Snow Belles

Here come more pictures without much eloquence :)

We spent christmas weekend with my family down in Vancouver. All attempts by my mom to get a group picture of the grandkids all smiling and looking the same direction were unsuccessful. Here are the girls (Lauren, Aubree, Etta & Addie) There is a picture of an attempt at one with Asa later on.

My girls both got matching pj's in their stockings:

the shirts say "Snow Belle" and there is a matching red tutu

Etta was not fond of sharing my arms with a little one.

I couldn't get over the cuteness of these two girls together. 

How great to have a cousin so close in age to fight over toys with and share a story with!

Asa is such a happy little guy.

Addie was delighted to put her diapering skills to work. She has had a lot of practice on Lion, 

but he does not squirm as much!

Aubree has such a delightfully expressive face. I don't know where she learned it, but Addie has no where near the skills of her cousin. Her little looks just crack me up.

The cousins were in matching dresses from grandma. 

From behind it was hard to tell at a glance who was who :)

Asa was not thrilled about little baby feet touching him.

Cheryl & I met at the Childrens Museum and Addie & Aubree got some fun play & exploration in.

Reaching for her favorite milk.

They both wore their new tutu's. Here they are giving baths to dogs at the vet clinic there.

Who says you cant wear tutus while digging a ditch? Just make sure to have on the appropriate footwear!

Playing makes you thirsty.

Oops! A few out of order pictures I am too lazy to re-arrange:

Etta with Papa.

(I am looking at this picture & realizing it is time for her to get a haircut. Her hair looks cute in a ponytail but those do not always last long. When it is down like this it gets looking a little straggly. 

Asa showing of his super powers in his new cape.

Aubree did a dance for us in her new tap shoes and tutus (she layered two of them). 

Then she stopped, came over to those of us who were taking pictures and said  "show's over." 

What a little ham! 

Extreme makeover: doll-house edition

Before: one bedroom set, one kitchen set, and some miscellaneous things such as toilet paper tubes 

(I am not sure why we started collecting them for the dollhouse, but we did. 

They served many imaginative functions)

Another note: Etta must have had her curious little hands on things because usually the dollhouse 

was set-up better than this.

After: master bedroom set, bathroom set, living room, kitchen, 

kids bedroom with bunk beds, pets with beds, dance studio with ballerina

Addie says thanks for all the wonderful dollhouse furniture!

Here is Addie doing some stocking opening

and Etta enjoying her new toothbrush, book and tutu.

Addie in the new playhouse Matt assembled. For now it is in our messy garage,
but there will tons of pictures this summer of the girls playing with it in the yard I am sure.

Moving on...

the 4 of us visited the Aquarium on Tues. Addie was having fun with these octopus arms until Matt tried to take a picture. My attempts to pose with her were not successful. 

A purple starfish on her face

Etta enjoyed splashing in the water and touching the starfish 

collecting bugs using tongs

chilling with the fish

I am too busy trying to finish the unabridged version of the Count of Monte Cristo to give more details & stories. The book is due at the library this weekend. I do not have to have it finished until bookclub in Feb but   I am worried that if I can not get my hands on another copy I will forget some of the intricacies of the plot and characters names. So pictures will have to do for now.

It's a good morning

Etta slept until past 8.
and
There is a free movie taking place outside our front window: sewer repairs. The girls have been glued to the window watching holes get dug, etc. So I have been able to put away clean dishes, prep dinner, etc in peace.
plus
I am going to the gym in an hour and I have high hopes of getting a decent workout in without Etta screaming the entire time. I am having (for the first time actually) both girls together in the childcare room there. I figure having Addie there will make Etta able to enjoy it and play. Plus I am able to use my shower at home so I do not have to forfeit workout time in order to shower at the gym.
and to top it all off
Matt is only working 2 days this week so we are getting lots of family time!

Growing up so fast

Evidence lately that my girls are getting older:

-Etta is transitioning from 2 naps to 1. Addie did this same transition around 14-15 months I think. But I think this happened a little sooner with Etta because of our morning co-op schedule. Morning naps were often cut short so she was already learning to cope without an hour long morning nap. She is really sleepy and wanting a nap around 11, but that is too early to start her only nap because we can not realistically do that on co-op days since we dont get home until 11:45 & still need to eat lunch. Plus, much to my chagrin her one nap has not been a marathon 3 hour nap. It feels lucky to get 2 hours from her or have her nap past 2. But, and this is big, she has been sleeping in in the mornings. Sometimes until 8 or even 8:30. And her 2 hour crying awake spells at night have been drastically reduced in there frequency (although they are not yet entirely a thing of the past).

-Etta has been weaned with no complaints or nostalgia on her part it seems. The transition happened a lot faster with her than when I was weaning Addie. Etta nursed out of habit at certain times of the day it seemed, and even though I have always been a good milk-producer, she would want a snack within half an hour of nursing. So it kind of felt like a waste of time, even though I know it was good for her & good bonding time. But she would get easily distracted & want to play if she heard the slightest noise from her daddy or big sister. If she had seemed resistant to giving it up or had indicated that she wanted to nurse, I would have continued a little while longer. She has not shown any fondness for cows milk, but Addie did not until she was around 2 & her pediatrician said that was fine as long as she was getting dairy in other forms & was growing well. So I am not concerned, because let me tell you: Etta loves cheese. Besides "dog", "cheese" is one of the words she says most clearly. It is pretty dang cute.

