Warm Winter Day

For as mild a winter as it's been, I haven't had the time to take the girls out to play with their princess cars (though I know Mom-Mom has), but on such a warm day like today, well, how could we not spend it outside?


Later in the afternoon, we met up with Caitie and her brothers at the playground. Only wearing fleece jackets! At the end of January! If only all of winter was like this.



This little taste of warmer weather has all of us so ready for spring!

Happy!

Tonight we're going to celebrate Poppy's birthday, and I figured now was as good a time as any to use the spare chocolate cake I had in the freezer and jazzed it up with some peanut butter filling just for the birthday boy. I fully acknowledge that I am no Cake Boss, but to fancy (and I use that term loosely) it up a bit, I decided to label it with what Kate cutely calls cake these days: Happy.


Plus, with such a simple message, I figured this way I could include all the other winter birthdays in our family along with Poppy's in these Happy Birthday wishes. If that's not enough, well, here's Kate singing her version of the Happy Birthday song for all of you!


(The nose-picking bit is just for you, Uncle John. And, yes, that's Emily in the background describing all the cake she and Kate are going to eat tonight!)

Happy Birthday to Poppy, Mimi, Aunt Lauren, Uncle John, and Auntie D!

Dinosaur Day

Today was Dinosaur Day at preschool, a day where the kids wear dinosaur shirts they had made the previous week, eat dinosaur snacks, and learn all about dinosaurs. Earlier, the kids had each selected their favorite dinosaur, and Mrs. M made a bar graph to show which dinosaur was the most popular. The winner: T-Rex!



After storytime, the kids sat down for their dinosaur treats including dinosaur chicken nuggets and french fries bones. (Emily opted for baby carrots and pretzels, naturally.)



Emmy gave some love to her baby sister, but it was Kelly from whom she was inseparable.




It is always nice to be able to watch Emmy and her friends in their school mode. It's fun to see their different personalities, and how Emmy interacts with all of them. They really are a great group of kids!




ROAR! Watch out for those dinosaurs!

Leotard? Check. Slippers? Check.

Today is THE FINAL DAY, the day of Emily's first official ballet class. She was so happy and excited that she didn't even mind one bit posing for me and showing off some of her favorite ballet moves, not to mention her new leotard and ballet slippers.




Emmy was sad not to be in the same class as her best friend Kelly, but fortunately another friend from school, Ava, is in this class, because it really does help to have another friend there with her.


I don't know about Emily, but my favorite part of the class is at the end where they run around the room flapping their wings like butterflies. I realize it has very little to do with ballet, but they look so adorable in their pink leotards and ballet slippers and just seem to have so much fun with it. I wonder how much longer it will be before Kate is asking to join her big sister?

What Is This White Stuff?

I can't believe it's nearly the end of January, and we just now got our first snow of the winter. (Snow in the fall doesn't count.) Yesterday we finally got to break out the new sled the girls got for Christmas, and they love it! We took it for a spin around the neighborhood, but it got a little tricky once we hit the shoveled sidewalks.




We tried pulling them along next to the sidewalks, but it was bumpy and sloped, and we all decided they were better off walking. Well, Kate started out walking -- and realized snow is so much more enjoyable when you can actually walk in it! -- but as usual, I ended up carrying her the rest of the way to Caitie's house. Once there, though, the girls were back on the sled. Caitie's backyard has a very slight slope, so it was perfect for the girls who are still fairly new to sledding.








Today we stuck around the backyard and squeezed in a little more snowy playtime. The girls played on the slide, and then we took the sled for a ride down the only hill we have, on the side of the house just between the shed and the retaining wall. For being such a small hill, it sure made for a quick ride!






We took a few loops around the backyard, then stopped to eat some snow (or "eyshh" as Kate calls it) and play duck-duck-goose. Just before Kate's naptime, Emmy wanted to go out front to her princess castle -- the mound of snow piled up on the curb by the snow plow -- where she had played yesterday while I shoveled the driveway and Kate napped. She didn't want her baby sister to miss it again!


Sadly for her, Kate's naptime meant she had to miss something else today: hot chocolate with extra marshmallows. Yum. (Just don't tell her!)

Overdue

I've been meaning to get Emily's hair cut since before school started in the fall but kept putting it off until finally she started asking for it. I think we both realized that brushing her hair would be so much easier if there were less of it! So I finally bit the bullet today, and when the hairdresser saw the frown on my face after she took off a big snip, she asked if I wanted to take it home with me. For her third haircut? Don't be silly.

No, wait. Yes, please.



What is that? Four inches? Five? I know it wasn't looking pretty anymore, but that's a lot of hair, and I was sad to see it go. Though I do have to admit that it is infinitely easier to brush her hair now!

If you can't tell, once we were back home, Emmy really wasn't in the mood to show off her haircut for pictures, but Kate sure was. After all, it will be a long while before she has a haircut to show off herself!


Before we went home, though, we stopped to have lunch at the bagel shop next door, and Em was a little more excited about showing off her new 'do then. Meanwhile Kate's excitement had stayed just about the same.




I think that's about the same amount of cheese that was in her grilled cheese sandwich!

Little Miss So-and-So

Have I mentioned how excited I am to be having my first niece so soon? I'm sure my excitement is no match for the parents-to-be, but I really am over-the-moon excited and tell Rich and DeAnn that every chance I get. Today was no exception, as we all got to celebrate DeAnn's baby shower. They are keeping the name to themselves until she's born, so for now we've been affectionately calling her by a nickname Mimi inadvertantly gave her: "So-and-So."



As with all baby showers, there is no escaping the present opening show. The first presents were little somethings sent from DeAnn's mom, the best of which were the clippings of some of DeAnn and her sister Lisa's modeling days. (Oh, you guys don't mind them splashed over the internet, do you?)








Thank goodness Lauren was willing to help write down all of the gifts, even though she may not have known what some of them were!







As if there weren't enough girls in this house growing up, we just keep adding more! First DeAnn, then Emily and Kate, and soon Little Miss So-and-So. There are so many family and friends like me who just cannot wait to meet her!




Congrats, you two. You make a wonderful aunt and uncle, and we know you will be amazing parents. We love you, and So-and-So already too!