Family vacation: a mammoth adventure

We made it to Mammoth Cave! If
only Matt had been in the photo!

Family vacation time! We embarked with high hopes bent on relaxing hours spent at the indoor waterpark in the hotel we'd booked, cable TV in the room, delicious cooked-for-us-and-cleaned-up-afterward restaurant food and a little exploring, too. Not to mention a lot of fun as a family. The girls were excited: "It's so boring being stuck at home and not on vacation," -Kalina. "I will bring my ponies!" -Elise.

Matt and I were excited, too, but also worried about the snowy weather that could turn our vacation into a staycation. I explained to the girls our predicament, and Kalina responded with a good attitude that she showed time and again during the trip (which worked out despite the snow). I spent the day before running around like a crazy person packing, not having done anything ahead of time in fear of having to undo it later. By the end, I was unable to form complete sentences, but I had, indeed, included every single thing we could possibly need, with the possible exception of extra extra diapers for our long-time potty trained second child. It was all to come in handy, as would've the diapers. It took Matt all of 10 minutes to pack up his own suitcase. At least it was one less I had to pack?

Elise, on the other hand, spent the day regressing in her potty training, which for the past few months she'd negotiated nearly flawlessly. She must be learning some big new skill, like hopping on one foot (which she desperately wants to do), or figuring out new uses for her favorite word, poop.

There's something about actually getting on the road that makes me breathe a sigh of relief--if we've forgotten something, there's no longer anything I can do. It's a freeing feeling. Unless, of course, I really should've packed more diapers, which becomes readily apparent within the first hour or so as Elise's exclamation of, "I have to go potty!" quickly turned into, "I went potty!" when we couldn't find an exit off the interstate in the next 30 seconds. Fortunately, the carseat makers' crash-test dummies must come equipped with full bladders, as they nicely include a little extra, removable, washable padding, so we still had a shot at a pleasant ride. Elise went into a swim diaper (which I actually had included more than enough of), and stayed in one for any ride of any duration the rest of the trip. Which frustrated me no end, as Matt has never believed me that she's potty trained, and now never will. We both cringed the rest of the trip whenever Elise started any sentence with, "I have to...," which she did a lot, especially while on the interstate. ("I have to...put my ponies in this cup." "I have to...find my orange ball." Heart starts beating again.)

I'd stocked up on a few new trip toys, including lap trays! Kalina was off to the races making her own sticker storybook in a spiral-bound notepad. Elise, who soon rejected the toys and hardly said a word despite having a captive audience, happily cuddled her soft blankie and an orange sparkly ball we'd resurrected in time for the trip. Periodically, someone would drop something and if I contorted myself enough, I would be able to pick it up. Which is a small price to pay for happiness, however, as the kids moved slowly and a bit begrudgingly from the, "I must be entertained!" mindset into the, "Hmmm, that's a rather interesting dot on the ceiling," mindset that's so necessary for travel. And we were well on our way!

The tiny plastic figures lined
up, including some brought
from home. 

Halfway in, I unleashed the, "This is as good as it gets, girls!" trip toy, which was, honestly, about as good as it gets if you're a kid. I'd found some "busy books" that contained a book, some plastic characters and a playmat (for the hotel). Elise was delighted to add seven new plastic ponies to her collection (her best friends lately have been plastic ponies), and Kalina was thrilled to be introduced to Strawberry Shortcake and friends. Although the toys were easily dropped, the play value turned out to be astounding.

Finally, we arrived at our hotel in Kentucky! It had a small indoor waterpark, and a tiny room for us, but we soon made it our home (read: spread our stuff everywhere). The girls played with Strawberry Shortcake and ponies while we unpacked. Elise picked up right where she'd left off from home: filling a cup with water and giving everyone baths. In fact, they were having so much fun that I wasn't sure we'd go swimming at all. ("Would you rather go to the pool, or just play in the hotel room until bedtime?" I tried to say without any emotion in my voice.)

You don't get any readier to
swim than this!

Soon enough, we were in the pool, which was really perfect for us, and made better by the fact that the girls could have small floaties, and Elise could bring her favorite orange ball. The only reason we ever went back to our room was because the water was just a bit chilly. Kalina figured out the joy of floating, and Elise seemed to run buoyancy experiments on her orange ball, or gave it rides in her turtle floaty. A few similarly aged boys noticed how much fun she was having and tried everything short of grabbing the ball to get my girls to play with them (or, specifically, to gain control of the ball). Seeing as the boys were well-behaved, I watched to see what would happen. Elise held on fiercely, having been prejudiced towards boys by her older sister and actually worried earlier about what would happen if another kid tried to take her ball. While she had previously convinced herself that a "big-girl baby" (what's that?) would return the ball, she knew in her heart that a boy might not. Kalina simply payed them little attention. I felt a little bad for the boys and tried to give them an apologetic look.

For supper, we decided to try the hotel restaurant. "Restaurant." More of a poolside snack bar, it at least offered pizza and chicken nuggets. "Chicken" nuggets. We dug in. And regretted it. At $1 per nugget, the chicken was crunchy (in a very, very bad way) and the pizza could be topped by a Tombstone frozen original (but not by Imo's, we both decided). At least the kids hardly knew the difference, except when they couldn't chew the chicken, and we managed to fill our tummies before heading upstairs to gorge on the dried apricots I'd brought and slowly wind down for bed.

