christmas 2012

We started our Christmas traditions with our annual Christmas lights drive in our jammies. This year I brought some homemade caramel corn along. We turned on the Christmas radio station and headed out.

First of all, we were amazed at how fast the girls got ready. I told them to get their coats and boots on while Rob and I went to get our jammies on, thinking I'd still have to wrangle them together after I was done. They were ready and up in our room before I pulled my jammies out of the drawer. 

We drove through some nearby neighborhoods, the big million dollar home neighborhood where everyone uses professionals to put up their lights and then finally the super tacky house in Plymouth that synchronizes their lights to music playing through an FM frequency. After waiting in line 15 minutes to see those lights only to be blocked by people who were not following the rules, Rob and I decided that we were not going to partake in that ridiculousness again. 

On Christmas Eve morning the girls were up and ready to go. They found that Tinker, our Elf was not at our house anymore. He had left a note saying he was at Nana and Papa's house and that he'd see us there. The girls wanted to call right away to find out where he had landed at their house. When we called Papa answered and after the girls asked where Tinker was, he was sort of confused, but after directing him a bit, we found that Tinker had landed on their fireplace. 

The girls opened presents from each other...new sleds!!!

They also opened gifts from us. A book, new jammies and their own digital cameras.

We ate our homemade caramel french toast breakfast and then packed up to head to Faribault. We first stopped in Northfield to see Auntie B and family (and I shopped at the Rare Pair and spent my birthday money!)

When we got to Nana's house, we found Tinker and then settled in for a bit. We headed to church where the girls again whispered good job Nana! after she was done singing in the choir. We had Swedish meatballs for supper and then the girls put on their show. They were so excited to sing their Christmas program for school and Nana, Papa, Uncle Drew, Boompa and Magramma had fun watching. They did a great job and it was almost better without the whole group of kids.

They were mostly excited that they got to stand on the "stage" i.e. the fireplace hearth!

We opened some presents and then it was time to head to bed. It was pretty easy getting them settled in for the night!!

Christmas morning they were ready to go and were ecstatic to see what Santa brought. They are so funny when opening presents, saying that everything they opened was exactly what they wanted.

Santa brought them everything they wanted, even the playdoh I didn't want. Little Bird was a little worried when she opened the playdoh thing she had asked for. She wasn't sure if I would be happy that Santa brought her that. I reassured her that it was indeed OK. :)

Nana and Papa got the girls each a LeapPad 2 which will be really fun to have. Little Pie was into it right away and I was amazed at how much she could figure out on her own. It will be great to have for our trip to AZ in February. They also think they are pretty cool that they have their own "iPads".

We had Christmas dinner at Magramma and Boompas house. The girls kept busy with their LeapPads and games and new microphones from Brenda. They were pretty tired, but because they are like their mama, were unable to take a real nap that afternoon.

Not very good at pretending to nap!

It was a very full few days and now it's time to reorganize the house after all the goodies they got!!

ice skating

Right before Christmas, the girls got to try ice skating for the first time. We haven't really thought about ice skating, mostly because Rob and I can't do it so it won't be a family activity. But we have a pond in our back yard that is perfect for skating...if that's your thing.

Our neighbors have both of their kids in skating lessons, one even in Mini Mights hockey. (the image of 30 5-year olds in complete hockey gear skating falling all over the ice is just too hysterical). Anyway, they were out on the pond on Saturday and of course Little Pie and Little Bird wanted to join them. 

 

 

They were not, however, content just slipping and sliding around the ice in their boots. They wanted their own skates. Mr. S finally went inside after having had enough skating around with his 20 extra pounds of gear on, so the girls each took a turn with his skates. 

 

Little Pie is trying so hard to catch up and be just like Ms. C.

 

Little Pie was actually pretty good and got some moves in on her own.

Little Bird on the other hand, was content with Rob and Tiffany just gliding her around the pond. Ha!

I'm glad they got to experience some skating and that they really liked it. It's still not enough for me to go out and gets skates for the family!!

december

I acknowledge that I have been a bad blogger this month. Here are some highlights from our December so far. 

