Really?

The snow was too icy and fine when it came, so we had to wait for the sun to warm it up for two days before it would pack enough to make a snowman.

Two days after the event.

Okay, Mother Nature whatever I/we did to upset you - mea culpa! Really, we have now been in two "historic" winter storms two years running. Last year in Spokane, and today in Williamsburg.

Adding salt to the wound was the lack of snow in Spokane this year over Christmas (You know, the location that has sleds, etc.).

Really, no need to bother next year. We can just read about a storm somewhere else! We like to read about history; when it is made elsewhere. (Although, we thank you for sending a winter "event" and not a summer "event"...that and not taking down power lines.)

Emily in her yellow coat and Madeleine in her green coat in the backyard.

.Madeleine and our snowman.

Emily and our snowman.

After finishing our snowman, we felt it necessary to give him voice!

While we did have to wait two days before being able to build a snowman...we discovered we could slide much farther off the slide right away.

Madeleine sliding

Emily sliding

Both of us sliding!

Back in the Saddle

Madeleine in pink and Emily in brown for "Wacky Wednesday". The event was our first Wednesday back at school and helped get us back in the swing of things on a positive note. Obviously we wore pajamas to school, but we also wore each other's shoes and approximately 18 barrettes (each) to go with our sunglasses.

Dear blog readers, all four of you, I am writing this much-delayed post from the floor of the grocery store. I'm down here, rolling in laughter, after seeing a magazine cover on which two "celebrities" (apparently all that takes these days is selling your soul to certain cable networks) extol the virtues of new motherhood. According to the two young women (both reality show veterans) featured on the cover, having a new baby is a time of "bliss" and "romantic dates" with your partner. Pa ha!! One of the women's partners "even changes diapers". No way! Too bad the Nobel prizes were awarded before this information was made public. I wonder if this man also bathes and feeds himself. The clerk at the store seemed to feel having the money to hire a cook, trainer, housekeeper and nanny might make the transition to parenthood easier. While I agree, I also think the money on the line for lying about the experience may be a motivator as well. Call me a cynic, or staffless mother; many days they are one and the same.

Anyhow, I am beyond thankful we are closing in on the Madeleine and Emily's fifth birthdays.

This little nutcracker was given to me years ago as part of a secret pal Christmas exchange at the school where I taught. This year, my "helpers" customized him by adding all kinds of small wooden ornaments (and a gold chenille stem leftover from crafts) to him, and of course, looping the strings used to hang the ornaments beyond future disentanglement.

There was sobbing (Madeleine) and pleading (Emily) when I took down the Christmas decorations. I've never been one to get the urge to have the house back to "normal" ASAP, but for some reason - I was on it this year. As their bedroom was stripped of festive decorations and ornaments were packed away - we were promised we could soon decorate for Valentines Day.

It was suggested we had really nice memories from this year's Christmas and maybe just thinking about them would help us over the post-holiday blues. This suggestion met with about as much enthusiasm as my perception of the magazine cover about living with newborns. So, while we may not totally buy into it, we are going to recap anyway!

Part of the North Pole

Grandpa and Grandma bought tickets for all of us to go on a cruise on Lake Coeur d Alene to the North Pole. When we got to the North Pole, Santa came out on a dock and read the names of all of the good children on the boat. He read both of our names! He also read a few names of some of our friends at school - very exciting. However, Madeleine wanted to know why he didn't read the "bad kids" names and was told Santa doesn't believe in public humiliation.

Grandma, Emily, Madeleine and Grandpa looking over the bough of the boat while Santa reads the names....the girls' snowpants were bought on clearance and online last year - they are a bit long and can be worn until the girls are at least 11.

There was a shocking lack of snow in Spokane this year, which was basically okay with the adults and not-at-all-okay with Emily and Madeleine. So, Emily, Madeleine, Grandpa, Uncle Kyle and Melissa went up to Mount Spokane on the 23rd to go tubing on the tubing hill. It was a very sunny day and the hill was icing up a bit, which meant the tubes went rather quickly. Melissa went down once and that was plenty - she happily assumed the catcher position at the bottom of the hill for future runs. The other four members of the party made more trips. The girls liked going down the tubing hill, but the true joy, in their opinions, was riding the tow-rope back up.


Madeleine (green) and Emily (yellow) riding the tow-rope to the top of the tubing hill.

Grandpa and Madeleine coming down!

Madeleine

Emily

Emily and Uncle Kyle - Emily is showing off part of an icicle her uncle procured for her.

Madeleine, Emily and Uncle Kyle play in the snow

Madeleine and her icicle

After our winter weather adventures we drove back to the Land of 40 Degrees and participated in some traditional indoor activities. Each year our decorated cookies become less soggy (you don't really need to saturate the cookie with the food coloring "paint") and slightly more recognizable.

