Thursday, January 31, 2013

Nothin' Much to Say

I take a lot of pictures.  Sometimes I take a lot of pictures of the same thing and when I'm done I can't decide which one I like best.  So here are a bunch of pictures, each just slightly different from the one before.  Which do you like best?







Last weekend the girls participated in a painting class at the local art centre.  They were VERY proud of their masterpieces.  If you're not sure, they are flowers zoomed up really close.  Callie came home from her art class inspired.  She began making art and sticky-tacking it to her bedroom wall so that it looked just like the walls of the art centre.  Most of the pieces in her gallery are some variation of a traced hand, although she did add a few new, interesting pieces through out the week.  Their art makes me happy.

*****
I am either on or off the exercise wagon and this week I finally climbed back on.  A three month workplace challenge has me back in my runners and sporting a pedometer on my hip to count my steps. It feels sooo great when I exercise... after I'm done of course.  I wish my brain would stop coming up with so many excuses not to do it.   I can announce that this is finally it.  That I will exercise regularly everyday.  I will stay committed and be strong.  But I know I will fall off eventually.  I have come to accept this.  I can only hope that in the end when the exercise gods come to lay judgement on me that I will have been on more than I've been off in my lifetime.


*****
This little project has been all over Pinterest.  I looked into a lot of the pins and the consensus seems to be that it only kinda works sometimes.  I'm going to try it anyway.  I'll let you know how turns out.


*****
Callie has this tribal face painting thing down pat.  She keeps pestering her sister to let her paint her face.  Lexi wants no part of it.  She provides no reason for not wanting to act as Callie's canvas.  She just says no.


 Isn't she scary.

Hmmm....
That's all I have for today.
Nothin' much.


Sunday, January 27, 2013

Snow Day

The skies were grey today.  The cloud coverage warmed us like a heavy feather duvet.  Finally a break from the bitter cold clear blue skies we've been having.  Tonight I promised myself I would be in bed early but one episode of Storage Wars runs into another and I just have to see if they found anything good. 

Our Sunday snow day...











And a visit with grandma...


And now I have to hurry to bed before the next episode of Storage Wars sucks me in.  Good Night.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Smidgens of Growth

Last week Callie taped some paper to the wall creating a makeshift growth chart.  She carefully lined up all her favorite stuffies and emphatically marked a line above their heads.  Each line got a corresponding initial to identify its owner.  Her most favorite thing to measure though, just happens to be her sister.  



She's been measuring Lexi everyday for a week hoping to see some growth.  Any change.  Even the slightest of a smidgen.  Today, she announced in the most defeated of voices, "she didn't grow again."

This week marks my second year blog-aversary.  For two years I've been taking pictures of my girls' adventures.  Watching them grow and writing the stories of their days.  Stories that aren't particularly front-page news or of much interest to anyone beyond my following list of ten.



Sometimes, as I upload another batch of photos of Callie and Lexi doing more of the same... be it skating, skiing, summer beach pictures, going to parks, playing with friends or whatever... I think, "well these don't look much different from yesterday."  Just like Callie's measurements of Lexi, there's not much growth from day to day.  But all those little smidgens, all the small joys and tiny accomplishments, the details of the inbetween days, they add up.  And when the final calculation is done it all adds up to equal our life.

So these may be more photos of the girls skating. But that is what we do on Wednesday nights.  And they may only be a smidgen of a difference from the ones here and here but they miles away from Callie's first time skating, her second time  and even since she started lessons.

Every once in a while I click back to a random posts and look at the photos and see things in them that, at the time, were just part of our day.  Things like Lexi's sippy cup that she loved sitting next to her on the beach or Callie's Dora light that we hardly ever hear anymore.  I don't know what my girls will think about having their life documented by their paparazzi mama when they are grown.   And I'm pretty sure that eventually there will be a time that they will want the lens out of their business and I will have to respect them.  
For now, I will continue because the little things, even the tiniest smidgens, bring me joy.


Cheers to year three!

Monday, January 21, 2013

True Story

Once upon a time there lived a mom of a five year old super-girl and a three year old popstar.  The mom woke up on Sunday morning announcing to all that would listen that today was the day she was going to get some work done around the house.  She started bright and early washing and hanging nine pairs of the same pants and folding multiple pairs of stripey pants so that the children of the house would have attire for the upcoming week.



It was a perfect day for the mom of the house to declare a work day.  With the temperature below forty degrees what else would one do.  To verify the temperature, the mom does her own wind chill calculating.  She looks out the window at the flag.  Yep.  It's a work day.


The day was destined to go down in the history books as a productive at home day.  There were bananas on the counter screaming to be turned into loaves, miscellaneous socks looking for their long lost buddies, and a few shreds of Christmas hoping to be returned to storage.  

One thing you need to know about the mom of this house is that she can easily lose focus and be pulled away from her work at even the slightest invitation of something more enticing than sorting sock drawers.  So when the call came to join a friend for a Tassimo latte, all work got put on hold.  In a flash, the mom, super-girl and the popstar were in their snowsuits and on an adventure down a road they've never been.



The bright, shining sun and deadly windchill tried so hard to get the mom to stay home and be productive but what they were unaware of was that they were up against a master procrastinator.  And not just any procrastinator but one who would always choose coffee with good friends above a clean house.  



Finally, when the super-girl, popstar and their procrastinator mom returned home, the mom shifted it into high gear and turned twenty bananas into six loaves, scrubbed super-girl and popstar shiny clean, put the royal attire where it belonged, told some made-up bedtime stories, and tucked the children of the house into the mom and dad's bed because that is where they are happiest.  



And they all lived happily ever after.  The end.
True story.



Saturday, January 19, 2013

Be Strong

It wouldn't be January if I didn't comment about the weather.  The January conversation never really changes.  "Why do we live here?  Don't forget to factor in the windchill.  Did you plug in the truck?  Indoor recess again.  Is it cold enough for you?"  My friends status update boldly claimed "only the strong survive, the rest move to Florida."  I think I may have been a bear in a past life. Hibernation sounds heavenly.


Red fuzzie jammies and wool socks.  My nightly ritual.
But we are strong.  And so are our kids.  Callie's is back on the ski trails and these lessons are never cancelled due to cold weather.  She is more confident this year.  Empowered by the familiar Saturday routine from last winter.  




Once you get over the initial shock the cold air, it's actually quite enjoyable.  I don't know if you can tell from the pictures but it is soooo quiet and peaceful on the forest trails.  Nothing but the swish of skis across the snow and the sound of your breath and beating heart.  



And sister got her first pair of real skis.  Who wouldn't feel confident, powerful and fast in Spiderman skis?


We bought the mega-sized can of hot chocolate to help warm us from the inside out after we get home.


And we have more pictures taken inside, in the evening, with a flash. 
A brief comment about Lexi's style... she likes stripes.  The more the better.  And girl knows how to put on a show!  
Some days she is so weird.  She makes me laugh.




Now I must go and be brave.  Ski trails are calling. No Florida for us this year.  We are strong.