  We have been super busy with everyday life lately.  I had to map this day out as blog catch-up day.  And you are lucky our dryer broke because those six loads of laundry have to wait until our new dryer arrives tomorrow.  Here is some of what we have been up to in January.

Hallie has been doing what she loves most -- drawing.  Night and day.

I turned 29 and went shopping at my favorite mall -- twice.

It has only snowed twice since the last time I posted.  Snow is still a big amount of excitement around here.

So is watching the bread maker make fresh bread.

The frost was beautiful!

Hallie all ready to embark into the frosty morning.

Claire is just happy that she had a chocolate-banana smoothie, cinnamon graham crackers, and cheerios for breakfast.  It was my birthday so we lived it up.

We've started a little chart with Hallie.  If she doesn't suck her thumb during the day, she gets a sticker on her chart.  Five stickers equals a Tiana crown from the store.  We have been hanging out at three stars for awhile.  But she isn't giving up yet.

Exciting times for Claire.  She finally started walking at 20 months (right before Christmas).  We had a developmental assessment and she qualifies for physical therapy once a week.  This will help her catch up with the other kids.  She already is doing great stomping around our house. 

Gross eating shots of kids always end up being so cute -- to me at least.  I apologize if this grosses you out.

Well, here is just some of our life happenings.  I'll post more events in their own specific posts. 

Ta-ta for now.

Christmas 2010

The girls in their Christmas dresses the Sunday before Christmas.

   

The annual reading of The Night Before Christmas.

Making reindeer cookies to leave for Santa. 

Hallie spent her hard-saved piggy bank money on chocolate for me.