winter carnival parade

Tonight we ventured out to take in the winter carnival parade.
The temp was 11 degrees....toasty warm. (considering the temps of the last few days 11 does seem quite warm.)
We watched the parade, all 11 minutes of it, bundled and layered to the point that movement was next to impossible, and then spent 15 minutes getting everyone loaded back into the van and buckled into various car seats. No need to wonder why I was tired by the time we returned home. The kids had a blast, although picking up candy with gloves on certainly proved challenging.

all better

now our snowman is smiling

building a snowman

finally! the weather cooperated and the kids along with their dad were able to build a snowman. Rosie who is simply crazy about snowmen right now was completely excited. Of course she helped out for awhile and then ventured out to find new things to play with.
The snowman is placed so you can see it right out the window. After the kids came in Rosie would keep checking on the Snowman throughout the afternoon.
Here is our Snowman at night...I found this strand of lights at a dollar store.
The kids thought it was pretty cool to see their snowman light up at night.
I suggested that perhaps the snowman should have more of a smiley face. I was met with a very similar grumpy look and then given a 10 minute info speech on how complicated it had been just to get the lights into the snowman, and that I should just simply be happy they were there at all, sigh. Guess I will have to fix it tomorrow. Really he should be smiling.
Here is the crew hared at work, even Rosie rolled snowballs around the yard. Yahaira was very ready to pack snow with the shovel..
she may need a bit of fine tuning, I thought at one point we were going to lose the snowman and Kevin with the way the shovel was flying around.

Danceline Extravaganza

Rather bitterwsweet this year. I did not have a "big" Saintette in the program. Last year was Cassandra's last year which ended our 6year run with the program. It was with mixed emotions that I attended the program this year. There were many things I missed, watching a daughter perform. Seeing the energy, and hard work they put into making the show a success. The pride in seeing them do the best they could do....there were also many things I didn't miss, the drama, the mood swings that are teenage girls in a stressful situation, and the drama, did I mention that? Life has a way of bringing you full circle and this year I attended with a "little" Saintette. This was Yahaira's second year, (so cool last year that she was able to dance with her big sister) This year she was certainly excited about performing. I caught her often practicing her moves and singing the songs....especially the one from Madagascar. "I like to move it move it!" she loved that song. Here are a few pics from tonight, Yahaira and I in our "matching" shirts. Cassandra and Erica selling raffle tickets, Yahaira with her dance instructor Nichole, whom she absolutely loves! and of course one more pic of Yahaira.

this is the luckiest kid...

I know.
I entered his name 5 times in the raffle drawing, he won 4 times!
Lucky is the only thing I can think to describe him.he girls won too. Rosie won twice and Yahaira won once.
(each were entered the same amount of times as Anthony.)
I also entered Grandma Betty's name 5 times. There is no picture with her winnings, simply because there were no winnings. Sigh, not her lucky day I guess.

(edited: because I can't spell)

and just a few more

Happy Birthday Grandma Betty!

Today we celebrated Grandma Betty's birthday (it's actually tomorrow but since I don't work on the weekend today was the day!)
This morning we baked the cupcakes, decorated them, and then had to wait until Grandma's arrival this afternoon. Rosie sampled a couple during that time, waiting was almost impossible for this two year old. Once Grandma and the kids from school arrived it was time to sing Happy Birthday (ouch!, singers we are not!) and then of course it was time to eat cake. The best part of any birthday, except for the presents of course.

Chocolate

makes every day better.
unless mom tells you that you can not! have another one.

Sometimes....

you just have to go thru the drive thru of McDonalds just to keep things calm.
Thursday is the busiest day of our week. Preschool, dance, gymnastics are the constant activities in our schedule, now mix in all the other assorted events that seem to always fall on Thursday and you may understand why we weren't pulling into the garage last night until 7:45pm. Faced with two very over tired girls, bless Anthony's heart for rolling with the day he rarely melts down, I decided to do McDonalds for dinner. I avoid take out, I've read much of the info on how unhealthy it is, I know this, but last night we made an exception. Much to the joy of the crew pictured above as soon as I pulled into the drivethru the excitement level increased. Rosie sang "I eat McDonalds" the whole way home. And eat they did. I wonder at how our little people are programmed by fast food chains. (so are we adults for that matter) I struggle with the fact that they will eat every bit of a fast food meal, but often pick at a home cooked meal. For last night I didn't beat myself up over the choice of food, I was simply too tired, so instead I let them enjoy the treat that McDonalds was, (who wouldn't love a meal that comes with a toy?) and tomorrow we will go back to eating healthy. Now if only there were drivethru's that served fresh veggies and fruit. That would make this mom very happy.

