Now we're movin'!

Tim and Annie have been working on riding her bike without training wheels all summer and finally all that crying, I mean all that work has finally paid off! Annie has been cruising the 'hood for a few weeks now. It's somewhat stressful to me to see her rambling down the street...mainly because she tends to be totally unaware of random cars that are just waiting for her to come by so they can dart out in her path, and the random boobie traps disguised as innocent little pebbles laying on the pavement. I know I had my fair share of stitches resulting from biking incidents...badges of kid honor, and I guess everyone deserves to have a few minor ones right?

Here she is with the biker gang on her first day as a full fledged and licensed two wheeler. Do you see the little bunny in the background? I just noticed him...Lucky for Annie, he must have been a few seconds behind on his seek and destroy mission!

Uncle Justin and Aunt Mindi!

We were in Columbus last weekend to see Uncle Justin and Aunt Mindi get married. Annie had a great time being Mindi's flower girl and Olivia had an even better time being my flower girl. Here are some photos from the wedding...

1st Day of Kindergarten

Last Wednesday was Annie's first day at High Plains Elementary. We had gone shopping for her school supplies a few weeks ago and she spent about every other day from then on proudly parading around the house with her backpack full of supplies. The closer the big day got, you could tell she was getting a little nervous. Olivia was really nervous once she realized that Annie wouldn't be going to Montessori with her anymore. On Tuesday night they both had a hard time falling asleep, but both were ready to go on Wednesday. Here she is, getting all ready to head out the door. Little did we realize that while I was taking the photo, the cat snuck out and decided to camp out under our big evergreen tree. We couldn't get him to come out for anything, so decided to ditch him. I loaded up the girls and while they were getting buckled in, I checked one more time and the cat was waiting for me to let him in the house.

Once at school, Annie lined up with the other kids outside their classroom door. Annie lined up next to her new good friend, Megan and while all the parents snapped photo after photo...my baby walked into school, as proud as can be.

It's official...my work ate my summer.

It's true. I've been working as a construction engineer on the job where no one can do anything right and it has taken my summer. Even right now, it's Sunday and I'm waiting to receive 2 emails from the project on 2 items they messed up and expect me to figure out how to fix. AYE!
In the meantime, there are only 3 more days until Annie is a fully fledged Kindergartner at High Plains Elementary. She is so so so excited. We met her new teacher Ms. Lyons on Friday at the school ice cream social and she seems really excited to be a new teacher. She just graduated from NCU and this is her first job.

So what have we been up to this summer?

1. The girls both took swim lessons, although I can't say that they learned to swim yet. We are planning on a trip to the pool this afternoon, so I will throw them in and let you know what happens.
2. We spent an awesome week on the beach with Nana, Papa, John, Bonnie, Lily, Justin, Mindi, and our new cat (Mr. Georgie Spankerdoodle Throwie Nicholas Meowsers Meowgi, the Third, Jr.) All I can say about Mr. Meowgi is that he is a very tolerant kitty and loves to torment Bailey, loves to chase plastic things across the floor, loves to curl up with me if I'm laying on the couch, and has a love/hate relationship with both girls.
3. We camped a total of 3 times...once with a dead battery, and the the last time with a visit from a bear. He knocked on our door, but we didn't answer...he left a paw print on the side of our camper.
4. A new IKEA store opened in Denver and the girls and I literally got lost inside for 2 hours last week. Luckily, we found the cafeteria and restored our energy levels with some Swedish meatballs and an apple tart. I don't think we will be going back anytime soon.
5. Annie is this close to learning how to ride her bike without training wheels.

Look for a photo album of our summer appearing on the blog soon. In the meantime, I'm going to try and talk Tim into going to IKEA for lunch...

Carnival!!!

The other day while I was driving out to a job site I noticed that there was a carnival being set up in a mall parking lot. So yesterday we decided to take the girls over for a few rides. With the exception of Tim smashing Olivia's hand while buckling up on the roller coaster, they loved it! And at $3 per ride, they really should have loved it. Here are some photos of them enjoying the afternoon.

Planning for the future

Annie told me this morning that she doesn't want to get married because if she does, an angel will come up and shoot her right in the heart. What? It took me a while to figure out that she was talking about Cupid and his arrow. We've got it straightened out now though, or so I think.

What's in a name?

I've been thinking, and what set off this thinking was when I heard Annie the other day calling Olivia "Liver". Hummm, I thought, just how many nicknames does that girl answer too?
Here is a short list...

Olivia
Olivea
Livie
Livia
Liv
Olive
Baby-O
A-livia
Bavie
Bav (this one is my favorite, it started with Annie not being able to pronounce baby)

and the newest one
Liver

It has a nice ring to it I guess. Might just have to add that last one to my rotation.