Elise is always excited about her pack-and-play, for some reason, and I'll hate to break the news to her soon that she's almost outgrown it. Sometimes, in fact, she's a little too excited. She loves the way her feet can push against the soft sides, and make swishy noises. For an hour. While we're all trying to sleep. It sounds as though she's trying to dig her way out, or perhaps fly, and occasionally she whispers (so as not to wake the rest of us up, I assume) to her animals, too.

2-year-old + Turtle = Happy

Matt and maybe Kalina were able to get to sleep, but I couldn't dream of dozing while one of my children is awake (no matter how hard I try sometimes). Instead, I worry and send sleep vibes in their direction. This is something I've been doing since Kalina was a newborn, and it works about as well as you'd figure--but I have to do something.

And actually, shortly after I sent a couple concentrated blasts of sleep vibes in Elise's direction, the swishing finally stopped and her breathing became steady and even (all within about three minutes). And finally I could sleep!

I was awakened about 45 minutes later by another hotel patron cussing loudly at someone outside my door. Three times. Had he woken up my two young children and taught them a new word, he would've faced fierce, growly Mama Bear, but fortunately for him, I was the only one who heard him before he moved on. Three and a half hours later, give or take, I was asleep again.

Kalina loved riding on top
of her monkey!

In the morning, it didn't take much to excite the girls for breakfast and another swim. Much to their delight, Kalina and Elise got to indulge in their first-ever bowl of Fruit Loops (or, as Elise called them, Rainbow Cheerios--not to be confused with the slightly healthier Fruity Cheerios, which don't taste quite as good as the real thing if you're a kid) and some yogurt. Then we put on our swimsuits and headed down to a near-empty pool for another nice swim. Two things happened: the boys were back, and my girls learned how to splash. Matt and I made sure to splash back, friendly but serious, so they quickly learned the consequences of splashing another person. Fortunately, the girls never splashed the boys, or vice versa, so we all played peaceably. Also, Kalina ventured down the kiddie water slide on my lap, me holding her above the water when we hit it so that only I would be dunked (yay.). As you'd figure, she thoroughly enjoyed her ride. I volunteered Daddy for the next one. Matt also tried a slide, and managed to find a way to shoot out of it like a torpedo, dousing everyone on deck but garnering belly laughs from his three girls.

After the swim, the bathtub was almost as exciting, as the kids could play with their tiny plastic figures and the occasional hotel cup or two. We let them play--we were in no hurry. Then, it wouldn't be vacation without a stop at McDonald's, and finally we were on our way for the meat of our visit, a tour of Mammoth Cave! We were on the road an hour early--after all, we wanted to explore the park a bit before taking the tour. And then we realized were were actually on the road two hours early, as the cave was in a different time zone. Hooray! Free time!

We would have to drive for nearly an hour and a half to get there, but the girls were seasoned travelers by now. Nevertheless, I didn't know what our supper options would be, so I packed plenty of snacks even while rejecting the DVD player. The girls packed along their tiny plastic figures.

About 30 minutes down the road, we puzzled over a road sign that quietly warned us of an accident and mildly suggested we exit in about five miles. One mile later, we passed a different exit, and several hundred feet after that, we were brought to a standstill. Thankfully, Elise had fallen asleep only minutes ago, as she wouldn't have done while we were stopped, so we whispered back and forth about the implications of a possible interstate closing, and how it's a good thing we'd left early. And how we were sure they'd get it cleaned up soon.

We watched the minutes tick by as Elise woke up from a good nap, as we channeled both to the potty chair in the back of the station wagon as needed (what would we have done without it?!?), half-heartedly entertained the kids, who were actually doing a better job than I was, at least, of patiently staring at nothing out the window, and managing our disappointment while shifting plans, just in case we didn't make it. We didn't make it.

By the time we'd been on the interstate for 4 hours, we'd totaled 10ish hours of preparation, plus 10 hours of driving, and had spent almost 2 1/2 in the pool. Do the math, and it doesn't come out in our favor, other than the fact that the kids were actually quite happy. When we broke the news that we'd neither be going to Mammoth Cave that day, nor Dinosaur World (a place I'd mentioned weeks earlier and that Elise had her heart set on, but was really just not practical to visit in the freezing weather), Kalina's reaction was simply a cheerful, "That's okay! We'll just go back to the hotel!" Elise, however, insisted that if she couldn't go to Dinosaur World, she just wanted to go home. Eventually we will have to get her there.

We'd driven for 30 minutes, sat and creeped for 3 1/2 hours, and then we were finally on our way back to our hotel--another 30+ minutes. By the time we arrived, it was time for supper. Despite a few hilarious jokes about revisiting the hotel restaurant, we decided that only comfort food would fit the bill and stopped at Cracker Barrel. The girls sat nicely in their seats and cheered for applesauce. Simple pleasures--but I'm continually amazed at their forbearance, which is officially better than mine. I now realize that I was the whiny 2-year-old on the trip, not Elise. In truth, it kind of felt good.

After a brief swim, it was lights out again, and we all slept better except, potentially, Kalina who woke up smiling but presumably disoriented around midnight (I dashed to her side and redirected her head toward the pillow, and all was good).

We woke the kids up bright and early so we could, again, try to visit Mammoth Cave! They were game, especially after another bowl of Fruit Loops. We cautiously ventured out onto the interstate, and were amazed to find that the ground it took us 3 1/2 hours to cover the previous day simply whizzed by in two minutes or less, while the girls dropped toys and, in Kalina's case, reread her sticker book, which she'd turned into a cute little story that she made up. Nevertheless, neither of us rested easy until we were sitting in the Mammoth Cave Parking lot, about 20 minutes before the building opened.

