Skating Party 2010

We had another great skating party this year. Unfortunately we had a bit of a warm spell earlier in the week and lost a bunch of the snow so there was limited sledding and snowmobiling. We still had a great time with family and friends. (p.s. my hair is slightly out of control/lions mane like in the photos....)
The spread..

Grampa Jack and Auntie Em

Grammy Kelsa, Auntie Em, and Uncle Erich trying to get frozen P to laugh.

Georgia (with Miles) on skates for the first time.

Auntie Em, Brendan, Georgia, and myself warming up by the fire.

Grammy Kelsa, me, Penelope, and a contemplative Auntie Em.

Miles and Brendan

Uncle Erich, Bryan, and Brendan play hockey

Kristen and Jeanne

Kristen and me

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday Miles! Georgia and I spent the day preparing for Daddy's birthday. We made his favorite garlic marinated fajitas and a tropical coconut cake with a mango sauce. We got him a framed photo of the girls for his desk (including a girly frame Georgia picked out), a fly fishing book, and a gift certificate to his favorite local tackle store. Georgia insisted on getting him some beer and picked out a six pack of microbrewed beer at the liquor store. She was very proud of herself!

9 Months! Say what????

My Lil P turned 9 months today. I really can't believe it. She is SO much fun right now. She loves to move. She gets up on her hands and knees, rocks back and forth, and then flops to her belly and rolls instead. She can easily pull herself up and loves to stand. She loves to dance to music and scrunch her nose up to make people laugh. She has been waving hi and bye appropriately for two months now. She LOVES people but adores her big sister and finds everything Georgia does hilarious. I love this baby girl. Oh and she has four of the CUTEST teeth a baby ever has had.

It's hard to tell based on the "evil" look on her face but she is mid-laugh in this picture! She laughs with her whole face.

Cora!

Finally the germs have left the house and the kids were healthy enough to go meet their new cousin Cora! Cute little Cora was an absolute angel. Penelope was very interested in Cora but unfortunately doesn't understand "gentle" just yet!

Gratuitous

More pictures of my lovely, sweet, Lil P. I am so in love with this baby.

Ham

Ask for a nice smile and this is what you get....

Like Mother

like Daughter...
This is my go-to face for pictures and apparently, it is also Penelope's go-to face. Sweet....

Faces

Penelope is really into scrunching up her nose. She does it mostly when she is laughing but will also do it randomly. It is absolutely adorable. But I am baised. More importantly, what 8 month old has hair that COVERS her eyes? After a haircut? Honestly.

Winter Carnival

Georgia had a blast this year at Winter Carnival. Last year she was too scared to sled but this year she wanted to go on the steepest hills. We had to gently steer her away since all the big kids in town were going crazy on these hills and the situation was a bit dangerous. She spent a few hours sledding until she took a big digger and ended up with a cut and bruised cheek and a bloody nose....and it was Daddy that made her go home, she wanted to keep on sledding!

Sisters Snuggle

Every morning when Miles goes to work, Georgia and P make their way up to snuggle in bed. Sometimes they play, sometimes they fall back to sleep. They usually fall asleep cuddling. It melts my heart.

Hair

This girl has CRAZY hair. It will not stop growing. She is 8 months, still wearing some 0-3 month sized clothes but has hair that is down touching her back (a full mullet, not pictured so the pictures cannot be leaked someday when she is famous). I was able to cut 1.5 inches of her hair last night without significantly shortening it.

BEFORE:
AFTER:

Perspectives

The junior photographer is at it again. Here are some pictures from this weekend that she snapped....

Channeling Martha

Martha Stewart that is. I was feeling crafty this weekend. We are re-doing the girls bathroom in a "princess theme" as Georgia requested. She wants the walls a light gray or silver and I am going to add some pink accents. To add to the decor, I wanted a better way to store barrettes and thought of this gem of an idea....a paperdoll barrette clothesline!

I used two frames that we currently not being used to display pictures and were taking up storage space. I then found some fun paper in the scrap booking section of Michael's. I looked online, found a paper doll dress template, and started putting some dresses together. The dresses are glued to the fabric so even when the barrettes are in use, the dresses stay in place.
Lil P's frame (which is actually going in her room, not in the bathroom).

Georgia's "clothesline" to go in the bathroom.

And a close up shot of one of the dresses, my favorite one by chance.

Floor Games

P is really enjoying our new area rug. She loves being put down on the rug to play and roll around. She is also enjoying standing and wants to show off her skills all day long. My big assistant, Georgia, is very good at "spotting" while Mama takes a picture.

P looks so funny standing because she is so little. She looks big but the table is very low...not even up to my knee....

The Most Magical Place on Earth

Not Disney! TARGET! Nothing makes the girls as happy as a trip to Target. I wrangled Grammy Kelsa and Grampa Jack into coming. It was utter chaos. Target will never be the same again....

Georgia enjoyed trying out the dog beds.

Adventures in Dining....

P has a pincer grasp! This has opened up the exciting world of finger foods (thank god because this girl HATES pureed foods). Tonight she enjoyed salmon, peas, squash and blueberries. She loved every bite. Holy omegas and antioxidants!!!

Candy Land

Another "bye, bye binky" present Georgia received was Candy Land. I forgot how much fun this game is! Georgia decided her favorite person is "Lolly" while I still favor the Peppermint Princess.

Goodbye Binky!

Georgia finally said goodbye to her binky (pacifier). We kept it way too long but we were afraid of getting rid of it and the timing just never worked out. Anyways, on Saturday night Georgia gave it up! As a prize, we went out and did a big girl activity together....the MOVIES! Georgia and I went to see "The Princess and the Frog". She insisted on wearing her party outfit and shoes as well as carrying a frog beanie baby. We had a great time watching the movie and snacking on treats. Georgia got to pick out whatever she wanted from the concession stand and we ended up with Popcorn, Diet Coke (she has never been allowed to have it in the past...forbidden fruit), and M&Ms. Yum!

Snow!

We had a big 2 day snowstorm and needed to dig out. Our trusted assistants were very helpful. Georgia threw snow at us and P supervised from her sled. They also found time to pose for a picture or two (it ended up being over 30 shots to get a picture with them both looking at the camera and both looking happy)....

Double Fisting

Lil P has found a new favorite food...graham crackers! I let her taste one of mine the other day and she went crazy. Now she bangs on her high chair and screams until you give her more!