Mish Mash

The kids and I made origami fry pods (directions here) to hold our Five in a Row activities for Grandfather's Journey. I just called the falafel "nuggets", but the kids kept calling them "chicken nuggets". They were delicious.



We went to the tropical rainforest exhibit at Como Zoo on Wednesday with some friends. It was great to be in a seriously warm environment and the kids loved seeing all the animals and plants. Here they are looking at an anaconda snake.



Watching the leaf cutting ants doing their work.



See the sloth?



Lunch time for the fish. We got to see them eat all sorts of different kinds of food--plantains, algae cubes, and other fish.



Off to the play area.



You could make it rain at this display.



The koi ponds held their attention for quite a while.



Last Saturday we went to a birthday party for the kids' friends at a bouncy house indoor play area. The kids (and us!) were wiped out afterwards.







My mom and dad hosted a birthday party for Steve and I on Sunday.







I still love pink cake. No wonder D is so in love with the color. Steve got his favorite, chocolate peanut butter ice cream (he's not so much into cake). Do I really look like that when I'm blowing out my candles?



Our attempt at an impromptu family photo.



This one goes into the "I don't get it" category. D had some mustard on her plate to dip her sandwich in for lunch. She requested more mustard to dip her banana slices in. Yuck-ola. She ate them all that way. This from the girl who refused to eat one little piece of eggplant (I tried to pump up it's lovely purple-esque quality) and chewed it all the way to Awana last Wednesday. (I know my mom and sister are laughing now...let's just say a similar food chewing incident involving me and some meat happened many years ago).



We had D's annual check-up with her doctor at Gillette Children's Hospital for her hips on Monday, January 31st. When she was about 18 months old, she had a spica cast on from her armpits to ankles to correct hip dysplasia that was diagnosed at about 17 months. Every year when we go back to visit the doctor, he says things are looking good, but that she will never have normal hips since she was diagnosed at over 1 year of age. This time, though, he said her hips looked about as good as you could expect for when she was diagnosed and the degree of hip dysplasia she had. In fact, he said he didn't forsee her needing surgery to correct the hips (which was always something he said she still might need at her other visits) and that we can come back for our next appointment in two years. What wonderful news! Here is a flashback picture of D in her cast.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

D and M love playing Beauty and the Beast. Usually M is the beast, but today this was their version of dressing him up to be a prince.



We went ice skating again on Sunday. Even though it's frigidly cold out, the kids need to get outside and play. And they love it. I am excited for when we don't need an extra 15 mintues in our schedule just to get dressed and out the door. I'm dreaming of days of flip flops and no jackets, mittens, hats, scarves, boots, snowpants, etc., etc., etc.,...





D got her hearing aids last Friday. She loves them (they're pink and purple, what's not to love?) and even got to decorate them with special reusable stickers. She said she can hear better and scored in the normal range on her hearing test. She's been really good about taking good care of them and putting them "to bed" in their special cases at night.



Steve and I have both had recent job changes. He is working a second job a couple of nights a week and I increased my hours by one more hour per day. We are both so happy our workplaces are flexible with our schedules and that we can do this without having the kids in day care. It does make life a little crazier now, but we are adjusting to the schedule.

Steve now spends more time with the kids in the morning while I'm working and is responsible for getting them up, fed, dressed, and all the stuff that goes with getting kids out the door in the morning. He has been very helpful and probably even gets them out the door earlier than I did for their ECFE, speech and MOPS classes. Thanks hubby!

That being said, fashion is the definite casualty of this new schedule. Tuesday I met Steve at M's speech school to pick up D and we headed straight to Target. As I started unbuckling her from her carseat, I noticed for the first time what she was wearing. She had on pink crocs, black tights, a striped t-shirt, and a skirt...okay, it wasn't technically a skirt. It was the slip-like crinoline that goes under one of her dance outfits to make it puffy. Totally see-through. And short. Very short. At least the lady behind us in the checkout line told D that she loved her skirt and thought it made her look like a princess. We usually pick an outfit out the night before to try and prevent such a thing from happening, but D decided to concoct this outfit all on her own. Steve just thought it looked like a regular skirt. I hope he's not saying that when she's 15 and walking out the door in an "interesting" outfit!

Cross Country

Our nephew Rob and his wife Haley came up to the cabin with us this past weekend. We had a great time skiing the trails on our property and then going to a cross county ski party at the neighbor's Sunday evening. Here we all are on our trails Saturday evening.





This was only Haley's second time cross country skiing, and she had never tried downhill skiing before, so we decided to mix the two and try one of the hills on our property. She did great. Oh, and did I mention she's 5 1/2 months pregnant!







The cousins spending time together watching videos on Rob's phone.



More downhill skiing Sunday morning.







Sunday evening the neighbors had their cross country ski trails lined with luminaries. It was a beautiful night to ski and the lights looked awesome.



Cross country of a different type...Haley is in town for the premiere of her movie Welcome to America, 50 States 50 Days, where she crossed the country traveling to all 50 states in 50 days.





Steve and I got to see the film Tuesday at the Heights Theatre. The movie was great and it was fun to get to learn more about Haley plus learn the story of how she and Rob met.





Haley saying a few words before the film began.



This movie definitely gives you the travel bug...hopefully we can turn our idea of driving to Colorado this summer (as opposed to flying) a reality and take our own mini road trip--the only kind you can really do with a 3 year old and (soon to be) 5 year old.

Ice Skating

Steve helped me hang up some family pictures on our wall. Finally...no more blank wall! It looks great. I have some ideas of what to put on either side to fill up the rest of the wall...might be a while before that gets done, though. The blank spots are because the package of frames I bought told me all the sizes that were supposed to be inside...but it wasn't quite right.



We got M some double blades and both kids have been asking to go skating, so we joined up with some friends to go on Saturday, January 8th, one of the coldest days of the year here. Here is Daddy getting D's skates on in the warming house.



M is all bundled up and ready to go with his new skates.



The walkers our friend made helped keep them steady.



Even without the walkers ("skaters"???), M did really well. Those double blades are like magic. And D definitely improved from beginning to end. This was only her second time ever skating.









After skating, M went sledding with our friend Erik, whose kids were skating with us, too.



D played on the playground equipment with her friend.



D and the pattern she made using tangrams as one of our activities after reading The Rag Coat.



Luna got a new litter box delivered to our house, which really means the kids got new toys--boxes. They loved hiding in their with their flashlights and waiting until Mommy or Daddy walks through the door, then jumping out and surprising us.