Making Cookies with Daddy

It's all about the frosting, isn't it?

Quite a Dessert

The other night, J promised E a really great dessert.  

What does this consist of?  

Well, let this three-year-old describe it to you.

Thanksgiving: Part Two

Jed and Dave took Addison and Ellie downtown Denver on the new light rail.  What a treat! 

I stayed back with Maja as she was under the weather.

The place in Denver that is exactly one-mile high was a destination not to be missed.

Thinking of Great-Grandma Jean by eating at the Spaghetti Factory.  They got to sit inside a train car that was decked out for Christmas.  What a day!

The next day, Miss M was feeling better (phew!) and we went out to dinner with the family.

On our way to the fire station - let's go see Uncle Chad!

Fire Truck & Cousins

Fire Truck & Family

Happy Thanksgiving 2013!

Speaking of Being Thankful...Thanksgiving! (Part One)

We got to go to Colorado for Thanksgiving Break, and had a lovely time.  Looking back at the pictures, it was hard to choose just a few to encapsulate our time, so instead, I chose a lot and am splitting this into TWO entries.

Upon our arrival, we had the ever-famous angel food cake made by Grandma.  This year, Ellie got to help with frosting it (bright pink, sprinkles, too!)

Maja is game for almost anything, but in terms of getting around - "legs, please!"  Not quite walking yet, she counted on her lovely family and furniture to help her in her quest to get around.

Riding the horsey - always a highlight!

Silly gals!

Dinner time hosted by Aunt Janey and Tiffany at Tiffany's house.  Delicious! 

The Roger/Vanessa/Ellie being goofy saga continued.  Why wouldn't Vanessa want to roll around in the salad bowl?

This gal got sick and was uber tired.  She fell asleep here within about 3 seconds from leaving the house to go on a walk.  Never can get quite enough of a sleeping baby.  Maybe this is my "one true weakness."

I got to help decorate the Thanksgiving table - what a fun challenge!

This girl was happy to sit and eat (no surprise, here!).

Ellie had to have a picnic next to Maja while she was eating.

New purses!  Thanks, Aunt Kathy!

New jammies!  Thanks Aunt Amanda!

Stay tuned....

Be Thankful

This little poster greets me on my fridge every day.

What a way to put things into prospective.

May you (and I) find something to be thankful for today.

New York

Jed and I went to New York earlier this fall sans our kids. What a treat!

I've decided that I am have a new love - Central Park.  Jed and I both found our Central Park outing day to be a favorite.

The weather was beautiful, and I could not get over how many nooks and crannies and adventures there were to be had inside this HUGE space inside the city.  In fact, I think that I would go back to New York just to hang out in Central Park for a week.

Here, we found a castle inside the park with different levels and balconies to catch a view of the city. Gorgeous!

We visited the math museum.  I had high hopes originally (after seeing it featured on CBS Sunday morning a while back), but based on reviews I braced myself for disappointment.  There were a few hidden gems and cool parts (visually seeing the Pythagorean Theorem represented, monkey/dinosaur magnets that form tessellations, gravity/force car races, and riding on a bike with square wheels on a rounded track were all highlights) but many other parts seemed like they needed some tweaking/fixing in order to be more up to snuff.

The 9/11 Memorial was quite the experience as well.   This was well done and symbolized thoughtfully the magnitude of this tragedy.

Away from our kidlets, we still saw them in the strangest places.  See what I mean?

On the last day, the weather began to turn towards rain and cold, but we found a cozy path and bridge to meander along.

Thanks to all for allowing this trip to New York to happen.  We couldn't have done it without you!

Baby in a Diaper

Something about a baby in a diaper gets me every time. 

Sorting

As my students (and many others) know; I pretty much see math everywhere. 

I can't avoid it, it's just a part of me, and most (okay, some) of the time, I keep these mathy thoughts in my head and try to spare others from the nerdy-ness of these observations.

At school, these thoughts often leak out during math class, and I am humored (and sometimes appreciated) for these random things.


What's that - you want to hear some of these "quips"?

Here are two for you:

1.  How cool was December 3rd this year?

      The date was 12 - 03 - 2013.

      See a pattern?

      The numbers in 12 - 03 rearrange to form 2013!!!  How cool is that.  A double date!


 2.  Want to know a cool way to multiply by 15 in your head?  Well, think of a clock.  There are 4 "15
       minute" chunks in an hour, so 15 x 4 = 60.  AND  15 x 6 is one hour and a half of an hour, so 90.


Judging by how geeked I get about math, I get "geeked" that much more when my own offspring does mathy things without prompting. 

She's sorting!

What is she sorting, you ask?  Why, all of her hair accessories, of course.  Why wouldn't someone want to sort these things?

Is she sorting on Halloween, you ask? 

Nope. 

She is Cinderella much of the time. 

Cinderella sorting...weave that into a story, Disney, I dare you!

Halloween 2013

What a difference a year makes!

Last year our Halloween had quite a momentous occasion that ended up with a family of three becoming a family of four.

Annual carving pumpkins with E and her dear dad.  M was not about to be left out of the festivities, so we pushed her high chair close to the action and she loved having this prime seat for the pumpkin carving action.

