Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! We had a great Kelly Christmas, with Grammy and Poppy here to celebrate with us. We opened gifts (lots of them), went ice skating, had a great turkey dinner, went on a very snowy walk, and played and played and played. Couldn't ask for more.





This picture was from last weekend as the girls were ready to go to church for their Christmas program. After the program, Maggie puked all over herself...at church. : )

Gram and Pop are here! The girls love to get horsey rides on Poppy's back.

We made the trek down to the Mall of America to see Santa. It was a long wait, but the pictures turned out great!

The highlight of the trip to MOA was that Maggie got to pick out an American Girl doll as her gift from Grammy and Poppy. She was beyond thrilled!

This morning, opening the first of lots and lots of presents.

Maggie, about to open her ice skates from Grandma and Grandpa...definitely the #1 gift of the year!

Bella was not so thrilled with all the present opening. While she did receive some new nail clippers, bone ornament from Maya, and Greenies treats, she was petrified of all the commotion. She was super snuggly and calm. It was great!

The aftermath.

The girls in their skates, which were worn around for over an hour. They finally wore us down and we took them skating at a nearby park. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!!

There are no words...

For the love of Bella

The snow is flying, the wind is whipping, Bella's potty spot fills up continually...the things we do for the love of Bella.

Winter Blast!

We love the names that the weather people give to the storms...Winter Blast...Weekend Whopper, etc. Well, this current storm is definitely living up to all the names we've heard. We're currently in the middle of a 24 snow fest. We're expected to get 14+ inches by tonight, then add in sustained winds with gusts to 30-40 mph which makes for blizzard like conditions and an extreme cold front coming on the backside of the snow. We're talking about highs below zero for the next few days. That part sucks. Work was cancelled this morning which was delightful (and it hardly EVER happens so that's saying something). We have no place to be so LET IT SNOW! The only downside is the amount of shoveling that's required. We just came in from several hours of shoveling the driveway (and a little playing on the big snow pile in the cul de sac), only to have the snow blown right back on. Bummer.

I took this picture from inside the garage. You can see how high the snow was against the garage door! Thank the Lord it is the lighter, fluffy snow and not the wet heavy stuff!


Getting started.

Daddy's goatee (sp?) was coated with snow and ice...the girls thought he looked like Santa!

Mags LOVES the snow. Maya, not so much...notice she's not in any of the pictures - she lasted about 3 minutes outside, 2 minutes of which she stood with her face to the garage door so she didn't get the wind. : )

This is our backyard...notice the retaining wall...its probably 6-7 feet tall and you can see how high the snow has blown and drifted.

This is what's left of our fire pit. It'll be totally covered soon.

This is the biggest storm we've had since we've lived in Minnesota. If it's gonna snow, let it snow! Aaron just discovered our heat isn't working so he's back out to check the vent outside to see if its covered in a drift and to do round 3 of shoveling. The girls are up in our bathtub, with swimsuits on, playing "mermaid" and "Hawaii". Bella and I are snuggling in the living room by the fire. What a great day! Stay warm everyone!!!!

Play-doh

Yesterday Maya and I made play-doh. It was actually a request by Maggie's teacher for one of their centers. I think they're making "cookies" or something. Anyway, the request was for scented play-doh. I've made play-doh before so what the heck. I ended up making 3 batches...peppermint, raspberry, and chocolate.

For the first 2 (peppermint & raspberry) I used the recipe her teacher had sent out:

Combine and boil until dissolved
2 cups water
1/2 cup salt
food coloring
scented extract (vanilla, almond, peppermint, etc.) - use A LOT of extract. I thought I used a lot and the smell was very strong when it was just the boiling water and salt, but when you added everything else and it was done, almost no smell. Oh well -live and learn!

Mix in while VERY HOT
2 T. cooking oil
2 T. baking powder
2 cups flour

Knead until smooth (about 5 min.) and store in an air tight container.

