Happy Holidays

I have been seriously behind in my blogging. The reason is that the website I use to host my images has been having some issues. I don't know if they were upgrading (which we all know when you try to improve something that doesn't seem to have problems you end up breaking something that didn't need fixing) or if their server is having problems or what, but I have not been able to upload images until recently. So, I guess I'll break this post into parts so that it makes a little bit of sense.


Setting up the tree

The weekend after Thanksgiving was quite busy. We brought out all of the Christmas decorations and the house transformed from normal everyday blah to wonderful Christmas splendor. This year I decided to set the tree up in the Dining Room in the front of the house because I know how curious Abby is and wanted to keep the tree out of her curiosities. This worked out wonderfully and actually we only broke a handful of ornaments this year.

Here Lexi helps Daddy string the lights on the tree



Abby decides to lend a "helping hand"






Polar Express Day

The last Friday of school before the break was Polar Express Day at Lexi's school. This meant that the kids should go to school in their pajamas and wear slippers and whatnot. A couple of nights before Lexi picked the pajamas she would wear but I was concerned because I didn't think she'd be warm enough. I suggested that we go shopping for a bathrobe to keep her warm and that's just what we did only she would call it a "bath rib" for awhile then it become a "bath rob" which is what she still calls it to this day.

She was so funny when she woke up that morning. She insisted that I put some curlers in her hair because her teacher had told her that they should come looking like they just got out of bed. This was funny to me because Lexi doesn't normally wear curlers at night but insisted that this was how she would look if she were awoken suddenly.

Here's our little sleepy head on her way to the bus stop.





That same morning Abby was a little sluggish and it seemed that she thought it should be Polar Express Day at home because she did not want to get out of her jammies and (totally out of character) she actually stopped running around the house and vegged out on the couch watching TV in her jammies cuddling with her favorite Care Bear blanket.



She came to her senses a little later in the day and went on with her regular antagonizing antics with the pups. She evicted Cassi from her crate so she herself could occupy the crate next to Lou.



A Visit with Santa

Since Lexi was teeny tiny I have not had a good picture of her with Santa. Her first Christmas in the hospital was probably the last decent picture I had and that is kind of morbid with an oxygen tube in her nose. I've tried--Lord knows I've tried--taking her to the mall and the local Micheal's that Santa visits every year but it's always the same. She'll be excited the whole time while standing in line telling us what she's going to tell Santa but when she gets to the front of the line she becomes unglued and we get a terrible picture of her crying or nothing at all. This year was no different in that regard. She did come unglued which freaked Abby out. We decided to let the family behind us go and we'd try again after them. This time Abby was not having it and Santa had a hard time keeping a good grip on her as she tried to lunge out of his arms. Lexi was distracted from the commotion and we got this picture.



We quickly rescued Abby from the struggling Santa and began to proceed to wait for the pictures to print when I noticed Lexi and Santa were deep in conversation. I thought this too cute and told Stefan who was close to the photographer to snap a shot. Apparently, the photog didn't understand that I wanted the impromptu conversation and not a cheesecake posed pic because she called Lexi's name and snapped Lexi back to reality in an instant. We were able to capture this picture though and it is the best we've ever had of her with Santa.




Celebrating Hanukkah late

Circumstances did not allow for us as an entire family together with Stefan's parents and brother to celebrate Hanukkah during the actual holiday. He finally got together the weekend before Christmas and exchanged gifts followed by going out to lunch. It was a great day. Stefan and I received a date night from his parents and the girls got plenty of wonderful gifts including clothes, books, and a small trampoline which Uncle Faron was gracious enough to assemble while Stefan was at work.

Here's a pic of Uncle Faron showing Abby one of her new books



Christmas Eve

I spent the morning of Christmas Eve preparing our traditional snacks. Lexi and I made reindeer food (oatmeal and glitter)to sprinkle on the front lawn so Rudolph would be able to see our home from the sky. We also made fudge, cookies, and coffee cake. It was fun. I enjoy baking with her and you can tell that the feeling is mutual.