Once inside, Daddy and Kalina enjoyed the museum while Mommy and Elise spent some quality time in the restroom--or rather, running back to the car to get the potty seat because we're now apparently afraid of falling in, or something. When will potty ever not be a massive undertaking? Apparently, not for a while.

We'd prepared the kids for the darkness of the cave, for stalactites and stalagmites, and for the excitement of being underground. Neither claimed to be more than a little nervous. We forgot, however, to prepare Kalina for the bus ride to and from the entrance. She said she was scared of the bumps, but really, I think it was the fact that we were careening around curves with a higher than normal center of gravity. Elise enjoyed it; Kalina insisted on being clutched tightly by me the whole way, and breathed a huge sigh of relief when she was able to plant her feet on firm ground again.

And into the cave we went! Although this particular cave tour was a bit narrower, darker and more slippery than I remembered it, no one got scared! And it was really cool, with plenty of stalactites, stalagmites and other formations. In fact, I was so excited to take pictures that I dropped my camera! And broke it. Without snapping a single photo of the cave's interior.

I swallowed my disappointment, and tightly held onto one child's hand or the other throughout our short tour. Kalina walked along nicely, even paying attention to the tour guide at times. Elise took the opportunity of constant hand-holding, which she wasn't too thrilled about, to alternately try to hang from our hands through the cave, and slip away so she could touch things she undoubtedly wasn't supposed to. Both navigated amazingly well, however, considering their ages.

We found a pink formation and a purple formation, watched drips of water splashing down and spotted cave crickets and spiders. Kalina took an extra 49 narrow, slippery steps with Daddy to see even more, while Elise and I decided to wait safely at the top (mostly, neither of us wanted to manage a squirmy toddler down the steps--maybe in a couple years). It was the perfect length of tour for the kids--and enough to leave Matt and I hungry for more another time. Kalina's favorite part was the stalactites and stalagmites, while Elise's was the dripping water.

Back at the surface, we headed to the gift shop for postcards. Kalina enthusiastically tried to get one of each, while Elise immediately donned four rubber bracelets. We soon distracted them by allowing them to each pick out one small souvenir--and they both convinced us to let them get a souvenir for a friend, too (how could we argue with that?). Elise quickly settled on a shiny purple ball for herself and a blue bracelet for a friend. Kalina filled a tiny bag with polished stones for friends, and then could not for the life of her decide what she wanted! She surprised us all by bypassing the stuffed animals and opting for two small turtles carved out of stone.

After making a few sandwiches, we hopped back into the car for the trek home--now with even more small objects to lose in the car! I still didn't mind, though. By now, the kids were so accustomed to riding patiently that we probably could've driven straight through to Alaska, but we'll save that for another time.

The ride home was uneventful and hardly whiny at all, especially considering Elise did not nap, except when the girls realized that vacation was basically over. They have settled back in nicely, however, and happily played with tiny plastic figures much of the first day home while I unpacked. And while we might not be returning to Kentucky anytime in the near future, we will certainly be vacationing again!

What do we do with winter?

Although Elise doesn't like
cold weather, she sure does
look cute prepared for it!
And she knows it.

Before I had kids, I loved winter. The fresh, deep snow, mugs of hot chocolate, cozy indoor activities and an excuse to more or less hibernate. Plus, the memories of giant snow tunnels, sledding and snowmen of childhood--what a season!

Loving winter, as Matt often reminds me, is not to be confused with loving going out into it as an adult. Sometimes I do--don't get me wrong--but the refrigerated sections of the grocery store can give me enough of a chill to send me as quickly into the canned goods aisle as possible, so you can imagine what actual sub-freezing temperatures do to me.

Now that I have kids, and young, easily chilled, whiny ones at that (hmm, do you think they take after their mother?), winter is no longer the wonderland it used to be. Instead, we need strategies to manage winter. Otherwise, we all end up stir-crazy and not very nice to each other.

Winter always starts off well enough: we have Christmas to kick it off. Besides, we've spent Fall playing outside in the beautiful weather, and are ready to hole up and bake something. But then there's January, and February, and occasionally even March.

What to do? Don't let boredom get the best of you! There's plenty of fun to be had indoors! Or so the magazines tell me.

Kalina cut out paper heart valentines
for all of the princesses in the house!
And their horses, ponies, prince, etc.

Crafts will keep away the winter blues! Pinterest practically shouts at me: You should be making snowflakes out of melted crayons! And snowmen out of old socks! Haven't you made play snow yet?!? The possibilities are endless, but the energy and supplies are not. 

But sometimes we get brave and we do attempt something more than coloring, or painting or stamps. It goes like this:

Finding a project that doesn't require a trip to the store, let alone expensive, hard-to-find materials, and that doesn't require 8-year-old skills: 30 minutes.

Gathering materials: 15 minutes.

Prepping project: 5-20 minutes.

Helping both kids do the project at the same time: 15 minutes working at a frantic pace as glue gets waved in my face, scissors get misused by the 2-year-old and components nearly get smashed, even while they're begging me to "Help me put this on!" or "Oops, I messed it up, waaaahhhh, Mommy fix it!" and the like.

Cleanup: 20 minutes.

Now the kids have the rest of the afternoon to fight/play/fight while I try to catch my breath for a minute before starting dinner.

