She Walks January 10, 2011

YEAH!!! Finally I feel like I can officially say that little miss Maisie walks! Really I think she took her first steps the day after Christmas when she “walked” from Norma to me…it was more of a falling step then a walk and she wouldn’t repeat it. Since then she’s done several more of those….letting go and falling to something she wanted and moving her feet in the fall. But tonight she let go of what she was holding onto and walked SEVERAL steps to me. Then she repeated it and you could tell from the look on her face that she TOTALLY KNEW this time what she was doing. She was psyched! She did it a few more times….of course NOT for the camera =) I’ll get one in the next few days though for sure!!!

Way to go little nugget. I love the walkers!!!

Bad Guys

Well of course I still need to update the blog with all of the Holiday halla-balloo … but first I wanted to get a couple of things down.

We’ve had a bit of craziness in our house since the holidays. Greg (true to form =) broke 5 ribs while sledding at the cabin and then a week later I came home from a memorial I had attended mid-week to find that our house had been broken into.

I got home from picking the girls up at G&GG’s and noticed that our back gate was left open. I was immediately suspicious because I knew Greg wasn’t riding his bike so he would have had no reason to come through the gate. When we got out of the car I just felt like something was wrong and I carefully looked in the back yard and closed the gate….Zoe was with us too and she as sniffing all over the yard. Then I noticed a big wet foot print on our step. No big deal really – but for some reason I just knew it before even going in the house. I opened the door and could see that the X-box and Kinect and Greg’s mac book were all gone. I called Greg right away (zoe had run to the back door and was sniffing all over there but she didn’t seem worried so I wasn’t worried that anyone was still in the house) to make sure he hadn’t taken the stuff with him for some strange reason. He hadn’t so I called the police.

They were at our door within just a few minutes. When they walked in Fiona was standing by the little table near the door and she had left her artwork from preschool the day before there. She picked it up and showed it to the officer and said, “whew! They didn’t get this!!”. (very cute).

Luckily we live in a great neighborhood and within minutes I had several neighbors at my door to make sure we were o.k. – Including my neighbor Tami who took Fiona to her house with her to watch a movie and eat popcorn while the police finished their investigation. The crook(s) were able to fit through our tiniest of tiny kitchen windows…unbelievable…had to be teenage boys with out hips for sure!!! They took all small electronics AND they used my work bag to throw everything into which contained my workout clothes and my favorite running shorts!!!! Totally bummed about that.

They also got my camera – luckily I download often so there were only a few picture of christmas on there…i have some on my iphone and some from Greg and some from our parents so we won’t be entirely without. Greg on the other hand lost all his mountain biking photos from the last several years which he had not backed up….so sad!!!

As I write this we are now double-backing up with an online storage company so that if someone did take my computer and our backup drive we’ll still have our photos!

So really – we got off easy. No one is hurt…no damage to the house. As far as these things can go really not that much stolen. They didn’t ransack the place or even go through our things….we don’t think they even left the far wall of the living room – if it wasn’t there it wasn’t going….We’re sure it was kids. I’m hoping against hope that one of them will use my bag or wear one of the t-shirts that was in it….they are all one-of-a-kinds from my work….wouldn’t that be great?

Greg and I spent a large part of 2010 learning how to better deal with life’s crises – this gave us a great opportunity to practice what we’ve learned and I think we’ve done great! We’ve also talked about doing all sorts of things in the past to better protect our home and belonging but haven’t ever done any of them…this was a nice gentle reminder to do them … so we spent a lot of time this weekend working on that. Also a good thing.

The worst part of it all is how it’s seemed to affect Fiona. This weekend was easily one of the hardest times I’ve ever had with her. Talking back, sassy, pushing buttons and insisting on being in charge. Yelling at us if we told her she could or couldn’t do anything other then what she wanted to do. She spent literally almost the whole weekend in her room and Saturday we spent HOURS battling with her. I hate it. I know that some of it is still coming down from the holidays. Readjusting to going back to school (she’s missed me every day). We know that we go through spells of being to lenient with her and letting her get away with too much…then when we tighten things back up it’s really tough – we have to get better at that…it’s not fair for us to put her through those swings. But I also think that this has a lot to do with it. I wonder if she feels like her environment is out of control so she’s pushing for it everything and anything she can.

She likes to talk about the bad guys A LOT. She has big plans for them and is obviously trying to sort it all out in her head and make sense of it. Today she insisted she wanted to help the police so we made chocolate chip cookies for them and will bring them to them on Tuesday. Just like anyone else she obviously feels like she need to “do” something …anything!

She’s also been talking a lot about how the bad guys are bad because they must miss their mommies. Maybe even if their mommies are bad then maybe they miss their mommies too. That we should make the bad guys chocolate chip cookies or have the police give the bad guys chocolate chip cookies because it will remind them of their mommies and make them feel better. Interested insight from that little girl for sure.

ok- a bit of a rambling post but just had to get it “in the books”

Meet Henry December 19, 2010

 

This is Henry. He’s our Christmas elf.

