Merry Christmas 2011!

Extending a very Merry Christmas to you and your family! 

Santa came!

Santa made his appearance overnight; the girls were ecstatic! They opened games, toys, puzzles and more. Sidney's new prized possessions are a double stroller for her dolls along with her gumball machine. We're running out of change already. 

 Regan (let's face it, I am just as excited) loves her new Wii and Just Dance games. However, her face while opening the gift from Sidney is sweet. She had asked for hand sanitizer to hang from her backpack. After opening her present she said "Oh, just what I wanted!". 

Ryan looked at me and said "only your daughter would say that about getting hand sanitizer"!

That's my girl :) 

Sweet Sidney

Last night was the girls' last gymnastics class for this session. Sidney simply adores gymnastics, more so than any activity she's been a part of. She cannot wait to return next session. 

However, last night, she was dragging. Her class ended and as we went to watch the last few minutes of Regan's class, Sidney was not a happy camper. She whined, she complained, nothing was going her way. We were in a side waiting room, though full of other parents, and her whines were escalating. I commented "oh Sidney, I think you're getting tired". She quickly responded, in her adorable 3 year old whine "I'm not tired, I'm just crabby!". 

The roomful of parents erupted with laughter. That's our sweet Sidney! 

Ta-da!

Twas the night before Christmas

Regan wrote a note to Santa tonight and Sidney carefully placed plenty of sweets for the jolly fella

 and he was clearly hungry because he left just a crummy mess on the plate! 

Kindergarten winter party 2011

I do my best to volunteer at Regan's school as often as possible. Even when it means I have to take some time away from work. She squeals with delight when I walk through the door and her friends are so adorable as they yell "Regan's mom is here!". Today was her Winter Party; and without parent involvement, the classroom just couldn't handle the amount of activity. 

She made cookies, played bean bag games...

 M&M bingo and snowman crafts. 

And of course read stories before the bell rang. I'm so fortunate to have spent time with her today; I realize there will come a time when she groans at my presence in her class. 

But until then, I will soak up the love. 

The girls will be viewing these tomorrow....they've always enjoyed watching Santa's messages to them:

Regan:   http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/gHqwPaH830SZlj_dzCQBguQ

Sidney:   http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/gm92PtPFxHEiurYMobopd4w

Sneak peek

Regan is working hard on perfecting a tap dance for the winter show coming up in January....click HERE for a sneak peek of her in action.

Questions

Today, as we talked about friends/family who are expecting babies, Regan asked about the timing of how babies are born "how do they know when to come out?, they don't have calendars in there". Yes, she actually said that. And no, she's not referring to us, there is no baby in my tummy!

And then she asked me this: "mommy, how does the baby get into a mommy's tummy?". 

oh brother....

Como Zoo

Knowing the temps were going to be record highs today, and knowing we hadn't seen the zoo animals in a while, I took the girls over to Como this morning to check things out. We've been to the zoo countless times. And never have we seen the animals so full of energy. Apparently they are just as excited for this gorgeous weather as we are! 

Penguins were swimming around, coming up to the window to say 'hi' and scaring the dickens out of Sidney as she wasn't expecting their faces to hit eye level. 

A big pickle in the polar bear's pool; taken just for Aunt Cindy!

 This guy put on quite a show. He jumped into the water over and over, playing with various toys, pushing them against the glass and jumping on top of them. It was incredible! Click HERE for a video.

 The lions, while calm, were wide awake and Regan commented "he's looking at me mom" and in my head I thought "and thinking you'd be a good lunch!". (yes, I go to the dark place sometimes)

 This guy scared me. He was pacing back and forth, and Regan said he was just "thinking" while he paced, but his roars told me otherwise. I started praying. Seriously. 

The chimps were playing in t-shirts, peek-a-boo, putting them on, taking them off, rolling around as they got caught up in them. Simply adorable.  

The sign of a successful zoo trip: 

Just girls

The girls and I hit up Como (Conservatory AND Zoo) on this glorious 44 degree December day! 

A visit to Santa

We were a little slow on the annual visit to Santa this year. Our week nights are full and our weekends are chaotic. But the girls really wanted to visit Santa, for fear he wouldn't know what to bring them. Oh yea, and then there was the incident where they ventured into our spare bedroom defying my warnings to "not go in there!" and proceeded to raid their Christmas presents. Yes, it happened. At age 3 and 5, they snooped at their Christmas presents, which somehow later disappeared as "Santa came and picked up everything he had dropped off already". So our recent visit with Santa was also to apologize for snooping and beg that he stop back on Christmas because Regan really really really wants a Wii and Sidney is begging for a gumball machine.

Look how cute they sat as they begged the jolly man to please bring back our presents!

Cookie baking

We started the preparations for Santa's cookies this weekend. The girls made cut out cookies, nearly all on their own. It was so much fun to watch them roll, cut and create their delicious treats :)

American Girls

Grandma Sheri promised the girls American Girl Dolls this Christmas. Then she decided it would be fun to take them shopping; fully intending to wrap up the dolls and place them under the tree. That idea doesn't last long with two cute little girls who are very very VERY good at begging and a Grandma who is not so good at standing her ground :)

So tonight we went shopping.

And for Regan, who really has absolutely no interest in shopping, she sure was enjoying herself.

THANK YOU GRANDMA SHERI! The girls are in their glory tonight.

Holidazzle 2011

We brought the girls downtown on Sunday evening to watch the Holidazzle Parade light up the streets. We found a perfect spot on the curb with a light pole behind so the kiddos could hang out and chat before the start of the parade. The balmy 28 degree weather helped draw a full crowd but packing people in like sardines on a street curb creates a bit of a wind barrier.

The girls "ooed" and "ahhed" as each float went past with bright lights and music. And of course they were extra excited to see Santa bring up the rear of the parade!