Warning: overloaded post ahead.

December 1

The girls woke up to find that Tinker, our Elf on the Shelf, returned from the North Pole to watch over them until Christmas.  They found him sitting by their stockings, having stuck a note from Santa at the top. Both were pretty unsure of him sitting right in front of them.

The note from Santa indicated that Tinker had hidden a few presents in the house and so the girls were off in a flash to find them. They each received some new jammies and a Christmas book that played music. Little Bird has been beaming about her Nutcracker book ever since I told her the story is my favorite Christmas story. 

After a french toast breakfast we bundled up (not really, it was going to be in the 40s that day) and headed to get our Christmas tree. We receive a free tree from our realtor (family friend) each year in exchange for a donation to Toys for Tots. The realty office also has a Santa, cookies, prizes, etc. It really is a great deal.

This year, Little Pie had no problem sitting on Santa's lap and while she was fairly quiet when telling him what she wanted for Christmas, Little Bird more than made up for it with her boisterous confidence.

We got the tree in the house (finally! I won't get into the issue we had), and before we knew it, it was time to get ready to head to Main Street for the third(?) annual Sparkle Parade. It's NOTHING like the Holidazzle Parade downtown Minneapolis, but it's fun nonetheless. We happened to run into Mr. and Mrs. Claus before hand, so the girls got to chat with them before their sleigh headed down Main Street. It was so warm, so it was fun to be outside even though the parade only lasts about 12 minutes.

 We also met our neighbors there, so all the kids had fun together.

After dinner out, we went home to finally decorate our tree. Our tree ended up a little bottom heavy, but beautiful nonetheless.

Little Pie especially liked all of the angel ornaments.

I have an ornament from with a picture of me from when I had just turned 5. Does it look like Little Pie or what?

December 2

I got the whole day to myself. After getting the girls dressed for church, I waved them goodbye and headed to the salon for a haircut and massage. I followed it up with reading my book at Starbucks with a coffee and treat. Then I headed off to meet my three best friends from college for a movie (Twilight!) and dinner. It was so great to get home, having recharged my battery with time alone and time with friends.

December 5

After gymnastics class, we went bowling with the four other friends from class. It was hilarious. Boys in one lane, girls in another. They all cheered each other on and Little Pie asked me her score after every turn. She bowled a 78 and Little Bird a 79.

We all at lunch together and the 4 moms all marveled at how we made it through a game of bowling plus a sit down lunch with 6 preschoolers, 1 toddler and an infant. My favorite part? the little bowling shoes!!

December 7

After watching the neighbor kids for the afternoon, we packed them all up and dropped them off at Parents Night Out at our church. The girls love PNO and our church does an amazing job. The adults headed to a nearby restaurant for a great evening out. We end up picking the girls up after 9 on PNO, but even though they are tired, it is well worth it for all. They always crash easily when we get home and one late night a month isn't going to hurt them.

December 8 and 9

Snow finally came to stay. We got more than a foot over the weekend and Rob or I probably cleared the driveway out 4 or 5 times. The girls had fun playing in the fluffy, wet stuff. We attempted a snowman and when I said I wasn't too good at building one, Little Pie said well you should really go back to school, Mom. It ended up being a perfect weekend to wrap our family's presents.

December 10

We all shed a lot of tears as we hugged and kissed Rob goodbye. He was headed to IL for a 12 day work trip. It was going to be a long time and he was going to miss a lot of stuff. It was really hard to see him go, especially after the heartbreak we experienced the last time he was away. It's also hard because of the time of year (holidays and bad weather). 

December 11

My birthday. It was a typical day. Girls went to preschool, I went to the gym. When we got home the girls played outside for a little bit and then came in with some really drippy noses and tired looking faces. We snuggled up on the couch with tissues and watched The Polar Express. At 4:30 I announced we were going out to dinner. I decided that I shouldn't have to cook and (especially) clean up on my birthday. The roads were still terrible so getting there was a challenge, but once we made it to California Pizza Kitchen (we were the only ones!) Little Pie announced to every hostess/server that it was my birthday. They sweetly provided us with an ice cream sundae.