And believe me, the final product is nowhere near Pinterest-worthy. But, in my defense, those kids are probably all spoiled.

I'm not, actually, a craft hater--I rather enjoy them--but I think an "I'll grab this, and this, and this" 2-year-old and an "I want mine to be as perfect as yours, Mommy, so can you just do it for me?" 4-year-old can make any craft more chore than charming.

And yet, the amazing thing is, sometimes we do crafts. 

Elise had been dreaming of this
cupcake all day, and nearly
exploded from anticipation. The
girls helped me bake, but not
frost. I am only human.

Baking. When Kalina was 2 or 3 and Elise didn't yet know how to say, "Let me help!," Kalina and I did a lot of baking. That winter, we each probably put on five pounds, because even homemade granola bars add up. Then, Elise started helping and the pressure of having a kid on each side of me, somewhat precariously balanced on a stool or chair, fighting over raw eggs and full bottles of oil seemed to ruin my appetite for oat muffins. Now, baking is a pretty special treat--as it should be.

Other moms make sure every snack his balanced and in the shape of an animal or smiley face. Those kids, too, are spoiled.

And yet, the amazing thing is, sometimes we bake. 

Our Valentine's party! 

Celebrate the mediocre, because at least then you're smiling. Groundhog Day has never been bigger than in the houses of preschoolers. In all fairness, sometimes it's hard to get them to care, despite the fact that kids will generally celebrate anything. "Why does the groundhog come out?" "How does it know what the weather will be?" "So if it sees its shadow, that means more winter? Or spring?" These are all legitimate questions. And while Mommy is about ready for either a really good snow or spring, the kids don't seem to care as much. But that's all we've got until mid-February, when it's finally Valentine's Day, an entirely Hallmark-created holiday (and so far, Hallmark has barely touched Groundhog Day, with good reason. Because what do you put on the card? "Hope it's spring for you soon?"). We go all out for Valentine's Day, because it's bright and cheery--everything we need. Kalina has cut out about four dozen hearts (which means I've drawn about six dozen as Kalina improves her scissor skills--which I'm very proud of her for, by the way), and stuck jewels and stickers on a dozen more. Elise has glue-sticked her way through quite a few herself (it's her favorite writing utensil). Look, we're doing crafts! Heart crafts are about the easiest, so we do a lot of them. Then, for lack of anything better to do, we plan a Valentine's Day party. And look, we're all smiling! Love is in the freezing cold air.

With cousins Hailey and Teagan!
Since Teagan kept escaping unless
she was held, Kalina and Elise
decided that Elise needed to be
held, too.

Getting energy out. Elise already knows the meaning of this phrase. In fact, sometimes she'll run circles on the rug, telling onlookers that she's "getting her energy out." If my poor toddler has to run circles on the rug, however, it's a sign we need to go to a park! Except, usually, it's too cold for any of us to tolerate that for more than 10 minutes, and that's not worth the fight to get everyone's shoes and coats and hats on. So we go other places, but there's nothing like the park--either running is barely tolerated (although I think even the harshest employees know that it is, in fact, winter) or a hundred other moms had the same idea, which means there are two hundred other children competing with yours for floor space.

And yet, the amazing thing is, sometimes we go out anyway and temporarily remove a portion of the pent-up energy. 

Why not just go outside? And why not, really? It might be cold, but it also might be fun. Especially in St. Louis, where the temperature sometimes gets above 40! In all fairness, it also has gotten up to 60 once or twice, at which point we borrow any necessary groceries from the neighbors so we can play outside instead of spend a sunny afternoon at the store. These are the good days, because the neighbor kids are out too and all of a sudden Mommy is not the most popular playmate. On the 40-degree days, if it's sunny, we still might try to play outside in the afternoon, but it's a forced play. Elise is usually ready to head inside within 10 seconds (yet refuses all offers of mittens). Kalina does seem to have fun, and sometimes they even have a little fun on their own so I can sit on a short, cold cement step and watch them and shiver and dream of the day, kind of, when I'll be inside folding laundry while they're outside. Not that I don't like the outdoors, and all the whimsical good-mommy things we can do out there, but we've done all of them already and my motivation to be outside is too weak to do anything but grin and bear it. Creativity will wait for warmer temperatures.

And I agree that we're rather weak when it comes to temperatures, by the way. I blame it entirely on North Carolina. And yet, sometimes we play outside anyway.

Of course, snow is a special case. I've noticed that for the most part, it snows on weekends and holidays when Daddy's around. I'm not sure to what I owe this phenomenon, but I appreciate it, because Daddy likes the outdoors even more than the girls do, so I don't feel too bad sending the three musketeers out together and sitting inside with a mug of hot chocolate, or even a pile of laundry, I don't really care, because I'm warm and the kids are getting lots of good-quality outdoor play. Plus, Daddy is MUCH more fun than Mommy outside, trust me. 

Who wants to watch TV? The real question is, who wants to watch it more than Mommy does? No one! Nevertheless, while other good parents allow as much as 1-2 hours a day, I feel guilty if mine see that in a week. Even in the winter. Because they should be outside, or doing crafts, or getting their energy out! But sometimes I relax my standards and we turn on the tube. I'm just grateful they both enjoy it, because when we're all cranky with each other after the little one hasn't napped the past six days, and yet no one would ever consider willingly playing alone in their room because that would mean being out of sight, hearing and grabbing distance of Mommy, we just need to tune each other out for a bit. 