-Addie was at a day camp today at Little Gym from 9-12 without me. Even though on Fridays she is at co-op without me, this seemed like a really big deal. The ratio was totally different there: there were 3 or 4 staff but a good 20+ kids. And although she had her bday party there, Addie has not had a class there since spring, so the teachers faces were not familiar to her at all. So although I was nervous, she did great.

-Addie turns 3 this Sat but is already outgrowing most of her size 3 clothes. Her feet do not seem to be keeping pace with her growth in height though, they are still pretty small it seems. Oh, to be tall with small feet: the wish of many a grown woman!

And evidence that I seem to be unsure of my own age:
-I was hanging out with the middle & high-schoolers yesterday at my 8am appt at the orthodontist. As I lay on the chair & looked to my right then my left it was sleepy kids in their high-school sweatshirts all around me. I was not sure if I stuck out as the old lady of the group or if I blended right in. And today I saw a young girl with braces and I wanted to give her a big smile with my own braces "look, I am just like you" (only 20 years older!).

A backlog of pictures

I connected my camera to the computer thinking I just had a few pictures of the pool and a few random ones taken this week. Surprise! I have some pictures from a month ago I have not even seen. Oops! 

So here they are with a little bit in the way of story:

 These are from today. Addie was giving Etta little pushes on the horse. Then we decided to race. Addie was running & I was pushing Etta. It is hard to tell, but they are both wearing skinny legging-style jeans that I think are so cute plus they are soft & comfy.

I don't know why Addie looks grumpy in this next one. She is wearing her new Little Gym shirt, her bday balloons are hanging low in the background (purple of course!) and she was using her new dot-stampers.

Etta is trying to pull the decorative flowers off Addies dress.

 Addie showing off the Christmas tree. We decided to do a table-topper size this year to minimize on the Etta destroying tree factor. Maybe she would have done fine. But I like having a kid size tree this year with mismatched ornaments that does not take up a huge amount of space.

Here are a couple of pictures from Tradition at SPU. Matt took Addie & they met up with Aunt May.

 Decorating sugar cookies.

 Working on an art project. She came home with a card for me that says "mommy loves Etta". 

Matt wrote it exactly as she requested. Kind of cracked us up.

Going back even further in time: Thanksgiving in Kent.

Maya doggy was there so got lots of attention.

 We got some good smiles from Addie.

Although she also cried pretty hard at naptime. Lion could not be found anywhere & she was very sad & did not want to nap without him. I figured that he must have accidentaly just been left at our house. We had piles of stuff at the door for me to grab last minute & he was one of the things. But I thought I remembered sticking him in top of the diaper bag. Mystery solved when we got home: he had fallen off the bag while I was walking from the house to the car. He was wet but not damaged. My credibility has been tarnished however. Every time we mention going to Papa's house from Christmas, there is a stern reminder to remember to bring Lion (like I could forget!). But it must be daddy or Addie who carries him out this time, she specifies, not mommy. 

 Etta wanted to be part of the game.

 There was enough snow there to make a snowman!

 This is back when we had snow in Nov. 

A classic picture of children watching the snow fall. Notice Etta is in her pj's & coat, raring to go out!

I don't know if we switched memory cards or what, 

but I had somehow totally forgotten about all these pictures.

I am sure there will be tons of pictures to post after Christmas -

I can't believe that it, and Addie's 3rd birthday, 

are less than a week away!

Strategic showering

Our sewer/plumbing problems are scheduled to be fixed starting Monday. But this past week we have had to be very careful of our water usage. This has been inconvenient and frustrating for me. But also eye-opening. It makes me realize how truly necessary I view things like a daily hot shower, a machine to wash my clothes & another machine to wash my dishes, a clean non-smelly toilet where I can rake my time doing my business whenever I need to. There are people who die of thirst. People who have to walk miles to get clean water from a well. People who wash themselves and their clothes in water that has sewage in it. People who get incredibly sick from the water they drink.

And yet I am annoyed. Because some things I took for granted have been temporarily made less convenient. When my body tells me I need to do more than just pee, I have visited our local coffeeshop or Fred Meyer. Oh how I love having Fred Meyer only 5 blocks away! The bathrooms are pretty clean and there is always something I need to buy: conditioner for the girls, holiday gift bags, lightbulbs, etc. For my shower needs I have been going to the gym. I get a quick work-out in, then I get clean. Obviously a lot of this has to be strategically planned for when Matt is around. Yesterday the 4 of us went to the local pool, splashed around in the water, then took showers there - better than nothing, but not exactly leisurely. One wonderful night I spent a few hours at my friend Becky's house where I got to wash my laundry, take a hot shower, then relax on her couch. We have also visited the laundromat for the first time in who knows how long. $4.25 to wash a large load of towels in the jumbo machine. Yikes!

Without going into gross detail, I will say that the times we have tried to do things like laundry this past week, there have been bad repercussions. So we are going on the better-safe-than-sorry mode. Etta has no clue anything is different. Addie for the most part thinks it is fun, kind of like camping.

Bless our dear renters who have endured this all with us and maintained a sense of humor and probably complained less than me although they have more reason.

And now, here are pictures...

of the pool, not the poop :)