Our Ballerina

Annie has been going to ballet classes for a few months now and the season has finally come to it's climax - the annual recital!

Introducing Annie, appearing on stage for the first time...

Sorry for the lack of focus on the movie, it was the best I could do. Here are some action shots to clear things up a bit. I love how they are all looking off to the side - that is where their teacher is also doing the dance, in the off chance that they forgot the choreography.

Spring Soccer

Annie is on her second season of soccer. She played last fall, and now spring season is only one game away from putting her out of her misery - or I mean being over. We were scheduled for a makeup game this evening, but it has been rain-snowing here all day so...cancelled! Annie...well, Annie, she isn't what most people would call an athletic kid. She barely hangs in there with the average 5 year old soccer player. She started off strong last fall, but I think her imagination got the better of her this season. It was really hard to convince her to play, "it's too much exercise, and running around, and how can I play like that?" is her general objections. One game we told her that if she played well and made an effort, then we would reward her by going out for dinner. Her response was "Chucky Cheese!!!". Note: I had BBQ on my mind so didn't tell her she could pick where we went, but I let this C.C. choice slide since I figured it would add to her motivation to get out and running on the field, and frankly I was starting to become a little embarrassed to be the mom of the worst player on the field...now I feel embarrassed that I actually admitted that I was embarrassed that our 5 year old isn't a soccer star. Either way - by the end of the game even Coach Justin was cheering "chucky cheese - chucky cheese" every time she lost interest in the game. At last week's game she started giving excuses as to why she couldn't play...it was too sunny, her shoes didn't fit...so I changed her out of her cleats and stuck a pair of sunglasses on her face and what do you know, she actually played pretty well! Maybe I should start believing her when she starts complaining!

Here are some photos of our girl in action - the first is her usual game day strategy, head down and trailing the pack, followed by one where she actually got her foot on the ball! Yeah Annie! You Rock Girl!

Annie's last run of the season

Annie, Tim, and I hit the slopes one last time for this season a couple weekends ago. We left Olivia with some friends so that we could both spend the day seeing how much Annie had improved since the beginning of the season. Leaving Olivia for the day may have scarred her a bit, ever since that day she hasn't left my side over fear that I'll leave her if we are anywhere other than our house. Oh well, let's hope she gets over it someday.

The day started out great for us! We rode the lift up while looking at the map and planning out our day, including my favorite item - where to have lunch. We stuck to the greens most of the morning, and found an excellent tree run that Annie was more comfortable on than the groomed slope. Towards the afternoon we happened upon a blue run that Tim thought Annie could handle. I should have known...he couldn't see too far beyond the first few feet. After that the run was pretty steep and had more than a few bumps. Annie made it down about 5 feet before terror stepped in and we had to scoot off through the trees to get back to the green run. I'm not sure we will be convincing Annie to do any blue runs any time soon after that experience.

After lunch we did a couple more runs before an exhausted Annie had to be escorted down the mountain were we spent some time rocking out at the Guns 'n Roses concert that was going on at the base, but not before we shot this awesome video of our girl in action.

Olivia! bum bum bum bum, Olivia!

Walk up to Olivia and exclaim her name and she will reply "bum bum bum bum". It's her theme song. Really it's the theme song from the Olivia cartoon, but we changed it to her theme song. She's 3 now ! It took her a while to get the fingers correct, they kept wanting to be 4, but now she's got it down pat. Just the other day she drew her very first person, it was a self portrait, followed by a very large headed Annie, and two small parents. We were at the Children's museum at the time and Tim and I were amazed that we were seeing her draw like that! So far it's been a lot of scribbles and O's and her trying to write - looks just like ancient hieroglyphics. Here is our newest family portrait...
This year Olivia graduated to a 2 wheeled bike (still on training wheels). She loves riding it and I love walking behind and watching her little legs pump up and down, up and down. She is still pretty petite, her last measurements at her doctors appointment showed her in the 25th percentile for both weight and height, but 140th percentile for humor and smarts. She's quite the joker - this year she has been in love with the word "duty". It really cracks her up, and usually when things crack her up, everyone else is infected with it too. Tim say her personality is a lot like mine...her true self doesn't just come out for anyone. She is really quite timid in some situations. She loves the zoo, as long as the animals are far far away. She doesn't like the aviary at all. That is where cute little birds are free to wonder...she hates that place and walking through that with her on your hip you can really feel how strong her choke hold around your neck can be.

We took her downtown for her 3 year old photos, and after getting through the customary silly face photos, I think we got a few where she really shines.

But I'm really sick!

