Snow Mania....

We've got snow mania here. Another storm system is headed our way. Keep your fingers crossed. We're hoping for LOTS more snow. We need an igloo in our yard this weekend. Will keep you posted.

Clementine Part 2

Yes, it is possible to have too many oranges...Whew.
From now on, Norah is limited to one clementine at snack time only.

Clementine

I'm beginning to think Norah should have been named Clementine. Our crazy little girl LOVES clementine oranges. I think she'd eat the whole crate of oranges in one sitting if I'd let her. Can a kid overdose on oranges?!

We (Lolo and I) have been enjoying the snow. Clementine simply puts up with it....since I think it's important for her to get some fresh air (and acclimate her to the snow). The girls and I were out yesterday afternoon building a "snowmama"....it was supposed to be a snowman but somehow the snowballs that I rolled had parts that made it look like a mama....so we accentuated the positive :-)

Another storm is supposed to roll in tomorrow. HOORAY! Let's hope we get a bunch more so we can build another igloo this weekend. THIS IS MINNESOTA!

Igloo day!

Hooray for snow! In the past couple of years, we've been so disappointed with the lack of snow. This is finally the Minnesota we thought we were moving to! We skipped church this morning to work on a igloo and take the kids out to enjoy the beautiful weather and heavenly snow. Lolo loves snow. She gets giddy just thinking about it. Norah, however, seems to require convincing that snow is fun. We can just see Lolo becoming an Arctic explorer and Norah moving to the Caribbean at the first opportunity.

Skijoring with Tico

Our neighbors Mike, Nancy, Eileen and Julia came by yesterday afternoon with their dog Tico. Tico is in training for skijoring....when he gets the hang of things....he'll pull Nancy as she skis. Very cool. At one point, we had joked about teaching Verbi how to skijor with the kids.
Here's a video of Tico pulling Lolo on a sled behind him.

Hooray for snow!

It's finally snowing....if things keep up, Jim and Lolo will head over to Eileen and Julia's house tomorrow to work on an igloo. Keep your fingers crossed.

No "Snow" Day

We're at home today. Just waiting for this supposedly whopper of a storm to hit us. So far, we've been less than impressed. It's just been a dusting of snow...mostly freezing rain and sleet.... In the meantime, a Lolo video follows:

Tantrums

Norah is fully entrenched in the world of temper tantrums. It's going to be rough going at our house for a while for Norah. Unfortunately for her, Jim and I are fairly well-versed in tantrums thanks to Lolo. But Norah takes it up several notches from Lolo....for instance, this morning we had waffles with bananas and blueberries.....Norah only wanted to eat blueberries. So, she polished off her share and started to demand everyone else's berries....refusing to eat anything else (I guess that may be a reason why she's 7th percentile). You should have seen the fury and free-flowing waterworks that erupted when she didn't get any more!
All the people who write childrearing books have never had a kid like Norah....we can only pray that this determination and strong-will gets channeled in a positive manner.

Mystery solved!

I finally figured out why Lolo started called Baby Emily "E116"....turns out, that's how you spell Emily. E-1-1-6. Duh.
Yep. We often work on numbers and the alphabet in the afternoons when Norah is down for her nap, but it seems we have some more work to do.

Norah's dry winter skin

Remember how Norah had really dry skin before we went to Bonaire? Well, when we got to Bonaire, her skin cleared up in a matter of days. Clearly, it was the humidity (or lack thereof) that has been causing her problems. When we came back to MN, her skin dried up in a matter of days and we were back to using the steroid creams. But then, we ended up getting a whole house humidifier installed....you wouldn't believe the difference it has made....Norah's skin is back to normal! Hooray! I wish we had thought of this solution sooner.

Princess or Court Jester?

We can't seem to decide if Norah is our princess or court jester. Lolo usually wears the tiara, but when she's off at school, Norah takes it as her golden opportunity to wear the "crown" and sit on her throne.

Trouble at Lifetime

Our Norah caused a bit of trouble at Lifetime today. When the kids get checked in, the child care workers print out stickers with the kid's & mom's names....typically, with younger kids, the stickers go on their backs (so they won't take off their own sticker). Today, Norah decided to "help" all of the kids and take off everyone's sticker. Oops. Luckily, the lady working at the center has been there a while and knew all the kids. Next time, we're going to teach Norah to take the stickers off and put them back on different kids and see what happens!