Not quite so freaked out by the "goop" this year.

A happy face and a sad face.

This year, we had a gnome and a Cinderella in our midst. Both were happy campers, but one was especially in la-la imagination about the experience. Can you guess who?!?

It was pretty nasty outside this year in terms of rain, rain, and more rain.  Ellie went trick or treating with our next door neighbor.  Maja and her neighbor friend, hung out in costume, in avoidance of the rain.  By hook or by crook, we'll have to get those two out trick or treating next year. 

For now, this lady was just as content to chew on the candy bucket - who needs candy when there is a delicious plastic handle to swing on and to gnaw on, right?

After Halloween, there were many requests to have Halloween again.  While there has been no repeat trips trick or treating, we have had many a moment of make-believe royalty around these parts. 

**Thanks GGma and GGpa for this Cinderella costume - it has been a hit!  Thanks meems for crafting this adorable gnome costume for our wee lass!**

12 Months - One Year!

Maja turned ONE on the first, and my heart strings were pulled thinking that my baby has been growing too fast.

At one,

- She has two bottom teeth, two top teeth (one is farther down than the other...), and one on the top to the right that is just about to pop through the gums.
- She is right around 20 lbs, and we'll get an official number in a few days when we go for her check-up.
- She is happy, happy, happy, bubbly, and has a ready smile the majority of the time.
- She is taking life by the horns, and wants to soak up everything.
- She is BUSY!  We often have to redirect her in her endeavors, as they often have the potential of being dangerous (or making her sister crazy! - Ellie is learning that little sisters can't always be reasoned with when it comes to invasion of stuff.)
- She loves food, and enjoys trying all kinds of foods without complaint.  One of her favorite new tries recently has been a Chipotle burrito.
- She babbles often, and we're waiting to hear some words, but we know that will come in due time.
- She is a little love.

Stats: 
Height - 26 3/4 inches
Weight - 20 lbs, 2.5 ounces

A Baptism

In September, Maja was baptized, and we celebrated this with joy.  Jed's parents came for the occasion, and it was a sweet time.  There is nothing quite like giving your child to God and being surrounded by people who love and care for this little person who is so new to life.

Maja wore the same dress that Ellie wore, made by my mom.

Pastor Pete baptized her.

Loving godparents, Pete and Melissa, hosted a small celebration.

What a special day!

Sleeping Suzies

Jed and I can't help ourselves from peeking at the girls at least once before going to bed.  Jed usually likes to go before he himself gets ready for bed, while I save it up like a treat or reward for going through my whole bedtime routine.

There is nothing like a sleeping child to make you feel like all is well with the world.  It is in these moments where I get sentimental and want to scoop both of them into our bed to have them cozied up to us as we sleep.

How unrealistic would that be?  Having them in our bed would probably be the opposite of cozy.  Between M's sucking on her fingers and E's twittering around, the only ones actually getting any sleep would be them.

And so, I am left with just watching them.  Peacefully. Sleeping.  In all kinds of ways.

Sleep on ladies, sleep on.

Babysitting!

A few Sunday nights ago, we got to have our nephew (cousin to the girls) over to our house.  It was his first time at our house, and our first time babysitting him.  What a treat!

Because the girls are over at Kari's house while I am at work, they are completely used to Kaden.  And, on this night Ellie appointed herself to be the one who knew Kaden the best.  She was a huge help!

While Jed was holding Kaden in his lap, Ellie was cozied up close to both of them, and kept trying to show Kaden all kinds of fun things.  She also got the idea in her head that it would be fun for Kaden to have a fashion show of sorts, trying on a variety of winter hats.

My favorite was the moose hat.

Of course, Kaden did not think it was quite as fun as Ellie did to try on all of these hats.  After about the 4th one, he let us know he had had enough, and we had to stop our fashionista from continuing.

First Pigtail

Man, this girl is hard to slow down. Tonight, though, I just had to try to attempt the great feat of making a ponytail (small as it may be) in my youngest's fine locks.

With her great interest in pulling out any clip that I try to put into her hair, I wanted  to have another option of getting miss Maja's hair out of her face.

And, by hook or by crook (and help corralling from miss E), I had success. I don't know if I will try again any time soon, but hey, here's proof that it was done on this momentous day.

11 Months!

This girl right here is 11 months old (as of a few days ago!)

At 11 months, Maja...

...is quick to smile
...can climb a few steps, and now the infamous "gate" has become a staple in our home again.
... has sprouted a new tooth (her top left)
...prefers to suck on her two middle fingers (see below...this is quite typical)
... loves to move around (she's up, she's down, she's crawling, she's found a piece of lint, she's off again)
...LOVES her sister, seriously, so sweet the way she smiles and giggles for Ellie the way that she does
...no longer crawls army style
....starts to cry if the object of her affection (lovey, toy, mommy's library book...) is taken away from her
... gets sad (sometimes) when someone she loves leaves the room.
...is starting to have more patience for books and no longer immediately twists around when we try to read to her.

p.s.  In order to get her "solo" shots, she nearly catapulted herself several times out of the rocking chair...good thing Jed was around to spot her.