Open Wide

Tunnel slide descent #1 of 40.

 Tunnel slide descent #2 of 40.

 Tunnel slide descent #3 of 40.

 Tunnel slide descent #4 of 40.

After many failed attempts to lure Anni to the port hole for a smile, I finally caught her on the ascent.

Ahhhh!

Some of my favorite pictures of myself are with this sort of smile - captured moments of pure joy.  It makes my heart more happy than I can say to see this joy in my children.

The Snowy Day

There was snow on the ground this morning!  

It was too cold to go out right away, so we had to bring snow indoors to satisfy our curiosities.  The girls cooked with snow long enough for me to wash up the 5 pots and pans I'd already dirtied today, and chop enough vegetables for a big pot of soup.  This is a record.

 Cooking With Snow

I really thought we would get by without any this winter, so we were ill-prepared and without snowboots that fit, but our shoes with an extra pair of wool socks worked just fine for the little while we were out.

Base-Layers

Chasing

 Tracking

Hi-ho, Silverado!

Yaya made this track, according to Anni.  Pretty sure it was a cat.

Making Our Own Tracks

  

Snowballs to Share

Elli

Anni

Seriously, could they be any sweeter?

Happy Shirt

Some stickers arrived in the mail yesterday from Yaya, which immediately inspired us to color. 

Anni opted to put them on her shirt.  After her design was complete, she looked down at herself and said "Anni's happy shirt."  She wore her happy shirt all day, and then carefully removed each sticker and put it to rest on her paper before bed time.

The Happy Shirt

Elli's stickers made it onto the paper, and then she got real happy with her blue crayon.  I told her that her page had Uncle Ben's favorite colors: blue and yellow.  After looking at the paper for awhile, she continued only with her blue crayon. So, Uncle Ben, here is a sneak peek at your valentine - made thoughtfully just for you.

Uncle Ben's Current Favorite Niece

A Side Note

Many of you have commented on the way videos are "acting" on the blog.

I am now hosting some of my videos via YouTube, so you are actually clicking on an embedded link to an external site.  I would not recommend clicking on any of the "suggested" videos that are displayed after my videos are done playing, as I can't promise it won't contain questionable material.  Just YouTube's way of getting more site traffic, I suspect.

Why the change?  Well, as video cameras get better and better movie quality, Blogger has not upped their maximum data allowance per video upload.  Most videos I take these days exceed those limits.  Incredibly frustrating.  Often times my absences from blogging are because I got so peeved at Blogger over not being able to share something, or because I waited for DAYS for something to upload, only to be told there was an error.  RAR.

It's still a drag having to upload them elsewhere and maintain a second account (because I still have concerns over privacy and how to protect it), but that frustration is much less than NOT being able to share great videos with our faithful fans.  :)

If any of my fellow Blogger / YouTube users have any suggestions on how to do this more seamlessly, please let me know!

Lists

Elli's Artwork

I love lists.  No, you don't understand, I LOVE lists.  When I think, I think in lists.  I don't visualize images or actions happening.  I visualize lists.  Actually, I visualize flowcharts, complete with feedback loops and, I could also argue that they are PID controlled. Ahem.

The girls like lists, too.  They like listing off things we did during the day for Papa when he gets home.  They also keep sub-lists.  For example: the order in which we did things to get out the door.  "Clothes.  Shoes.  Purse. Keys. Car.  Store."

Yesterday, while eating lunch and coloring, the girls made two lists that I hadn't heard before.

I counted out 5 chocolate chips for Elli: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5."   And then she continued by saying, under her breath, "6, 7, 8, 9... 10."  WHOA!  (She did not receive chocolate chips 6 through 10, despite her awesome list.)

We also happened to be experiencing heavy prairie winds, which made it sound like our house was under some air assault.  Anni suspected it was an airplane, and even though I assured her it was just the wind flying, she was still concerned.  To distract her, I asked her to tell me some other things we could see flying.  Here is her list:

Anni's Artwork

• airplanes ("air-pwanes")
• helicopters ("heh-coppers")
• Soldiers ("soh-jers", they fly in the "heh-coppers")
• dinosaurs ("dy-o-sars")
• butterflies ("buh-fies")
• Super Grover ("super grower")
• owls ("ows")
• "quacks" (that would be ducks)

  

Snow Bunnies

The girls caught a cold, so I put all excursions on hold for a day to try to nip it quickly.  By mid-afternoon, Anni was pressing her face against the back door and pining aloud for outdoor adventure.  I told her we could go out to "water paint" if she wore a sweater and hat in addition to her coat. (She hates wearing hats.)  The girls took it a step further by donning protective eyewear.  They looked like snow bunnies... minus the snow.

Sunglasses and Rainbows

HAHA.  Did you laugh as hard as I did at that video?  I don't know what it is, but the whole thing really gets me in the belly.

Piggies

Catching the Wind

It sure is easy to catch the prairie wind in your mouth, in these parts.

Shake It!

The girls love story time at the library.  Mostly they like people watching, but they get really into any singing, dancing, or repeated phrases, too.  

During one segment of story time, the kids have to go up and get maracas from a bin.  Elli is always the first up there and the last to leave.  She likes to see if there are any leftovers so she can have multiple.  Anni is more timid and will wait in the crowd until a clear path is revealed to the bin.  (She seems to not want to get in anyone's way.) Most times the librarian hands her one before she makes it up there, and then she grins with glee before galloping back to her seat.  

I tried my best to take a good video of some maraca-shaking today... Not my best, but cute, nonetheless.

Letters

The girls received magnetic letters for Christmas.  I spelled out their full names on Grandma's refrigerator one evening, and returned to find them re-organized.  Aren't they so smart?*

They've been able to identify their letters since early September, thanks to the foam alphabet puzzles the girls received for their birthdays, and countless (and excessive) readings of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

They've been able to say all of their letters since early October.  (My favorites are when Elli says "W" and Anni says "H".  I shall endeavor to capture that on video!)

*Every parent I know believes their child to be a genius.  I am no exception.  Just roll with me, here.  

Hugs

  

Garnish

What do you do when you're at a steakhouse, have just finished off an adult plate of chicken tenders (3 - 7 inch pieces) and french fries, and you're still hungry?

You eat the garnish, of course.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.  If I tried to convince you of how much these girls eat in a day, you wouldn't believe me.