December 12

Again, after gymnastics, we met up with Nana, Papa and Uncle Drew at the Big Ten restaurant in Hopkins for lunch. The girls were so excited to see them and eat out. After lunch, Nana and I took the girls to see a performance of Madeline's Christmas (complete with new Madeline dolls from Nana!).

We decided that it was the best performance we had seen at Stages Theater thus far. It really was adorable and I thought the French accents the little girls had were the cutest thing. I hope they do another Madeline performance soon!

December 15

After several nights of early bedtimes, the girls were pretty much clear of their runny noses. (Apparently they gave them to me.)  We headed out the door for the first of two parties. First was a birthday party for our neighbor at Chuck E Cheese. I can't say I'm a fan of Chuck E Cheese (I would never go there unless invited for another party). The girls had fun though even though they didn't understand the concept of earning tickets to buy stuff (fine by me!!!). We gave any tickets they won to the birthday boy. It was probably the highlight of Little Pie's experience, giving her friend the tickets she had won. 

It took awhile to get out of there, but once we did, we headed to Brenda's for a birthday celebration for me(!) and Katie. The girls were silly and tried to become photographers with Nana's camera. It just felt great to be with family since it was so hard not having Rob home for the weekend. We tried FaceTiming a bit, but it is so chaotic and his internet at the hotel isn't great, but even talking a little bit with him helped. The hardest part of the day was driving home and getting the girls in bed after they had had TWO pieces of cake that day. 

December 16

It was tough, but I got the girls out of bed and into the bath and then all dolled up for their Christmas "performance" at church. I helped out in their class that day, so one other parent and I herded 13 three and four year olds (along with several other herds of kids) up to the front of the church so they could sing their two Christmas songs for the congregation. I'm so proud of my girls (and BFF!) for singing all the words for all the songs and doing all the appropriate actions. They were fairly proud of themselves too!

Our neighbors generously offered to have the girls come over and play at their house for a couple of hours Sunday afternoon. I didn't hesitate to accept as I was ready for some quiet time alone in the house. They all had fun and it made the long weekend manageable again.

December 18

The girls had their last day of preschool before they resume in January. They also had their Christmas performance for school that evening. We once again put on their Christmas dresses.

Gramma and Grandpa came into town and were able to come to their performance (along with Uncle Rye). The performance started with each child presenting a gift to the manger (the toys were going to be given to the Ronald McDonald house). 

As all the kids (4 classes of 20 kids each) were still lining up, the girls spotted Gramma, Grandpa and Uncle Rye. They were beyond thrilled to see them!

The program was adorable and short (10 minutes!). One of their teachers recited the Christmas story and the kids interjected with songs. They sang one song in English and Spanish and then when they sang Happy Birthday to Jesus they also used sign language. When they recited the Lords Prayer, Little Pie had her hands folded and her eyes shut super tight. It was so precious.

Grandpa and Uncle Rye presented the girls with some flowers after the performance. It was so sweet. 

We also had to grab a few photos with some of their good friends from school.

After the performance we congregated with the other families for some refreshments. The girls introduced a couple of their teachers to Gramma and Grandpa. And we couldn't leave without a picture with their favorite teacher!

December 19

It started as another typical Wednesday; gymnastics class, followed by lunch and a play date with H&M. After we left their house, we stopped by Uncle Rye's, where I dropped the girls to hang with Gramma while I went home and did some cleaning and resting (still suffering from the icky cold). I was reading some news sites and realizing there was a big winter storm headed toward northwest IL and Wisconsin. Of course that meant that Rob's drive home on Friday may be delayed or cancelled all together so I started sending him a message asking if he had thought about trying to fly home. Suddenly our front door started to open. I thought it must be Gramma with the girls but instead it was Rob!!!!! He had driven 7 hours home, two days early so as to beat that nasty storm. I literally jumped up and down like a kid, yelling in my raspy cold voice, your home your home your home! He had made it home just in time to celebrate Christmas with his parents and brother (which was our plan to do that night even without him).

