Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

C ready to sled

D
C

The day after Christmas we flew out to Utah to get our Dodson hit for the holidays. Unfortunately, part of the team didn't make it, and I was really worried that C and D would go crazy without their cousins to play with them. Although they were sorely missed, the rest of us managed to have a great holiday vacation (in fact, the fun is still going for C and D!)

We started out tubing. Not a great activity for LBD unfortunately, but C and D loved it. Then they spent three days in ski school. They loved the skiing part of it (an hour each day) but tired of the more 'childcare' aspect of the ski school. All I cared was that they liked skiing, so I happily picked them up and took them to lunch each day at Deer Valley (which they also loved). Anna (C's instructor) was adorable in every way and Heather (D's instructor) was equally great. D apparently picked up stopping on the first try which is awesome. C took a little longer but enjoyed it just as much. On the second day they went down the ski lifts (Snow Flake). On the third day D went down an even longer run and "did the bumps herself" (she was VERY proud of herself). The best part is they LIKED IT!!!!

The only thing they may have liked more was their playdate at the Glotzbachs. There they fell in love with Ski Jumping on the house's new Wii. The four girls had a blast doing it... even though sometimes the board didn't even pick up C and D's presence because they weigh so little. It was really fun to watch them get a kick out of it actually. Thanks to the Glotzbachs we also found an indoor fieldhouse that had bouncy houses and lots of space to run around inside.

C "waving" to everyone after her jump

D in the crouch position

As for Miss L, she LOVED all the stairs in the condo (sweet). Unfortunately, she picked up the stomach virus somewhere and started throwing up yesterday. We are headed home with just her to my cousin's wedding tonight. C and D were almost too excited to see us go.

This video is pretty grainy (and the director is annoyingly vocal), but I needed to give Bob Costas something to show someday!

Merry Christmas to All, and to Lila B a Good Night

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Lila B!

Christmas morning--so glad I made it this year!

"Hey, are these leftover cookies for me?!"

LBD admires C's bike and shows off her S-shaped body (clearly she has her mothers bum, poor thing)

The birthday girl wonders how she fit in a stocking this size last year.

Socks from Santa!
C plays "Santa and doles out the gifts"
Morning trip to Starbucks on their FAVORITE gifts

@ 30 minutes after "Christmas" as the girls and I sometimes call her, officially turned 1.

D gets ready to celebrate

So does Michael
and C

and Mae

And Barrett
The Birthday Girl Aweakes
And Plays with Cousin Charlie

Cupcake!!

The Birthday Girl

Gee Thanks Chris. You shouldn't have. Really.

C in the Fairy Costume Aunt Roey Made

And D in hers

Christmas. It has always been a favorite day of mine. My favorite holiday. And now, well, I can’t really describe it because it is still sort of weird. It is also the birthday of my daughter. And the crazy part is that I have learned to kind of like that fact. I mean I realize that most people think it is the worst day of the year to have a birthday. And don’t get me wrong, it is certainly in the running. But A) I’d argue that 12/26, 2/29, and 1/1 are worse for various reasons; and B) isn’t there something kind of ‘special’ about being born on Christmas? (for one thing, you clearly have planning-impaired parents!) Seriously though, no one will ever forget her birthday. She’ll never work on her birthday (hopefully), and she’ll always be surrounded by people who love her on her birthday (God willing). I guess that’s just the way it is with kids huh, you learn to think everything about your kid is great, regardless of reality. : )

If I get picky with myself, it is actually Christmas Eve that is my favorite day of the year. The culmination of all the good tidings, cheer, and preparation of the previous weeks. The focus on the celebration and the spirituality, and yes, the excitement about the next day. In short, I like the anticipation probably more than the day itself (maybe that is what makes me bad at the biggest moments of my life…but that is another post). As Bill Murray as Scrooge once said “I'm not crazy. It's Christmas Eve. It's the one night when we all act a little nicer. We...we smile a little easier. We...we...share a little more. For a couple of hours we are the people we always hoped we would be.”

Now last year I wasn’t feeling too hot on Christmas Eve (and now we know why). So this year, I tried to soak it all in.

Christmas:

This year I was filled with so many emotions I have a hard time putting it into words. Excitement, sadness/anger that I wanted a boy so badly I missed some of the glory of the moment, fear that her birthday would always suck, stress over Christmas, her birthday, leaving for Utah the next day, but mostly, gratitude. Overwhelming, catch in your throat gratitude for all that I have.

We went to church on Christmas Eve with my Mom, Chris, and the healthy contingent of Roey’s family. D unfortunately threw a tantrum and on the way home we all worried about how Santa might react to her behavior.

Then we went home and didn’t do much (something I look forward to when they get older—more fun Christmas Eves!) Then we got the cookies and the carrots ready (they allowed the big man inside this year) and got them to bed (easiest night of the year!!) Then we got to work building bicycles, eating cookies, and drinking margaritas. I even tried to get Andrew to watch a little “Wonderful Life.” (If I am being honest, I’m writing some of this two months later so the memories are not as crisp).