Welcome home mommy!

I spent 24 hours away from the girls at a "Girls' night" with my college girlfriends. This was a big deal. It was my very first time away from the girls overnight. Regan is nearly 6 and Sidney is 3. I have never been away from them overnight (I did spend 2 nights away from Regan while giving birth to Sidney....but apparently that only counts in my book because everyone told me "that doesn't count").

So I had a fantastic time with some amazing friends shopping, wine tasting, dinner out and a night out.

My homecoming was simply the best! As I worked on opening the door, I could hear screaming inside "mooommmmyyy!" and then I barely made it inside the door and was tackled by these two beauties. Boy did I feel loved :) Regan had tears in her eyes as she climbed up on my lap not wanting to let go.

I love these girls!

Gingerbread house

....err, I mean Rice Krispie house! Regan's been begging to build a gingerbread kit. It's an activity she enjoys so I agreed. But when Sidney picked out a Rice Krispie house, I didn't argue a minute, hoping this is a little more edible.

The girls were so into it!, decorating and chit chatying away the evening.

Regan liked tasting our creations most.

Yep, less than 10 minutes after finishing building their house, the girls devoured what looked good and tossed the remainder.

Disney on Ice with Grandma Jan

What do you buy the grandchildren that have every toy imaginable and then some?...tickets to see Disney on Ice! Thanks Grandma Jan for taking the girls to see all the characters last night. It was Sidney's first experience, and by the look on her face, you can see just how much fun she was having!

Rapunzle stole the show and got a lot of laughs from the audience when she bonked Flynn on the head with her fry pan, just like the movie!

Snacks at intermission are always a must, although I think they might have cost more than the tickets themselves.

All 9 Disney princesses made an appearance at the end of the show, and it made the girls' night. Both of them repeatedly would yell: "mom look!, it's ______". I think Grandma Jan and I had more fun watching Regan and Sidney's expressions than watching the show. A child's excitement is priceless!

And a quiet ride home is worth a million dollars :)

THANKS AGAIN GRANDMA JAN!

IT WAS A GREAT TIME!

A day in the life of an elf 2011

With some great friends, the girls and I ventured downtown to visit Macy's 8th floor display: A Day in the Life of An Elf. Again, as in past years, it was a great experience and keeps the girls in a bit of an awe as they parade through each area, watching what the elves are busy making. I'm sensing their favorite part is the sugary treat at the end:

Or maybe it's the time spent writing a letter to Santa listing all of their wants on Christmas morning!

And mailing it in a special box labeled just for Santa!

Whatever it is, we always have fun (though sometimes posing for pictures is not one of the high points of the evening!).

Happy St. Nicholas' Day!

Today we celebrated St. Nick's day. For those who don't celebrate this day, here's a 2 second background:

Born to a wealthy family in the third century, St. Nick was a kind and generous man known for helping those in distress. After his parent’s death, he used his inheritance to help the less fortunate. He went on to become a priest and the Bishop of Myra. Like many other priests and bishops during the Christian persecution, St. Nick was exiled and imprisoned and later released. After his death on December 6th, 343 A.D., he was named the Patron Saint of Sailors While some complain about the commercialism of the Christmas season, Saint Nicholas Day reminds everyone about the spirit of giving to those less fortunate. He was renowned for secretly giving gifts and placing coins in the shoes of the needy.

At our home, St Nick fills the stockings with goodies and treats. Although the girls still tend to confuse St. Nick and Santa Claus (we're working on this), they seem to enjoy the gifts nonetheless!

Burning off energy

You'd think with the small amount of sleep that at least one tiny family member runs on, we wouldn't need to have days like today to burn off energy. But we do and today we did just that. First it was a trip to a local indoor playland with some friends to run, jump, climb, and slide for close to 3 hours.

And then after lunch and a short nap, we ventured down the street to the local sledding hill. Despite a few snow washes and being tossed from various sleds, both girls had a great time and are ready to head back very soon!

Sidney's short legs got tired after a few attempts at climbing the hill; rightfully so! Instead she found it a perfect way to RIDE up the hill :)

Let's hope that one tiny member of the house finds it necessary to sleep tonight....or we could all be in for a rough Monday!

Snow...to stay.

It snowed this evening, and given the forecast, I'm guessing the white stuff is here to stay. It was a great run at a snowless-winter, though I knew better than to believe something so silly. The girls took advantage of the fluffy snow and went sledding down the neighbors driveway. They giggled the whole way down, it was such a wonderful sound! Oh yea, and Sidney ate all the snow she could before Sophie came outside to turn it all yellow :)

Sidney's first dance recital

Sidney participated in her very first dance show last night. From the start of her lessons 8 weeks ago, we would have NEVER guessed she would be where she was tonight! During lessons 1-5, she refused to dance when someone else would watch, though her teachers promised us she was doing just fine behind closed doors. At one point she even said she didn't want to go back and we were fine with letting her quit. But the following Monday came around and she asked if she could attend, so off we went.

Well, apparently she's a natural; check out her in action by clicking HERE (apologies to the shaky video, I think proud Ryan was laughing a little along the way). You'll notice she keeps pointing and saying something...she was telling Grandma Sheri,. who had moved to get better pictures, to get back in her seat!

She sure is proud of herself, and so are we! She's ready to go back for more lessons, telling me she wants to do another show, but maybe not necessarily the lessons in between.

Blessed

Tonight Sidney and I had a short conversation, it went something like this.

Sidney: (aw-choo!!!, sneezes)

long pause

matter of factly announces "mommy.....I blessed"

Me: (trying to hide my laughter)

"yes dear, bless you".

Aw, the things that come out of her mouth, they get me going sometimes! Love you sweetie!