Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Loving living in the land of lakes



In 24 hours, we dropped 50 degrees! See our sad, leaning refrozen snowman? Driving home last night my thermometer said -12, but the wind chill made it to -45. Just to clarify to some of you who were confused by my last post, we actually DON'T live in Alaska, it just has been feeling like it lately. Not that I've even been there before, but I can't imagine worse that this. The last two years, by February, Dave and I have both been ready for a job transfer out of the midwest! But we love it here, how could you not. I'm going to reference my dear friend Natalie's hilarious "Why I love the midwest" post that I just wholeheartedly agree with. Thanks Natalie.



I was thinking today about the hottest I've ever felt (living in Phoenix). Isn't it amazing that my human body can withstand (barely) temperatures of extremes as cold as -45 windchills all the way to 118 degrees above zero! Is that an accomplishment, or does everyone experience those extremes at some point in their life? I've also lived through the heat and stickiness of Tokyo. The worst part about that one is all the stinky, non-deodorant users that you're jam-packed on the subways with. Eeew. At least at -9 degrees, your nostrils are frozen and the sense of smell doesn't contribute to your miserableness like humidity does.

Somehow life carried on today with school, preschool, etc. I took the picture of my car thermometer right before taking my kids out to watch Aubrie's preschool program this a.m. Isn't she a cutie? She was so excited she jumped up and down through the first several songs. It was fun.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Warm-up

We are experiencing a 56-degree warm-up! Tropical weather in January, you say. Ha! It's only going to reach 38 degrees Farenheit. But no worries, two days later we will experience a 53-degree cool-down. Lately, I've been thinking living in Alaska couldn't be any worse than this!

Monday, January 21, 2008

Happy 5th Birthday Aubrie!



Why I love Aubrie:


*She is such a sweet, fun-loving girl!
*She tries so hard to be obedient
*She memorizes anything she hears
*She is the biggest girly-girl I've ever known (loves dressing up, beautiful things, jewelry, makeup, etc.)
*She loves to sing and dance
*She loves coloring
*She's a lefty
*She's an extreme extrovert and NEEDS time with friends to keep her happy
*She is socially aware and kind to others
*She's a great big sister

I love this girl! Happy Birthday Sweetie!



She wanted an Enchanted birthday party. Here's my best attempt at a Giselle cake. The girls looked so cute all dressed up.







Ellie was crying because she wanted presents too. She didn't quite get that it wasn't Christmas again. But she was happy once the presents were opened and Aubrie shared with her!

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Spreading the holiday love



Our Christmas and New Year was wonderful. Our girls were so cute and fun! I've loved having everyone home and no preschool, scheduled activities, or driving involved. One of my favorite parts of being a stay-at-home mom is that I can set and run my own schedule, but I'm realizing as my kids get older it becomes more difficult due to school and activities. It was nice to have a couple weeks where the girls and I could do what we wanted when we wanted to! I love the above picture because Aubrie had picked out those princess hangers for Ellie and she was super excited. Who gets excited over hangers? I think she was just tickled that Aubrie got her a present more than anything. They are such cute friends. I love it.



After Halloween, I hit Target when the costumes were 90 percent off. Now our dress-up wardrobe is about 50 times more enormous than it already was. Notice the costume on Ellie's Bear. That was actually a dog costume, that we turned to a Build a Bear costume. It works just great!



Ellie was thrilled to finally get one of her favorite shows.



We hit this year's display at Macy's which had a 'Nutcracker' theme this year. This is becoming one of our favorite Christmas traditions.



It finally warmed up enough for the kids to play in the snow! Notice how I said KIDS!



Even though we stayed here for Christmas, we attended a handful of parties and had a wonderful time with our friends.

My family we visited in Omaha for New Year's, I need you to send me pictures! Our battery in our camera was dead most of the time so the few pics we have are not very good. Please email them!