Christmas morning was a mix of “happy birthdays!”, “Merry Christmas!” and present opening. Then we went over to my mothers and had a great time with all the cousins. I LOVED having cousins to play with at Christmas and I can see my kids do too. We celebrated L’s birthday with cupcakes and singing. No gifts for that—we’ll have a Xmas in June celebration too I am sure. And miraculously, we even ate an awesome dinner on time (thanks to Tom…Tom PLEASE COME EVERY YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Here's a clip of the numerous "Santa" discussions we have had with, in particular, D. They are clipped together but I think you get the idea. The first two clips are in the car on the way back from Church Christmas Eve. D had a meltdown in the Church and we warned her that Santa might not look too kindly on her for it. The next is Christmas morning.

Lila:

One year old. I want to cry just writing that because in a few short months I won’t list your age in months—I’ll move to years, and then you really won’t be a baby anymore. Maybe it is better not to know whether you are my last or not, because it prevents me from trying to keep you a baby FOREVER. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll get even more fun as you get older and become a real, talking, moving, little person, but---if you are anything like your older sisters--you’ll also become a bigger pain in the @ss too. (I say that with love, truly I do). And right now the only words we use to describe you are “sweet, happy, angelic, friendly, excited, lovable, cuddly, and snuggly.” My mother often tells me that you see the baby in your children as they get older, and that makes you love them even when they are acting their worst. I think I am starting to get that.

So, who are you at one year old?

v You LOVE your sisters. You adore your sisters. You worship your sisters. If you hear their voices your face lights up and you bounce up and town. You like to grab their hair, and lucky for you, they don’t get mad at you even when you take it with you.

v You like to smile and wave at people.

v You LOVE to scream/shriek. Really loud. I get “wow, she’s got a set of lungs on her” often.

v You use shrieking as your way of making your wants known. Unfortunately for me (and everyone else around you), I don’t speak shriek. So I’m left to guess and to hope that this phase doesn’t last very long.

v You love to climb. You climb on everything and anything you can. And you think you OWN those climbing things. God help the person who sits on one of the orange chairs. You start screaming in baby language something that I am sure is along the lines of “Get out of my chair!!! Get out of my #$%&ing chair!” You’ll even do your best to push that person off. A few more lbs and you will succeed.

v You don’t seem to want to learn sign language (and we haven’t been very good at teaching you) but if I make the “more” sign you look at me and nod aggressively, like “yeah dumby, more, more, what else would I be asking for?”

v Sometimes you can be a bit of a brute with kids your age. I don’t know if it is because you are just used to roughhousing or you enjoy picking on someone your own size, but you are definitely one of the more aggressive kids among peers. Not mean, hitting aggressive, just very assertive.

v You have such a big round belly and such a big round bum that sometimes I think you have scoliosis. I am impressed with your ability to stand up straight given the load you are carrying out front.

v You like anything your sisters are playing with, especially arts and crafts stuff. You like puzzles and the rocking horse and the train set and the little Fisher Price door. Mostly though, you like playing with balls. It is awesome. I have never had a ball lover. I love it.

You make this funny little "ooooh" sound a lot. I get a kick out of it. You love your Daddy. You run around looking for him saying "Da da da da da."

You bring me joy. Great joy. Overwhelming, god-i-really-love-this-little-bundle-of-chub joy. Merry Christmas to the best present I will ever, ever, ever hope to receive.

The Twelfth Day

And this year

The Eleventh Day

(Last year : ))

The Tenth Day (OOPS!)

And we went to a gingerbread making (and firefighter playing) playdate with everyone in for the holidays. It was a lot of fun.

The Ninth Day

Fake Santa

C and D love Santa...in concept. They have had an arms-length relationship with him ever since we put them on his lap when they were almost two years old. So even though they love the idea of writing to him and asking for things, they have NO intention of actually sitting on the guys lap. So when I took them to see "Santa" I made it all about Lila. Which of course they thought was awesome. I didn't even bother to dress anyone up because I had a feeling how it would turn out. Not that it matters...they wouldn't get within 10 feet of the guy. The closest they got to Santa was an electronic version in front of a house down our street.

And by "the guy" I mean "Santa's Elf." We went to a nearby children's clothing store who had Santa on Saturdays. It is a relatively high end children's store, so I admit, I was expecting a pretty good Santa. What we got was a young kid. Even C and D didn't buy it. They walked in and said "Is that the real Santa?" I wasn't sure what to say because we'd never suggested it was anything but. So, panicked, I asked, "Uh, do you want it to be?" "No!" They said. So we discussed how it was one of his "elves" because, hey, Santa is a busy guy. They seemed satisfied with that, and I think they kind of enjoyed watching LBD freak out. I am only now kicking myself for not bringing the video camera. Luckily there is next year : )

And luckily we went to a breakfast with Santa a few days prior at community center in our neighborhood and the firefighters produced an AWESOME Santa that the girls totally bought into---and had a great time eating pancakes and making art projects. (Firefighters rock!)

Oh, and here are their "video letters" to Santa (I have letters too but what are the chances I don't lose those?!) (And please forgive the absurd delay of these posts... I have been inspired to catch up because C and D LOVE looking through the blog books A made. And A is going to be gone so much this month I have no excuse not to catch up)

The Eighth Day

The Seventh Day (oops!)

The Sixth Day (oops)

The Fifth Day...