Santa Lucia

 When I was in elementary school, some family friends sent me a Santa Lucia outfit.  We had been to Sweden to visit and I had always loved all things Swedish (must have come with my name) and Christmas so I was thrilled to start celebrating Santa Lucia with my family.  I used to make my brothers get up early with me and I usually cook premade cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate for my parents.  I have been thinking for years that I wanted to share the tradition with my girls.  On Monday we got an amazing surprise package from the same family friends in Sweden.  Inside were two crowns, dresses, treats and all sorts of fun things.  I was blown away. 

 We celebrated a couple of days late (we had the flu earlier this week.)  This morning we made Swedish pancakes with Lingon berry sauce and the traditional Lussekattor buns.  I have no idea if they were very authentic.  We also had hot chocolate with whipped cream.  After we prepared some plates of treats, we made our way through the foot of snow that fell in our yard last night (I guess we ordered an authentic Swedish day?) and took some treats to a few family members and friends.  We had to limit it to people on our street because the kids just have to many friends they wanted to make deliveries to and it took us hours to make everything and deliver even with the limitations set.  We have a long street.

Thank you, thank you Lena and Gert!

Thursday

 New Fish wearing an outfit that was mine when I was little.  Red Fish wore it a few years ago.  So cute.

A typical scene in our backyard or a neighboring yard.  I love watching them play with their little friends.

Hawaiian Day At Preschool

Date To The Symphony

 Red Fish is off to the symphony with her grandparents.  Tonight will feature Tchaikovsky's violin concerto.  One of my favorites.  I hope Red Fish loves it as much as I do.

Belle needed her picture taken too.

Outings

 We are big on "outings" around here.  We like to go places, two or three times a week.  The girls are young and most memberships are cheap or free for them so it makes things easy.  Now that our outdoor swimming season is over and park days etc. are coming to a close it is time for us to return to our indoor outings.  The aquarium is one of our regular stomping grounds.  We went to catch up with some friends today.  (I don't think I ever got to talk to my friend though because we were so busy chasing very excited kids.)  The girls were especially excited to pet the sting rays and say hello to the penguins.  We hadn't seen them in months!

We also did round two of the Halloween dressups tonight at a party at my Mom's church building.  We went room to room trick or treating and played games.  The girls had a great time.  By the time we have attended all of our Halloween events they may not even want to dress up and go out on Monday!

Peter And The Wolf

Today we went to see Peter And The Wolf with the local symphony and ballet company. When I saw an ad for it last weekend I knew we just had to go. I had a record of Peter and The Wolf when I was little that was my Dad's when he was little and I used to play it all the time and dance to it. The girls are very into dancing right now and I've been wanting to infuse more music into their lives so it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

The concert was fabulous. It was the girl's first professional concert and they both did great. It was an all ages concert so they didn't have to really hold still or be silent. We will definitely be go

ing to more of them. New Fish might be a little too young unless there is something going on onstage and not just music. She needs the action to help her focus. The symphony played: Holst - St. Paul's Suite, Britten - Simple Symphony and Prokofiev - Peter and the Wolf. I thought we might lose New FIsh during the Simple Symphony but as soon as the dancers came on stage she was enraptured. Red Fish loved the whole thing, especially because it starred "the big bad wolf" and she is fascinated with him right now. I think she just likes the whole archetypal bad guy thing. She is very into talking about good vs. bad right now. When I asked Red Fish what she liked best she said: "the bird, the big bad wolf and the horns. (The horns play the part of the big bad wolf.)We took Two Fish's Mom with us since she loves Peter And The Wolf. The girls wore their matching sweaters from Cannes and they looked so adorable all done up to see the symphony. After the

concert we walked around downtown a bit because we are loving the spring time weather. We talked about the crossing signals and saw window washers up high on the buildings and walked past an LDS temple. Then we went out for lunch. It was a fabulous morning.After lunch we stopped by my grandparent's house and the girls got my grandparents to play peter and the wolf with them. They took turns being Peter, the Wolf and the Bird. It was pretty hilarious. I think the concert sparked a lot of creativity for the girls and we will definitely be hearing about it frequently.

This little wolf gives big kisses.

I bought a recording of Peter and The Wolf tonight. We will be listening to it frequently and dancing around the house. The narrated version is a must.

Red Fish rode her bike for a bit when we got home and then we played "go fish" with her medial "s" sound flash cards I made her and had a blast. We've played go fish almost every night this week and played some memory with them as well. It's a fabulous way to get her to use the words and she just likes playing. What a great day! I love weekends like this.

Kimono Baby

Taken before church on Sunday

Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam!

Yesterday, Red Fish started Sunbeams. (It's a class for three year old children in our church. They get to attend a singing time and other activities with all of the other kids rather than stay in the nursery.) She was so excited about being a sunbeam. We sang the song all morning and talked about what it means to be a big kid at church. This included wearing underwear to church and asking to use the potty. Very big steps for us. She wore an especially pretty dress her grandpa bought in London that has now been christened the "sunbeam dress." On the way to class she told everyone in the hallway that "I sunbeam now!" It was so cute. Her best buddy saved her a seat in sharing time and she told us she got to eat a cookie in class. She is growing up so fast!