Later, we went to my parents' house for dinner. Mom always serves a spread of filling finger food and this year was no exception. After dinner, we all migrated to the basement where my sister and her family, my parents, and our little family played lots of ping pong and pool. Watching the kids try to play was hysterical--especially Lexi who was burning up a year's worth of energy chasing ping pong balls all over the basement.

When we came home Lexi and I went outside to spread the reindeer food. While we were doing so, we hear a jolly "Ho, ho, ho!" and Lexi's attention snapped to the sky saying, "I hear him! I heard Santa!" Too cute. Here she is sprinkling the food.




Christmas Day

Christmas Day Lexi came in our room at 6 a.m. She came to my side of the bed saying, "Mommy, I want to see if Santa came." I told her to return to bed that we would a little bit later, but 15 minutes later Abby woke up. So, we decided it was going to continue like this until we gave in anyway. So we were up inspecting Santa's leavings before the sun could rise. Later, my parents and Faron joined us for dinner. It was overall a very nice day together.





My mom got Abby a trike which Faron assembled for her. Abby, of course, had to help. Here they are making progress.



Stefan and I got her a kitchen complete with a little dress up chef outfit. Here she is one morning playing with it.



Well, I guess that catches us up a bit. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and that you all have a safe and happy New Year!

Lexism of the week

Today, I was checking my email and responding to one while Lexi was trying to read Cinderella. She got stuck on a word and was trying to get my help but I was in La La Land. All of a sudden she asks, "Are your ears working today?" Silly girl!

The jury is in...

For those of you that actually care...final grades were due today and although it was a tough semester with a lot of writing and projects I came out on top with A's in both my classes. This is great considering one of my classes counts twice as much as a regular class toward my GPA, so getting an A in it is a nice little boost. Yippee!!!!

Abbyism of the week (and introducing Mylee)

Abby's personality is truly shining through. She has a good start to a vocabulary as well as smarts that just astound me. Within the last few weeks she has started to identify body parts. I taught her where her bubba (belly button) is and she'll lift her shirt and point to it when prompted. Recently she learned her nose but there is a glich there. When you ask where her nose is she sticks her finger up it! One day I'll get a pic of it.

She also has grown to love having her teeth brushed. I keep her toothbrush and paste in my bathroom and whenever she can sneak in there she points at them and says "this?" until you finally oblige her. I think one day she may be a dentist....who knows. ::shrug::

Another possible career path for her is that of a veterinarian. This girl loves animals! Especially dogs. We'll be in a store shopping and she will see a picture of one and yell "Gog, gog! Woof woof!!" It's too cute. My mom recently got a 8 1/2 week Shih Tzu named Mylee that tips the scales at one pound on the nose (envision Abby with her finger in her nostril here-that's what I do when I hear the word nose anymore). She is about the size of a guinea pig and Abby is in love with her which shouldn't surprise me given her dog infatuation.

Anyway, here are pics of Abby's latest object of affection:




And here she is standing (yes she is standing) next to a Coke can just to give you some perspective of her size.

Tis the Season

Last night I dropped Abby at my mom and dad's to sleepover so I could hopefully clean house this morning. When I woke up I decided that my time without the kiddos would be better spent wrapping the gifts that would rest under the tree. Well, 4 1/2 hours later I am finally done. It seemed that whenever I thought I was finished I would think of other gifts stuffed in corners throughout the house whether for our immediate family or friends. Then when I really thought I was done Lexi comes home with her gifts purchased at her very first visit to Santa's Workshop at school. I told her to give my gift to Daddy and he would help her wrap it later. As for her gifts for him and Abby all I can say right now (because Daddy reads this) is that they were obviously very well thought out.

I remember my first trip to the workshop when I was her age. My mom was working in the workshop that year and when it was my class's turn to shop she had to vacate the premises. Someone helped me shop and I thoughtfully picked out a medium sized pink teddy bear for my mom, a small purple bear for my oldest sister since purple was her favorite color at the time, a small blue bear for my older sister, and a large green bear for my dad (for obvious reasons). I was so proud of my purchases and thought I had truly chosen the perfect gift for each person. I couldn't figure out why all the adults were giggling at the time but it all makes sense now.

