Visiting Santa Claus!

Anne and I took the little girls to visit Santa Claus last Wednesday. Santa was surprisingly un-busy when we found him and we got to go right up and see him!

Isabella did quite well; she went right up and sat on his knee. Siennalee, however, was a little more suspicious. Why should she sit on this stranger's lap? Gracey broke into messy tears at the sight of Santa's ferocious beard and belly full of jelly.

Santa's helpers wanted Anne and me to sit with the girls, which we tried not to do, as the effect is just not as cute, but alas, in the end we had to give in, or just have one girlie in the picture. The result is cute enough, I suppose, as Anne and I are not too hard on the eyes, but I think we still would've preferred a picture with just Santa and the girls.



And since it's our absolute, timeless favorite, here's last year's visit with Old Saint Nick:

Stair-y Moments

Siennalee was being awfully quiet down by the stairs the other day. She's not supposed to go upstairs by herself, so I was obliged to investigate. Here's what I found:


She had carefully arranged all her babies (along with their toys!) on each step and was talking with them very quietly. Probably telling them how they're not supposed to go up the stairs by themselves.

I got a few cute pictures and went back in the living room. After more suspiciously quiet minutes passed, I investigated again.

Here you'll see that she's moved each baby about four steps higher. And what was really funny about this one, which I don't know that you can see in the picture, is how she has a "toy" for each baby positioned in front of them:

I just love how their little minds work.

Of course, after this picture was taken, we had to move the party off the stairs and back into the living room. But it sure was fun while it lasted!

A Nice Day for a Walk. And a Lesson or Two.

The weather's been gorgeous today! Siennalee and I took full advantage of it and went down to the park, played for quite a while, and then walked to the mailboxes.

This was the first time we've walked so much without me putting her in a stroller, so it was pretty neat. She's still learning her walking "boundaries" - staying on the sidewalk, not running too far ahead of mommie, etc.

On the way back she started to play a game where she won't come with me (and runs away when I go to grab her hand), so a couple houses away from home, I stopped chasing her and just kept walking.

Slowly, resolutely, I marched on, knowing that at some point she has to understand that she needs to make the choice to follow the wiser person who knows the way, or she could find herself lost, alone and unprotected.

She stood there, rooted to the ground, and stared open-mouthed as I got farther and farther away. Once she started following slowly, I turned around to walk with her, and she turned and ran back the opposite direction. I wheeled around and resumed walking home. She followed.

Heart beating madly, mind calculating how far and fast I'd have to run to snatch her up if danger came racing up the road, I went into the house and peeked my head out the door. She'd followed me and now stood at end of the driveway, looking at the house but not seeing me peeking out the door.

I saw her little mouth mutely form the word "Mah-meee" and ZOOM! I flew out to get her! She wrapped her little arms around my neck and asked, "What you doin' Mommie?"

Consequences are hard to learn; this I've known for years. What is slowly being revealed to me now, is how hard they are to teach.

Happy Birthday Pancakies

Catch Up Post - September 26, 2008


Siennalee's 2nd birthday was on a Friday and Jason was traveling home from 10 days' AT in Georgia with the Navy Reserves. Since Daddy wasn't yet back with us and the next day, Saturday, would be her birthday party, Sienna and I had a sweetly quiet birthday breakfast on her special day.

Birthday pancakes were 'specially made for the birthday girl, by the birthday mommie.

She loves pancakes!


She wasn't too impressed with the candles though... kept informing me, alarmed, that they were "hot!" I assisted in blowing them out, but here you see she's still not to crazy about them befouling her "pancakies."

Little bit better once Mommie helped pick these pesky candles out...


"Take it, Mommie!"

Heard in Our Little World Today:

"Oh Mommie, your hair is gor-jus," I'd just come into her bedroom this morning with a wet ponytail twisted into a bun, "I want to touch it," I went over to the crib and got her out, she put out a hand to the nape of my neck and withdrew it quickly, "It's really wet."

***

In the car, on our way to ladies' group: "We going go to church? And make new friends? Play with little boys? Play with friends..."

