Double Happiness

Hee hee... The faces of disappointment (but still a wonderful Christmas!)

2009-12-25T17:31:00-08:00

The girls had some pretty specific requests for Santa and I knew they'd probably not immediately appreciate his particular slant on what they got but their reaction was priceless! I guided them (with their eyes squeezed tightly shut) into the family room where they stood quivering with anticipation right in front of Santa's unwrapped offering. Then I told them they could open their eyes and this was the photo we snapped at that very instant: I still laugh when I look at that picture! Gwen was expecting a Star Wars light saber but the one we wanted to get her didn't work with Wii Motion Plus so we had to get the Nerf one instead. Maddy was expecting a race car game and there was NOTHING in front of her on Christmas morning that looked even remotely like a car of any nomenclature -- race, game, or otherwise. They had no idea what any of this stuff was so they stood there and stared at it and tried to readjust their expectations but the disappointment and puzzlement was impossible to hide. We would have felt really bad about the whole thing were it not for the fact that all of...

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T11:18:14-08:00

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! Just for fun, I thought I'd dig into the archives and post some of our historical Christmas Portraits. It's fun to see how much the girls have changed from year to year! 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005

Old Friends, Bacon & Ice Skating

2009-12-16T13:24:05-08:00

So, here you have it! Another multi-topic post quickly but lovingly globbed together like one of Gwen's psychedelic Play-Doh sushi rolls. One of Andrew's college friends came to visit last weekend and brought his 5 year old son, Alec. The Daddies get together pretty often but the mommies and kids almost never do so this was a special treat. After a ridiculously hearty breakfast buffet, we headed to the parking lot where the kids posed briefly for a photo before piling into nearly identical gray Honda Accord mini-vans and heading downtown to the ice rink. It's been 11 months since we last stood on our wobbly ice skates but we've been roller-skating all year long so the girls were cool with swapping wheels for blades and concrete for ice. Gwen was a speed demon! Judging from this video, she probably doesn't have much of a future in figure skating but I bet she'd kick some serious butt in ice hockey (think Sharks Scott Nichol!) The video isn't particularly exciting since it's just me chasing my daughter around the ice rink while trying to remain upright and not turn my S90 camera (in video mode) into a really expensive hockey puck....

Christmas trees, etc...

2009-12-09T18:33:54-08:00

We've been busy and there's no chance that I can chunk any of what we've been doing into neat little blog posts so I have to toss it all together like a peanut butter and pickle sandwich except that our sandwich happens to also be smothered in ketchup (or "ktchepy", as Gwenny so adoringly refers to it). The day after Thanksgiving, just a few hours before Tiger Woods hit a tree (and a bunch of ladies fell out of it), we were digging around in the attic for our Christmas stuff. Gwen and Maddy decorated our tree almost entirely by themselves but most of the ornaments were in the lower 1/3 so we moved a few of them up. We only found one Santa hat and Maddy wore it for a while before Gwen insisted on her turn. If I could read the mind of the cat, I'm pretty sure I'd hear requests for more salmon skin and multiple pleas that she might be spared the humiliation of being forced to wear that hat herself. Sorry Kitty, looks like tonight isn't your lucky night. We went to the mall over the weekend and saw these cool animal rides. I used...

My cutie loves cuties!

2009-12-04T17:05:06-08:00

There's nothing this child won't do for one of these miniature orbs of citrusey bliss. I spotted them during a last minute pre-Thanksgiving run to Trader-Joe's and thought they might be nice in a fruit salad but figured most of them would eventually end up in the trash since they only came in a three pound sack. But we ate all of them! Every. Last. One. Seriously, if Heaven is orbicular and golfball sized and sweet (and seedless), this is it! Maddy ate at least five of these per day during the last week and Mommy and Daddy polished off a few too. Gwen won't eat 'em but she's happy to peel them for free for anyone who'll scratch behind her ears or pat her head. Oddly enough, the only fruit Gwen will eat is a banana. That's it! But she'll drink of the juice of anything (mixed with any fruit juice) -- spinach, cucumber, carrot, you-name-it. Maddy, on the other hand, would probably prefer to eat nothing at all but fruit. Okay, fruit and bacon. That's not weird, right?

