Snow! (And The Other Wonders Of Spokane)

Madeleine (L) and Emily (R) checking out Bapa's inflatable critter collection...

Our visit to Spokane has been one of significant events for Madeleine and Emily. On December 19th they were given their first haircuts by Laurel (a veteran of their mother's childhood). We were rather excited in the lead-up to the event, stoic during the actual trimming and proud following its conclusion.

Emily's first haircut, given by Laurel.

Madeleine's first haircut, also given by Laurel.

Emily walking up the sledding hill (the key to wearing them out is to have them walk back up the hill, repeatedly, under their own power!)

Madeleine pulling her sled up the hill.

Emily painting sugar cookies.

Madeleine painting cookies.

On the 20th the whole family had professional photos taken for the first time since the girls were three weeks old (MUCH less stressful this time around). Somewhere around this date we also took the girls to the dollar store so they could buy gifts for parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents. We are working on the idea that you give gifts as well as receive them.

And on the 23rd the girls attended a family brunch hosted by "Aunt" Camilla and "Uncle" Tom (actually their mother's aunt and uncle, but let's not get picky) and attended by second cousins, etc. The girls did a good job minding their p's and q's. When it was time to leave I said to the girls "let's roll" and Madeleine got on the floor and began rolling around. So, after picking our child up off the floor, we left thankful that there were no major meltdowns and that the "fa-fa" (fancy) "restda" (restaraunt) was still standing.

On Christmas Eve the Pajama Elf brought the customary new "payams" to the girls. Emily and Madeleine were thrilled to be able to open a present - at last! Obviously Christmas morning was a hit and we'd like to thank family, friends and Santa for their generosity. One of the funniest moments was when the girls were absolutely thrilled to give each other the gifts they bought for one another so long ago in Williamsburg. It was also pointed out that while they are currently thrilled to receive new clothing....unfortunately, we don't expect the enthusiasm to last.

We have also had fun going sledding, making snowmen, going on walks while being pulled in a sled, painting cookies and completing every craft imaginable with Aunt Liz.

On the evening of the 29th Emily "Newton" Schreiber learned that one should not be too enthusiastic about hoisting a leg over one's crib railing. She also learned four adults will come flying into the room to hear her story about "I fall out of bed". We were informed "Mama and Memy need really big girl beds" and "We growing up lots now" When she was placed back in her crib there was some concern expressed that it "might happen again" and it was pointed out this was not likely if young ladies were to stay on their bottoms and/or lie down. Madeleine was clutching the end of her crib when we got to the room, terrified her ejector seat would also activate without warning....thankfully, it didn't!

Our entire family sends a warm welcome to Miss Stella Esther Snider, who arrived on December 29th, and heart-felt congratulations to her parents Julie and Jim.

Merry Christmas

Emily (left) and Madeleine verifying Santa drank all of his milk as well as eating all of his cookies.

As might be imagined, things have been rather busy and exciting today. However, all four of us would like to pause to wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Over The River And Through The Woods

Emily (left), Madeleine and Daddy eating "ice cream" while waiting in the Vegas airport.

While we didn't travel via horse-drawn sleigh, we did make it to Grandmother's (actually Grandpa and Grandma's - "Bapa and Mama") house on Tuesday. The girls did well on the flight. However, they seemed to remember the entire list of contents held in my airplane bag of tricks and went through all of their carry-on toys within the first hour. The other six and a half hours in the air seemed to drag a bit as we went through our recycled entertainment. The main highlights of the airplane adventure this time around were: the junior high choir singing Christmas carols in the Norfolk airport, the flight attendant singing after we landed in Vegas, use of the airplane's restroom facilities (although I was told "That room is too small."), and eating "ice cream" (frozen yogurt) in the Vegas airport while waiting for our connecting flight (there are no other "dining establishments" in that wing of the airport...). Thankfully, our flights were on time and our luggage made the trip with us.

Emily in front and Madeleine in back on our first, for this year, venture into the snow.

We had been told there was a lot of snow in Spokane and had passed this message along to the girls. Madeleine and Emily arrived with visions of snowmen and snow angels dancing in their wee heads. The day we arrived, the rain came. So.....our first day we went to the park and made a snowman with what was left of the snow, thankfully two year olds from Virginia aren't too discerning as to good and bad snow, and attempted snow angels. We have high hopes for more white stuff in the forecast.

Emily on Cocoa (left) and Madeleine on Sugar.

The girls were thrilled to see some equestrian pals waiting for them in their grandparents' family room. Cocoa is the brown horse, who their mother rode for miles and miles in her childhood, and the lighter horse is Sugar who joined the family about 1984 and is the former property of Aunt Liz and Uncle Kyle.

The girls have already had a wonderful time making paper snowmen and paper chains with Aunt Liz. She also taught them how to play Hide And Seek, a big hit. Uncle Paul provided the girls with their cowgirl hats so as not to have other folks at the rodeo think we were inadequate.

