Hoppy Leap Day!

You know I love a theme.  Leap Day is a ray of light in an otherwise theme-less week.  I brought a new class pet to school today, 2 frogs.  So fun.

The goings on of Sofie…

Girlfriend is wearing undies.  We came back from vacation and I decided it was time to push her to the next level, and start encouraging her to be more “one with her age”.  Honestly, I wasn’t going to do it before vacation, so I knew for a while it would be after we got back.  It’s time.  She’s looking taller and older and more pre-schoolish.  I should mention that she has been using the potty at school for weeks now with almost no going in her pull up.  Problem is she doesn’t poop until she gets home.  I figured this would be a hurdle, but the first day(Sunday) she went, we cheered, and I thought we leaped that with no issue!  The last 2 days, she’s had one accident a day at school.  Both times she was in the bathroom waiting for the potty and went in her pants.  Last night she went twice in her underwear at home.  I don’t call these accidents for a reason.  Both times I had either just asked her, or just been in the bathroom with her and she wouldn’t go.  I sense a little resistance to the whole thing.  Not sure what’s up with that.  I think it’s a poop issue.  She went in the bathtub Monday night and in her pants last night.  I’m not turning back now though, so we’ll have to figure it out.  I will now go wash my mouth fingers with soap because of all that potty talk. 

Besides peeing all over the house, she may have developed another bad habit.  She loves to sit at her table and eat her snack with her iPod and headphones!  Who can blame her?  After a tough day at day care who doesn’t want to chill out with a little video time?

   

On a positive note…she’s been eating her dinner.  Like meat and vegetables people!!!  Last night she asked for thirds!  I cracked down on snacks, and toughened up at dinner, and wouldn’t you know it worked.  I wish this parenting thing wasn’t so tough because it really gets results:)

Tuesdays…Lord have mercy…Tuesdays.  Every kid has to be picked up from school, every kid starts an activity at the same time, and every kid has to be picked up after their activity.  It’s a crazy frenzy of packing bags, food, and getting in and out of the car.  It’s all made worth it though because once we get to dance we have about 15 minutes where I get to watch Adrienne in her element.  She and Sof both have classes that start at 4:30.  Before that Adrienne hangs out with her friends, stretches, runs dances, and shows off Sof.  All the big girl dancers LOVE Sof!  It’s so cute, and I love having a sneak peek into the world that my oldest lives in most of the time! 

  

Today we had a weird snow/ice/rain storm.  Adrienne and I had school, but Lexi was off because of a power outage.  She’s been studying fractions in math so I figured I should do a lesson this afternoon.  We baked brownies and she did all the measuring.  The things I do for my kids…it was all about the educational value, nothing to do with chocolate. 

 

We have an abundance of March birthdays we will be celebrating this weekend.  Get out the party hats!

Quotastic

“What Goes Up, Must Come Down”

Thursday was day 2 of skiing for me.  I had had 1 day of lessons and the girls had 2, so the idea was to all ski together for the last day.  Adrienne and I stuck to the easiest green trail called “Why Not”.  We were doing pretty good on that and Adrienne even wanted to try a blue trail with Mark and Lexi.  She started getting the feel for it and looked good out there!  We all met up for lunch, and I encouraged everyone to do their thing while I stuck with what I was doing.  

 

“Follow your instincts.  That’s where true wisdom manifests itself” ~Oprah Winfrey

After lunch I followed Mark out to the big map where he started looking for other green trails.  I reiterated that I was happy doing what I was doing and didn’t need anyone to stay back with me.  My instinct said, “Don’t get roped into this!  Stick with what you’re doing!”.  The girls were excited to try something new, and I was assured a “green” was a “green”.  Same thing I was already doing, just a different part of the trail.  When I got on the chair lift I said, “This is going to be the run that makes me hate my day”.  When Joni took these pictures I said, “Better take them now before I get mad and start crying!”.        

You may be thinking I doomed myself before I gave it a chance.  I disagree.  I’m not a risk taker, but I’m up for trying new things within my ability range.  This is a chronic problem in our family.  Mark always has to push it too far.  It’s his personality not mine.  One time we bought rollerblades and the first time out he took me in a gravel parking lot.  I never rollerbladed again.  One year Lexi was really into biking with him.  He took her 5 year old self to a busy 8 mile bike trail where she ended up falling and skinning her knee.  She hates biking now.  And so it goes with skiing.  This trail was way too hard for my skill level, I fell, and struggled my way down.  That was the beginning and end of my skiing.  Not blaming the hubby, I knew what I was doing the whole time.  I knew I should stand strong, but still I got on the chair lift.  Bottom line, trust your instincts!  I really don’t hate skiing, and I think I could get good at it given the proper time, so maybe there will be another try.  It will be on MY terms though:)