Hot chocolate, anyone? And of course, there's hot chocolate. Hot chocolate that's always a little too hot if it's a degree over lukewarm, so I end up blowing on theirs while mine cools down to a not-so-cozy room temperature. Not that I serve it to them as anything more than medium-warm, I just harbor a strange notion that hot chocolate should, actually, be a bit warmer than slightly chilled (or, in my case, nearly boiling). It must just be me. They've also discovered that marshmallows often go with hot chocolate, so it's no longer a nearly innocent treat (the way I make it involves only a spoonful of sugar for several servings). It always gets dripped on clothes, tablecloth, floors, you name it, finding its way even out of a sippy cup.

And yet, sometimes we have hot chocolate anyway.

No, not everything about winter is miserable. Nevertheless, I think we'll all welcome Spring with open arms. 

Expressly Elise

At the zoo with a friend!

One of my favorite expression to cross Elise's face is of complete involvement. To anyone else, it might be seen as merely neutral; however, this look is anything but. To me, it means she's engrossed and absorbed by the exciting activity of the moment--it's the only thing she wants to be doing right now. Yet she's patient--if the task includes gathering supplies and other preparation, she'll happily pitch in. To exclude her for any reason after she's mentally on board would be cruel, eliciting shrieks of injustice that could probably be heard next door. It's the expectation of participation, which seems to be Elise's life philosophy.

In fact, there's little Elise won't do (as long as it's not scary, like walking across a sewer grate, or a boring chore, like cleaning up her room). She joyfully insists on helping me scrub the bathrooms ("help"), stain stick laundry or rake leaves. There's no keeping her away from the kitchen while I make dinner, and she's always more than willing to pick people up from the airport, in her own purple car that she must drive in her dreams. Passive observer she is not.

And there's no getting past her, either, whether I'm sneakily trying (and failing) to make waffles all by myself for dinner after a long day (because sometimes you just don't want "help"), or have a chocolate. Elise takes notice, and then takes part.

Sometimes I try to talk her out of it. "You can't do the stain spray because it has chemicals in it that could hurt you." I inform the girl. "I will be super careful!" she counters (and I know it's actually true). "But sometimes we all have accidents," I reply. "I promise," she returns. She always knows all the right things to say, and I do think my refusal would come back to haunt me when I'm begging for my kids' help as teenagers, so we end up with an awkward arrangement in which I carefully set her up with the spray pointed away from her face (she gets it wrong every time on her own), and hyper-vigilantly let her help treat a few grape jam spots.

And there's nothing she considers beneath or beyond her, either.
Kalina, when Daddy and Grandpa are working to fix my tire (that has a rock embedded in it): Good thing there are boys! And good thing there are girls.
Me: Girls can change tires too, you know. Would you ever like to learn how to change a tire?
Kalina: No. (Girl after my own heart.)
Elise, smiling enthusiastically: I will! I will change a tire!
This goes for pretty much anything, up to and including being turned into a gopher (we have a thing about gophers these days, for no apparent reason) or exploring a sewer (we've always had a thing about sewers--when will it stop?!?), or learning to tie her shoes (which she hasn't, nor could she yet, but she's more than willing to give it a shot).

Today, we're all about glue sticks and holding pet mice--but what about tomorrow? I only hope Elise's enthusiasm extends to everything good and useful and nothing like cliff diving or lion taming. Fortunately, even then I'll have a trick up my sleeve. If I tell her she's required to go swimming with sharks, chances are, she'll stop before she even started.

Kalina Ballerina

I'll add a ballet picture when
I get one--my camera was
out of batteries! Until then,
here's our snow fun!

When Kalina began to dance, around the time she learned to walk, it was never the bopping up and down typical toddler dance. It was a somewhat graceful, side to side, back and forth shoulders type of thing. Her very own style.

As time went by, her dancing began to resemble ballet, with an uncanny ability to move with the music, and even keep a sense of rhythm. Much of the time, anyway (silly dancing also came into vogue). Seeing the Nutcracker inspired her further. And we always knew that sometime, she'd really have to take ballet lessons.

What better time than January? We signed up at a local dance studio, bought the necessary attire, convinced Kalina that she could neither eat nor sleep in the necessary attire, and attended the first lesson. I was able to sit in, but only because it's the first class of the month.

From my perspective, there's hardly anything cuter than watching a class of little girls attempt ballet. They were precious. At least mine was, and in the half-dozen times I was able to tear my eyes away from Kalina, I noticed that the others were pretty adorable as well. The mom next to me and I spent lots of the time giggling at the little sweeties--sometimes I wonder how the teacher was able to keep her composure.

From Kalina's perspective, it was a bit of a wonderland. They began by sitting in a circle and telling each other their names (Kalina wasn't the only new girl in the class), their ages and their favorite Disney princess. I secretly patted myself on the back that I'd actually introduced Kalina to the princesses in the past year, so she was able to answer Snow White. (Really, though, I think it's Cinderella, which is also the only movie she's seen.) A brief introduction to preschool girl pop culture paid off.

While the girls did learn a couple French ballet terms, much of the terminology was in Princess, probably to help motivate any girl who wasn't 100% on board. Therefore, their right foot was called their "pink skate" while the left was their "purple skate." A specific arm position was called a basket, and each girl got to tell the teacher what was in her basket (Kalina was not the only girl with kittens in hers--she's in good company). They pretended to be rocketships and elevators (okay, not so princessy, but that's fine--it was going a bit overboard), and could make their legs look like "pink diamonds." They also occasionally sprinkled fairy dust. Truthfully, it was a bit over the top for me, and possibly for Kalina, but the teacher was having fun.