Emily (l) and Madeleine make sure Grandma handles the cookie cutter in an appropriate manner.

Emily painting a cookie.

Madeleine painting a cookie.

The day of the big dance finally arrived and it turns out Santa made it to Spokane this year - shocking. Madeleine and Emily had requested cameras, phones (have no idea where that one came from) and purses (with money - Madeleine contributed this idea). Santa doesn't seem to feel four-year-olds have a great need for phones, but he did bring cameras and purses. The purses were actually felt kits and the recipient got to sew the purse together, using yarn and plastic needles. The cameras are "real" and we have been hearing a lot of "smile!". We did remove all photos/movies of DVDs being played on the TV screen as we do not need pirating allegations.

Emily (left) and Madeleine

Aunt Chessy "helping" Madeleine sew her purse and Uncle Kyle "helping" Emily sew hers.

Several days before Christmas, Melissa and Uncle Paul were talking about a Snoopy snow cone machine they had when they were kids (The discussion was prompted by watching Madeleine and Emily eat the gray remnants of snow in Manito Park). Lo and behold, Santa brought a Snoopy snow cone machine to Uncle Paul so he could make snow cones with the girls. Proving, once again, that Santa knows all!!

In an effort to stave off the initial post-Christmas blues (The real case sets in when we get home and there are not a variety of adults and activities available to us.) we enrolled the girls in a class at Mobius Kids on December 28th. The class was "Penguins and Polar Bears Party" and seemed to be quite a hit. After the class, we stayed and played at the museum....our two youngsters were particularly interested in the stage and the costumes, tap shoes and bongo drums.

Madeleine in blue and Emily - wearing dresses/tutus over our jeans and playing the drums....sadly not in the picture are our tap shoes...

Emily Tigger and Madeleine Cow singing - at the top of our lungs for all to hear.

Merry Christmas

Every time I turned around, the nativity set's figures had been rearranged to the configuration above. When I brought this up, I was told "Everyone needs to see Baby Jesus!!"

This Concludes the First Half of Our Holiday Program

Emily in yellow and Madeleine in green. The family in front of the National Christmas Tree and White House. When it was pointed out who lived in the "big house", Madeleine suggested "go see him and say hi!"

This year our Christmas flight left from D.C instead of an airport closer to the house (it was cheaper). We had not planned on incorporating a visit to D.C., but when I realized the National Tree would be lit, etc. we decided to go up. So, we headed up Tuesday after picking up the girls at preschool, saw the National Christmas Tree as well as the menorah and Santa's Workshop that are also on the ellipse. Once again, Madeleine and Emily's favorite part of Washington was riding the metro. Thank you to my friend Laura, who not only agreed to meet us when the forecast still called for snow and/or freezing rain, but braved the public transit system to eat dinner with us at the Union Station food court!

Before leaving for Spokane we had many (many, many) Christmas-related activities at home. Sadly, the Annual Williamsburg Christmas Parade was canceled due to weather (or more accurately the forecast of a little rain and temps as low as the 40s!!). However, Emily and Madeleine were able to make their theatrical debuts as angels in the "Christmas Play" at preschool and we attended Breakfast with Santa. We also visited the "tree maze", otherwise known as a Christmas tree lot and made graham cracker nativity scenes at preschool. Overall, it seems Christmas traditions were at least a partial success on the east coast.

Angel Madeleine

Angel Emily


Saying "Merry Christmas" to the real Christmas trees. Emily in yellow and Madeleine in green.

We of course celebrated Nikolaustag - he brought Pez!!! Emily on the left and Madeleine on the right.

The girls also opened their gifts from each other (as opposed to dragging them back and forth across the country) and some things Oma and Opa sent.

Emily (red) and Madeleine (purple) with their edible nativity scenes.

Emily and Madeleine "helping Santa stand-up so he can look out the window". The suitcases on the coffee table have broken zippers and the cats lounge on them while sunbathing - nothing is too classy for our house!


Madeleine, Santa, Emily

Santa's Workshop's mailroom at the National Tree.

Santa and Madeleine at Santa's Workshop.

Santa and Emily.

Anyone who has traveled with me (a small group of brave souls) knows I am compulsively early and rather uptight (more so than usual). I also prefer at least a two hour connection when traveling with two four-year-olds. This year I had to book a 90 minute connection and was not at all pleased when Delta later emailed to say that the itinerary had changed and the connection was now one hour.

Wednesday morning dawned and we left the hotel at 5AM. We arrived at Dulles, parked the car and began walking...and walking...and walking (I think the distance from the garage to the counter is where we lost time). By the time we got to the Delta counter and found a representative who would deign to put the checked luggage tag on our two suitcases (We had checked in online and paid for the bags in advance and online...literally all they had to do was put on a big sticker - lost more time.) and made it to security I was about 70% convinced we'd miss our 7AM flight...However, I have to hand it to TSA at Dulles. That line moved and we were through in no time (They were great in October when we flew to Germany as well). Had it been Spokane's TSA folks with a line that long - we'd still be standing there. We got on the plane, were taxiing to the runway and were told we were number three in line for take-off.