Nikolaus-Tag And Santa Pictures

Emily (left) and Madeleine checking out the all of the goodies from Nikolaus.

In German speaking countries there is a wonderful character, Nikolaus. He comes the night of December 5th and leaves candy and small toys for well behaved children who have left out their freshly cleaned shoes. Each year we have had Nikolaus-Tag (Nikolaus's Day - the feast day for Saint Nicholas - or as I call it "Shoe Day") for the girls, but this was the first year they were truly aware of it. The evening of the 5th the girls thoroughly cleaned their shoes with diaper wipes and under the supervision of their father. The shoes were left by the front door and two rather excited litttle girls went to bed. They did ask how Nikolaus got to the house and Till told them he drove a car, yeah, a person from German folklore is going to show up in a Toyota...we decided he walked. The morning of the 6th Emily and Madeleine dressed with great speed, flew downstairs and were thrilled to see the contents on the doormat. Nikolaus gave each girl some chocolate and two new cans of Play-Doh which is currently a very popular toy. The girls were so thrilled that I think it is safe to say their parents are more excited about the proceedings of Christmas morning than the girls are.

Today we went to get our Santa pictures. We had gone earlier in the week, but Santa was feeding his reindeer. When we left the house I told Till we had low standards for this one. I expected both girls to be in tears, screaming and clutching security blankets. Last year when we went for pictures it was the middle of a weekday afternoon and no one else was there. I put the girls on Santa's lap, they came unglued and I told the photographer to go for it, because they were at "that age". Santa sat on the floor for an hour (yes, you read that correctly) playing with the girls. We never got a picture in his sleigh, but we did get several without tears and Santa earned his designation as a saint.

Yesterday, we ran into Santa at Rite Aid and the girls were not excited. Emily cried and Madeleine shook. In the car on the way home there was great discussion as to the fact the girls did not like Santa and that he had too much hair on his face. Apparently, Santa took it to heart because today when we saw him, at a completely different location, he had a short beard (and better training, more experience, warmer persona, etc., almost as if he was a different person)! We got in line and watched the children in front of us. Shockingly, Santa did not decapitate them, many of the kids were excited to see him and voluntarily got in the sleigh, some kids even hugged him and when the kids were finished they were all given a sucker and bubbles by Mrs. Claus. As bubble lovers who are not ones to turn down candy, we decided to give it a shot.

I again told the photgrapher to just click the camera, whatever the result. Madeleine's hands literally started to shake when we got to Santa (as I put her on the bench I did not feel like the world's best mother), but Santa let her touch just his finger to start. Emily contemplated crying, but had a change of heart, after all it was Madeleine who had to sit next to him. Not only did the girls not cry (literally shocking to their parents) there were even a couple of smiles and they told Santa that they would both like some Play-Doh for Christmas. And so, to date we do not have a screaming Santa picture (the first year they didn't realize they were on anything other than a couch - as we "backed" them into Santa's arms - until Santa laughed right after the camera clicked...then they realized, looked and cried - but we already had the picture!) and have high hopes for next year.


Santa, Madeleine, Emily
Santa, Madeleine, Emily

In other news the girls got their first pairs of jeans this week. Frankly, I've been putting it off because jeans make them look so old and grown-up. I wouldn't mind freezing time. However, we were at the department store and the jeans were spotted. We were at the store because we were hoping we would be able to replace Madeleine's well-loved (and borderline indecent) purple pants pictured in "Thanksgiving Revisited". We had no luck. However, we spotted the jeans and they have a purple belt for Madeleine and a pink belt for Emily. They also have lots of "pretty" embroidery, so we are hoping there may be a new favorite.....we'll see if Santa can help out with other purple pants.

Emily in her new jeans.
Madeleine (being slightly less than cooperative hiding by the couch) in her jeans.

Emily and Madeleine would like to wish Opa a very happy birthday!

The Williamsburg Christmas Parade

T with Emily and M with Madeleine

Williamsburg has an annual Christmas Parade, which we attended on a whim last year. We returned this year in hopes this event would once again entertain the girls. This year we got there earlier, as last year each of us spent much of the parade with a toddler on our shoulders, and found a lovely seat on the ground in the front row. Thirty minutes into the ninety minute event Emily announced she was ready for it to be over, but was pacified by Teddy Grahams. In all fairness, we waited about forty minutes for the parade to even start. It was in the low 30's (rude people in Spokane commented - "You're not complaining, are you?"), so each of us wore about four layers. The girls liked any entry that involved animals, cars or music. The Williamsburg Fife and Drum Corps marched (click here for video) and the girls liked them more than they do when seeing this group at Colonial Williamsburg events (I don't know if it was the lack of colonial costumes the men normally wear, the Santa hats, etc). Since Saturday there have been requests for "more parade", so I'm operating under the assumption we will return next year.

Emily
Madeleine
Waiting for the parade to start, Emily on left, Madeleine on right. The girls had a bit of trouble managing to stay upright because of all the layers of clothing.

One of "our" favorite cars.