Feels like Spring in MN

We had a gorgeous spring-like day today. Sunshine and warm. We went out for a "walk" with Willem, his brother and his mom. Lolo and Willem were so excited to be outside enjoying the weather....they were practically rolling in the slush and mud. Unfortunately, it got to be a fairly messy endeavor and we really didn't make it too far on our "walk"....we got about 2 doors down from our house. Hopefully, we'll get farther tomorrow.

Getting married

Lolo is really into getting married these days. Today she wanted to get married again. We said "Lolo, you married PoPo the day before yesterday and mama yesterday...how many times can a girl get married?" Lolo replied, "Just once a day."

Swim class update

A video from this morning's swim class. Lolo has really improved in the last couple of weeks.

A strong daddy

It's good to have a strong daddy....

Asking mama

PoPo was getting ready to go to the airport this morning. Lolo asked her why she had to go when PoPo's mama said it was ok for her to stay forever. PoPo said she had to go home to do work. Lolo said "Why you have to work PoPo? Just ask your mama to do it." Life is pretty good when you're three....all you have to do is ask your mama.
In other news, the girls have really been interested in playing Wizard of Oz dress up lately. Just about every day, Lolo is dressed up as the Good Witch (aka her princess/fairy costume) and Norah, by default, ends up as Dorothy. Lolo tried to get Norah to dress up as the Wicked Witch but Norah refused to Lolo's dismay. Finally, tonight, Lolo decided to dress up at the Wicked Witch....quickly, Norah ran to pick up the discarded Good Witch costume and came to me with the articles for me to dress her up. For being so tiny, that kid can move like the wind....and boy, was she ever tickled to finally get to wear that costume. I'm going to have to try to get pictures of the kids in costume one day. It's a real sight to see.

Video

Thanks to Susan, I've got the video up. Take a look at the post below to see Lolo's pool flip.

Oops on the video

We've encountered a problem with the video. Will try to work things out soon. Stay tuned for Lolo's flip.

Lolo flips in the pool

One afternoon in Bonaire, Lolo and I were messing around in the pool. She would do something and say to me "can you do that?" and I would have to try to replicate it. Then, I decided to do a flip in the water. Lolo thought it was pretty cool. She decided she could do it too. I love how she thinks she can do everything!
Video below. We're trying something new...google video....Take a look...

Finally, a Bonaire trip report

It appears we timed things well for our trip....subzero temps in the Twin Cities and not much snow to speak of....when that happens, it's always nice to head south....WAY south. We took a late friday evening flight out of St Paul. Got into Houston around 11pm where we met up with Ben, Susan, and Emily. Unfortunately, our flight out of Houston was delayed for a bit...didn't leave until after 1am. At the time of booking, it seemed like a good idea to take evening flights...theoretically, the girls would sleep on the flight and arrive not as tired as normal. As with anything in life, things don't always turn out as planned. We arrived in Bonaire about 7:30am. Got our rental van (without seatbelts....who would have thought to ask if a van would have seat belts?!) and headed over to the house. Lolo immediately picked out "her" room, complete with twin beds and teddy bears! After settling in, the girls hit the pool in the afternoon. We discovered that Norah is perhaps more of a water bug than her sister....this crazy girl wouldn't stay in the shallow water, she would insist upon crawling/climbing into the "deep" end of the pool....at the beach, our crazy kid would walk/crawl into the water until it went over her head. Fearless and crazy. That's our Norah.
Via the internet, we found a local dive shop - Tropical Divers Bonaire. I took a Peak Performance Buoyancy class from them. And Jim and I took the Night Diver Specialty course from them. Unfortunately, on our last night dive, I stepped on a sea urchin (which went through my dive boot). Anyway, given that I had to pick spiny needles out of my boot and foot, we were unable to complete the last night dive. Long story short....we tried to reach the folks at the dive shop. They were unresponsive and not at the shop very often...mostly at the bar next door. Upon coming home, we find out that they aren't going to certify us for either class because we didn't fill out the appropriate paperwork (which I had asked them about earlier in the week but they weren't inclined to help us with at the time). DO NOT use this dive shop if you are ever in Bonaire. There are simply too many choices out there to waste your time with this shop. We'll be posting more on various other sites about our miserable experience with them - to help others avoid the bad "service".
But not to dwell on an icky topic.
Bonaire was great. We had a wonderful cook. Great weather. Diving was spectacular (despite the unfortunate sea urchin incident). The girls loved the beach and pool. And most of all, we're all CRAZY about Baby Emily....ok, we enjoyed catching up with her parents too, but E116 was the main draw ;-)
If anyone is up for a trip to Bonaire, let us know....we're itching (literally, the mosquitos got a little nuts with the girls....you should see Lolo's legs) to get back there.
Oh. Another reason to go back....Lolo lost her beloved woobie at the Bonaire airport when we were returning home. YIKES! We about had a major meltdown tragedy but mom was able to find a special "pink flower & butterfly woobie made just for special three year olds" once we got home. Whew. (Can't believe we got away with that one!) Plus, our girls love "dusty" roads. We took a dusty, potholed dirt road to Lac Cai. Lolo and Norah loved the whole thing....all the bumps and dust....the girls couldn't get enough. We were coming home from dinner tonight and Lolo was asking if we could go drive on a "dusty" road.
My trip photos aren't nearly as great as Susan's...so I would direct you to E116's blog for photos and additional accounts of the trip.

