Storm

We're getting a whopper of a storm. Started snowing around noon. We've got at least 5 inches already. It's going to be a good one. Jim was stuck in a parking garage this afternoon. Ended up having to leave his car there and ran to the next hospital. Thank goodness he's been running on the treadmill lately.
Heading out tomorrow morning for Salt Lake City. Seems we always miss the great storms.

My sweet tumbler

Here's my sweet tumbler right before tumbling class today. Note Norah's new 'do...she was very specific about the placement of her sprouts this morning.

Spring is coming....Ugh

We can tell that spring is on its way. How? It's getting lighter earlier. And my littlest alarm clock has been creeping into our bed earlier and earlier every morning. By 7am we've already snuggled in my bed and gotten dressed....and this morning, the girls were already having breakfast. Ugh.
Winter in Minnesota is so nice. It gets dark early....it stays dark in the morning. I get to sleep. Unfortunately this flip-flops in the summer and we pay for it dearly. The girls wake up with the birds and don't want to go to sleep while it's still light. I can't even imagine what it would be like to live even farther north.

A little bedtime serenade

Minny Minny Miney Mo

Here's a snippet of our day courtesy of Norah to Lolo:

"Minney minney miney mo. My mama say to pick the very best one and that is YOU!"

A little tweaking

Our blog was looking a little unwieldy....frankly, I've been blogging about my "presents from God" far longer than I ever anticipated....kind of figured it to be a year long project and, well, here we are...three plus years later.
So, a little minor tweaking to the format to clean things up a bit.
Speaking of my two precious presents....Norah's running a slight fever and has caught Lolo's cough. Just in time for our trip to Utah.

Jam packed day

Sometimes I'm amazed at how much activity we can pack into one day. We got off to a slow start...a leisurely jammie breakfast and a little playtime before church. Then, church, a quick post-church lunch, a tour through the grocery store, back home for a breathing treatment, outside for some playtime, and sledding. Then, while we were out, we visited with neighbors (ended up having a playdate)....made rice krispie treats, went back out for a sled ride to deliver treats to a neighbor, back home for dinner, bathtime, stories, and (whew) finally bedtime. I'm kind of thinking about an early bedtime for me too. Jim's still on call....we hope to see him sometime tomorrow.

Still winter

Yep. It's still winter....We've warmed up with hot chocolate and lunch. After Norah's breathing treatment, it will be time for some board games.

Government classification labels

So I'm filling out Lolo's kindergarten enrollment forms last night....got pretty perturbed by the question over her "race/ethnicity". As if it's anyone's business....and then there's the fact that they don't fit any of the official boxes to be checked...so, after some thinking, I've decided, if it's necessary to check the box, we're going to have the girls check the box "Other" and have the blank filled in as "Child of God."

Early to bed

Don't know if you noticed, but I started blogging quite early tonight. The girls went down early. Norah was rubbing her eyes all afternoon but refused a quiet time. Lolo has got a horrendous cough and just seems a little run down. We're nervously awaiting when Norah is going to catch this cough...we're predicting she'll get it right before we head out to Utah next week....
Speaking of Utah, we're heading out next friday, Feb 27 for a week of skiing. Yahoo!

From monday's swim class

Here's a belated Norah video from monday's swim class....she spots me making a movie and decides to swim over while looking through her "steering wheel". What a ham.

I've been slightly frustrated with Norah's swimming...seems like she's regressing during class. There's a little boy in her class (about her size) who is no where near the swimmer Norah is....however, she's decided that she's only going to do what he does. Boy, that just burns my butt. I had a talk with her swim teacher afterwards.

Incoming Teeth

Those two bottom teeth are making their way in....It's so strange seeing my little girl with these two enormous teeth coming in.

Zookeeper In Training

Norah is signed up for classes at the local zoo. This week's class was about being a zookeeper....she's been very excited about penguins ever since.

Playdate

I can't believe I've been such a blogging slacker this week. Every evening, I sat down with the intention to blog and got completely sidetracked. Anyway, tonight is my night to make up for it. (Confession : Jim's on call and won't be back until late - so I'm left here to entertain myself since the kidlets are in bed).

On monday, we had a playdate. Funny story to it. I get a call last week from Lolo's friends dad. He said "Jenna came home really excited about a playdate with Lolo." Apparently, the girls worked out between themselves that they were going to have a playdate. Only thing is....Lolo forgot to tell me about it. Awkward. I tried a graceful recovery...so, as you can see...we did actually have a playdate on monday. The girls had a GREAT time...it was a princess afternoon. We made crowns, dressed up, had snacks, drove a school bus....what more could a little girl ask for?

Kisses

Our Norah Katie just doesn't like to be kissed or give kisses. Have you ever heard of such a thing?!?
It's particularly shocking in our family. Jim and I have been kissing her and then we "take it back"...my version of sneaking in a few more under-the-radar kisses on her sweet cheeks. In recent months, Norah has decided she'd rather get "squishes" instead of "kisses"....so Jim and I will just squish her (and give the kisses to Lolo).
When Sam left today, he gave Lolo a kiss and then leaned over to kiss Norah. Oh that girl just HOWLED!!! Should have squished her.