Then I remembered that I'd seen a recipe for chocolate play-doh somewhere on one of the blogs I read. I swear it was "edible", but I couldn't find that one. I did find this one though from My Montessori Journey. It smells divine - like brownies, but believe me, you do NOT want to eat it. I tried a tiny bite just to see if it was, perhaps, edible. It was a no go. : )

Mix together thoroughly
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup salt
2 t. cream of tartar

Then add 1 1/2 T. cooking oil and 1 cup boiling water. Mix and knead until you have a smooth ball of dough.

Happy playing!

Bella's Birthday

Happy Birthday Bella! Today our little baby turns 8! Wowzers...that's 56 years old in dog years. Aaron told the girls today that she is about as old as Grammy and Poppy! Ha! : )

For her gift, we took her to PetSmart to pick out a new toy and get a treat. Aaron thought she really would "pick out" a new toy, so he unloaded the toy aisle onto the floor so she could choose. Needless to say, she didn't give a rats behind about a single one of them, so the girls picked out a cute little duck for her. We bought this toy knowing full well it probably wouldn't last the night, as her favorite thing to do is to rip out the seams and pull out all the stuffing and get to the squeaker and bite through it too. It was mission accomplished around 6:00 tonight. : )

Maya was inisitent on having a birthday party for her. We thought about inviting over the neighbor dogs, but Bella hates them and we didn't think we should torture her on her birthday, so we settled for giving her a couple of leftover tortellini's from dinner complete with a candle. We sang her Happy Birthday and she wolfed down the tortellini's without chewing. Typical.

What would we do without her though? She drives us bonkers, but she is our baby. I tell Aaron that if I didn't have my Bella baby, I might just have to have another real baby. He says she can stay. Happy Birthday Bella babe!

Cousins come to visit

Meet our newest cousin, Evie Arleene. We finally got to meet her last week and the girls were ga-ga for her. She's cute as a button of course and looks like her big brother. We had a super duper time hanging out with them, along with my sister Callie and her hubby Devin.

Jacob is a very good little boy, but I totally forgot how much of little destructors they are when they're that little. I mean seriously, I think I almost had an anxiety attack just looking at the state of our house while they were here. Jakey liked to pull everything off the shelf, but of couse, being only 14 mo. old, never put anything back. It was seriously (and I'm not exaggerating) like a Toys R Us truck exlploded, then a tornado came through and stirred it all up. Yikes! We survived though and miss them tons already.

Another good thing about having visitors...we get someone to take a family picture of us! Cheese!!

Happy Birthday Maya!

Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday to Maya...Happy Birthday to you!

She opened lots of presents from lots of people. She got a new game, sticker book, princess make up, books, a new bike helmet, and lots more. Yeah!

For the first time, Maya got to have a "friends" party. She invited the neighborhood 3's and 4's, Lily, Finley and Emma (Emma wasn't able to make it). They played, ate cake and opened presents. It was the easiest party ever. : )

Happy Birthday big 4 year old!

Halloween

First off, we had a Halloween miracle. Maggie lost her 2nd tooth. I finally had to go in and give it the final yank, but it came right out and she is thrilled. The Tooth Fairy is coming tonight. : )

Halloween basically started on Friday, with Maggie's party at school. I volunteered to help and spent the morning with her class. They had several different game/craft/snack centers and then later got to watch Monsters Inc. and eat a couple of their prizes from the morning. At the end of the day as is tradition at Lake Elmo Elementary, there was a Kindergarten parade around the school. The kids were of course super cute. Mrs. Sycks was the Gingerbread Girl from the book she is holding and had earlier read to the kids.

Maggie's class all dressed up.

Saturday we had the Cove party. We decided to have the party at a neutral location this year due to the sheer volume of people we now have. We held the party at a Davanni's, a local pizza joint that had a party room. We ate pizza, the kids did crafts, the men watched football...and no one had to clean up their house afterwards. It was lots of fun.