Annie was sick for a few days last week, just some puking the first day and then a few days of mild fever. She stayed home with me Wednesday and Thursday, then got sent home early on Friday. Olivia didn't like going to school without her. I'm pretty sure she was perfectly fine once she got there, but just thinking about leaving home while Annie is having a grand time at home, probably watching cartoons all day and feasting on popsicles was too much for Olivia. (She was right! Annie did watch cartoons all day, and ate a lot of popsicles.) So for the last few days, our morning routine has been sprinkled with Olivia saying "But I'm sick...I don't feel well...my nose hurts...etc." I knew she was bluffing, I just knew it. She wouldn't let me take her temperature to verify this mystery sickness that makes your tummy scratchy....that and she was more than fine playing and running around the house until I mentioned that it was time to leave for school. Today was different though. She was snack leader, which means she got to bring a show and tell. She was the first person in the car today, with no mention of any sicknesses.

Weatherman, Schmetherman

Over the weekend, Tim showed Annie how you can check the weather forecast on the web. She was so excited to learn that it was supposed to snow on Monday, 2-6 inches. Last night we had the news on the tube and Tim tried to turn it off, right in the middle of Kathy Sabine's weather report. Annie says "Hey! I was watching the weather report!" So you know she is big into weather now...or was. This morning it was hard not to notice her utter disgust at the lack of snow on the driveway. She was really ticked that she couldn't get out there with her shovel and go at the 2-6 inches that was promised to her! So very disappointing for her. All I could muster was, "Well, get used to it, weather reporters suck."

Peanut Butter Baby

She loves 2 things - Mac & Cheese and Peanut Butter

On the Ice

We spend the morning doing a bit of ice skating thanks to a nice Christmas gift from our friend Donna - thanks Donna! The girls started off a bit shaky, but eventually Annie really got the hang of it. The only way I got her to leave the ice was to tell her that we could sign her up for some ice skating lessons at the rink down the street from our house. Here is a video of Annie showing off her skills! I'm pretty sure we are looking at the next Michelle Kwan.

Ski Bums

Last weekend we stayed on the magic carpet, but this week we hit the lift! I'm not biased at all when I say that my girls totally rocked the bunny hill. Annie has finally gotten the hang of turning and as soon as she figures out how to really stop then I'll feel comfortable letting go of her reins. Olivia is still loving just cruising down, straight down, and fast. She did a few runs before her emotions got the better of her. Tim headed to the lodge with her where she promptly fell asleep. Annie and I took a few more runs and continued working on her turns and skiing in control. The last run we took, we headed into some trees, which Annie thought was a great idea. We came out of the trees facing a pretty big drop off, but Annie handled it well. We tried to go off some sweet jumps, but never really got up enough speed....next time, it's all ours!

Ski Day!

This morning we set Annie up in a 2 hour ski lesson at Echo Mountain which is not too far from Denver. Olivia is too young to be in a lesson, but we brought skis along for her to try out with Tim and I. We got Annie all settled into her class, and Olivia started to cry about how she didn't want to go skiing! So we sat in the lodge and watched Annie and the rest of her class. She is doing much better this year than last year and made it down the hill more than a few times without crashing. Halfway through her lesson the class came into the lodge to warm up with hot cocoa. After they went back out, Olivia got a burst of confidence and decided that she wanted to ski too! So we jumped on it and scrambled out to the hill so she wouldn't have time to change her mind. Let me just say that she totally rocked. She did so much better than we were ever expecting and she loved every minute! We stopped after about an hour to grab some lunch and I was sure everyone was done for the day, but both Annie and Olivia wanted to go out for more. Annie spent the rest of the day working on turning, an I think she has finally figured it out. We promised to take her up to Copper next weekend to ride on the lift which is what she was really hoping to do today. Olivia did great too, really good balance and maybe she did some turns, or that might have just been luck. She kept trying to push Tim away from her, she really wanted to go down on her own. Here she is in action, just push play!

Forgot to mention...

Annie and I stayed up on New Years Eve with her cousins Luke and Kyle. A few minutes until midnight the television started showing the mass of people in Times Square, and I said to Annie, "Can you believe it? All those people stayed up late to celebrate your birthday!"

Silence, followed by "How do all those people know about me??"

I got the feeling she was a bit weird-ed out by the whole thing, so I told her they were really there for the start of the new year. Then I couldn't help but get the feeling that she was a little disappointment by that news.

Annie's 5!

Annie is FIVE! I'm at a loss for words.....just kidding! The years are just flying by. I think even she thinks they are flying by. Every once in a while she will start to say something along the lines of, "soon I'm going to be 10, and I'll have to drive to shop at the stores all day long" or "soon I'll be 9 and I'll need my own house. Can we find a house for me just around the corner from you so I can always live close to you?"

