Snowshoeing!

I am loving hanging with the girls on break. We are all having so much fun together. Joe had Monday off too, so we decided to go snowshoeing! It was the first time for the girls. Jia got the hang of it right away.



Poor Willa fell every other step! Each time she just got up and kept going. She then said, "I keep trying and trying and trying!" It was only about ten degrees when we went, and windy too, but she had fun regardless. She is such a trooper!

The girls put on a show for us at the nature center afterward.


The girls and I went snowshoeing again today! It was just over 30 degrees, yippee! Jia sped off (see her up there?) and Willa did great!

We went for a long time today, so some time was spent riding behind Mama the sled dog.

The girls really enjoyed following deer tracks - we were able to spy them much of the way!


Go Jia go!

Christmas festivities

We had a wonderful Christmas. Here are some excited girls coming down the stairs in the morning:

Here is Jia right before she noticed all the stockings were full except for mine, and asked, "Mama, why didn't Santa bring you anything?"

Joe had forgotten to fill mine. I thought about saying, "I guess I was naughty." But I didn't. I spluttered, "Um, well, I don't know!" We then engaged the girls in their gifts while Joe ran and got his stuffers and surreptitiously slipped a few of the flatter ones into my stocking. I then checked my stocking in front of the girls and lo and behold, there were gifts in there!

Gift opening was interesting this year. Willa opened all her gifts in a flash. Jia opened a couple and then opened a book. She read it for over an hour. We kept saying, "Jia, do you want to open the rest of your presents?" She always replied with her nose in her book, "No, thanks. You can do it for me if you want." Willa DID want, but we didn't let her. So we waited and waited. Eventually Jia was ready to move on!

Fashion Designer Jia, hard at work.

Mermaid Willa:

Some pictures of the family!



A great day!

Merry Christmas!

The girls are so excited that Santa is coming tonight! Jia is turning into a bit of a skeptic about Santa. This may be her last year as a believer!

Our day was full of fun traditions. We played in the snow. We had Chinese take-out for dinner - yum! The best part was spending the afternoon with our good friends, the Thompsons, like we always do and decorating a gingerbread house. Leslie came home from Korea as a wonderful holiday surprise!



The girls opened the family (shared) present tonight, and they always get a matching outfit or jammies on Christmas Eve.


They set out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for his reindeer.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

More snow!

It snowed all day yesterday, and is supposed to snow more this week! The upside is that it is finally warm enough for the girls to play outside again!

The downside is that our best shovel broke in the last snowstorm! Also, where will we put all the snow? The mounds were so high when I was shoveling that it just tumbled back down. Where will we put it now?

We have more good reasons to stay home and be cozy. Here Willa is wearing her new hat knitted by Joe's sister. I think this is an adorable shot!

I am glad to be off of work for the holidays so I can hang out with the girls. Time to make more holiday treats! We made this fudge recipe from Giada. The video doesn't show her bouncing around trying to avoid steam burns, or perhaps that was just me? The end result is worth it though! Scrumptious!

We also made these yummy morsels.


Now onto pumpkin custard crumble for dessert and mud pie for sharing!

A Couple of Christmas Goodies

Willa is very into babies at the moment. So the moment I read about this recipe, I knew we had to bake...

Gingerbread Babies!



And Ginger Snaps. I love Willa's face in this one (as she sneaks more dough).

Jia had a holiday party at her school where they made graham cracker houses. Every time her teacher rang a bell, they all got to eat one piece of candy. Everyone was excited, including the parents.

The end result!

Homeschooling

We had another snow day. The buses still can't navigate the streets so school was called off again. The girls were somewhat sad about missing school - they love it...so we had a school day at home! Our day had the following:

Circle time
Reading
Math
Story time
Show and tell
Writing
Snack
Art
Science
Social Studies
Music
Home Ec (cleaning up rooms and putting away laundry)
Lunch
Gym
Quiet time
Health (a bath)
Free choice

It was great! It was especially fun because I learned a lot more about Jia's day at school. I had her teach gym and learned how they do jumping jacks ("Stick! Tree! Stick! Tree!"). The day went by really quickly because we had lots of plans (and worksheets). And I'm glad they're going back to school tomorrow!

Snow Day!

Jia's school called a snow day today. I had the feeling they might when the city told all the plows to go home on Saturday because their efforts were fruitless! What a storm! The Metrodome roof (where the Vikings play) collapsed too! The video is here.

I tried to explain the significance of a snow day to Jia. It is rare to have one! With almost two feet of snow and a windchill of 22 below, we do!

I took this pic yesterday when it was warmer. The snow is nearly as high as the swings and almost covers the slide!

We went to my parents' house for a tree decorating party yesterday. We all had a great time.

Looking at the tree with special glasses that make the lights look like gingerbread cookies and candy canes! Amazing!

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

It doesn't show signs of stopping...that is for sure! We're supposed to get sixteen inches today with drifts up to five feet! We encouraged lots of playing in the snow this morning because it is going to get very cold. It was snowing and windy so it was difficult to take decent photos, but we all had a ball as usual!

We also spent the morning decorating for Christmas! All ornaments front and center (and on the bottom half) please!





Then there was much tackling of the scary monster.

Glad we canceled all our plans today. We've been busy watching snow engulf the car across the street.


Fun! Can't wait to see what it looks like in the morning!