Rainbow arms and popcorn kicks

Here's Lolo working on her rainbow arms and popcorn kicks (aka...freestyle stroke). Seems like movie day today, doesn't it?

Family ski outing

This is really heartwarming to me...the four of us on the slopes...skiing together as a family. Didn't take as many years as I had originally thought that it would. Of course, Jim has to really work at keeping Norah from going into the trees. And my zippy ski racer just zooms by the three of us....

Last night, as we're watching the videos Lolo complains about my film-making skills...apparently, she wasn't really pleased that I didn't keep up with her and give her more camera time. I'm really struggling with holding the camera steady and skiing at the same time when she picks up the speed. Maybe it's time to consider a helmet cam for next year.

Smoked by a five year old

Here's me getting smoked by Lolo. She's the little pink bullet that keeps getting smaller and smaller. I thought that it would be a couple more years before I had to focus on keeping up. Lolo keeps surprising me. I love her spirit. She's got a real passion for being zippy!

Lolo wanted to go down a black diamond with Jim (and, of course, he said yes). Usually, she turns. However, this time, she decided to straight-line it and really scared herself (and Jim). Luckily, she bailed out and crashed before she got hurt. After that scare, Lolo decided she wanted to ski with Mom for the rest of the day. And after I heard that story, Lolo and I worked a lot more on turning, turning, turning....

A lolobye

A chocolate inspired Lolo-bye

Back from Wisconsin

We're back from our weekend in Wisconsin. And finally a few pictures for your viewing pleasure. We went skiing on saturday. The girls were UNBELIEVEABLE. We couldn't believe their stamina and attitude. We skiied from a little after 10am, took a break for lunch, and then skied until about 3:30. Norah collapsed into a little heap at the end of the day. Actually, we thought she might have been falling asleep on the last run down. Her big helmet noggin kept bobbing to the side like she was napping. Probably the only kid to ever have slept while skiing down a run.

Weekend plans

We're heading out to Wisconsin this afternoon. Of course, I haven't packed anything yet so our departure time is clearly dependent upon me (and here I am blogging instead). Will be back on sunday.
In other news...Lolo got in on the lottery and will be enrolled at the Chinese immersion school in the fall. I haven't told her yet. I think she's going to be extremely disappointed. This is one of those "parenting" things that I don't like at all....making the decision to have Lolo do something that will have lasting benefits but it's something that she just does not want to do.

Early *temporary* spring

It feels like an early spring this week. We're having what's probably an early spring thaw. Our backyard and driveway look like a giant mudpit. The snow is melting and it seems like a stream of mud in places. Ick.
Unfortunately, with this weather....no skiing and no ice skating. I'm amazed that it's gone from "too cold to play outside" to being too warm to do the sort of playing we'd like to do.
Sam will be here visiting for a few days and we're planning on going to Eileen & Julia's cabin this weekend. Had hoped to ice fish, drive across the lake, and ski but I don't know if it's gotten too warm for that.

Kindergarten update

It's been very busy here. On saturday, we went skating and then took the girls to visit a chinese immersion school. Lolo had decided even before she went that she was NOT going to like this school. The teachers were so engaging. You could tell Lolo was trying her best not to smile and like it. Norah, however, LOVED it. She said "I want to go to that school!" Lolo said, "Well you can go to that kindergarten when it's your turn." Hmmm. We find out on Thursday night if she gets in or if she's on the wait list.

Weekly update

What a crazy week we've had! Our furnace went out on us this week. Luckily, our temps have been relatively warmer and it's not subzero outside. We had to make do with space heaters for a couple of nights before we could get the parts to get things repaired. But all is back to normal now.
Lolo and I went to visit another kindergarten today and we both LOVED it. The drawback is that it's a private school and has associated tuition. Another kindergarten visit tomorrow. Will keep everyone posted.

Quiet times

It looks like quiet times have gone by the wayside in our house. Norah's been plugging along without a nap for the past several afternoons and done great! My babydoll is growing up too. Now, if we could just get her interested in sitting on the potty consistently!

Kindergarten tours

Lolo and I attended her first "kindergarten roundup" today at our church's school. Poor Lolo, I can tell kindergarten is going to be a tough transition no matter where we go. It was hard to separate her from clinging to my arm and/or leg. Of course, by the time we came home, my sunny girl was all smiles and declared that she really liked the kindergarten we visited and that's where she wants to go!
We've got another visit to the immersion school on saturday. Hopefully, she'll have a great reaction to that one too (especially since that's the parent's first choice). I just found out they've already got more student applications than spots, so we're planning on attending the lottery next week.
Plus, I found out her good friends from Country Day are going to a school I hadn't really considered so I'm planning on making a visit to the school in the next week or so to check it out and have it as a back up. Just in case we don't get in the immersion program.