A friend of mine at work has been doing this with her kids for years (they’ve outgrown it now but she still does it and makes them play along!) And if it hadn’t been for her I don’t think I would have ever tried it – but her stories were so hilarious I just had to!

I ordered “Elf on the Shelf” (which seems to be all the rage this year and I just hope they don’t spoil it with all the advertising they’re doing for the kids to see!). The night he arrived we waited for Maisie to go to bed and then we sat Fiona down and told her we needed to have a “Very Important” family meeting.

I said, “honey, you know that box that I got in the mail today?” she nods “well, I didn’t realize it at first…..but it came from the North Pole” she sits stiller then I’ve ever seen her sit “we have been chosen for something very special, something very important. We have been chosen to have an elf come live with us till Christmas.”

Her jaw dropped open. Not figuratively – literally. She couldn’t speak. She just sat there with her mouth wide open as still as she could.

“this book was sent to us with instructions on what to do and what not to do. we have to read it and then I think our elf will start coming maybe even tomorrow!”

so we read the story book that comes with the elf. It covers things about how we can’t touch the elf or he’ll lose his magic and become a doll (they sell skirts to ….FOR $8.00!! to make your elf a girl…..mwah.) How he can’t talk to us…Santa’s Laws of course – and THE most important nugget of all…..each night he will fly back to the North Pole and report to santa on our behavior!

Fiona had lot’s of questions during the reading….how does he go to the bathroom….how does he fly he doesn’t have wings….etc. My two favorite things she said were – when we read the “no touching” rule she just shook her head and said, “man, we are going to have to keep Maisie away from him. How are we going to do that?!!!” and when we read the part about him reporting on our behavior we had to laugh because instead of thinking of herself she got a HUGE grin on her face and said (grinning the whole time) “He is going to see when Maisie touches all my stuff and she is going to end up on the naughty list!” I thought that was hilarious that even at this age that was the first place her mind went =)

So Henry has been a pure joy to have in the house. Turns out he doesn’t shed or poop or pee in the corners (that we’ve seen) Each morning he is in a new place – out of Maisie’s reach. And when we have those rocky moments around the house we just look up to the sky and say, “Henry…..Oh Henry….are you seeing this? Better stop or Henry is going to report you to Santa tonight!”

If you don’t already you should. Worth EVERY penny!

 

2 small things December 14, 2010

* Sadly this was the first year in a long time that we missed the Jingle Bell Run. I was especially bummed because Fi had her own number this time around! We’ve been having monsoon like rains….seriously we had 12 inches of rain on the Olympic Rain Forest and 3″ here in the Seattle area. I just thought it would be a “bad mommy” move if I drug them out in that =(

* Saturday night I went out to dinner for a friend of mine’s 40th Birthday. It was a nice Japanese restaurant and it was with a large group of people that I only knew a few of. I had on “dressy clothes” and was feeling good – making small talk, meeting new people. At the end of the night I walked into the bathroom and when I looked in the mirror I saw it. A bright sparkling purple clip that Fiona had “clipped” (which really means just barely hung) in my bangs smack in the middle of my forehead so that I would “look pretty”. Nice.

 

10 Months

19 lbs. 5 oz. & 30″ long.

10 months is lot’s of fun! Sure she still doesn’t sleep….but we’ll get there….right? RIGHT?!!? Maisie still isn’t walking which I can’t believe. She walks all over the place with us…even only holding on to one hand. She’s walking on her own she just doesn’t know it yet! She’s working on a couple more teeth right now but they don’t seem to be bothering her like the first one did (please tell me I did not just jinx myself!!) I love this time because suddenly she is starting to communicate with us and we can tell that she’s starting to understand. When we say no she shakes her head and ‘some’ times she actually even stops what she’s doing! She blows us kisses which is the absolutely cutest thing you’ve ever seen – she sticks her whole hand in her mouth and pulls it out really fast and makes a grunting noise =) she claps and sometimes points. I think she’s starting to do the “more” sign and the “all done” sign. We call her “the powerhouse” when it comes to breakfast. The girl can put away two fruit cups and entire thing of yogurt! Amazing. She eats whatever we’re eating now which is nice – and we’re working on using the cup on our own. She is still just a happy happy energetic baby. She can say Da Da (but doesn’t relate it to G) but she hasn’t really said momma yet – BUT she does say Nanna (which is what we call Fiona!) Funny that she would say her sisters name before me!!!

So all is well in Maisie’s world – and I’m finally caught up on the blog!

Bustling Holidays

The first week of December was a busy one.

December 1st is my mom’s Birthday and she was staying at our house that day so we took her out to dinner….Red Robin of course….=)

The next night I played soccer for the first time in 5 years – it was really fun to play again but man was I rusty – and HOLY HELL was I sore!!!

Friday GG left for Taiwan for a week so the girls and I were on our own. Before he left Greg got down all the holiday decorations so we spent the weekend decorating the house. We had a fun time going through everything and Fiona was a great help putting ornaments on the tree. The worse part was that I was SO SORE from playing soccer I could barely get around! Maisie was in awe of the tree and the lights -she’s been playing with a few things but surprisingly she’s left it pretty much alone!