When I took this picture...

I held out hope that I may actually open one of those books in the not to distant future. Of course the picture was taken in early December and until this week I had not accomplished that goal. They just sat stacked and neglected. Finally on Sunday I picked one up and started reading. As of today 4 of those books are now finished. I finished the Christmas Shoes last night, and cried thru the entire book. Good thing it was a small book not sure my system could have survived a 900 page novel. Amazingly well written, I enjoyed every page and did finish it in one sitting. I do that, start a book and then stay up all night to finish it. Of course I have no one to blame but myself when I'm super crabby the next day. Planning a visit to the library today, since my stack of reading material is diminished.
I guess this is one thing I love about winter, it's too cold to do anything except curl up with a book.

yesterday

unbeknown to these two
I purchased tickets to the Hannah Montana movie. Premiering February 1st. I had looked at tickets for the concert, but at ticket prices pushing 100$ a ticket and more, I naturally pursued that no further. So when I heard about the movie which is a film version of the concert I knew it would certainly make some little people in my house pretty happy. They love her TV show, and know all the songs by heart. Love watching them singing holding their pretend microphone. Love watching Rosie sing the entire opening song complete with giggle at the end. Over Christmas break it was not uncommon to find Beckie, Cassandra, Yahaira, and Rosie curled up in the living room watching an episode of Hannah Montana. How cool that it encompasses such an age range. Letting them have something in common despite the age gap. Can't wait to experience this with them.

The view out my window

this morning.
Love the look of freshly fallen snow. After yesterday's snowfall this is what greeted me this morning when I first looked out the window. No people tracks just a few animal tracks. Love how everything looks clean and fresh. The temp this morning was -2
I don't love that so much.

here for a visit....

My sister and her family were home this weekend for a visit. Rosie was so excited to see Brandon, I think she missed him.
Yahaira and Gracie hung out together in the morning at a dance class. Later Linette took the kids to McDonalds for ice cream, yeah that was a hit. So good to see them, sad to see them head back home.

caught them

playing together yesterday. Not a rare occurrence they do actually get along 90% of the time.
What caused me to pause was hearing their conversation.
Rosie: "I draw Dora. Now it's your turn"
Yahaira: "Thank you, I'm going to draw boots"
Rosie: "where's his eyes?"
Yahaira "Here you do it"
Could it be not only were they sharing but saying Thank you too?
They continued their conversation, mixing in laughter and grins. Completely unaware I was watching.
Made my heart smile to watch those two being sisters and friends.

my snowmen

She is a nut about snowmen. Not sure why, she has as of yet never built one. We have books about snowmen, which she requests we read daily, hourly, a lot! These pj's she will dig out of the dirty clothes to wear every night. "My snowmen" she says and points to the shirt. Okay so hearing her say mine is not so amazing, sigh, that is a word she has mastered, a rite of a two year old I guess. Love how she says snowman tho...just makes me laugh.

this is what

-15 looks like.
Pretty normal, all things considering. It is Minnesota in January.
Of course if this pic had extra sensory elements to it.
Perhaps then you could experience the whole affect. Like the fact that for the two seconds it took me to stand on my porch to snap this picture my toes turned blue, my body was shaking, and my contacts froze. Nice!
This photo was at 7:45am today.
Those headlights in the picture just happen to be of my sisters car, on her way to my house to pic up Yahaira. Do I have good timing or what?
As I post this it is over 12 hours later, we have warmed up considerable it is currently -6.

have a heart....

yahaira discoverd this yesterday morning. "hey!" she said "my bread has a heart on it"
and so it did.

and speaking of

Hannah Montana,this 3 year old is simply crazy about her.
Found the shirt on eBay and needless to say it is her first choice to wear each day. The card in the next picture is from Beckie, Josh and Cassandra, she had just discovered that it matched her outfit that day. "Take a picture mom, I match!" What can I say? she knows a photo op when she see's one.

new shades

As soon as the girls saw these, they said "Hannah Montana" glasses.
They have worn them since Sunday, in the house of course, since the temps outside make it impossible to be outdoors.
Yahaira stands by the window and looks out, creative of her. "See mommy the sun shines on my glasses" said when I tried to explain that we usually wear sunglasses outside.