{soccer}

The girls started soccer last Friday.  They were very excited.  I think mostly driven by the fact that they got to get new "exercise clothes like mommy's."  I was not able to accompany them to their first class since it is on Friday morning at 10:30am, but Sara captured some good pictures and the girls have given me the rundown.

They had fun.  They learned "no sneaky hands!"  They like Coach Scott.  They got to run and kick the ball.  Their friend Sam from Gymastics is in their class.  They wanted to practice in the yard with Daddy.

It has been fun listening in on their conversations this week as they often bring their soccer drills into their play.  I have overheard them saying, "Now you chase me sissy and then I blow the whistle and I chase you."  "  Kick the ball into the doghouse (apparently this is a term they used - perhaps to teach them to conecpt of the goal."  "No sneaky hands!" 

They may still get confused about whether they are playing soccer or basketball or football ... but they definitely seem to have picked up some things in their first class and are enjoying it.  Let's see how the rest of the "season" goes and if we have the next Mia Hamm on our hands :)



{party girls}

The girls love a good party.  Just don't tell Kenzie about it too far in advance because as soon as she knows about an upcoming party she wants to go "NOW!"  This past weekend the girls were lucky enough to get to go to two different parties.

We went to a football party on Saturday night to watch the Bengals (lose) in their playoff game.  The girls had such a great time playing with all of the other kids.  We then dropped them off at home with a babysitter and got to back to the same street, different house (progressive football party) to watch the second game.  It was a perfect evening; fun with the kids, followed by some fun with adults only.

The next morning we were invited to celebrate Brooke's 6th birthday with their extended family.  Brooke has become such a beautiful, kind and considerate girl and I can hardly believe that she is already 6 years old.  The girls adore her (and Gavin) and look up to their older friend.  It was a great morning with great friends ... but a bit bittersweet as we had to say goodbye to Kevin as he was leaving for California the next morning.

The girls have also started talking about their upcoming 3rd birthday party already.  Lexi is especially into it.  She keeps telling me that she wants to have "all of her friends there" and then starts rattling them all off ... I hope she is not disappointed if not everyone is able to make it.  She is also very concerned about where we are going to have her party, since we will be moving before March.  I keep assuring her that she doesn't need to worry, and that her friends will be able to find the party even though it won't be at our current house. 

Oh how I love my little party girls!

{happy 2013!}

We rang in the new year at home with some of our good neighbor friends.  It was a perfect low key evening.  We also spent most of new years day at home relaxing and enjoying time together as a family before having to head back to work tomorrow.  Randall and the girls prepared black eyed peas & cabbage this evening to bring us luck in 2013!  Here's hoping that it's a good year!

{let it snow}

When we made it home on Friday evening after nearly 12 hours of travel the girls were so excited that it was snowing.  They were even more excited when we woke up on Saturday morning to about 4 inches of snow. 

We got bundled up and hurried outside to build a snowman.  The girls only lasted about 15 minutes before they were complaining that they were cold so they took a break and watched Daddy build the snowman from the comforts of the living room.  They did head back outside to help with the finishing touches and were quite excited about their completed "frosty."

We spent the rest of the weekend indoors.  We took a trip to Nordstrom and the girls insisted on taking their new bitty twins in their strollers.  The girls had fun playing with their other Christmas gifts as well this weekend.  Lexi has been a mommy's girl the last few days.  She does not want to leave my side and would prefer to be holding my hand at all times.  Not sure what is causing this new attachment.  Randall went to the Bengals game on Sunday and the girls and I had a date at the ice cream parlor.

On Sunday evening we got together with the Stealey's to celebrate Christmas.  It has been way too long since we have all gotten together and we had such a great time.  The kids all played so nicely together and we enjoyed a fabulous meal prepared by our wonderful friends.  Oh how I will miss them when they move to California.