The girls were excited to open presents from Gramma and Grandpa. Little Bird had a really hard time waiting and being patient. But I tried to emphasis that the presents are not important, it's spending time with family. So we ate dinner first. Then instead of the girls opening gifts first, we handed out our gifts to them.  (They had to help open them of course.)

 Finally it was their turn.

We had a great time celebrating Christmas early with Gramma, Grandpa and Uncle Rye before they headed to Arizona. We were also so glad that Rob made it home in time to join us too.

broken hearts

It seems as though the girls have emotionally matured about five years in the last two days. Or else circumstances are bringing out some feelings that haven't really been brought out before.

As we arrived home last night, we pulled into the garage as we usually do, I put the car in park, turned it off and got out. The girls moved slowly (as usual) and I impatiently waited with the door to the house propped open for them. As Little Bird walked into the door I hit the garage door button and the garage door descended while Little Pie was running her butt off trying to get in the door all the while emanating huge, real sobs. I was so taken aback by these real tears that I dropped to floor and embraced her quickly. She seemed so scared and I couldn't believe that I had done that to her (even though I'm sure I have started closing the garage door before). Then she said, you made my heart break Mom. And then my heart broke too.

Not even 20 minutes later we were rushing to get ready for bed as it was quite late. After tucking Little Pie in to bed (by now she was her normal, cheery self), I went into Little Bird's room to kiss her goodnight. She asked if Daddy was coming to kiss her and I reminded her that he was working in Illinois this week and would be home Friday. She commented that she wished he was here and I reassured her that the next two days would go by fast. I closed the door.

Then I heard those real sobs again, this time from Little Bird. I opened her door and saw the big tears falling down her face and her chest heaving up and down. She said I really really miss Daddy. I ran over and embraced her tight and she continued to sob and say how much she missed him. {While Rob travels a lot and our weeks with just the three of us are not uncommon, this was definitely a new reaction.} I asked her if she wanted to call him and she perked up and after running back downstairs to get my phone, she had calmed down a little bit. She had a big smile on her face when she talked to Rob on the phone and after hanging up we talked some more about missing people. I promised her that in the morning I would cut her waffles the way her daddy does and she fell asleep, likely from emotional exhaustion.

I couldn't stop thinking about the sudden emotions the girls displayed last night. I know they were probably brought on by being a bit over tired, but I was still amazed that they were so aware of how and why they were hurting. I hate seeing them hurting but at the same time I am pleased that they know how to have those emotions and how to work through them.

thankful for thanksgiving

We had much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. We were...

...thankful for a healthy family, with nobody getting sick over the long weekend.

...thankful for nice weather to make the drive to Fargo last Wednesday

...thankful for nice weather (on Wed.), which allowed the girls to play at the park. in Fargo. in November.

...thankful for adventurous girls who were excited and thrilled to ride the Ferris Wheel at Scheels.

...thankful for grandparents who love to take care of the girls and give Rob and I a break to be by ourselves.

...thankful for good movies (Bond, James Bond)

...thankful for cute winter coats to keep us warm as the temps dropped 30 degrees on Thanksgiving day.

...thankful for polite girls who behaved themselves at the Fargo Country Club for Thanksgiving dinner.

...thankful for Little Pie who provided us with entertainment (and ate her salad and everyone's tomatoes!)

...thankful for Little Bird and her silliness (even though it got a little too silly)

...thankful for a wonderful meal with wonderful leftovers

...thankful for two girls who can keep themselves busy while all the men in the family watch football ALL day

...thankful for more family time on Friday

...thankful for grandparents who take the girls for the afternoon while Rob and I got lunch and shopped

...thankful for grandparents who want to show off their grandkids

...thankful for girls who are easy going and had a blast meeting Gramma's friends and their grandkids

...thankful for girls who enjoyed themselves at the pizza/games restaurant but haven't begged to go back

...thankful for family that enjoys going out to lunch together

...thankful for an easy drive home (and for Rob who always does the driving!)

...thankful for a day at home to get ready for Christmas before Rob left town for the week

(Gramma and Grandpa needed pictures for their Christmas card this year so we grabbed a few shots right before we left town!)