My Chanukah blunder

Okay, I'm not Jewish. But Stefan and his family are and we are raising the girls with the knowledge of both religions. Since most of the Jewish holidays start at sundown, Stefan misses out on lighting the menorah with the girls and whatnot. I often feel like the blind leading the blind as I don't know Hebrew and thus do not know by memory the prayer your supposed to say when you light the candles. Well, according to my calendar, Chanukah was yesterday. So I brought out the menorahs and tried to located my sheet that had the prayer on it. I couldn't locate it, so I called Barbara and Dennis to bail me out of this one. Dennis answered the phone and I asked if he would like to lead Lexi through the lighting of the candles. He obliged. He started with telling Lexi over speaker phone how to set up the menorah and kept mentioning that she needed a helper candle and two others. "Why?" I was thinking to myself since there's only supposed to be one candle for each day. Apparently, what my trusty calendar didn't tell me was that yesterday was the first FULL day of Chanukah and that it actually began the night before. I felt like a big dufus and was apologizing to my in-laws profusely who claimed that it was okay and that they were just glad that I was doing this with the girls on my own while Stefan was at work. I still felt terrible.

Anyway, Happy Chanukah everyone!!!!

Catching up

I hadn't realized it had been so long since my last post. Not that you all are interested as to why my presence has been lacking, but I'll explain. Thanksgiving was great. This year we spent the holiday with Stefan's family. His mom organized a family reunion which brought in Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and Grandma Roz from all corners of the country. It was so nice to be able to see everyone together. I think the last time we all were was at mine and Stefan's wedding seven years ago. We came close last year when we attended Stefan's cousin's wedding in Texas, but Faron was unable to attend.

As always Thanksgiving coincides with the end of the semester for me. I didn't have any finals per say, but I had a ton of projects to do one of which was a non-traditional research paper on Henry VIII for my "Teaching Writing to Adolescents" class. I had to enlist the help of my longtime friend of 15 years, Jen, to help me with that one as she is a scrapbooking genius and I was able to put the project together like it was a scrapbook/compilation of Henry's history written from His son's, Edward VI, perspective. It turned out great and I'm very proud of it.

I also got my Christmas present early so I'd be able to enjoy it while I'm on break. Okay, so maybe my normal time for blogging has been eaten up with trying to figure this thing out. Speaking of Christmas, I found a great advent calendar for the girls this year which has Lexi super excited. Then, one day she comes home from school asking why she doesn't have an elf that visits her from the North Pole. This apparently came up on the playground with one of her classmates who has one. I went to the store and got one to start the tradition on Dec. 1. It came with a book explaining how everything is supposed to work and she named her elf, Bill. She is so cute about this.

I've been falling apart lately. Well, okay...it's my left hand mostly. I sprained my pinky somehow and as if that wasn't bad enough, I blistered my thumb on a pizza pan when I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing removing it from the oven. I then got a rash on my ring finger from water getting trapped under my wedding ring which was only made worse when I tried to remove the ring to take a better look. So then I was down to only two fingers on that hand that were undamaged. Well, this morning I was coming down the stairs and whacked my hand on the top in between my thumb and pointer finger and it has been in agonizing pain since. So now I'm down to only my middle finger that isn't hurting. Imagine that!

More of Lexi Dancing

Last week was parent observation week at Lexi's dance class again. She has a new teacher this year. This teacher makes dancing so much fun for these girls. She has recordings of stories about unicorns that has the girls leaping over rivers, twirling, skipping, and whatnot. This is so much more fun for Lexi than the drill sargent she had for a teacher last year.

Just before class began



During a break, Abby wanted in on the action. She wants to do everything Sissy does



Lexi let down one of her braids. Must mean she's having fun if she lets her hair down!



Time for tap dance!



And finally, and you knew this was coming, a video of Lexi's ballet skills!!!!

Thanksgiving 2007

Well, it's Thanksgiving again. I thought it appropriate to wait until today to post the pictures from Lexi's class skit last week. It was too cute. Her teacher broke the class into groups of pilgrim men, pilgrim women, pilgrim ministers, Native American men, and Native American women. The teacher read a story and when she said a group's name they recited a very short line. Lexi was a Native American woman and her line was, "Shh, shh, shh!" She got a bit distracted when she realized that I was taking pictures and videos, but here she was. We are so proud!! (Sorry about the camera work on the video. I was in the front row and couldn't fit everyone in the frame to enable me to hold the camera still.)






