Christmas

It will be hard to top sledding (for the first time ever) on christmas day! Thanks to a crazy-huge snowfall, there was plenty of snow for the girls to play in. Alette loved sledding!



There was a large enough group up in Princeton for the girls to get their own table, don't we all remember those days. True to form, both Alette and Abria had PbJ sandwiches for christmas dinner.



Alette waited all fall to be allowed to wear her 'fancy christmas dress'. I managed to get a half decent shot of the two girls-then it descended into a wrestling match.



Abria had to try out Alette's new princess shoes too! Abria is fascinated with shoes. She is constantly pulling them out of the shoe box, trying to put them on, carrying them around the house. It is very clear when she wants to get out for a walk. She'll grab her shoes, walk up to me and bang them on my legs. If that isn't clear enough, she'll often walk over to the door and start banging. I feel like we have a puppy and need to hide the leash.



Alette got high-heeled princess shoes for christmas! Don't they look great with her painting smock?

The girls (and us) were so blessed by family and friends over the holidays. It is so easy to get caught up trying to get things done - shopping, baking, wrapping, cleaning....It was wonderful to pause for a moment and be at the christmas eve service and reflect on the true meaning of the season-the celebration of our saviour's birth. Speaking of christmas eve services, Alette had her first experience of singing up on stage-well, at least she was up on stage, I think I only saw her mouth move a couple of times, but she did get most of the hand motions in.

and the best toy was...

Laura's camera! The girls had a great time hamming it up.

She's 4!

Alette has been looking forward to her birthday for a very long time...and then it snowed and the party we had planned for the day before. She was okay with it, until her birthday came and she kept asking why no one was coming over. Thankfully Pop-pop, Gma Terry, Auntie Lisa, and Grandma all came by to help celebrate. Like every birthday girl, Alette revelled in the attention, loved opening her gifts, and could not wait to eat her cake and ice-cream. And we'll do it all again at her party after christmas.
Unfortunatley (for Alette), turning 4 also meant giving up her soother-which she still used at night. We had been talking about it for several months and reminded her of the inevitable many times throughout December. The night before her birthday she suggested hiding a soother from the Soother Fairy (I had to blame the inevitable on someone other than myself). Oh did she cry! I felt simply awful. Happy birthday, now relinquish your favorite source of comfort! I stayed in her room until she was asleep and she did wake up and come down to our room many, many times, but....it is gone :) The only soother left are the two in Abria's room and thankfully Alette isn't clever enough to realize that she could just sneak in there and grab one. We are breaking Abria of the habit a lot earlier!

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

We heard the reports calling for a huge amount of snow, and quite frankly, refused to believe them. After all, Alette's birthday party was scheduled for the weekend....however, it snowed, and snowed, and snowed. Thankfully, Alette's disappointment about postponing the party was alleviated by the prospect of playing in a HUGE amount of snow. Abria has loved it! She often grabs her boots, hands them to one of us, then plops down, ready to get bundled up to go outside. I'm a little less impressed by all the snow. It seems to take forever to get out the door. Then once I'm out, I'm faced with the prospect of icy sidewalks, a cold van, and two girls who always seem to walk in opposite directions. It is so sad to think that winter has only just begun.

The Thanksgiving Feast at PreSchool

Oh it was just too cute for words! All the little kids sat in a circle tapping their tom-toms while their teacher lead them in songs. Very few of the kids actually sang as most of them were happily distracted by the Thanksgiving guests. We then joined them for pudding and muffins-Alette's absolute favorite snack. She was just beside herself with excitment, especially when I let her eat my pudding. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Sisters

My two girls are totally in love with each other. Alette is super protective of her sister, hugs and kisses her everytime she cries or falls down. She loves reading to her, wrestling with her, and bathing with her. Abria, for her part, idolizes her bigger sister and follows her around like a puppy. I take her out of her crib in the morning and the first place she heads is to Alette's room to happily pat her head and wake her up.

Thoughts on Thanksgiving

While we were driving home from nursery school the other day, Alette asked me 'Mommy, why you never tell me about Thanksgiving?'. In my head I'm thinking of the zillions of Thanksgiving books we've read, the millions of conversations, and at least TWO VERY RECENT Thanksgiving crafts we worked on together. hmmmmmm.

After a rocky start, our conversation went as follows (I'm trying to remember it exactly after a week, but you'll get the gist).
Alette: You know what mommy? I'm thankful for 1,2,3,4,5 things.
Me: like what?
Alette: I'm thankful for my toys, my mommy, and daddy, and sister, and all the things that Jesus gives to me, and my cat, and my friends.

I just love my daughter.

Halloween

The girls had a great time playing at the Children's Garden. Alette got a ton of candy (her main goal for the day). As excited as she was to get candy, she has largely forgotten about it. Somehow though the pile of chocolate is disappearing...hmmmm. She never got around to wearing the long princess skirt I made, and on Halloween, refused to wear her crown or carry her wand. Nonetheless, she looked darn cute and had a great time. Thanks to Auntie Laura and Grandmom for joining us!
Abria was out of sorts all day, hence, she is scowling in most of the pictures. Nonetheless, she was the cutest pumpkin I have ever seen.

Yes, she's 3.

Alette has been excited about dressing up as a princess for weeks. We talked about her costume and she even helped me pick out the materials to make a long princess skirt. She has a short princess skirt, but she really, really, really wanted a long one for her halloween party. Then the day of the big event came....and the long skirt was rejected. UGH. So I bit my tongue, put it aside, and have been a bit steamed ever since. Maybe it'll be put to use this weekend. In the meantime I'll keep smiling and repeating 'she's only 3, it's not personal...'