We knew she could!

2009-12-01T14:50:11-08:00

We knew she could do it. In fact, she probably could have done it long before Gwen did it but today Maddy finally mustered the courage to ride her bike without training wheels and without mommy or daddy holding onto her. Here's her first solo. She really good at it too -- not even wobbly! We're so proud of you, Madeline Abigail!

"Let Go!"

2009-11-29T16:44:44-08:00

The bike tires are always flat and two bikes take up too much space in the back of our van so we hardly ever ride them. Most of the time, we use our Razor Scooters and since the girls mastered those long ago, we suspected they were more than ready to ride a bike without training wheels. Today, we tested that theory. Maddy's bike is the smallest so that's the one we took the training wheels off of first. She cried and cried when we removed them! Security is so hard to give up! Maddy did a pretty good job riding without them but she insisted that Daddy run next to her and never let go of the bike even though she was balancing really well and could have survived a solo ride if she was just a teensy bit more brave. She'll probably do it next time. She's closer than she thinks! Meanwhile, Gwen (our fearless one) mastered it almost immediately. Daddy ran around with her for a few minutes then she started insisting that he let go. She did great! Here's a short video of the highlights (only about 1 minute long):

Giving Thanks - 2009

2009-11-27T20:01:24-08:00

Like all years, we have much to be thankful for. We are abundantly blessed and I hope we never take any of our blessings for granted. My goal this coming year is to be more verbal about giving thanks to God because one of my daughters put her fingers in her ears while I was saying grace before our Thanksgiving meal last night. This was in sharp contrast to how I felt during that prayer because my heart was so full of gratitude that I had to choke back tears to make it through to the amen at the end. We have a strong marriage and three healthy and well adjusted kids. Our extended family is doing well even though my Dad is getting up there in age and starting to feel it a bit more than he'd like. But we're all blessed with the sweet gift of friendship and all of our physical needs are being met. What more could anyone really ask for? Gwen and Maddy were excited about dinner this Thanksgiving because they've been learning about this holiday in Kindergarten. When Gwen got up from her nap, the table was set and all the food was there...

Santa, Bounce-A-Rama, ISBN, Beef Tamales, Falafel, Weird Stringed Instruments, Tikka Masala and a Nekkid Dip in the Pool!

2009-11-23T19:27:19-08:00

The weekend started out like any other. Five of us (two adults, two girls and one cat) snuggled through the usual Saturday morning Nickelodeon cartoon lineup then leaped from bed to the shower into our clothes then into the van for a day of fun and excitement. As usual, the cat skipped the shower and van excursion. The next day, we repeated the process. I suspect that most of you are totally satisfied by this level of detail about our family's 47th weekend of 2009 but this blog is our family journal so I'm obligated to flesh it out a bit. Saturday: We went to breakfast then Great Mall where we encountered a very lonely looking Santa. No line at all! So even though the kids weren't dressed for it, we fed them some ideas about what to ask Santa to bring them (stuff we already bought them) and snapped a quick pic with the jolly old guy. When we got home, I scanned the photo and changed the colors of the girls sweaters to what you see in this photo (originally they were turquoise and purple!). Curious to know what the kids asked for? Gwen: Star Wars Light Saber...

Siblings With(out?) Rivalry

2009-11-19T18:18:55-08:00

I can't tell you how much I appreciated the comments and support and suggestions I got about my vent over Gwen and Maddy's constant fights. I removed that post because it didn't paint a very positive picture of one of my daughters and I didn't want a critical permanent internet record following her through her life (thinking about the brutal vetting process should she ever run for public office!?). But I learned so much from everyone who commented and I'm eternally grateful because I think your comments really made a difference in our life. Many of you offered hope and encouragement that things would improve in time and one book was credited over and over again for helping in that process: Siblings Without Rivalry. I ordered it and it's on it's way to my mailbox now. In the meanwhile, I took many of your suggestions to heart and started doing some things differently. First of all, I started spending more time with each child separately. I get Maddy up a half hour earlier than Gwen and we snuggle and chat. Then I spend an extra half hour with Gwen alone in her room at night. I can credit this with...