“Family faces are like magic mirrors.  Looking at people who belong to us , we see the past, present, and future.”  ~Gail Lumet Buckley

             

Thursday night we had Rick’s cousin and lady friend over for dinner.  It was another fun night of food, drinks, and conversation.  Great time for these two to reconnect:)

 

“At the end of the day, a loving family should find everything forgivable” ~Mark V. Olsen and Will Sheffer

On our last day Mark, Rick and Joni did a half day skiing while Anne, the girls, and I went downtown.  We had some down time in the condo before we left though, and Lexi and Sof were running around being silly.  Lexi a slammed a door and Sof’s pinky finger was in it:(  I think Lexi felt worse then Sof, and she spent the rest of the morning trying to make up for it.

    

Adrienne was able to name every single one of the statues downtown!  She’s been listening at school after all:)

“All good things must come to an end.”

Sadly our vacation had to end.  We said good bye to our condo in Steamboat and headed back to Joni’s house.  We did a grown up dinner out in Fort Collins, which was fun.  We came back to Lexi and Sof sleeping on the couch and Adrienne on the floor!  The next morning we packed the car and headed for the airport.

 

“Home Sweet Home” ??????

 

Yeah, sweet.  Whatever.

It’s A Tough Life, But Someone Has To Live It

It’s been rough here, but we’re muddling through. 

   

The hot tub is good for weary skier’s muscles.  Non skiers are happy to partake because the atmosphere is amazing.  One of these gals is too young for college, and one is too old.  They seem to be playing games as if they were at a frat party though.

     

It hasn’t stopped snowing since we got here, quite a change from home!  In fact, they broke the record for most snowfall in a day with 28 inches!  Not only were we here, but we skied in it!  Pretty cool.

   

Sof has learned how to play hide and seek.  She’s a real tricky hider:)

We’ve had just the right balance of busy and active mixed with chillin’ and relaxing.

Yesterday everyone took the day off skiing, so we jumped on the shuttle and went downtown.

      

There was a super cool store that sold cowboy boots-like real ones.  Adrienne wanted a sweet rhinestoned pair, but alas, $1600 wasn’t in the budget.  The ones Lexi wanted they didn’t have in her size.  So, we scored a pair of sequined Uggs for Adrienne considerably marked down!  They had a horse out front that everyone had to try!

 

Not sure why we bring the stroller.  Inevitably it becomes a bag holder and the person supposed to be sitting IN it always wants to PUSH it.  Don’t walk in front of her or you may lose an ankle.

We ended with a yummy Mexican lunch(if you’re counting that’s the 3rd time we’ve had Mexican, love it). 

 

It was naptime for Mark and Rick(Sof too), so we headed back.  The girls decided to try the hot springs.  We were deciding between that and tubing, but the hot springs is definitely something you could never do at home!  We ended up driving about an hour and 15 minutes to find it(mostly in the wrong direction), but it was totally worth it!  It was really amazing, and this morning Lexi said it was her favorite thing so far.  

So like I said, it’s been rough.  We’ll manage for a few more days though:)  Today we’re back to the slopes, even me!  I don’t think I can even come close to keeping up with my kids!  Should be interesting, wish me luck!

Fun and Ski School…Not Necessarily Together

We are having SO. MUCH. FUN.  We had the brilliant idea to go out to dinner last night.  We couldn’t get a reservation until 8:00.  So…we had a little fun in the mean time.

  

  

Some people see a fireplace ledge, we see a stage…

I have to talk about how much I love these 3…

I’ve spent hours listening to Anne’s love for her daughter.  She loves her, adores her, worships her.  You can see the connection between them instantly.  Seeing them together makes my heart smile because I know how important it is to both of them.

We were really having fun, and were in quite good spirits when we left for dinner.  Number 1 item on the list of buzzkills…

Walking through a snowstorm in the wrong direction to a restaurant with a screaming toddler at 8:00 at night.

     

We ended up dodging into a hotel, finding the city bus stop, and calling the shuttle to pick us up after dinner.  Alexa doesn’t remember any of it.

This morning we headed to the mountains.  Even me. 

   

The girls went to their ski school and I went to mine.

 

This was a bit out of my comfort zone, but I admit I really enjoyed it.  By the end of the day the instructor told me I was about a level 3.  I was happy with that, although Lexi started the morning as a level 3!  Both the girls did great and will rejoin their ski lessons tomorrow at a level 4.  I will spend the day with my Sof, doing a little exploring and grocery shopping.  I will definitely ski another day this week.  I have the bug! 

We ended the day with some hot tubbing, hanging in the lodge,  and pizza.  What I learned…skiing is not for the faint of heart.  It’s a lot of work!  Early bedtime for everyone:)