San Diego

We're headed out to San Diego for a week to spend time with Meg & Sam. Will try to update from there but computer time may be a little spotty.

Computer

In case you can't tell....we got the computer back and are up and running again.

School bus

The girls have been riding their school bus (courtesy of Ben, Susan & Emily) on a daily basis. Norah cracks me up. She loves to drive. And both girls love to pretend that they are going to kindergarten!

Ski day

Yesterday, Lolo and I hit the sledding hill with a group of our neighbors and their kids. Wish I had thought to pack my camera. I've been a little out of sorts since our computer (along with my calendar) went down. Norah stayed home and napped and napped and napped. She slept a good 4 hours+. That seemed to do the trick because she's back to her regular self today (still coughing and runny nose but that's just standard stuff)...the key is that her breathing is on track.
Today, Lolo and I had a ski day. We took a break from regular wednesday skiing session because I figured it would be too busy at the slopes. I figured thursday morning would be a little less crowded. Perhaps it was, I'm not sure. Much busier than our standard wednesday morning sessions. Lolo was not pleased about having to wait in line. We managed to talk our neighbors into meeting us on the hill. However, our ski demon didn't want to stay with her friends on the bunny slope for very long...she wanted to ride the chair lift and ski "through the forest". She just makes me smile.
However, I'm discovering that we may need to work on keeping her healthy ego in check.....as we're skiing along, she said to me "Mom, people just like to take pictures of me skiing."

Christmas Morning

Cowgirls

From the other night....

Backlog of posts

I've been rather delinquent in posting....here are a couple of pictures from PoPo's birthday weekend. PoPo came to spend her birthday with us. The girls helped make her birthday cake.

Merry Christmas

A very Merry Christmas to everyone. It was a gorgeous day....beautiful snow. It was our first true white christmas.
It was an adventure at our home today. The girls still aren't real clear on the concept of Christmas as it relates to presents....for that, I'm truly thankful. Lolo opened one present this morning and was tickled pink. She then asked a bit later, "Mama, can I open one more?" So sweet.
Norah is still having troubles. She has basically felt crummy for several days now. Still running a fever, cough, runny nose. Very mommy-ish. On the bright side, her asthma is controlled so far. Although, she is having a tough time sleeping tonight.
FYI - We're also having computer issues. Our primary computer has shut down....got a message about the CPU overheating and needing to service it right away. Doesn't sound good. Anyway...no pictures tonight.

Weekend update

We're definitely having a white christmas here. It's been snowing a good part of the day.
So far, Norah's asthma has been relatively under control. We've had to use albuterol a few times a day on top of the steroids, but thankfully, so far, so good. I'm hopeful that she's going to pull through this....but things can change very quickly with Norah, so we're keeping a watchful eye.
YaYa is here. And Lolo is tickled pink at being his helper. He took apart our sink drain this evening right before dinner and Lolo refused to come to dinner until YaYa was done.
Speaking of Lolo...this afternoon when YaYa and Norah were taking naps....Lolo and I worked on letters and drawing and then 4 games of Hi Ho Cherry O (I lost every single game). And then we laid down to take a brief quiet time. When Norah woke up, I got up to get her and left Lolo downstairs resting. When I came back downstairs with Norah, Lolo was tantruming because "You NEVER play with me!" WHAT?!?!?! Drawing and 4 games of Hi Ho Cherry O and I NEVER play with her? Sometimes her tantrums stun me. I just didn't see that one coming.

Here we go

Norah has Lolo's cough this morning. She's also started wheezing. Jim and I are planning on being aggressive in treatment and hopefully Norah will stay out of the hospital this round. On the bright side, YaYa is here for Christmas.

Skis for Norah

We got Norah's skis and new boots today. The boots are a little big, but she'll grow into them by next year. Norah skied on the carpet via the ski bar today and seemingly enjoyed it. Already, I can tell a huge difference with this new set up. We've set Norah's boots under the tree next to her dad's new boots and her skis next to her dad's new skis. I think she's going to have a much better time in the snow now that we've got the gear situation squared away.

Lolo is still coughing and running a low grade fever tonight. (You can probably tell that she's a little pink in the picture above). Hopefully, today was the worst of it and things will start improving. Please keep our girls in your prayers. We need Norah to stay out of the hospital.

