Once In A Lifetime

What's the last thing you expect to find in the coldest of all winters?

What is that fuzzy blob on that there newspaper, you ask?

A caterpillar!

While we at Ian's parents house over the Christmas break, Papa surprised Ava with a caterpillar that he found in the basement. Ava named him Fuzzy Wuzzy and liked taking him on walks and rubbing his tummy.

" Wow Mom, Fuzzy Wuzzy sure has lots of teats, where are his babies?"

"Those are feet not teats."

"I bet he can run fast!"

As a child I loved playing with caterpillars and it was fun to see Ava enjoying that same love.

Unfortunately, Fuzzy Wuzzy died a week later due to an accidental drowning caused by the poor dexterity of an over enthusiastic 3 year old.

Body Movin'

Not to be outdone by her big sis, my littlest adventurous spirit kept herself busy trying out all the fun things at the indoor gym too.

Run-Around

One of the things I love about living in Minnesota is the plethora of kid-friendly activities available. When the weather is breezy -22 degrees(-40 with windchill)...what's a mother to do?

Make use of our season pass and head on over to Edinborough Park and partake in it's wondrous indoor playground.

Last week we joined our good friends Sammy, Sophia, and Stacey for some nap inducing fun.

Now that the kids are older and a lot more adventurous they are able to play in the structure by themselves which in turn saves me from emptying my pockets at the chiropractor afterwards.

Here's a short video of some of the fun we had:

One Moment In Time

At Last

So..I've been hiding over on Facebook hoping that my blog would write itself but, alas, that has not happened so here is a quick recap on our holiday festivities.

Holiday visiting will result in:

Lots of smiling

Santa loving

tree touch sneaking

deer spotting

peek-a-booing

uncle hugging

Nana bonding

good cheering

cosmic bowling

car ride home crying

angry cat scratching.

We had a wonderful time and thank everyone for taking time out in their day to spend it with us.

We love you all and can't wait to do it all again next year!

Handle With Care

We are all packed and ready to go! We had planned on leaving early tomorrow morning but with the impending snow storm due tomorrow, we decided that tonite we will be making the 7hr trek home.

It'll be a crazy busy two weeks but I look forward on spending time with friends and family. I am especially excited to see two friends (Maggie and Meghan) that I haven't seen in well over 12 years. I am a little nervous but sure that once we see each other it'll be like old times and the banter will pick up where it left off.

Since I have two sisters that are not able to make it home, I plan on blogging throughout our vacation in hopes that they feel like they are a part of our holiday celebration.

I hope you all have a safe and wonderful weekend!

Santa Baby

We saw Santa three days in a row and Ava was in heaven. While most kids are intimidated by the man in the red suit, Ava approached Santa every time like a longtime friend that she hasn't seen in years. It just so happened that on two different holiday excursions, we had the unplanned fortune of seeing Santa.

Last week, we met with the "Momtourage" for our weekly get together and decided to check out the Macy's Christmas display depicting elves at work. At the end of the display we decided to pop in to say "hi" to Santa. Ava immediately sat on his lap and gave him a big hug. She whispered to him "All I want for Christmas is a deer, that's all..nothing else."

The second day, we saw Santa was a planned appointment to get our yearly photos with the "real" Santa. Sid portrays a wonderful Santa and the kids just love him. He takes the time with the kids and makes the extra effort to make the them feel comfortable. Before taking picture, he and the kids sat down on the floor and chatted. There was a lot of high fiving going on and Ava throwing her head back in laughter. She kept saying "Santa, you crack me up!"

On third day, we went to see an entertaining Christmas play about an elf named Albert who loses Rudolph's red nose. Ava was captivated and really enjoyed herself while Ruby was less than impressed and decided that schmoozing with the ladies behind us way better. Afterwards Santa was taking toy requests along with free pics... courtesy of your own camera.

No, I know some of you are wondering if Ava caught on to the fact that all the Santas looked different. She did. And had no problem pointing out the differences to each of them.

"Why does your beard look not for real?"
"Why are you not wearing a hat?"
"Where is your Santa pants?"
"I have black boots like you, why you not wearing your black boots?"

What Child Is This?

Multitalented..... yep, it runs in the family.

My Guy

I'm sitting at the table at preschool helping Loic(my part-time son) put glitter on a pine cone and Miss April is helping Ava decorate a Gingerbread man. Miss April whispers my name and signals me to come over to her table. She's giggling while showing me Ava's completed project.

Nothing unusual,right? Ha! Look again from this point of view:

Now that is one VERY happy Gingerbread man.

Nothing screams Christmas like an anatomically correct Gingerbread man!

Got To Get You Into My Life

See that little cute blur up there?

She's been going nonstop since turning one. I totally forgot(blocked memory)how busy they are at this age. It's amazing how fast she went from baby to toddler... literally overnight. She decided walking was the way to go and drinking from the bottle was so last month and only a cup will do.

This is such a fun time and quite different from when Ava was this age. Ruby is a lot more adventurous and dives right in. Ava was more careful and thought things through before attempting them.

I love seeing kids learning at this age. Many a times I sit quietly and intently observe her learning and reacting to her surroundings much like Jane Goodall studying primates. I'm thinking a safari like vest would come in handy when I am having these hour awe stuck moments. I could use a couple of easy to get to pockets to carry a little snack, kleenex (someone always has a runny nose), pen, paper, and my trusty monocular.

So... as you can tell, I've busy stalking my kids and have found little..okay..no time to blog. But I promise to keep you posted regularly and to make it up... I promise you a most hilarious blog tomorrow that happened today. Stay tuned!

Low Places

I buy toys again....why?

We Like To Party

3 Halloween parties plus 2 birthday parties in a week = sugar coma

Paradise City

See my cupcake?

Now you don't!

I didn't even leave a morsel.....ahhh, sweet revenge.

And She Was

My fellow readers, I interrupt your regularly scheduled blog to make an important announcement.

Today I turned one!

But the only thing I really, really want to do.....

is eat cake......NOW!


Mom says I have to wait till tomorrow's party, can you believe this travesty?

Tipsy

Today was the third day in a row that I found her passed out on the kitchen floor after drinking her bottle dry.

This time next year, I'm betting we'll need a 12 step program to help get her off the whole milk.


*pic is from the second day stupor