***

"Rock, rock! Rock, rock, Mommie! I crying!" This was actually in church nursery as I was trying to leave for ladies' group and she was to stay there with the other kids; she'd spied the rocking chairs behind us and thought some time in those would do just the trick.

***

"There's a book hiding in there; I want to get it out. It's really tight in there. Get it outta there, Mommie" She was fishing in the over-filled basket of books that lives beneath our coffee table.

***

As I'm typing this new post:

"Don't touch anything. That's a no no. Don't touch that, ookaaaay? Here's your box, and here's your blanket, and here's your bottle, and here's your... it's okay... don't touch anything, that's a no no, 'kaaay? 'Kaaay?" She's settling her babies in her grocery cart and instructing them on proper cart behaviour. I'm wiping tears from my eyes. LOL!

***

Jason's 33rd Bday

September 7, 2008 - Catch Up Post

We had a small family party to celebrate Jason's big 33rd birthday.

Here's a menagerie of shots of our partying fam:

And Siennalee managed to get in some one-on-one time with family:

And here Sienna has managed to talk Uncle Mike into her tent.
This is no mean feat, just ask my inlaws!

Jason's awesome parents (who live in Pennsylvania) joined us via Skype (which was, unfortunately, a bit patchy-er than usual due to some irritating computer issues)

We grilled some marinated pork loin for lunch and had a couple favorite sides.

Jason's requested dessert was Costco's All American Chocolate Cake.
I added 33 candles to his birthday slice.

Lighting this bad boy was no mean feat; Jason's sister Cheri assisted me. She was also close by so as to douse me with water in the likely event I became a fireball while attempting to light and deliver the birthday boy's cake.

Happy birthday, Jason!
Your two girls simply adore you.

Toddler Drama

This morning I requested that Siennalee put her socks on by herself as I finished up getting her day's outfit together. Her over-exaggerated grunts evidenced that she was indeed working on this task, and as I turned to check her progress and perhaps assist, she informed me breathlessly that the socks were "really really really tight!"

Amazing, adorable, amusing, enchanting, heartwarming, heartbreaking, thrilling, and deeply deeply satisfying - these little steps that our babies take toward becoming little persons.

Two Peas.

Apparently the tv watching face is genetic.

Siennalee's First Trip to the Zoo!

September 4, 2008 ~ Catch Up Post

Jason took some vacation right before his two weeks of AT for the Navy Reserves and, along with spending some good quality family time together, we went to the zoo! It was Siennalee's first trip ever to visit the zoo and we were all very excited. "What will you see at the zoo, Siennalee?" was our often repeated question. "Beeyars (bears), liars (lions), peengwens (penguins)," she'd answer right back.

Getting ready to head into the zoo!


Waiting in line for the zoo.


Her very first animal exhibit - the otters! Boy were they cute!


Getting the hang of seeing the animals and saying hello!


Nothing in that penguin nest, but it sure was fun to peek!

Off to see more animals!


Oh beautiful birdies!




Checking out the tigers!


There's a giraffe in there, Daddy...


The view was better up higher.


Nothing keeps up morale like a snack.


This was pretty much the order of the day.
We let her go a bit, but then would reign her back in so as to avoid a complete meltdown once the energy reserves were depleted.

She made fast friends with the petting goats, but alas, the petting part of the zoo was closed when we went by. So she loved them from afar. Well, not too afar. :)

Now this guy HAD to be loved from afar.

It was pretty cool - we snuck around the back of the exhibit to see if he was out, and he was! Beautiful elephant!




Can you see him, Daddy?


So many exciting moments and discoveries...


A meltdown or two was expected... earned, even...


Again, Jason and I turned to the Kryptonite of toddler meltdowns - snacks.
Here a banana fights the good fight.


Ohhh, another friend!


Siennalee learns some friends require more sanitizing than others.


I see fish. Quite a lot of them, actually.


Spying on a black bear.


And the day ended much like it began. :)


Our family's first zoo visit! Success!