This little munchkin spent most of church screaming in the hall. She is making sure I am ready to send her off to nursery in March. One o'clock church is for the birds. Any interruption in our napping schedule is a mistake. Also she is wearing a very cute dress my Dad bought Red Fish in London. Their stockings are from Cannes. You may not care but I like to write it down someplace because I think it's fun.

Red Fish is very into asking to ski right now.

I'm getting excited to take her out on the slopes next season.

Totally gratuitous picture because it is "so New Fish." This girl LOVES her accessories.

Thanksgiving

My little family.

My mother in law had cute little turkey cupcakes for the kids to make. My kids kind killed theirs as soon as they were constructed but playing with food is a little too tempting.

The School Bus

Today my sweet baby turned three. It makes me tear up just thinking about it. She is so funny and dramatic and smart. She is a prolific artist and spends her days filling pages with drawings, collages and paintings. She is sweet to her sister (at least half the time) and teaches her how to play games. She snuggles me and gives me hugs every single day. Red Fish is as stubborn as they come and cannot be swayed. I'm hoping that sticks with her so her peers can't convince her to rebel as a teen. For the last month, Red Fish has been talking about how she is going to be three and have a party.
Today is also the first day of Red Fish's new preschool. It is her new speech program. She will attend twice a week for three hours. I'm NOT ready for her to head to preschool. She is so little and I need more time with her at home. Red Fish was really excited though. We've talked about the school bus (YES A SCHOOLBUS HOW SAD IS THAT?) and what school will be like. I think she is really going to like it and she has been very excited. She got very excited to get dressed and wait for the bus this morning. This is the same outfit I wore to my first day of preschool. It was a little bit small for her but I got it on her. My Dad bought it in England when I was a little kid.
Her school requires a regular size backpack which I think is ridiculous because she is so tiny but she loves the new bag.

New Fish was excited to wait with her sister for the bus. She was very sad when she was left behind.Red Fish showed no fear. She got on the bus and waved goodbye like she has been doing it all her life. I got a little teary.And then there was one baby at home.

Why Hello Baby Delicious

11 Months

Miss New Fish is 11 months. I can't believe it is time to start planning a party already. The year is speeding past. It seems like New Fish has been changing overnight. She has gone from my tiny baby to this little person with SO MUCH PERSONALITY. She talks to me and points at things she wants. She has these sparkly little eyes that just light up when she is happy. Her eyes also betray when she is looking for trouble. She gets this look of mischief and determination that is unmistakeable.

She can walk really well now except she tries to go to fast and ends up falling down. She wants to keep up with her sister desperately. She dances by pumping her little fist in the air. She is already climbing on things and getting into EVERYTHING. I'm going to have to beef up my baby proofing.

New Fish knows exactly how to get a rise out of her sister Red Fish and seems to enjoy teasing her. The two of them are best of buddies and in constant competition now.

New still only has two teeth but she can eat just about anything anyway. She is getting pretty good with her sippy cup. I've finally stopped giving her a feeding in the middle of the night because she stopped drinking most of the bottle. (Yes, I completely realize that most people think I'm a sucker for doing it this long but I don't really care.) She still doesn't sleep through the night but I think we are finally getting close. She is just very different sleeper than her sister was.

I still hold her bottle when I feed her because it's one of the only chances I get to snuggle her. She wants to be held 24/7 but the snuggling isn't as common. I can't imagine our family without her anymore.

Sunday

A nice day of lounging and playing on the beach. We went to church in a tiny branch here and it was wonderful. Unfortunately the girls didn't agree and we had to leave early so everyone else could enjoy the meeting. They both took a long nap when we got back to our condo.

Red Fish is obsessed with finding "Nemo". She runs around the ocean looking for him and talks about him nonstop. It's pretty funny. Every fish she sees is definitely Nemo.

* The girls outfits are from a trip my parents took last December to Thailand. The girls were excited to have elephants on their clothes.

Weekend Fun

I've been feeling like I'm in a bit of a funk lately. Everything has felt a little overwhelming and crazy. Luckily this weekend managed to bring plenty of reprieve with it. Things that made me happy this weekend: Fresh cut grass, sunshine, watching my girls play dress up, tricycles, a movie with the girls, BBQ, picnic, fresh air, long walk, open windows, clean house.
Dresses from Hawaii

International Attire

Outfit from Mexico city. It was actually mine as a baby. My parents played in an orchestra in Mexico City until shortly before I was born.

Shoes from Paris

Shoes from Spain

Chinese dress

What We've Been Up To

On Saturday we got in another day of skiing. We went with my brother M and his girlfriend E. It was 14-15 degrees outside the whole time and they closed the canyon because it was such a blizzard but we had a great time. The snow was beautiful and there was a ton of powder. I'm still a little sore. Brother M went off a big cliff and fell in a hole full of powder. On Sunday we went and visited all the great grandparents.

All dressed for church in her coat from London.

Shoes my cousin gave her from China Town.

Barbecuing some burgers with a friend.

Red Fish has been making Valentines for the last couple days. I found a foam crafting kit on clearance (how are valentines things already on clearance? The holidays just go by faster all the time.) It has stickers and foam to make butterflies. Red Fish mostly just likes using the glue. Any project with glue makes her happy. New Fish is really in to rattles right now. She really likes toys. It cracks me up a little because Red Fish never cared about toys. All of the old baby toys are practically brand new. Last night New Fish slept until 6am without waking. I feel like a new person!