The focus was on fun, but I was also amazed at the regard for rules and general intensity of the class. Even the "rest" time was spent pretending to be various animals. The kids were kept moving, and I think it's only their boundless energy that allowed them to keep up--I wouldn't have done so well. I wonder if one reason was that kids who are busy trying to figure out how to make their arms into "baskets" and "lace up their skates" might be less apt to try to hang from the barre, or tip it over. One girl, at least, looked fully capable.

Kalina smiled the whole time, although I think part of that was because twice during the class the teacher told them to smile and pretended to take their picture. I think Kalina thought they were supposed to keep smiling, which is also the reason she kept her hands in a "basket" for a good three minutes longer than anyone else. That awkward moment when you need to be told, "You can stop doing that now!" Like when your kid uses a sippy cup far longer than anyone else, or you're still cutting Cheerios in half at the ripe old age of 1.

Our little ballerina was pretty tuckered out after her lesson, but managed quite a few enthusiastic smiles while chatting with her teacher afterward. She then refused to change out of her ballet outfit until snacktime, when she had to choose between the two (and snacktime won). Is that the mark of a dedicated ballerina? I'm glad she still opted for a snack!

Christmas has come!

God is with us! Time to celebrate Christmas! And this year, we've had lots of helpers. Grandpa Les, Grandma, Aunt Laura, Uncle Chris and Uncle Brian arrived a few days before the holiday to begin the festivities.

We all approached the gathering apprehensively after last year's fiasco. What's more, snow was expected on arrival day! Would everyone make it in? Would we all acquire a nasty stomach virus? Yes, and no! What a perfect combination for Christmas joy! Now we could really have a good time.




We did a lot and a little: there was plenty of time for low-key crafts with Aunt Laura and Grandma, stories, feasting and general playtime. The girls all made it to a magical kids' museum, where the little ones played vet clinic for 30-45 minutes at a time, crafted to their hearts' content, pretend grocery shopped, and much more.

The near-constant attention, plentiful treats and little presents spoiled the girls quite handily, but they loved every minute. Rumor has it, they even managed to get Uncle Brian and Uncle Chris to play princesses with them. Elise amazed everyone with her newfound abilities to carry on extensive conversations, and Kalina wowed Grandma, Grandpa Les and Uncle Brian with a mini ballet recital when they first arrived (she'll be beginning lessons in January!), in addition to other skills they'd improved upon since last year.


We also decorated a gingerbread house, which will probably become a yearly tradition as the kit made it incredibly simple. Despite Mommy's stinginess on how much candy could be consumed versus added to the house (after all, she had noticed, behavior does not improve with the addition of sugar!), the kids had a great time, and the structure is relatively covered with carefully placed candy and frosting.

As our guests were leaving Christmas Eve, our "Christmas" was the Saturday prior. Although the girls were a bit confused as to why Santa Claus hadn't arrived yet, they consented to go ahead and open some presents. They loved the craft supplies, soft penguin ornaments and everything else, but the Play-Doh princess castles produced the most obvious amount of sheer joy. We got started on them right away, the perfect distraction away from the giant Christmas dinner in the works. Uncle Chris and Uncle Brian get gold stars for hanging in there with all the pink and purple.


That evening, we all went to see the lights at the zoo "Bootiful! Let's run!" was Elise's constant exclamation through the magical displays. We saw penguins and bugs in addition to the lights, and by then most of us were cold enough (or winded enough) to call it a night.








Our guests returned to their homes on Christmas Eve, a sad change of tidings especially for the two little girls. But as we could affirm that another important "guest," by the name of Santa Claus, would be visiting that night, they cheered up well enough.

We donned the Christmas dresses (which got a surprising amount of use this season!) for Christmas Eve church, where the kids surprised us by preferring to stay in childcare rather than come with us to church (which they'd done for Sunday church, too!). I was a bit disappointed, actually, but the service was lovely, and even more lovely was picking up two smiling girls afterward.

We couldn't resist looking at more Christmas lights on the way home, nor could we resist letting the kids each open one present, the one from each other. It was Kalina's suggestion, a couple weeks ago. "Elise can open her present from me when she gets up from her nap!" I managed to hold her off until Christmas Eve, but soon Elise was the proud owner of the purple bear she'd been eyeing in the grocery store (and making up stories about!) and Kalina was hugging a giant Hello Kitty, a re-gift, actually, from my childhood.

After a quick supper, we read Christmas stories by the fireplace, left a cookie and carrots out for Santa, scattered "reindeer food" on the lawn and tucked into bed.

Santa must have made his appearance, because the next morning, the cookie was reduced to crumbs and the stockings were bulging. The kids dug in, and the intensive sharing negotiations began.


Too much activity, too much sugar and too little sleep made for two, um, somewhat Scroogey girls, but we still had a wondrous Christmas day. We took our time with gifts, opening and playing with them before moving onto the next. Elise insisted on donning anything wearable (see picture).





Highlights included Daddy's Junior Explorer kit (complete with hats, magnifying glasses, and bug-finding paraphernalia), fairy costumes and princess castle playsets. A little from each world, I suppose.