Anyway, this wouldn't be a Thanksgiving post if I didn't tell what I am thankful for. I am Thankful for Stefan and all that he does and sacrifices for our family. I am thankful for our girls that bring a smile to my face everyday. I am thankful for our family and friends both near and far that fill our lives. I am thankful for a warm bed to sleep in, food on the table, and a roof over our heads. I am thankful for everyone that supports me while I go to school.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!

Lexism

I've been super busy with the end-of-the-semester wrap up and projects that are consuming my daylight hours and most of my night time hours too. I'll get back to normal in a week or two. But I couldn't resist posting this.

Lexism
We had some days this week with temperatures in the 60s and 70s but that did not last. This morning we woke to frost. After school today, Lexi wanted to play outside and Stefan told her to grab a coat. While she was putting it on, she muttered, "It's way cold outside. It's like 100 degrees!"

A Good Day at School

Lexi had a stellar day at school today. She scored her first 100% of the year on her weekly spelling test, got checked off on three sight word lists, and got a 100% on her Accelerated Reader test. Go Lex!!!!! We're very proud of you.

Hot dog!!!!

We have been hit with quite the chill here. Jackets, hats, and scarves are seen everywhere. Apparently us humans are not the only ones struck by the bitter cold. Tonight Lou decided to make a fashion statement by sliding himself into Abby's new coat that he pulled down from off the back of Stefan's recliner. He's too smart.

Piplup likes to eat Pokemon food...gobble, gobble

Lexi's homework this week was to create a disguise for Tom Turkey. Her teacher provided a picture of a turkey that she was to color and cut out. Once that was done she was supposed to create a costume/disguise for her turkey so that he won't be caught and made into someone's Thanksgiving Day feast. In true Lexi fashion, she wanted to disguise her turkey as Piplup (her favorite Pokemon). So I drew a stencil and we traced out the shapes on their respective colors of construction paper and cut them out only to reassemble the shapes into the recognizable form of Piplup(this process is what Lexi calls a cutting project--she loves cutting projects). She was very satisfied with the outcome...so was I.




Next she had to write two sentences. Hers were, "My turkey is Piplup. She likes to eat pokemon food."



Very cute!!!

Lexi's Soccer Finale

Lexi's soccer season is over. All in all, she did well. For most of the season she got out there and ran hard but hardly ever made contact with the ball. Finally, in the seventh out of eight games I decided to set a goal for her (no pun intended). I challenged her to kick the ball 5 times. Each time she'd kick the ball, she would look at me on the sidelines and hold up her fingers counting each kick and exclaiming, "Mommy, I got ___ (fill in the blank with the number) kicks!" When she got the fifth kick early in the game you could see her doing a little victory dance in the middle of the field and the action of the game. She was so proud and so was I! I decided to set the bar higher and challenged her to five more. That game she got 28 kicks in.

The next game was her last of the season. She decided she wanted to get 30 kicks, but I told her to start with 15. Unlike the previous week when there were 3 kids missing, her entire team was there for the finale so her play time was much less hence the lowered goal. That game she got 18 kicks in. Not too shabby. And she had a great time.





After the game, the team got together for awards. Each child got a trophy. This was Lexi's first trophy and she wasn't expecting it so she was very excited. She told me that she was going to polish it with a tissue to keep it nice and shiny.

Here she treasures her prize.





So, the season is now over. Lexi's a little upset because she was really just starting to get into it. She told me that she wants to play again so in March we will be making our weekly trips to the soccer field once more.

Lexism of the week

Uncle Faron called to talk to Lexi yesterday about Halloween. When Lexi got off the phone with him she asked if we could go to his house to see him. I explained that he was out of town. Then she asked if we could take a plane ride to go see him like we did two years ago for New Year's. I guess she forgot that he no longer lives out of town although at times it seems as though he does because his job requires a lot of travel. I asked her where she thinks he lives and she responded, "Emily O'Lassis" (Indianapolis).