Update

Lolo has caught some sort of virus from school. She's home today with a cough and running a low grade fever. She's still up for playing but obviously, things are not perfect....No appetite for strawberries and cream this morning.
I'm afraid Norah is next. Let's pray Norah stays out of the hospital this round.

Ride 'em Cowgirls!

Yep. Back in our jammies. A little late night ride before bedtime.

Ski update

Lolo's ski leash is officially retired. We're passing the leash on to Norah (once she gets big enough). Lolo is turning downhill, going around obstacle courses (beautiful, beautiful turns), and skied down from the top of the hill all by herself. I'm just flabbergasted that she has improved this fast. Now, there's no question in my mind that she'll be skiing moguls in 2008. I'm going to try to remember to bring the camera on our next wednesday outing.

Pants

How does this happen?!
As Lolo is getting dressed this morning, we realize that just about every pair of pants she owns has suddenly gotten too short. It's like she grew overnight.

Who do I have a soft spot for?

I took a quick break from work this afternoon because I heard Norah crying....went downstairs to see what was going on. Long story short...I end up staying downstairs carrying my baby girl for much more time than originally intended.
As I'm snuggling with Norah, I ask her "who can always get Mama to do what they want her to do?" Norah looks up at me with tears still on her chubby cheeks and replies "Daddy."

Santa

I took the girls see the holiday display that Macy's puts on in their auditorium every year (this year, it was the Nutcracker...neither girl knows the story but they enjoyed seeing all the characters). Then, we made a stop to visit with Santa. Norah was very serious during their encounter. I'm just thankful she didn't cry.

Lolo was very curious. She kept asking if he was the real Santa. And then she said we had to get busy and make chocolate chip cookies because Santa said that was his favorite cookie. I asked Lolo what she told Santa she wanted for Christmas. She said to me (very seriously), "Mom, it's a secret." Hmmm. Doesn't bode well for Lolo....I don't think she's going to get what she asked Santa for....

Working it

Norah's constantly working it. You can just see the wheels turning in her brain. This morning, we were eating waffles. Norah loves to just basically eat butter. She finished the butter off of her waffle. (We've had conversations about how you can't just eat butter. Butter has to be ON something like bread or waffles or pancakes, etc.)
Norah looked sweetly at her dad, whispered "I love you. I love you." And proceeds to pluck the butter off of his waffle, place what used to be Jim's butter on her waffle, and immediately proceeds to scarf up the butter.

Rope Tow

Here's Lolo riding the rope tow. Already the relaxed expert, she even has time to wave to her adoring fans.

Ski racer

Check out this amazing racer. She's off the leash (except for steeper inclines), is stem turning, and has figured out how to stop at the bottom of the hill (without resorting to a crash)....She heads to the top of the hill, picks the run she wants, and comes down the hill with the biggest grin on the planet.

Ski day

Video from this morning...Watch our girl go...I'm just barely checking her speed with the leash. Otherwise, it's all Lolo. We actually skied a bit today without the leash....but I can't video at that time....Lolo keeps me busy.
I'll try to take some more video when Jim skis with us and Norah is with Nancy. Our Norah has had a little trouble on skis. She's so little it has been difficult to get her outfitted properly. They just don't make skis and boots for kids who are Norah's size. We tried taking her today, but she just wasn't having any fun.

God's girl

I'm giving Norah a bath tonight and ask her "How'd you get so pretty? Are you mom's girl or dad's girl?" Norah replies "God's girl."
From the mouth of babes :-)

Tree Trimming

It's been a busy few days. Our tree is finally up and decorated. The girls each made a star for the tree (Lolo's star is on top and Norah's star is right underneath). Lolo made the garland and we all worked on the gingerbread ornaments.

Our tree was frozen solid when we got it home. The girls were extremely disappointed that we couldn't decorate right away. We had to wait overnight for the tree to thaw out completely. In any event, I told the girls we could trim the tree first thing in the morning as soon as Jim got up. (That's why we're still in our jammies, Vicki...yes, the girls and I do eventually get into regular clothes at some point every day). Lolo is now in charge of checking on the tree every morning to make sure it has water (so our tree doesn't die).

