Whoooo are you...

Pam and I put on a little shower for Kelsie and her baby boy (due to arrive sometime in March). I'll be honest, Pam did all of this incredible work, and I just showed up in time to throw some fruit on the tray she gave me. Really though, it was such a fun afternoon. Because of the distance between us, I don't often get to celebrate these sorts of events with Kelsie in a timely manner. I was very excited to be a part of this.

 I know there were pictures of people taken too, but not with my camera, so I'll have to post those later. 

Big time...

What is it about the front seat of a car that makes a kid feel so special? 

Boise...

From January 23:

I spent four wonderful days in Boise with some of the very best friends a girl could ask for. I needed this mini-vacation more than I knew, and it was much harder to return to reality than I thought it would be. There is nothing I can write that will do justice to the trip other than, "A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything" (an Irish Proverb). 

Just keep swimming...

Swimming lessons are still going well for Grace. She is in the pool twice a week for lessons, and we try to go at least once a week as a family. Just being in the water more consistently has been really good for both girls. Them learning to swim is a very high priority for me. I learned to swim when I was young, and have always loved being in the water. I hope that both of the girls will end up being little fish and loving time in the water too.  

After the first lesson I realized that I wan not going to be able to keep Claire still while watching. Today she sat in her stroller - gnawing on a binky (not sleeping) and giggling at the kids in the pool. 

All the while, snow was falling outside... not sticking at all, but still pretty to look at. Watching the snow from inside the warm aquatic building made me feel like I was inside of a giant snow globe.

Yip-stick...

Last weekend we went to church on Saturday night. Some friends wanted to try out our church, and that was the service that worked for them. I went out of my way to let them know that church was pretty casual. Then, when Claire got up from her nap, she insisted not only that she must wear a dress, but she wanted to wear the fanciest dress in her closet. It was not a battle I was going to fight, and she did look pretty cute, so we went with it. 

As I was running around, getting ready and getting people out the door, I lost track of Claire for 12 seconds. In that time she managed to find not one, but two tubes of lipstick, and proceeded to smear the sticky goo all over her mouth, nose and cheeks. When I saw what she had done I scolded her immediately and it really hurt her feelings. Between her sobs we heard her say, "I pretty. I dust wanted a yittle bit of yipstick." 

Let down...

For the past week the weather men have been building up the snow storm that was heading our direction. We did get a dusting on Sunday morning, and then quite a bit of snow Sunday afternoon. It snowed again on Monday and Tuesday, but the rain always rolled in and washed it all away. Last night (well, it was technically early this morning) I woke Grace up to watch the snow falling in our neighborhood. It was quiet, peaceful and so beautiful. At just after 1 am we probably had 3 inches on the ground. I woke up at 7:00 this morning to the sound of rain once again falling, and the beautiful white powder is now just a slushy mess. I am glad we got to see snow without it disrupting our busy week, but this "storm" has been sort of a let down for us. Even though we got very little play time, the girls seemed to enjoy the idea of snow falling. At one point, as we were driving in the snow, Grace said, "Look at it all. This has been the best three days EVER!" (She obviously doesn't remember the arctic blast and has nothing to compare this to). Silly girl. 

A new chapter...

Grace has recently taken a new step in reading - chapter books. It was a challenge at first finding just the right one... something she could read, that held her interest, and that one of us would enjoy as well. Last week we stopped at the library and picked up the first in the Boxcar Children set. She devoured it - reading at quiet times on her own, and Merrick reading to her at night before bed. Since she seemed to enjoy the first, we'll stick with this series for a while. I know there are great "first chapter books" out there, but for some reason am having a hard time coming up with a good reading list for Grace. If you have any suggestions, leave me a quick comment. I'm curious what your favorites are. 

Buns...

Do you see what's wrong with this picture? (Other than the fact that she is not wearing clothes? That is pretty normal.)

Our conversation went like this:
Me: Good job going potty, now put your panties back on.
C: Okay, I wee-ill.
Me: Uh-oh, I think those are backwards.
C: No dere not. Der is no tag.
Me: That is because there is a printed on tag. See the writing.
C: No, dere is nooooooooot a tag. I checked.
Me: Okay, but your panties are going to feel funny today.

And so they have stayed, one cheek in and one cheek out. I love that she is so independent, and as long as it doesn't bug her, I suppose I can live with backwards undies every once in a while.

Hey...

I feel like I need to document this funny little tradition before I forget. We have been listening to lots of new music lately - thanks mostly to Spotify. It is interesting to see how quickly the girls pick up on new songs, the rhythm  lyrics, etc. One of their very favorites right now is "You Can Count on Me" by Mat Kearney. It is quick and catchy and they love to say "Hey!" Listen to it once and you will know what I mean. We get into the car and Claire will say "I want to do Hey!" Once the song starts she giggles and says, "I'm going to say HEY!"

To do it correctly you must have the volume turned way up and actually scream "Hey!"

Finally...

I finally got Grace signed up for swimming lessons. She has been begging for weeks months. We had her take a quick assessment on Saturday (since she has never had official lessons, and I wasn't sure which level to put her in) and signed her up on the spot. Today she started - and loved every minute of it. I hope that through this she will gain lots of confidence and learn to love everything about being in the water. 

I love her "student" mentality. She will do (almost) anything if a teacher asks. If I tried to float her on her back it would be a no-go. 

Starting off right...

We had a great New Year's Eve with friends. We had a fun New Year's day with family. Then we spent a day being spoiled by Margaret, sleeping (a lot) and watching the Ducks win the Rose Bowl! There is a lot to blog about, yet I feel like in order to start the year off right I need to finish 2011 completely. Between colds, travel, visitors and holidays there was a lot to write and not much time. Here is a list that should get me back up to date. Enjoy.

November 8: Paints and buttons... 
November 11: Slightly inappropriate... 
November 12: Practice makes perfect...
November 13: Elephants on parade...
November 17: Claire's birthday...
November 22: Party time...
November 23: Dear grandma... 
December 10: Cider... 
December 11: The Other Wiseman... 
December 12: Christmas tree...
December 14: California lovin' {day 9}...
December 15: California lovin' {day 10}...
December 17: Dinner and a movie...
December 18: Christmas concert...
December 21: Frozen fog...
December 24: Christmas Eve... 
December 25: Christmas morning at home... 
December 26: Christmas at the coast...
December 27: Brownlee Christmas... 
December 30: Diggobah...
December 30: Through Gracie's eyes...
December 31: Rock on... 

Rock on...

On New Year's Ever our little buddy, Brett, turned four and celebrated in style with an awesome rock n' roll party. The Sound Roots School of Modern Music provided the space and instruments for all of the little rockers. The party was fantastic - but I shouldn't be surprised because Brett's mama is a very talented party thrower. The girls (Merrick and me too) had a lot of fun... it was the perfect way to kick off our weekend of New Year celebrations. 

 

Monique provided rocker glasses, inflatable microphones and guitars, lanyards with VIP passes to the party, and glow necklaces. Claire was in heaven!

 

 

The music "teachers" led the kids in various songs using all sorts of rhythmic instruments.

 

Rather than hanging and then hitting the big guitar pinata, the kiddos took turns smashing it on the ground like true rock stars.

 

The sparkly guitar cake - so beautiful and super yummy. (Monique made this too... amazing. I'm going to hire her to throw my girls' parties from now on).

 

 

 

After food, cake and games it was time to move back into the music rooms and take turns on all of the other fun instruments.

 

Claire loved the microphone and performed a rousing rendition of "Angels We Have Heard on High."

 

 

 

It really is too bad that they didn't have any fun at all...