Ta da!

This weekend we went up to snow country and were staying in a two story condo. Bill and I were in one bedroom and the girls were in the other bedroom. We were a little concerned the first night that the girls might wake up, be a little disoriented, and fall down the stairs, so we
tried to figure out some sort of obstacle to prevent this. We didn't have child safety gates, so Bill had the great idea to use the free standing steel fireplace screen that usually sits in front of the wood burning stove. He wedged it in their doorway after they went to sleep, so they didn't know it was there until they woke up.

When they woke up we heard a very quiet and earnest conversation between the two of them. Some of they questions asked were, "What should we do? Should we move it? Should we call Mommy and Daddy?" and some others that were too soft to be heard.

Finally Riley decided on a solution. She either pushed or kicked the screen down, and as it fell with a loud crash, she cried out triumphantly, "Ta da!" Bill and I almost couldn't control ourselves it was so hilarious.

After that, Sam said, "Good job Riley," and they both charged into our room.

No snow? It can't be Christmas.

This morning the girls woke up and ran into our room to tell us that Santa had left slippers for them in their room. They also emphatically notified us that it could not be Christmas because there wasn't any snow. They wouldn't even go in to see their stockings and presents because it wasn't Christmas. We had to have a rather extended conversation about what part of the world we live in, why it doesn't snow here, and how it could still be Christmas without snow before they would go check for stockings and presents.

Making Gingerbread Cookies

The girls were helping me make gingerbread cookies this morning when we added the molasses. They both got verry excited about the batter changing colors. There was much excitement and many shouts of glee.

Finally the following conversation occurred:
Sam: Look, look! It's turning yellow.
Me: That's really more of a brown color. Most people would call that color tan.
Sam: Oh, that's just like Valerie Tan.

Egg toss

Today the girls had to figure out how to protect eggs so that when they were fired from a catapult they wouldn't break. They were presented with a table that had some styrofoam type stuff, foam trays (like those from meat in the supermarket), felt, tissue paper, toilet paper rolls, cups from egg cartons, tape, string, and plastic. The girls picked all their own materials, decided how to "wrap" them, and only had me help with the holding and taping when they needed an extra hand.

After their creations were complete, we headed out to the park where they had the catapult set up, and each child got to place their creation in the catapult, then stand back and watch it fly. I was pretty impressed by all of the kids creations. Out of 8 kids, only 3 eggs broke. Pretty good for 3 to 5 year olds if you ask me.

After launching them several times, we opened them up and took out the eggs. Then the kids had a choice of taking the egg home for their parent to cook, giving the egg back to the zoo so they could use it to feed the animals, or launching it again without any protection so they could see it explode. One of my kids chose to launch the unprotected egg while the other offered to give hers back to the zoo for the animals. Can you guess which was which?

For those of you (Liz and Andrea) that wanted to see the holiday dress...

here it is. The party was good fun. Will add more to this post later.

Christmas Meme

A Christmas Meme not because I enjoy meme's, but because I've been tagged several times (the latest being by Helen), and I'm hoping to stave off further attacks, I mean invitations by answering this one. Here goes:

-Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. No peeking here folks.
-Real tree or artificial? Real tree. Only a real tree. Never ever artificial. It was bad enough the few years when I had to go to a tree lot instead of hiking through a tree farm to find just the right tree. It must speak to you. This year I'm happy to say the girls totally got into it and we "listened" to many trees before they found one that they declared had asked to come home with us. You don't get that joy from artificial.
-When do you put up the tree? That's a difficult one to answer. We usually get it the day after Thanksgiving, but keep it in a bucket of water for a week or so before we put it up. This year we were in Hawaii the day after Thanksgiving, so we didn't get our tree until this past Sunday. And whaddya know? We put it up and decorated it the same day.
-When do you take the tree down? I usually try to get it down for the first trash day after the new year. That's when our city will take them for recycling. They actually do it for a few weeks, but it's usually time to have it out - dead needles everywhwere.
-Do you like eggnog? Yes and no. The stuff in the carton? Gross! The rum flavored alcoholic stuff? Gross! The sort of liquid vanilla milkshake thing my Mom made us as kids? Delicious.
-Favorite gift received? A happy, healthy family every year. I dread the years when some people will no longer be with us.
-Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, but it's been years since it's been out. Kids and animals tend to wreak havoc on them.
-Hardest person to buy for? Hands down, Liz. She has everything she needs/wants. A close second is Andrea. Go figure. Oh yeah, and the parents on both sides of the family. They just don't need anything.
-Easiest person to buy for? Sam and Riley. They're still at that magical age where they just love any gift.
-Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can't think of any bad Christmas presents I've received, but then again I'm still at that magical age where I just love surprises of any kind. Just for the record, I will always be at that age. The fact that someone has taken the time to even think of getting me a gift is more than enough for me.
-Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail although the last 2 years I've failed to actually get them in the mail even though I had them. Let's see how this year goes.
-Favorite Christmas movie? Oh my. How do I choose just one? I love all the oldies. Rudolph, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, etc. I guess if I had to pick one, it would be "The Year Without a Santa Claus" because it has the Heat Miser in it, and who can resist singing along with that?
-When do you start shopping for Christmas? The day after the previous Christmas. I try to shop all year round if I see something I know someone will love, and I know they won't get it for themselves before the next Christmas. The bulk of my shopping though happens online between Halloween and the first week in December.
-Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Never. It goes back to my excitement of getting a gift. I can't give away something that someone gave me. It's like giving away the love.
-Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Gingerbread cookies. Mmmmmmmm, mmmmmm, mmmmmmmm.
-Clear lights or colored on the tree? This question can be interpreted many ways. Clear lights = newer style, small lights, colored lights = older style, larger bulbs. Clear lights = all small white lights, colored = small, rainbow colored lights. There are many other variations, but for the sake of space I will say that we currently have the newer, small, rainbow colored lights on our tree. There is however, a part of me that misses the large old fashioned (very hot) lightbulbs, and the bubble lights of my childhood.
-Favorite Christmas song? This is like the Christmas movie question. How do I pick just one? For the most part I like all of the old ones sung by the crooners of old. Who can be White Christmas sung by Bing Crosby? Seriously?
-Travel at Christmas or stay home? In general we stay home now. We use to try and get to everyone's house, but that was just too crazy, and not fair to our family time.
-Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Yep. Dancer, Dasher, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and of course Rudolph who isn't always pictured.
-Angel on the tree top or a star? Star. Always a star. I am very lucky to have the one from my childhood to grace the top of my tree. My children have learned to love it as much as I do, though I think my husband would secretly like something newer and less decrepit.
-Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning always!
-Most annoying thing about this time of year? Crowds and rudeness everywhere at what should be a happy, loving season.
-What I love most about Christmas? The tree, the treats, the lights, the joy and squeals of delight from my children as they take in all the wonder that is around them.