Due to the current moods, we decided that naptime/downtime was non-negotiable and waited until afterward to go to Grandpa's house. Uncle Tom was waiting for us there, and Aunt Nancy and her dogs appeared via computer, so we managed to assemble the whole family. Kalina and Elise were tickled at seeing the presents we'd mailed to the dogs being torn open, and I believe the feeling was mutual as the girls dug into their gifts.


The onset of evening was met with tears, as first Kalina, and then Elise, and nearly Mommy, bemoaned the fact that Christmas was on its way out. Although I insisted that with more family on the way and lots more treats and celebrating, it's really only just begun, I knew how they felt. We love Christmas. Make it stay! Or at least come again next year.







Fortunately, more fun was planned! We enjoyed low-key playtime with Uncle Tom and Grandpa, and a trip to the Botanical Garden. Then, Uncle David and Aunt Debbie arrived, and soon we were in full-out celebrating mode again. We enjoyed a cocoa and animal cookie party with Aunt Debbie, and, what's more, it snowed: the girls frolicked in the backyard for at least an hour Saturday morning.



The highlight of their visit had to be the fireworks. Since I'm not crazy, I haven't allowed the girls stay up until 10:00 to see fireworks on the 4th of July (because it would, actually, mean staying up until 11:00 or 11:30). But I would happily ferry them to see a display at 6:30, despite the chilly temperatures! We even had pizza beforehand.

Elise was a bit nervous about fireworks, but after seeing a few purple ones, felt more comfortable. And  then ecstatic. "Boom!" she yelled whenever a firework exploded above our heads. Kalina was excited the whole time. At first she could only stare, with a huge grin on her face. Soon, however, she got the idea that she could make requests. "A pink one, please!" she'd call out. Sure enough, we'd eventually see a pink one. "A purple one for Elise!" she'd call out again. It was magical on so many levels.

And now, the celebrating is over and we're trying our hardest to find things to look forward to in the new year. Fortunately, among our resolutions are: ice skating, ballet lessons (and possibly some more Gymboree for Elise), at least one trip to return our guests' visits, a Valentine's Day party of sorts and much more. In addition, Elise has resolved to no longer hit her sister.

Merry Christmas, happy New Year!

Christmas is coming!

Only took 6 tries!

When you're 2 and 4, there's certainly nothing much more fun than Christmas in your near future. Elise has equated the season with "TREATS!" and Kalina has equated it with Rudolph. And they both frequently ascertain that guests, are, indeed coming to help celebrate.

While we wait both for the birth of Jesus and the arrival of such heroes as Grandma and Uncle Tom, we've been passing the time with plenty of seasonal delights.

The perfect tree! After we
cut about a foot off the
bottom. But now it's
perfect!

We kicked off our advent with the purchase of a Christmas tree. The girls patiently helped us pick out the most perfect white pine at the farmer's market (out of about eight, total, but it took a lot of deliberating!). We then decorated our house inside and out. Elise was more excited about Christmas lights than anything else, but Kalina was a real helper this year ornamenting the Christmas tree. While it's still a good thing that most of our ornaments are unbreakable, she very delicately found nice spots for quite a few ornaments while her sister enthusiastically "helped," too.

So excited were we about our, and the neighbors', Christmas lights that we headed out to search for more. I'm not sure I've seen Elise more ecstatic. "I SEE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS! LOOK, KALINA! LOOK DADDY! DID YOU SEE THE LIGHTS, DADDY?" Behold the wonder of Christmas. In fact, we had so much fun we went out a couple times.

The magic of Christmas.

We've been equally enthusiastic about all the Christmas baking and making. Christmas cookies, with its trifecta of challenges--the mixing, the cutting and the decorating--were a huge success, both in the amount of fun they were to make and in the enjoyment afterward. I will say that they nearly baked Mommy's nerves, though. A grabby 2-year-old wielding a rolling pin is not, in fact, conducive to producing recognizable cookies, let along pieces larger than 1 inch. Is it possibly for a mommy to be cranky and jolly at the same time? I did my best. The cookies survived the ordeal, however, and were decorated rather charmingly. We also made fudge and, after a weeklong hiatus due to illness, white-chocolate-covered pretzels. We've ramped up the crafts in a big way, too, as a way to keep little hands busy while stuck at home with colds (and in lieu of baking, so as not to get anyone else sick).

I like the juxtaposition of Elise's
intensity with Kalina's goofiness!

Like last year, Kalina attended the Nutcracker! Unlike last year, Mommy got to come too! We dressed alike to celebrate the occasion. Kalina was quiet, but entranced, and seemed to appreciate my whispered explanations of, "That's the nutcracker!" and, "Those are the candy cane dancers!" She returned home with an even bigger desire to take ballet lessons.

The biggest surprise of the holiday was the enthusiasm that the idea of visiting Santa was met with. For the first time in our history, we actually approached jolly old St. Nick instead of waving (or hiding) in the background. Fortunately, based on the general optimism, I was prepared. The girls were (very happily, I might add) decked out in Christmas dresses, and on the way we discussed such questions as, "Where will Santa's sleigh be?", "What do you want for Christmas?" and, from Elise, "What do Christmas lights like to do?"

As yummy as they were
pretty!

Santa has been quite the celebrity this year at our house, and he certainly lived up to his reputation. I expected a rushed, "What do you want for Christmas? Have you been good? Now smile for the picture!" but instead, we discussed the particular snacks Santa would like as he makes his run (Oatmeal raisin cookies, plus three carrots for the reindeer! And a glass of milk since he'll be at our house early on, whereas in the later hours he takes coffee!), and Mitch, his head elf, who will check inventory for the girls' wishes of two pink kittens and a purple Christmas tree (guess which is which!). He truly is a jolly old elf.