Then we stopped. Then the flight attendants all clustered around one row of passengers. Then we flipped a U-turn. The captain came on and announced we were heading back to the gate because of a "medical emergency". Madeleine burst into tears and I thought about joining her. Big picture - it wasn't any of us who were being taken to the waiting ambulance. Self-serving perspective....we just missed our one hour connection and what are the odds of actually being seated together when/if we get on the next flight.

The passenger was taken off the plane, paperwork was filled out, we headed to the runway again and off we went. Thankfully, Delta padded their schedule enough, that even with an hour delay, we landed only 15 minutes late. We were looking at the map of the Salt Lake City airport and knew if we would be in the same gate area, we'd be okay...if not - we'd be stuck. So, we checked www.delta.com while in flight (free on Delta flights FYI) and I guess our guardian angels were working overtime because we not only had perfect weather all the way across the country (so, no additional delays), we landed at gate D10 and the connecting flight left from D12.

It was a "fast" travel day for us - 10 hours after leaving the hotel we were touching down in Spokane. While it is much nicer than the usual 16 hour travel days we encounter (extra time from getting to the airport super-early and having long connections), I'm not sure it was worth the increase in blood pressure.

Grand Illumination - Not a Success

A picture is worth a thousand words - Madeleine (green) and Emily (yellow) express their opinions of the fireworks (specifically the noise) at Grand Illumination.

A photographer, I am NOT, but it was impressive....I have videos where I tried to capture the pleas to go home, but they are a bit difficult to hear over the explosions!

Tis the Season

Emily, Santa and Madeleine

Before I get going - NORAD launched on Deceember 1st. I spend all Christmas Eve glued to this site and suffering the mocking of every other adult in the house.

I honestly think this Christmas is going to be a lot of fun with the girls...if we make it! They are that age where magic is everywhere and they are old enough to comprehend it.

We did have some serious anxiety while watching "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" this year. The point of concern was not how "big fat Santa gets down all those skinny little chimneys", but the Gift of the Magi allusion. Ernie trades Rubber Duckie to get a cigar box for Bert's paperclip collection. Meanwhile, Bert has traded in his paperclip collection to get a soap dish for Ernie's Rubber Duckie. Madeleine was in tears because both characters had given away their favorite possessions. Thankfully, the kind store owner, Mr. Hooper, comes to the rescue and returns both treasures. We are enjoying other Christmas classics on DVD, which is great as I have subjected Emily and Madeleine to the shows since they were 9 months old...nice they can follow along now.

Our lists for Santa this year are rather short. Both girls would like a camera. "The real kind that takes real pictures and is silver." Madeleine also requested "a purse like yours and full of money." Um, how do I request the same item? We had to have a chat about Santa bringing kids things that are for kids....not purses full of money.

Emily in pink and Madeleine in blue.

Madeleine in blue and Emily in pink.

The girls helped me put up our tree this year. We have an artificial tree - which I hate, but with traveling, I don't feel safe having lights on a real tree when we aren't there. Anyhow, this poor thing has been drenched in Bitter Apple Spray for three years running - the cats view the tree as a salad bar and the spray discourages this thought process. (We also have to seriously coat the stable from the nativity set and it always feels a bit sacrilegious...but so is letting your cat nibble on Jesus's place of birth.)

The tree came with lights on it and I added more over the years. I don't know why, but we have an entire layer of branches that are not lighting. So, with the "help" of two four-year-olds I went in search of the lighting problem. The end result was my erratic use of wire clippers to yank out an old string or two, two bawling preschoolers sent to their room (NOT the best time to be getting into everything in the house) and a 7 month-old kitten launching himself at my head as I rummaged through the branches which now have a funny smell (when your nose is right against them) because of all the apple spray. I sent out an email with an inappropriate title regarding Christmas and retrieved the screaming children from their room. Ho, ho, ho. Yep, the stuff of happy childhood memories!

Madeleine with her Salvation Army stocking from preschool. We did the shopping during alone time and Madeleine filled a stocking for a 15-16 year old girl.

Emily with her Salvation Army stocking. Emily filled her stocking for a 15-16 year old boy.

We do not usually have gifts under our tree because Santa knows we travel. However, this year the girls picked out ginormous bucket-o-games to give each other (There was no secret keeping and of course the first one to shop for a gift told her sister what was purchased....so the second bought the same thing, just with different characters.) So we are going to do a small gift exchange on Sunday in conjunction with Nikolaustag instead of lugging the games back and forth across the country - twice. Madeleine had alone time with me yesterday and Emily had it today. Part of alone time for each girl, was to buy her sister's gift and wrap it. Madeleine put Emily's gift under the tree about 11:30, Emily came home from school at about 12:30 and immediately the unwrapping began. Excuse me!!

