Sledding in the City

Early in the holiday season, we heard there would be
a manufactured snow park near city hall, and incredibly it fell on a weekend when all 4 of us were healthy and could go. It was small, but perfect for two kiddos who've never played in snow before. There was a sledding hill and separate sections for building snowmen and toddler play. Emily and Charlotte started off there, but both girls quickly decided they weren't impressed by the cold icy slush, which was frustratingly tough to walk in.

We wanted their first encounter to be a positive one, so after striking out in the toddler area we stood in a l-o-n-g line for balloon animals. Charlotte got a yellow bear and Emily opted for a pink crown. Those were a hit!

After that we ventured over to the sledding hill. From first sight Emily waffled on whether or not she wanted to go for a ride. Lucky for us Aunt Beca was along for the afternoon, and she always seems to bring out the courage in Emily. So together they stood in line while the 3 of us hung out at the bottom of the hill to watch her fledgling flight. (She comes down the right side trail.)

You can see that Emily really didn't know what to make of the ride. She was clearly spooked by the end, and the fact that she had no idea where she was, or more importantly, where we were didn't help. (Which explains why I'm yelling her name over and over and then abruptly stop the video to try and get to her.) Luckily as soon as I stopped taping one of the guys picked her up and hand delivered her into Matt's arms. Probably didn't seem like much to him, but we were very grateful that he didn't just let her stand on the side and panic all by herself.

Once she was back with us we made a BIG fuss over how cool the ride was and what a great a job she'd done, so her uncertainty soon changed to pride and triumph. And it turns out she'd been holding on to the sled so tightly, as Beca rightfully instructed, that her fingers had scraped the hill on the way down and she got a teeny ice burn. Nothing a princess band aid couldn't fix though :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Next year Charlotte will get to ride too!!! Something tells me we won't have to talk her into it ;) 

Merry Christmas!! :: 2013

Here are a few of our family photos from Christmas Eve. (Similar to last year's, we were rushing to church and relying on the camera's timer along with our car's hood for the group shots, so the fact that all 4 of us are in the pic is a minor miracle.)

 

 

 

 

I know it's a lot to ask for, but wouldn't it be awesome if we could get Charlotte to look at the camera AND smile in our photos next year :) MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

PS. Guess who got a new front tooth for Christmas???!?! Which explains why her fingers are in her mouth in all of these pics. I think she's actually trying to point it out to us in the last one ;)

Future Bunhead?

Charlotte is very fond of singing and dancing. Maybe this comes from a lifetime of watching her big sister sing & dance the days away... Well whatever sparked it, a couple months ago it really hit me just how much she loves musical theater when she sat with me completely engrossed in a five minute dance recital on the computer. (Here's the clip!)

From star to finish she was riveted. Our normally squirmy girl sat on my lap COMPLETELY still for the entire dance. And then she motioned for me to play it again. And again. And again. Her first viewing she sat through it 4 (!) times and probably would have watched it again if I hadn't been worried it was too much and turned it off.

Since then I've played the same dance for her a few more times, and each time she's just as into it. Her Aunt Erica thinks we may have a future bunhead on our hands. In these pics, she sure looks the part, right?!

(Btw - there was absolutely no coaching or posing going on behind the scenes of these pics. They are just random shots of her one morning. When it was chilly and legwarmers were necessary, since she opted to wear a skirt. Just like her sister, naturally ;)

Pals

These two. Boy do these girls love hanging out together. Which is amazing. (Actually, Charlotte just loves chasing Emily around, which Emily tolerates pretty well. I mean, how bad can it be having a tiny shadow bouncing after you all day long?!) Charlotte has almost entirely given up pulling Em's hair. And while she 's still learning about sharing, she's getting better. And Emily is an angel. She is so patient and kind to Charlotte. She's the first to run over with a paci or toy when Charlie's sad. Or a song. Usually a song will do the trick and calm Charlotte right down. It's super sweet.

One of my favorite sounds these days is the shrieking I hear when getting home from work on the days Matt picks up the girls. I come in through our basement, so I immediately hear the pitter-patter of little feet running above me. And the nonstop giggles of those two girls. It just delights this Mama's heart.

Charlotte's still working on her words, but once she gets going, oh the secrets they will tell. I can already imagine it. They're going to be the best of pals. The best.

 

 

  

 

Bookworms

This past week we'd been trying, unsuccessfully, to get a picture of both girls. Together. Looking at the camera. And smiling. Challenging, right? But we thought it would be possible. Except after 3 painful days of attempts, we had nothing but fuzzy/pouty/blurry photos to show.

One night they were so squirmy the only time they'd sit still was when reading books. The only problem was we couldn't get them to look up for a pic. We tried everything: singing, clapping, whistling, calling them each by name. Nothing worked. They'd just finish a book then grab the next one closest to them. Oh, and both girls were "reading" their books out-loud. With Emily following Charlotte's lead and speaking gibberish. They were cracking us up, so we gave up on smiling pics and took some of them in their element.

After our failed attempts, imagine our surprise when, in some sort of Thanksgiving miracle, Matt got a pic of the two smiling and looking squarely at the camera. It was perfect. But for now, these really are the truest portraits of them together :)

Flowers and Photos

The last weekend of Grandma G's visit we went to the flower market for brunch and then had a little backyard photo shoot to document her stay.

Brunch was hectic, as always, with Charlotte running around and eating other people's food. (Not really. She just likes to peek at what they're having.) The flower market café is actually a really good spot for her, since it's never crowded and the sweet waitress knows our girls by name. Sometimes we even score free strawberries! It's also a great place to run around and get the wiggles out.

After Becky and Grandma took turns chasing Charlotte and we scoped out the flowers, we headed home for our photo shoot. Always an unpredictable production. The lighting is great in our backyard, and we love to make use of the space we put so much work into this past spring. But even with the perfect setting, we still need willing (and able) models. The quality of the pics is in their hands. Which is why there aren't more shots of all of us. Blame it on closed eyes, open mouths, silly faces... the usual.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One day we'll get nice, normal, genuine smiles from everyone at the same time. With tongues in the mouths. Until then, we'll just have to settle for candids like this ;)

Trick-or-Treat

Every year on Halloween the shops in our neighborhood welcome little trick-or-treaters. It's super kid-friendly, but it gets crowded. Really crowded. We tried to head down a little earlier this year, so the girls didn't feel completely lost in the chaos. (I ended up carrying Charlotte the entire time, which worked well since she's not usually interested in holding hands and can dash away from us pretty quickly when she's on her own.)

Emily made the last minute decision to don some wings, so she was a kitty cat fairy princess. And Charlotte wore her teddy bear hoodie. They both had a great time and brought home more than enough candy. Which Em had lots of fun smelling and sorting after dinner that night :)

My favorite part? Our local market passed out apples instead of sweets!! Seeing the girls munching on apples of all things, among all the other kiddos who were chomping on candy, was a really cute sight. (When we got home Charlotte actually took Emily's apple too and was double-fisting them for a while. That girl LOVES food!)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!