We did buy the pictures. Every kid needs a picture of themselves with Santa, preferably not in tears. Elise, unfortunately, forgot to ask her question (and Mommy had no idea it would be important!), so we may have to write an addendum to her letter to Santa.

Sprinkles are the best
things ever.

Which she received a reply from yesterday in the mail, as did Kalina! Much to the girls' delight, "Santa" wrote about his pets, and the myriad stocking stuffers he has ready for them.

Ready for the Nutcracker!

The girls have also been taking much delight in playing Santa (or elves) themselves, although both have started to realize that if you give something away, you don't have it any more. Nevertheless, the Christmas spirit has prevailed, and, as Kalina herself put it, we're excited to let other people "open some joy" this Christmas.

Kalina can tell you the Christmas story, 4-year-old style, and even Elise knows that the baby in question is Jesus. The nativity scene is often a matter of great debate--not so much about whether or not the wise men would've actually visited Jesus in the stable (not likely!), but about who gets which cat, and whether the dog can come into the crib or not.

Smiling with Santa

And finally, here's our Top Ten list of Christmas songs:
1. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
2. Jingle Bells
3. Frosty the Snowman
4. Up on the Housetop
5. The "Missing Toe" song. Post a comment if you think you can guess what we mean!

If you look carefully, you can see
where Kalina wrote HOHOHO! All
her own idea and talent!

As we were preparing the room
 for guests, the girls
decided to have a sleepover on
the guest bed. Two steps forward,
one step back.

Thanksgiving and the rest of November

My Thanksgiving tribe!

I realize it's December and I hardly posted about November, which included Thanksgiving. In November, we learned a lot about pilgrims and Native Americans, stayed well for at least a week or so, chatted a lot with Elise, slept in (I'm not kidding!!), made about a million turkey crafts, saw some friends and family and held quite a few birthday parties for stuffed animals.

I'm not sure why I didn't find much to say in November, except for the fact that we were doing a lot (see above). Matt was also out of town quite a bit, so it was a strange month and one that didn't involve a lot of extra brain power for me (or downtime) for blogging. I'm sure I'll make up for it in December.

Otters at the zoo.

On Thanksgiving itself, we joyously greeted Uncle Tom, who pushed aside Grandpa temporarily as the Most Popular Person Who's Not Mommy. We all ate some turkey, even Elise, but the favorites of the girls were mashed potatoes (Kalina) and cranberries (Elise), not to mention the orange-frosted, sprinkled sugar cookies Elise had picked out at the grocery store. In the days following, we did so much playing, site-seeing and visiting that the week after (this week) we only left home when absolutely necessary, and played rather nicely and creatively together, the only downside being that all of the play scenarios seemed to involve massive amounts of Stuff being dragged from one room to the other, and only being dragged back under duress.

Previously, we'd welcomed Grandma, who kept us company (and Mommy sane) while Matt was gone, for the world's most perfect grandparent visit. Lovely weather shuttled us outside for an amazingly dynamic day at the zoo (how often do you get to see a grizzly bear enjoy breakfast, or a trained baby tree kangaroo have a snack?), and a wonderful picnic at a park (Elise's top request nowadays!), plus frozen yogurt for lunch one day (possibly the highlight of the trip?) and much more.

Ready for a sleepover!

And last night, after a lovely day of playing nicely together (lovely for all of us!), the two came up with an acceptable, and very enthusiastically delivered plan for a sleepover in Kalina's room. How could we say no? We did tweak the plan, shifting Elise's intended sleep location from Kalina's big-girl bed on her bean bag chair, to her pack-and-play (Kalina insisted on her sleeping bag on the floor). Kalina, the ever-helpful big sister, managed to drag all of Elise's favorite blankets and animals into her room in as much time as we could say, "Um, I guess you can have a sleepover tonight," and focused every bit of her intensity on getting Elise settled (and not nearly as much on brushing her teeth). As I was reminding them of the rules (if you wake up, go back to sleep if you possibly can; don't get up to play until the clock is green), responsible Kalina wondered, "What if Elise wakes up and I can't get her back to sleep?" I assured her I'd be in to help. Then, Elise willed herself into the pack-and-play (I don't remember actually lifting her in, perhaps she jumped in her excitement?), we read a story and turned out the light, hoping for more slumber and less party (but a little party would be okay).

We like to pretend Elise is a baby in
the cradle my grandpa made for me.

It took a long, long time for Elise, at least to fall asleep, and we're not actually sure how much of Elise's chattering, singing, flopping and random, "Ready, set GO!!!" noises Kalina was able to sleep through. Apparently, not very many. After a surprisingly restful night for Matt and I, we were informed emphatically (but not entirely unhappily) by Kalina that, "Elise kept waking me up all night with her kicking and her talking!" She nicely played with Elise in the morning before Matt and I wandered into their room, and so seemed not to hold a grudge, but she did seem relieved to hear that Elise would be sleeping in her own room tonight. "I will go to bed at suppertime," she mentioned. We probably won't hold her to it.

And that was November. Next time you hear from me, it'll undoubtedly be about Christmas trees and other festivities.

Brave enough for a ride on a
giraffe!

At the park with "Poky" and "Casey."