Happy Chinese New Year!

We celebrated Chinese New Year today with PoPo. Unfortunately, Jim's on call and missed the festivities. Both girls ate exceptionally well tonight....Norah really enjoyed the steamed oysters.....it's hard to believe she's so close to being classified as "failure to thrive" - especially if you've had the opportunity to see the child eat.
Lolo has decided she really likes having PoPo here and has asked PoPo to live with us forever. But first she said "PoPo, you have to ask your mom and dad if it's ok." (When she has friends over and she wants them to stay for dinner, I always say we have to ask their mom and dad first.). So, we called Lolo's great-grandmother this morning to ask for permission for PoPo to stay at our house forever :-)

15 month "well child" visit

I took Norah in for her 15 month well child visit to the pediatrician this morning. Apparently I misread the growth charts last time. Our Norah is dropping on the charts....she's actually in the 7th percentile for her height; 12th percentile for her weight; and 77th percentile for her head. I guess that's why Norah and Emily are about the same size.
So the pediatrician is checking her out and asks how long Norah has been sick (since I didn't mention anything to him....though she's been irritable since we got home). Turns out, our Norah has an ear infection (which is why she's picked a sore spot on her right ear). Oops. My bad.
On a bright note...Norah got two shots this morning and didn't make a peep! That's my brave girl!

E116

E116's mom is doing a much better job of getting posts about Bonaire up on her blog than me. Take a look at Miss E's blog for some updates until I get my act together.

Norah's clothes

Lolo and PoPo were looking at photos of Lolo when she was a baby. Lolo commented "Hey, I'm wearing Norah's clothes!"

Beach day photos from Lac Cai

More pool pictures

Check out Emily in Dadabooboo's Jamaican car.

A few pics from Bonaire

From our days by the pool....we can't seem to keep either girl out of the water....Norah seems drawn to water even more than Lolo (if you can believe that to be possible).

One more pic

Just one more pic tonight and then a trip report to follow perhaps tomorrow.

Back from Bonaire

We're back from Bonaire and already plotting our next trip back. Usually, we try to stick to a "no repeat" policy, in light of the fact that there are so many places in this world we haven't explored. However, Bonaire is a worthy exception.

A picture of our favorite girls....we miss Emily (aka "E116"...more on that in our trip report to follow). And for the record, her blog just doesn't come close to showing how cute she is in person. She's an absolute doll and we're all completely head over heels in love with her (although Norah and Emily did have some baby rivalry going).

Packing up the kitchen sink

Last night, Jim and I were doing a final check of our luggage. I checked to see what toys Lolo put in her packpack. It was stuffed and very heavy. Upon closer examination, we find that Lolo has packed up a couple of potato heads (complete with accessories), dolls, puppets, and the kitchen sink from her dollhouse. Yep, time to pack up everything including the kitchen sink.
This morning, Lolo and I are manicured and ready to go. A last minute run to Walgreens is on tap for today and then we're ready to head out tonight. Let's hope the girls do well on the redeye. It's a true experiment.

Gearing up

We actually have started packing for our trip. Amazing. Jim's on call tonight so we wanted to get a head start on things. Lolo saw the bags in the living room...she's excitedly planning what toys she needs to put in her backpack. And she was telling Norah this morning that Norah needs to figure out what toys she wants to put in her own packpack and how mom puts snacks in their packpacks for trips. It's interested to see how Lolo knows the travel drill. Last night, she was telling Jim about how she's really looking forward to watching Nemo on the jetplane with him.
In unrelated news, Norah's rash on her neck is starting to look much better....unfortunately, it has traveled down to her chest and tummy. Hopefully, things will normalize in the next few days.