It Finally Feels Like Fall

We missed apple picking but made it out to Johnsons' Farm in time to gather a few pumpkins for Halloween. It was cold and blustery, perfect fall weather! Alette ran from pumpkin to pumpkin, rejecting many because they were too bumpy, dirty, orange, green, tall, round, short etc. Finally she found the perfect pumpkin for herself and Abria-aided by my threat of the hayride tractor leaving without us. Within five minutes of being in the field Abria picked up the tiniest gourd and carried her treasure for the rest of our time at the farm. Alette's eagerly awaiting the chance to go to school in her princess costume....only 4 more days.

OC

We spent the weekend in Ocean City with three other families from our church care group. Abria was pretty sick the previous week and we weren't sure if we would make it but her fever broke on Thursday, so we packed up and headed to the beach. With 7 kids under the age of 6, there was plenty of noise and fun. Alette, Andy and a couple of the others did actually make it to the beach and briefly played in the sand.

Thank Goodness for Big Sisters!

Officially Abria is walking....however, given the opportunity, she would much rather have the helping hand of someone older. Luckily Alette is pretty willing to play that role, as I tend to get tired of doing laps around our living room. I have no idea why the audio is not working...probably need to plug something in, or turn something on.

Our Little Show Off

Anyone who says they have their child's first steps on video is stretching the truth. I spent the greater part of today trying to capture Abria's walking (a very shaky venture for her at this point). I'll post the results later, but I found it a near impossible task. Abria crawled, fell, cried..... However, I did get some great video of her identifying body parts (and doing some weird thing with her tongue). Hopefully the audio works. We will keep working on the walking thing. Neither girl has broken any records with early walking.....

First Day of School (sort of)

Does it count as a first day of school if it is only an hour? Alette's new nursery school is a bit extreme in their approach to easing children into school. We don't have a full session until the first week of October. Alette was thrilled to find out her school had a terrific playground, great toys and served snack (hmmmm...kind of sounds like most other nursery schools).

Family 'Fun' Ride---Ha! Not for Abria!

I love biking, I love my family....so what could be better than a family bike ride? Last Sunday the Bike Coalition of Philly sponsored a 'car-free' family fun ride throughout center city/fairmont park and beyond. I signed us up, prayed for good weather, pumped up the tires, dusted off the bike trailer, packed snacks, set the alarms early...
About 3 miles into the ride Abria decided she had had enough of this 'family fun ride'. It was naptime, she was stuck in this trailer thing, and the only appropriate response was to cry....loudly. Ironically, other riders passed us saying 'how cute, what a fun way to travel!' Clearly Abria did not agree. Luckily Alette was extremely tolerant and as long as she had her pretzels, crackers, and water, she was willing to subject herself to being pulled around. Needless to say we opted for the 10 mile route, not the 20 miles we had originally planned.
I'm already scouting out other riding options for Alette....it is never too early to start a healthy passion :)

Our Final Roadtrip of the Summer

Abria loved the sand and water! As soon as we arrived at the beach she crawled straight for the water and happily waded and bobbed around for a long time.



One of the highlights was the 'beauty shop' run by Pippi and Alette. We all received either sparkly or blue nailpolish pedicures.



Out on the boat, enjoying the sun.



Pippi and Alette gear up for the pool.

I have been so lazy about updating the blog. We had a fabulous trip up to Maine, spent lots of time with family, relaxing and having fun. Alette was thrilled to spend a week with her cousin Pippi, she kind of became Pippi's little shadow, happily following her to each new adventure. The long, long, long ride is fading from our memories....

The Beach

The girls were terrific travellers. Abria slept very little but was easily amused by her sister and grandmom.


Alette worked hard to make birthday sand cakes. yummy!




Every August Andy's family goes to 'the beach' aka Corolla, NC and every year we miss out. So, even though Andy still couldn't go, I hauled the kids and all their stuff down for a week of waves, water, sand, family, and lots and lots of fun! Alette bravely jumped waves (even went under once when I fell), collected seashells, poked at jellyfish, swam in the pool, and generally had a great time. Abria loved having all the adults around to tend to her every need/desire. Everyone took turns 'walking' her around the house...now that she figured out how to walk holding on to someone's hands, crawling is way too boring.

Camping

Alette's favorite lunch spot, where she could watch (and feed) chipmunks.


A well needed nap!


Camping with kids = lots of dirt and grime.
What a fun four days in the Poconos! Andy was able to join us the first night which meant I did not have to set up. It was a little squishy in our tiny tent! It seemed a little unfair that the smallest family member took up the most room, it'll be so much easier when Abria doesn't need the pack&play. The weather was great, we spent lots of time at the playground, going for walks, at the beach and exploring the campsite. At one point we came back from the playground and gave the girls a snack, only to discover Abria had a woodchip tucked away in her cheek. The girl will try to eat anything.

East Coast Party

Abria showed equal enthusiasm at her second first birthday party. She tried to eat the candle, smashed at the decorations, and got even quicker at eating cake. Once the cake festivities were over, she was pretty happy to spend her time playing with the grandmoms so Alette willingly took over present opening for her little sister.

West Coast Party

Every 1 year old deserves as many parties as possible! Abria's first first birthday party was in Abbotsford, a great family barbeque planned by my mom. Mom's a great planner and we had food, food, and more food...then there was cake, cupcakes, cookies, and lollipops. Abria behaved just as she should-she tried to grab the lit candle, smashed her hands into the icing, and ate cake with abandon. Alette showed just a little more restraint. All in all, it was a great time.

More Holiday Fun

Our time in BC has been filled with playgrounds, waterparks, and swimming pools. However, the day at the lake was definitely a highlight. Alette played constantly in the water, befriending many of the other little kids throughout the day. Abria happily splashed around, crawled in the sand and even took a short nap.