I wrote in this post about Abby's infatuation with watching Daddy cut the grass. At that time, I couldn't capture the antics on camera but I was able to recently. At one point she actually kisses the window. Enjoy.

Happy Halloween 2007

I didn't realize that it had been a week since my last post. It seems I am slipping. School is starting to get super busy with the "End of the Semester Wrap Up". I cannot wait until this semester is over. It hasn't been test heavy nor even work heavy but it has dragged on and I'm ready for the end. On Tuesday this week Stefan had to take off work because I had to do a day long observation of a group of special ed students and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to make it home before he had to leave for work. We used this opportunity to carve the pumpkins (a little late this year). Lexi drew the faces for both pumpkins,



while Abby supervised from her stroller,



and Daddy carved out the creations.



On THE BIG DAY Lexi decided to repeat her performance of The Little Mermaid from last year much to my chagrin. I had talked her into being a ballerina so she could use her expensive recital costume more than once and she agreed to this choice until Halloween day. Such a finicky kid!



Abby appeared as Marie from Disney's Aristocats which was a hand-me-down from Lexi when she was 2. I didn't see any reason to pay for another little girl costume when I had one in the attic. This logic will work until Abby actually has an opinion on the matter which I hope will not be until Halloween 2009 because I have an adorable JoJo's Circus hand-me-down costume that I would love to see again because it is just too adorable.



My parents were with us this year which was a God send. I was fretting all day how I was going to get this accomplished on my lonesome plus I bought like 12 pounds of candy that, if no one was at the house passing it out, would have gone to waste. So, my dad stayed at the house to man the candy cauldron and Mom hit the road with me and the girls around 6.



We were the first ones out but I figured the others wouldn't be too far behind us because our neighborhood is filled with very young kids and it was a school night with bedtimes not to be ignored but I was wrong. We strolled along for 30 minutes only hitting the houses with lights on (which were quite a few). We then decided to take a little break and grab some sweatshirts. We headed back to the house were Lexi had a wardrobe malfunction and had to change into the ballerina garb for the sake of decency.



While at the house we ran into little Katelynn who was dressed as a lamb. This was the first time that Abby expressed an interest in getting out of the stroller. It was so cute - Abby dressed as a kitty and Katelynn as a lamb - Abby kept touching Katelynn's costume and trying to kiss her.



From that point on Abby decided she was going to try her hand in this Trick-or-Treat stuff. It was so cute as she did her little toddle waddle to the doors: her tale on her costume would wag from side to side. The first house we went to had a dog and Abby loves all animals (it's one of the only surefire ways to get her to giggle-being near a dog) so she pet the dog and tried to kiss it. I think that she thought this was the point of trick or treating - going around and kissing all the neighborhood dogs. The candy was only a bonus. She carried her little pumpkin tote shaking it like it was a glorified rattle. Too cute!

Abby lost all patience with this whole ordeal around 7:15 and broke into absolute hysteria so we called it quits. I think Lexi was ready too. So we returned home and the kiddos and Lexi was in bed at her normal bedtime. I sat out on the front patio to avoid the incessant doorbell ringing disturbing the girls' slumber and in a hope to keep the dogs from going insane. It seems that effort was in vane though because the dogs barking at the trick-or-treaters passing the house kept Lexi awake to the point that she kept coming down the stairs like a little waif telling me that she couldn't go to sleep. Abby, however, slept perfectly fine. Stefan arrived home at 8:15 and was able to get Lexi to finally go to sleep. It's unfortunate that, because of his job, he has to miss Halloween sometimes, but what can you do?

All-in-all I'd say that this was a pretty decent Halloween.

Ditto

Lately Abby loves to imitate everything her big "sissy" does. It's rather cute actually. This afternoon Lexi was coloring at the kitchen table when Abby pulled a chair over and was executing "The Great Crayon Heist 2007" much to Lexi's dismay. After a bit of bickering, I gave Abby her own piece of paper to doodle on. Notice Abby is holding the crayon perfectly...what a prodigy. I'm sure every proud parent says that though.