Anyways, what a year for Annie! First jump off the diving board, first trip to South Dakota, milked a cow, upgraded to a bigger bike, took some ski lessons, panned for gold, learned all of her sounds (first step to reading!), started playing soccer, the list could go on and on, she is one adventurous girl.

This year her love of art really started to shine. Last year she was just drawing...well, nothing too interesting to most people, but this year, she wrote and illustrated a book on the subject of cleaning! Just last week she made a picture book of the seasons, my favorite was her depiction of summer - her wearing a bathing suit, barefooted. She drew each toe, complete with toenails. Super sweet! Here is my favorite piece, titled "Green Devil". She drew this one for Halloween.
She is also very affectionate and loving. She loves to snuggle with me at bedtime, and she always crawls into my bed in the morning for some more snuggling before getting up for the day. On the other hand she also can have a raging temper...wonder where that comes from...she can really let loose if something isn't going her way.

She is working hard at school on learning to read and starting to do a little work in the math area too, counting by 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's...etc. Most of her time is spent in the art area, so much time that sometimes I feel like I should be buying extra paper for the class to make up for how much she uses. She is a very creative and imaginative girl. Just this evening she decided her stuffed cat needed a bed to sleep on so she got into my box of fabric and started at it. I helped her finish it and now Ms. Picklepants has a new bed to sleep in.

I wonder what is in store for her this year...all good things, I'm sure!

Olivia and Her Rotten Ear

Yesterday, Olivia woke up from her nap screaming, and wanting her new favorite person, me!, Momma!. Poor girl, went I picked her up from daycare she said her ear hurt but other than that she seemed fine, so we went home and I gave her some Tylenol. This morning she woke up with a sore ear again, but an hour later she said she was feeling good. So, we packed up and headed to school. On the way there my mom instincts kicked in and I decided we'd better get this ear checked out. Olivia has a history of having ear infections and not letting anyone know about them. So we dropped Annie off and stopped by my office to make an appointment. Our appointment was scheduled for 11, so we had some time to mess around at the office. First I set Olivia up with some office supplies, highlighters, post-it notes and the back of last months calendar page. She started right in working away at a pretty cool mixed media art project. After a bit, I asked if she needed to go potty. It took some convincing to get her to believe that no one would come and finish her work for her while we were gone, but eventually we made it to the bathroom. Olivia has been accident free since, oh wait, last night. Well, she is working on it! Afterwards, she raided an ex-coworkers office and came out with a new toy truck and a slinky...then she asked me why we had toys at our work. As we were leaving she told me she thought we were in outer space. We're only on the 3rd floor, but when you think about it that is pretty high up for Olivia! Then she really enjoyed yelling and hearing her echo in the parking garage.

Olivia truly out-shined her sister at the doctor's. We had Annie's 5 year checkup last week and...well, it was so bad that they had to call in extra nurses to get her out from behind the exam table and hold her down for her one shot. I asked Olivia if she was afraid to get a shot, and she laughed and said "No...they just tickle!" Once the doctor showed up, she wanted to sit up on the table by herself and she did everything the doctor asked. What a champ! So, end of the story, she has an ear infection and her ear drum ruptured, probably yesterday. But a few drugs should take care of that in no time. In the meantime, I'm just waiting for her next checkup, to see if those shots really are just going to tickle.

Mac and Peas, and Other Craziness

Olivia is obsessed with mac and cheese. She requests it for just about every meal possible. I gave in this morning at breakfast and let her have some that was left over from the day before. Now she wants it for dinner. We had a little talk this afternoon during our drive home from picking up fish to replace the ones that Tim killed. The talk was about how you should do everything in moderation. I'm not sure she is sure she knows what that means. I explained that maybe we should back down to mac and cheese only 2 or 3 times per week, and maybe I'd let her have it more often if I could add some peas in with the mac and not have to listen to her whine about not liking it. She chattered away saying, "ok, ok, I like peas, yummm peas, peas, peas, mac and peas, mac and peas." We'll see just how much she likes this new mac and peas....

Now onto other craziness.

Friday night we were driving home from a nice dinner with our friends, the Tepens. Olivia was chattering away in the back seat. She does that a lot while we are driving...I think it is her thinking chair. So all of the sudden she asks, "Do you know what a portura is?" Of course no one does, I thought it might be something she learned in Spanish class, so she goes on to say "It's when you do this and then take it like that, and then that, and that is a portura." The whole time she is talking she is making all these hand gestures like they are going to clear up any confusion about what a 'portura' is. After that she asks if we know what a 'cortura' is...same explanation and hand gestures. I whisper to Tim, "I think I have a new blog, and it's going to be called "She's crazy". Then we hear Olivia whisper back, "Hey, I'm not crazy." You gotta love her!

It's snowing like crazy here. I starting to think that tomorrow will be the first snow day of the year!