Snow Day - Part 2

It's after noon, and we're still in our jammies. Breaking out the Valentine card supplies was a hit! Emma's creations are all well-thought out and beautiful. Lila is doing it "all by herself " too. She actually using the scissors pretty well and is having a heck of a time with the glue sticks!

This is our Valentine's project from yesterday. Well, it was supposed to be "our" project, until I saw what a mess the crayon shavings were, how dangerous it was for Emma to shave the wax with scissors, how nervous Lila made me around the iron, etc. Then my Martha tendencies took over and I had to hang them just so. I hate when I get like that!
Didn't I do a nice job with my Valentine's project?! ;) It looks beautiful with the snow outside.

Snow Day

-Except it's raining already. So much for playing outside! Instead we're enjoying movies, hot chocolate and multigrain (Trader Joe's, and very good, BTW) pancakes.
It's still a great kind of day.

School Days

I helped at Lila's school yesterday. She was thrilled to have me there! Here's some of what they did:

snack time

hokey-pokey

show and tell

One More Time

One last time before the temperatures finally rise today and tomorrow. Lila was ill-prepared in her dress/tights/vest and MY gloves, but she doesn't skate long anyway. How could I resist the photo opp with this sunset?!

Long Weekend

Ryan finally got home from his week-long trip and we all had a nice long weekend together. It was COLD here, so we stayed inside and played lots of board games and Wii and watched many episodes of Little House on the Prairie. Very fun.
We ventured out to a friend's roller skating party, and had a great time there. We also went to Barnes and Noble so Emma could spend a gift card she had from her Bday. Sunday we went to church, then ice-skating at Grammy's neighbor's pond! This is always a winter highlight. We usually get cold enough temperatures for long enough that we get to ice skate for real once a year. Emma is getting so good! She loves to skate and never wants to go inside! (not cool if you're the one watching her!) She was trying to spin, jump and skate backwards. I'm lucky if I don't fall down! Lila was glad to try her skates out again, too, but she couldn't wait to go in for hot chocolate. :)

Here they are - Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding:


Sadly, we then watched the Eagles say goodbye to their chance to go to the Superbowl - BUT that also meant we said goodbye to Ryan's playoff facial hair. I kind of liked it, but I'm glad he's back to his smooth self again.Today was another nice day at home. We got things done around the house and the girls were excited to watch a snowfall out the window even it was a really wimpy one.

Princess Party

Lila had her long-awaited Birthday Party today. Since she's a few days shy of 4 years and 1 month, I think I'm totally within my time limit for planning a December Bday party.
It was a Princess theme - of course. She invited 4 little girls from various church/school activities and they had all sorts of girly fun! It was great to watch Lila be the Belle of the Ball, since she is so often just following Emma and her friends. I even loved the touch of bossiness, "OK, guys, everybody! Line up over here behind ME!" They colored Princess puzzles; made foam crowns; ate chicken nuggets, french fries, and fruit; played Pin the Crown on the Princess, and Princess Bingo; sang and enjoyed the Snow White cake (thank you very much - she was lovely!). Lila was an excellent hostess and truly loved her 4th Birthday Party.

Ellie, Lila, and Bri - working on their crowns

"Happy Birthday (almost a month late) to Lila..."

The girls salivating over the cake
(that's Ellie's little sister - bottom left, and Abby in white - she didn't want her picture taken)

Grace and Lila

Bri and Lila

The after-party: gotta love a barbie dressed in buttercream!

Adventure Aquarium

Ryan left for Seattle Friday morning for a week, so the girls and I were looking for a little fun this weekend to perk us up. I happened to see that it was NBC10 day at the aquarium! We went to the Garden State Aquarium last summer for the first time and it was Lila's favorite thing ever!! It's just so expensive... but on channel 10 day, it's just $10 admission! Yahoo!

Touching in the Touch Tank - notice how wet Lila's shirt is.

NBC10 celebrities: Glen "Hurricane" Schwartz and Vai Sikahema to name a few-
I didn't want to actually wait in line to take their pictures! Emma got a few autographed pictures and thought it was pretty neat.

Lila's life aspiration is to be a diver in the shark tank - not kidding. That's what she always says she want to be when she grows up. This is a dreamy look in her eye!

At one point in the day, she was a little afraid of the sharks and thought she might like to scratch that idea and be a mermaid when she grows up instead.

"But you're a girl, how will you turn into a mermaid?"
"Um, I think I'll just maybe wear some Ariel stuff - that would work."

After this moment it was ALL about the diver in shark tank again!

Cool mannequin diver

Brrr.... chilly penguins!

Silly fish faces

We had a really fun day together, but still miss Daddy. It makes it worse to think that he got to spend the weekend with my nephews, Logan and Michael in WA! We miss you!

They Just Want to be Close to Mom

This is what is under my desk at my feet this morning as I check my email.....

Playing on the Back Steps in Pajamas on a January Afternoon

random.

Ice Skating

We went ice skating with a group of friends last night and had a blast! Emma is a great skater and was learning to turn and go backwards by the end of the night. She had fun racing off with her friends. Lila had no hesitation. She's never been on ice skates before, but hit the ice running - literally. She didn't want to use the kid-walker thing or hold the wall. She just wanted to be able to do it by herself. And my barely 4 year-old sure did! Here are some pictures and video to prove it.

The Last Week of 2008

Here's how we spent the lazy last week of 2008. Happy New Year!