Winter Chill

After a mild fall, the new year has seen plenty of cold days. We still try to get outside when we can (two stir-crazy 3-year-olds are not as much fun as you might think) and have been revisiting some of our favorite summer swimming holes - Margaret Lindley Pond and Windsor Lake - to see how winter has changed them.

Noemi keeps telling me it's Spring (as in, "Mommy, why do we still have Christmas lights up? It's Spring!"). I hate to tell her we still have a ways to go, but we're still loving ice skating at the Williams rink. They want to be hockey stars just like their cousins Ray and Lucas and their Opa! Although I doubt Opa ever had second-hand Barbie skates like Noey does.

Slip-sliding on the ice on Windsor Lake. Despite the warm temps this day it was still frozen solid.

Braving the arctic temps at Margaret Lindley with Gram. This will be a sandy beach again soon!

Getting a ride around the rink with Daddy and their friend Max. They mostly push the chairs themselves and can skate a little without them.

Game Face Friday

You can make it to the weekend! Just put on your game face like Zora...

Chicks on Slides

Some of you may know that one of the girls' favorite videos when they were toddlers was "Pandas on Slides" (yes, exactly what it sounds like). It was so beloved (and gave us a full 2 minutes in which to brush their perpetually-knotted hair) that we soon added "Puppies on Slides," "Kittens on Slides," and "Ducklings on Slides" to the rotation. How, then, could we pass up the opportunity to make our own "Chicks on Slides" version?

Note: Videos may not be visible in the email; visit the actual blog webpage to view

Chick Sitting

One of the perks of being members of our local CSA is that the wonderful farmers (and our friends) invited us to foster a few of their brand new chicks. It's a win-win since the chicks get lots of cuddles and we get the joy of hearing little peeps ring through our small apartment without the long-term commitment. The girls showed how responsible, gentle, and curious they could be with our fluffy friends. They held them, fed them, shared their toys with them (I'm not kidding), and protected them from Mowgli, Flash, and Twyla (who really weren't terribly interested - old hat for them).

Feeling excited about the chicks!

We Really Did Try

As Christmas card season drew nigh, I went in search of a family photo. One that met the bare minimum requirements of:

1. Includes all 4 family members
2. All of us looking at the camera
3. Taken within the last year

Notice how I didn't say we all needed to be smiling. Or that I wanted one where you can't see the bags under my eyes.

No luck.

Plenty of cute ones of just the girls. Or just the girls and Mike. Or just the girls and me. Or just me and one girl... You get the idea.

So a few weeks ago we went to Caretaker Farm for our CSA pick-up and I asked our friend Bridget to snap a quick shot of us together. We were at one of our favorite places and it would take two seconds. Mike and I would even hold the girls so we'd all be facing the same direction. Easy peasy, right?

You be the judge:

Maybe next year.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Jingle Bell--

"Jingle Bells, Jingle..." Zora began singing.

"... Jingle Bells, Jingle All the Way," I joined in.

"NO!
No, Daddy.  
No my want you to sing."

"OK."

Pause.   "Um.. Daddy, What is next?"

"Oh what fun it is to ride..." Noemi and I sing together.

"NO! No, Noemi, No Daddy!" No my want you to sing!"

Sigh.

Dinner Last Night

The girls get up on their stools on either side of me as I prepare to make grilled cheese sandwiches.  Noemi had already explained to me with an exasperated sigh that she didn't want "grilled cheese."  She wanted "grilled cheese sandwiches."  

I give them each a small piece of the swiss cheese.  Nodding of heads.  "My like it." "My like it."

Then a small piece of cheddar, a cheese with which they are much more familiar.  More nods. More grammatically incorrect, but oh so cute "My likes." 

"Which one would you like on your grilled cheese sandwich?"

Fingers (many of them) point to the swiss.  "This one."

Great.  Trying something semi-new.  Small victory.  We'll take it.

I make the sandwiches.  But since we had agreed on the correct name for grilled pieces of bread with cheese inside, there had been some modifications to the dinner order.

They had both decided they didn't want the bread grilled or toasted at all.  "So just sandwiches?"

"Yes."

OK.  Then Zora decides she wanted hers dressed up.  Slowly she has become our food risk-taker, though in the world of three year olds and especially our three year olds, our family wasn't even  pushing Martha Stewart out of her comfort zone.  Zora asks for ham, pickles and mayonaisse in addition to her cheese and bread.

Great. I make  the sandwiches, the girls start in on them. Zora picking up and munching the whole thing with two hands.  Noey leaving it all on her plate and deconstructing it.

After a few bites, "Daddy.  Why you give me this cheese?  My no like this cheese.  My like cheddar."

"But, Noemi, you said you wanted the swiss."

"No."

"Remember, we did the taste test and you chose this one."

"My no like it."

"Could you just try it again?"

I lift it to her mouth, she opens her mouth, the cheese moves towards her mouth.  There is the slightest possibility that the cheese actually touched her tongue, but if so, only for a split second, before her head starts shaking and then is tipped to the side with a sad expression on her face... "No... No, my like it." 

Argh.

A another small victory is vacated from the records of one Michael Evans.