Last night we drove through the Celebration in Lights in Newport News, which Madeleine and Emily thoroughly enjoyed. The Annual Williamsburg Christmas Parade was scheduled for tomorrow, but has been canceled due to the weather forecast (Sure, the year I buy chairs on clearance at the end of summer and they cancel the parade! I won't even mention the rain ponchos I bought at the Dollar Store today.) Thankfully, we have a friend's birthday party to attend tomorrow afternoon and our fingers crossed for a Grand Illumination party on Sunday evening. We have never braved the crowds to actually see the fireworks - but might try this year...

I finally have allies in my camp regarding Peeps. Emily and Madeleine have discovered the Christmas tree and snowman Peeps and think they are pretty groovy. While I am a Peep purist and believe there should only be chicks and bunnies at Easter and not these knockoff Peeps, I am happy to have the support.

On a couple of non-holiday notes...When my parents were visiting we went to a local museum and the girls were convinced they needed tickets. I told them they didn't as they were under 6. Madeleine looked up and said, "Yeah, and all of you are on top of it."

Emily has an extremely mild case of Brown's Syndrome that I discovered about one-and-a-half years ago when I noticed one eye was "funny" if she looked a specific direction. She sees a specialist in Richmond and the only implication is she does not have depth perception if she looks in an upper-diagonal direction to the right, while moving only her eyes and not her head. The doctor said this means she can't be a fighter pilot, but that is about it (Shockingly we are okay with this). Anyhow, if she looks in just the right direction she sees double. So, for light entertainment we went through a phase, a couple of weeks ago, where she entertained herself by giving me two heads on a fairly routine basis. At first I was worried the condition had changed, but then she informed me she could give me five heads (she can not) and I noticed she seemed to be enjoying my angst....another button to push.

Theodore's Triumphant Return

Pilgrim Madeleine and Theodore.


You may remember Theodore. The "Teddy Bear Class" mascot from preschool who visits a different family each weekend. Theodore came home with Emily in October. Emily walked into a sweet deal. We switched from the Froggy Class to the Teddy Bear class right at the end of October (Resulting in me becoming that parent - something I foolishly vowed would not happen). Anyhow, when we moved, the stars were aligned in such a matter that Emily "got all the exciting stuff", such as bringing Theodore home, being Star Student, getting multiple book bags, etc.

Meanwhile, Madeleine got two book bags and justifiably upset. To her credit, she handled it really well and lasted about three weeks before bursting into tears one day while we were getting ready for naps. (I think she inherited her stoicism from my grandfather and grandmother. These people were so stoic that when I shattered an ankle in high school and they came to see me in the hospital before I was taken into surgery, I assumed it was much more serious than I had been told because Grandfather and Grandmother had come and were acting like it was a big deal.)

Well, folks, good things come to those who wait!! Not only did Madeleine's turn with Theodore finally arrive...she got him for all of Thanksgiving Break! Theodore came home on Tuesday afternoon and did not have to go back until the following Monday morning. Bliss.

Theodore and Madeleine.

Late Tuesday afternoon the girls' friend, Emerson, came over for a sleepover - the "all night" variety. All four parents were betting that sooner or later, someone would be transporting a pajama-clad Emerson home. Nope she made it all night! (Four parents and at least two grandparents were rather surprised by this). All three girls did a great job going to sleep and the only issue was a wake-up event at 3:30 in the morning. I think two of us would have happily gone back to sleep, but my youngest was leading the charge. Madeleine was begging to go back to sleep and Emerson was sufficiently intimidated by being in a house other than her own; so, I got in bed with Emily and all of us went back to sleep. Funny how having an adult in the room cuts down on chatting.

Emerson is an excellent eater and eats all variety of "grown-up food". I was hoping some of this might rub off on our two, who are becoming more and more difficult regarding food. Sadly, this was not only not the case, but we ended up corrupting Emerson by introducing her to Scooby Doo mac n' cheese.


Lucy in her chosen location as 3 four-year-olds raced around the house....the cupboard over the fridge.

Thanksgiving was a rather low-key affair in our house. We spent the weekend visiting various playgrounds and making Christmas crafts to give to people. The crafts looked faster to make than they were (duh) and I believe it was at about handprint 22, of 30, I started muttering non-craft related things under my breath.

The Teddy Bear Class as pilgrims. On the far left is Emerson, Emily is the third in and Madeleine is second from the right.

Pilgrim Emily.

Below are a few videos from the Thanksgiving Program....sorry for the background static. Emily is in red sleeves and Madeleine is in purple sleeves.