And that brings us to actual Halloween day...today. The girls were ready ALL day to get into their costumes, paint their faces and get trick-or-treating. Bella however was not as excited to get into her pumpkin costume. The hat didn't last long. : )

Daddy and the girls worked the neighborhood to the best of their ability and came back with full buckets. Maggie wasted no time and went right to work devouring as much candy as she could before we had to cut her off. Seriously...that girl has a sweet tooth. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree huh?

We got on Skype with grandma, grandpa, Auntie Callie, Auntie Sidney, Jakey and baby Evie so they could see the girls in their costumes. Pretty much it was me talking though as they were too busy stuffing their faces to speak.

Then it was time for bed, and time to attempt to remove all the face paint. : ) All are in bed now, including Bella who is exhausted from an evening of barking at all the kids who came to the door. Until next year...

Crazy hair

Whoa!!!! I guess it was crazy hair day. She got the memo the rest of us didn't. : )

Uh-oh

Several days ago I came home from work to this.

Those poor, poor barbies...

Oh...and that long lock of blond hair?...

Oh...and who's that kid that suddenly now has bangs? Yeah.

Best Friends

Maya and Lily are best friends. They go together like peas and carrots, like a ball and glove. They can fight like sisters, but always make up and are two of a kind again. Our girls are so lucky to have found such good friends.

The Gift of Friendship

Friendship is a precious gift

That cannot be bought or sold,

But its value is far greater

Than a mountain made of gold -

For gold is cold and lifeless,

It can neither see nor hear,

And in the time of trouble,

It is tireless to cheer -

It has no ears to listen,

No heart to understand,

It cannot bring you comfort

Or reach out a helping hand -

So when you ask God for Gifts,

Be thankful if He sends

Not diamonds, pearls or riches,

But the love of real true friends.

Helen Steiner Rice

Maggie turns 6!

This time 6 years ago I was holding my hours old first child. I was absolutely pooped, but so happy that my little girl was FINALLY here! My mom and grandma were also here and were putting every ounce of their energy into jockying for position to hold tiny baby Maggie.

Today, she is a big girl. She is tall. She is smart. She is funny. She is helpful. She is reading, tying her own shoes, doing cartwheels and backwalkovers, started kindergarten and has just lost her first tooth.

How'd that happen?

How come when you're a child time passes so slowly, and when you're a parent, it flies by so fast? How come when you're a parent and you want to keep your babies babies for a long time, it seems like you blink and they're all grown up? It really makes you appreciate the time you have with them. Time that they'll let you hold their hand in public...kiss them goodbye before getting on the bus, actually wanting to hang out with YOU on their birthday.

Today Mags chose to be with me (and her friend Meghan). We spent the good part of the day at the Mall of America going on the rides at Nickelodian Universe. She didn't want Maya or daddy to come, she wanted to go with me. We lunched, we went on what seemed like a million rides, we ate cotten candy, we had a lot of fun! After an afternoon at the mall, we picked up daddy and Maya and headed out for a birthday dinner...at Applebees and had some neighbors over for cake and ice cream.

She told me tonight while we were reading that last night she wished on a star. I told her not to tell me what she wished for because her wish might not come true. She said that it had already come true. She said that she wished for a really good birthday. Enough said. Happy Birthday Mags! Mommy and daddy love you so much! Try not to grow up too fast.

Child Labor

Aaron believes that the reason we have children is so that they can grow up and take over the chores we don't want to do. Teach 'em young! : )

Today was Maggie's first day of Kindergarten! She had her outfit layed out, backpack packed.

She was all ready to go.

Not a word of nervousness has crossed her lips.

Only excitement and total readiness.

She had her Cove friends with her to show her the way.

Off she went.

Not a tear shed by mom or dad. Mom did actually dance a jig.

She's I'm sure doing fabulously.

I did realize however that I forgot to pack the 2 daily snacks. Oops. Hopefully that didn't completely ruin the day of Little Miss Sensitive. My bad. I'm sure however that I'll NEVER forget to pack snacks again. : )