{a california christmas}

We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas in California with my family.  We spent the first half of our trip in Healdsburg and then returned to Inken & Andrew's for Christmas.  Now I'm not going to lie, it was quite a different experience than our last trip to wine country, as in more crying and less relaxing.  There were some challenging moments dealing with jet lag and 3 kiddos under the age of 3 who all wanted to play with THE new toy.  However, there were also those wonderful moments when three cousins were chasing one another around the house in fits of giggles, or giving loving kisses, or having "conversations" over breakfast, or reading books with their Omi K. 

These moments were priceless and made the trip so worthwhile. 

A recap of our trip in many pictures and few words.

The girls were great little travelers (despite Kenzie getting carsick on the way to the airport for our 7am flight).  They were so excited to see their cousin Grady.  When you ask Lexi what the best part of her trip to California was the answer is always "Grady!" 

We had lots of rain, but made the most of the times that the sun was out and found fun things to do in the rain ... like playing twister & candy land while enjoying some wine.

We rented a limo to take us wine tasting one day.  A very good decision as the kids thought the limo was very cool and it made the day much more enjoyable for the adults.

We enjoyed the quaint town of Healdsburg and relaxing fireside at the home we rented.

The girls enjoyed our Healdsburg "neighbors"  but weren't quite as impressed with our visit to Muir Woods.  The enormity and beauty of the redwoods did not seem to overcome the fact that they were cold and tired.

We continued our family tradition of having Cioppino for Christmas Eve dinner, quite appropriate for San Francisco.  Kenzie baked cookies for Santa wit Aunt Inken ... Lexi was beyond exhausted and cranky and was already in bed ... and requested that we put out 8 carrots for the reindeer and a Diet Coke for Santa.

Christmas morning was fun and a bit chaotic.  Santa found us in San Francisco and brought the "pink princess" that Lexi had been wishing for.

The day after Christmas we went to the Exploratorium and had lunch at the Ferry Building.

The next day we went to the San Francisco Zoo and Ocean Beach.

It was a fun & busy week spent with those that I love the most.  I am so thankful for my family and the opportunity to share new experiences with my girls.  And while we returned home exhausted, we also returned with wonderful memories and that makes it all worthwhile.  It was a very merry California Christmas.

{merry & bright}

{december recap}

For some reason this year I had a hard time really getting into the holiday spirit. I think it was a combination of the fact that my dad is still not doing well, that we were so busy getting everything ready for our house closing on December 20th (and the fact that we still have not found a new house), the terrible tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, the fact that the girls are going through a "terrible" two phase which includes a lot of whining and not a lot of sleeping, and the unseasonably warm weather that we had for much of the month.  That said, we did manage to squeeze in a lot of fun holiday activities with the girls.  Here is a quick recap of our December.

Elfie, our Elf, returned this year and the girls had so much fun finding him every morning.  We went and picked out a Christmas tree and the girls were really into decorating it this year.

St. Nikolas paid us a visit on December 6th.

The girls had fun decorating the gingerbread houses that St. Nick brought.  We went to see the holiday trains at the Museum Center.  We saw Santa from afar, but the girls were very clear that they did NOT want to sit on "Ho Ho's" lap.

We took a trip to Findlay Market to buy some holiday treats.

My work group continued the tradition of sponsoring a local kindergarten class for Christmas.  We happened to be there celebrating with them when the news of Sandy Hook broke ... my heart was broken.  That night we held our girls extra tight and had a family sleepover next to the Christmas tree.  We baked Christmas cookies and drove through the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights (a fun idea until Kenzie got carsick :()

We went to Krohn Conservatory for Trains, Trestles and Traditions.

And to see the living nativity at our church.  We lit our advent wreath and the girls sang Silent Night.  We made holiday treats & gifts for the girls' preschool friends.

We went to the girls Christmas performance/party at their preschool.  It was so precious to watch them perform ... I was surprised by how into it they were.  We had our annual Christmas lunch with Sara ... we continue to be so thankful to have her in our lives and she once again made us the most thoughtful picture book with pictures from this past year.  It is amazing to look back and see how much the girls have grown this year.

In addition to the many festive activities that we partook in during December, we also had lots of silly sister time.  Some of my favorite moments are captured below.

Looking forward to the time-off from work.  Time with family.  Time to slow down and enjoy the holidays.