And now, because I know you won't respond if tagged anyway (you know who you are), feel free to answer this meme in your bl0g (or in my comments section if you don't have a blog.)

Sam's Pajamas

The last couple of days Sam has been storing toys in her pajamas. The pajamas are the fleece footie kind that zip up the front. She simply puts the toy in the top of the pajamas and then guides it to her left leg if it's a toy for her or her right leg if it's one she's keeping safe for Riley. Yep, she's storing them for Riley too. Keep in mind that she is WEARING THE PAJAMAS, PLAYING IN THEM, AND SLEEPING IN THEM WITH ALL THE TOYS IN THERE. Following is a list of what I just pulled out when it was time to shower:
2 Disney phones
2 wooden airplanes
1 metal airplane
A 4" tall witch figurine
A golden retriever figurine
A Hello Kitty small plush
A Mr. Potato Head plastic saber
A kukui nut lei
A hand drum
1 lg. Superball
A rubber popper toy
A pair of sunglasses
5 Winnie the Pooh stickers
3 Tigger stickers
A butterfly sticker

Delicious!!

Last night I got lucky! (Get your minds out of the gutter people.)

Bill had suggested we have crab for dinner last night, but prices were outrageous (the sale was over). Instead he brought home sourdough bread with hunks of garlic baked in (mmmmmm, mmmmm, good), lobster (which he cooked to perfection), and king crab legs. To start the dinner though, he made a warm goat cheese salad that rivaled any I've had in a restaurant.

You could say that I'm the luckiest girl around except that Andrea was here for dinner, so that makes us two of the luckiest girls around. ;)

Shaved head

Went to get my hair cut today, and really began to panic when she whipped out the razor and started going to town. I seriously thought I was gonna be bald when she was done, but not so. Whatever she did, she was also able to get lots of curl and "fullness" into my hair. Not sure I like that. In fact, pretty sure I don't, but never fear I do not have the skills to make that happen even if I did like it.

Of snowmen and belly buttons...

Today started as any normal day in our household. Me getting irritated by a bunch of little things, the kids not listening, the dog chewing up paper towels and spreading them throughout the house, and all of us racing to get out of the house and on our way at the same time. As the morning progressed I became grumpier and grumpier until the two best little people ever turned it all around.

We went to that evil donut shop where they are now making snowmen donuts for the season. When Sam received hers she looked at it, tilted her head, looked at it again, and then said, "Mommy, why do snowmen have 3 belly buttons?" She was referring to the "buttons" down the front, but how could I not smile at that?

This question was quickly followed by Riley's ballad to her snowman. "I love snowmen. They are so cute. I love snowmen, I love snowmen," sung to the cutest of tunes.

And to top it all off Auntie Mo just arrived to take the girls for a walk.

I feel much better now.

Science class

Today the girls had another installment of science class. They talked about eggs, and to the girls great delight they got to smash them, mix them, seperate them, all while trying to identify the different parts. At the end of class they got to make scrambled eggs that they could eat. That kind of creeped me out. I was always taught (and thought why does this need to be said) that you don't eat anything in science class. God knows what's growing in there. The girls enjoyed it though. At the end of the series they get to do the famous egg drop experiment where they each have to build something to put their eggs in so they don't break when dropped off the roof.

To Diamond Head and back.

I am so proud of my girls. They hiked all the way to the summit of Diamond Head and back again without fussing or whining. I couldn't say the same for some of the adults that were hiking up.

Just so you know what a feat it was for 3 year olds, here are some stats about the hike:
- The trail is 1 and 3/4 miles to the rim (that's 3 and 1/2 miles round trip).
- it takes the average person 1 and 1/2 hours to do it (the girls did it in 1 hour and 15 minutes)
- there are two sets of stairs (one very steep and the other a spiral). The first is 99 steps, the second is 76 steps. Plus there are 3 more steps to get out of the bunker at the top, and about 25 more to get to the actual summit.
- there is 225 foot unlit tunnel as well (this kind of freaked me out, but they were fine.)
- the hike is rated as easy to moderate (realy more on the moderate side)
- there is no shade on the trail (sunscreen works wonders)

Cinderella at the ball

Sam dressed up in her Cinderella dress and told me she was going to the ball. She then said that her prince wasn't there, she was only going to take pictures.

Shocking fact of the week

There was a Starbucks in the lobby of our hotel, and I never even had one Starbucks the whole week and a half we were there.

I know. I was stunned myself.