The week went by pretty fast and everyone was super happy to see Daddy home. A couple of funny little quotes while he was gone:

*Fiona asked Maisie to marry her so that they could live happily ever after and make all their dreams come true – “then we must first kiss” =)

*Fiona asked if she could watch Harry Potter, I told her it was a little scary and we could only watch the first one but OK. It was over her head so she played a lot during it and watched off and on…at one point she had been sitting still watching it for about 10 minutes and finally said, “mommy, is Harry a lizard?” “no honey, he’s a wizard, that means he’s magical” “OH! All this time I thought he was a lizard!”

Maisie’s First Visit to Santa

All right – I’m sorry – but you can not get a better santa picture then this!!! Fiona hasn’t sat on Santa’s lap for the last couple of years so we weren’t sure what she was going to do this time. She told us that Maisie could sit on his lap but she would probably just stand. When we got into the room with him though she just lit up and went right to him – gave him a high 5 and hopped right on his lap. He was a FANTASTIC santa – looked great and had a kind voice. He really seemed to feel at ease with the little ones and knew just how to talk to them. Maisie didn’t bat an eye – she stared at him for a tiny bit wondering who the hell he was – other then that she sat and smiled and squealed!

Fi asked him for a barbie doll and a train and told him that Maisie wanted a baby doll all her own.

We always go see Santa just after Thanksgiving because Greg leaves for Asia every year at this time. He had to leave a few days later but will only be gone one week this time and is only going to Taiwan (always easier on him then China).

Cookie Day

Every year the day after Thanksgiving my sister, SIL, and I go to my mom’s house to make boat loads of Christmas cookies. It is a ton of work but so much fun and I love that we have a tradition that we keep alive for the girls. This was the first year that Fiona got into it a bit and actually helped some – she also ate some =) We used 15lbs. of flour, 10lbs. of sugar and 12 lbs. of butter!! By the end of the night we are all sick of cookies we swear we will never eat a single one =) I love having all the cookies at home for parties and neighbors and last minute holiday gifts.

*G-pa with his girls | * Fi helping grandma cut gingerbreads | * Fi frosting the cream wafers (she did a great job with them!)

*The final product | * Taste testing!

Thanksgiving

We decided to have Thanksgiving at our house this year. I actually really enjoy cooking and it sounded really good to not have to pack the girls up and take them anywhere. I knew they’d nap (at least Maisie would) and get to bed at a decent time with time to unwind. The only bummer was the rest of my family had Thanksgiving in Tacoma at my sisters – but since I knew we’d see them the next day for cookie day – it didn’t seem so bad.

Dinner was Greg’s parents, Kevin and the Booher family. I was so happy that they could join us – they are such good friends and I love being able to spend these special times with them. Fiona and I made the place mats for everyone ahead of time (turkey hands and leaves smashed between clear shelf liner….high class!) and Fiona also had made a turkey center piece at school for our table. We made a brined turkey and couple of stuffings, Greg’s mom brought her amazing garlic mashed potatos, cranberry salad and pies, and the Booher’s brought cranberries and some absolutely delicious homemade bread that Chris made that morning (oh and a 2nd turkey so we would have lot’s of left overs!!)

It was a GREAT night – a perfect dinner – great food and great conversation….nothing could remind us all of how much we have to give thanks for then a perfect evening like that one.

November in a nutshell

Well the month of November was filled with cold and colds and lot’s of turkey!

First Maisie was up all night with a new tooth and then a couple of days later she was up all night with a cold. Then of course Fi caught it. Once the two of them got over it both Greg and I caught it 10x worse then the girls did. Now of course I’m happy that the girls weren’t as sick as us – but let me tell you – two really sick parents taking care of two energetic kids is NOT FUN. I ended up taking a day off work to try and recoup. I actually stayed in bed all day – I can’t tell you the last time I did that!

Not long after we were all starting to get healthy we had a small dusting of snow – Fiona was SO EXCITED!!! And then just a couple of days later we got a SERIOUS chunk of snow – well serious chunk of snow for around these parts! I left work at 3:30 and it took me 2 hours to go 4 blocks to get on the freeway. Once I was on the freeway it didn’t take me that long at all to get home. Of course once I got home I couldn’t get to the girls! They hadn’t plowed any of the hills in Bellevue and I went and checked them out and they were LITTERED with cars. So…I work in the outdoor industry – I have a ton of gear – I suited up and walked there. It was quite nice walking in the dark in the snow only having to worry about cars sliding out of control behind me! I ended up spending the night at Greg’s parents house (thanking God the whole way that we don’t have daycare!) and GG came and picked us up in the morning (it took him 4 hours to get home!).

*Fi and Maisie with their new cars borrowed from Kerri |* You know why we absolutely had to have the red grocery cart? Because it matches my super-suit of course….

*enjoying the dusting | *snow pig | * after Fiona announced that she is going to be a teacher we have Maisie working on the tech side

*chilling on daddy | *SERIOUS cheerio butt | *Fi looking 13!

*Fi making snow angels | *Maisie is NOT thrilled with the snow or the sled or the snowsuit | * Fi, Daddy and Zoe starting to work on the snowman