Any way, Jim and I took a quick evening getaway....Nancy came over and stayed with the girls for an evening so we could sneak away and stay at a bed and breakfast. It's hard to believe that it took over 2 years for us to get away for one evening. It was our first night away from Norah. When we checked in to the b&b, it felt really odd to me - WAY too quiet. I asked Jim "Does it feel a little strange to you that we don't hear anyone running around screaming right now?" I'm not sure that was a normal reaction. We should probably try to get out more without the kids.

Finally, below is a video of our tree trimming festivities....Norah is really getting into Christmas (and the ornaments). Our curly haired mousling has nibbled on almost every ornament she can reach.

Christmas trees

We're heading out today to pick out a tree. Lolo wanted a tree right after Thanksgiving because she saw people putting them up. I told her that we couldn't get one that early because it might die before Christmas (still about 5 weeks away at the time) so we would have to wait. This past week, Lolo comes back from preschool and said her friends Shannon & Caitlin already had Christmas trees. She proudly reported, "I told them their trees would die. Right mom?" Oops. My bad.

Christmas cookies

We worked hard on cookies yesterday...although I'm afraid the girls ate more decorations and

icing than went on the cookies.

Halloween in December

The girls can't seem to get enough of their costumes...I felt a little strange letting them wear their costumes all day yesterday; but, on the bright side, we are certainly getting a lot more wear out of those costumes than I ever thought we would.

Things you shouldn't have to say, but do...

During a playdate with Willem, I found myself saying "Lolo, please don't put your sister in a trash can."

Ski Day

Lolo and I are going to be spending special time together this winter skiing. It's my goal to get her out on the slopes at least once a week. We had an unbelieveably good time today. She was trying to talk me into letting her ski without the leash, but gee...That little girl is like a rocket down the slopes. Anyway, she wore the leash and we still had a great time. I wish you could have seen her out there. And then to add to the excitement of the day...there was a man dressed up like Santa running the lift. Whoa. You should have seen her face when Santa commented on her great skiing. So we skied for an hour at Buck Hill until Lolo's feet got cold. Then we climbed into the car and warmed up with a thermos of hot chocolate.
I'm going to try to bring the camera next time (weather dependent of course).

More Gingerbread Houses

Norah worked on her house yesterday and both girls helped me work on mine....it was a big sugar high day. As Jim commented when he got home....we don't even have this much candy in the house over Halloween. Next project for later this week....gingerbread ornaments for the christmas tree and construction paper garlands.

One more sledding picture

Big day for Lolo

Lolo had a BIG day today. She has officially moved on to the next level of her swim class. I was incredibly impressed that she passed the class. I kind of figured she'd have at least another session or two before she moved into the next class.

And then, she came home and worked on her gingerbread house all afternoon. It's her best one yet. Notice how she's got a front door and a back door. And how her marshmallow rope chimney has "smoke" (a.k.a. black gumdrop) coming out. Norah's house is next.

Just one more tonight

To Do List and Priorities

I was just re-reading yesterday's post. Yes I was whining about not having enough time to do things on my list. And yes, instead of working on my to do list....I went sledding with the girls. And then we had hot chocolate to warm up. It's all about priorities :-)

Sledding

A few more pictures from this afternoon....we obviously went sledding with Willem & Michael (and their parents). Lolo has always loved snow and had a great time. More amazingly, Norah really enjoyed it. "More! More!" She kept wanting to go down the hill...screaming with delight when we would go fast. Towards the end of the sledding expedition, she picked up "Yahoo!" and would say it as we rode down the hill.

A note about the Norah pics...she would lay back in the sled and I'd pull her back up the hill. Norah liked to pretend she was sleeping.

Snow Day!

Our first real snow day of the season...more photos to come later on tonight when the girls are down.

Holiday overload

Yes, it's only December 1 but I'm already feeling the pressures of the holidays. Nope, the gingerbread houses are not going to be done tomorrow. I didn't get around to making the royal icing and when I do, the houses have to set overnight. Plus, I've still got cookies to bake, decorations and projects for the girls, shopping, christmas cards, etc.
On a rather sad (for me) note....our Norah is growing up way too fast for my liking. In a few short weeks, she's started talking nonstop....given up the sippy cup (i.e., refuses to drink out of anything with a lid unless there is a straw in it)...refuses to sit on her special potty and insists upon sitting on the big potty....takes any chance she gets to sit in Lolo's booster instead of her own high chair....and has developed this amazing knack for playing dominos. Who is this amazing "big" kid?!