We have Lexi's attention


Now we have Abby's


Sit on your bum bum, Baby Girl


Lexi gives up...Abby doodles on

Our Little Pumpkins

Sunday was the day to go to the pumpkin patch. This year my friend and her family joined us. As usual we went to the local dairy farm, but this year the selection of the gourds was rather slim. I was embarrassed that we invited our friends to such a dismal patch but we made the most of it and took the obligatory pictures to freeze the moment in history. I don't know why but our girls can never take a picture where they are both looking at the camera so I had to take quite a few in order to get both of their faces.

What are we lookin' at?


Could we look any happier?


I guess this'll do


Umph...don't think I can lift it!

Lexism of the week

This week, while we were on our way to dance class, Lexi asked me if we could move. I asked her why and she said that she wanted to live some place new and started dreaming of bigger and better things elsewhere. I told her that we were not going to move for a long while but she persisted. This was strange to me, so I asked her why she really wanted to move. She said that she wanted all of us to move except Abby because she doesn't want a little sister anymore. I guess Abby is encroaching a bit too much on Lexi's time, space, and affection. I suppose every older sibling goes through this at some point because let's face it...having a new kid in the house to have to share with kind of stinks and is a huge adjustment. Regardless...tough cookies, Lexi. She's here to stay. Sorry.

UPDATE: On Saturday, we were in the car and Abby reached for Lexi's hand. Lexi grabbed her hand and it was the cutest thing ever. Lexi then said that she "loves having a baby sister." Fickle girl!

More climbing escapades

Today, I removed the tray from Abby's highchair (I still use it with her because it keeps her contained. Stefan on the other hand prefers the table) to clean it in the sink. I didn't replace it soon enough because she brought over her little step and decided to scale the high chair. She did this about 3 times before I was able to capture it on video. Apparently, she was hungry although she says she isn't. "No" is her answer to everything these days. Fun times.

Light the Night

Last Saturday Stefan, me, and the girls participated in the Light the Night Walk for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We met up with some people from Stefan's office. Lexi was very upset by this stop because we had told her we were going to Atlanta. She didn't make the association that Daddy's office is in Atlanta. Once that was explained she was still a bit confused because there were no tall buildings (skyscrapers) around. We were able to show her some in the distance but that was not satisfactory to her. She wanted to be among the buildings.

Once everyone arrived at the office we all caravaned over to Centennial Olympic Park. We were there a couple of hours before the actual walk started so we looked around at the many tents for the various companies with walking teams. There were also memorial walk tents set up for families with affected members to post their posters and pictures memorializing their loved ones. That was pretty sad, but I think it was good for Lexi to see. It helped her to understand that some diseases can take peoples' lives and it helped to make the point that we were raising money for people like them and their families. She has such a good heart and this point was very easy for her to comprehend and just got her even more pumped up for the walk ahead. What else got her pumped? The balloon that she got to carry. It had a blinking light in it and she thought that was the coolest. Everyone that walked was given one. There were three colors--red for supporters, gold for memorials to loved ones, and white for survivors. Lexi, of course, got red which was exactly what she wanted because it is the closest to pink--her favorite color.

Unlit...



Lit



At dark, the event coordinators had everyone gather at the start finish line and held us there for about 20 minutes before finally opening the floodgates and allowing all 5,000 walkers to swarm the streets of downtown. It was funny. You could look around you and you didn't feel crowded--everyone was pretty spaced out. But once you started the climb of the initial hill of the walk you could look in front of you and see a sea of people and balloons which was cool, but when you looked behind the view was the same and that was even better. Spread out, 5,000 people didn't seem like much, but crammed into the narrow streets of downtown surrounded by the much anticipated (on Lexi's part) skyscrapers, 5,000 seemed like the entire town came out in full force. Very cool.

I bet you're wondering how we were able to manage two kids in this crowd. We brought the double stroller. What a God send! Abby sat and chilled out in the front while Lexi rode on the back admiring the buildings and chatting away.



Sorry it has taken me so long to post this. Stefan's been working overtime and I have had my hands full with school and the kids and have not been able to take the time to upload the pictures or the video. Thank you to all of our supporters...events like this are a better lesson for the girls in giving and charity than any teacher could provide in the classroom.

Oh, this video was taken right before the event started.