Wine!!

Tonight we got to have dinner with Jennifer, Claire and Gabe. It was so fun to see them and to see where they live. Before dinner we lit the candles and said the Shabbat blessings....after the blessing we let Maggie have a sip of the wine....On the way back to our hotel, Maggie called my parents to tell them about her day and the first thing she said was "Mommy let me have wine!" I think my 3 year old just tattled on me.

Arnie's meeting ended today at noon, so he got to spend the afternoon with us. We went to play in the sand and do a little exploring.



We stopped at a strawberry farm this morning and bought some berries. We've been snacking on them all day. I wish we could get berries like that at home. yum, yum!



Our little beach girl. It was fairly chilly, but that wasn't going to stop her, it took about 2 minutes for her dress to be all wet and sandy.






Gracie did okay with the sand, but wasn't fond of the water. (who can blame her, it was FREEZING.)












She has a beach full of people to watch, birds, the ocean, kids...and all she wants to play with is my iPhone.



Maggie was glad to see that Gabe had a John Deere tractor....we invited him to Norfolk to ride the real thing.

Gabe is almost exactly twice Gracie's age. It's so hard for me to believe that in just double the time we've had her, she'll be so grown up. Gabe is certainly much more kid then baby. He did puzzles with Maggie, is trying to put words together, says hard words like "octopus", and occasionally throws in a french word (if Grace does that in the next year, I'll really be surprised :)) I know Maggie grew just as fast, but it seems to go even faster now that we have both girls.



Maggie loved getting to visit Gabe and play with all of his toys. He was a perfect little host.



Maggie tripped and fell this afternoon and skinned her hands. One has a pretty big gash and the other has a smaller scrape. She's trying to be tough but they definitely hurt. I hope that they start to heel by morning. She's been walking around all evening with her hands flat and won't touch anything. I knew they really hurt when she wouldn't play in the bathtub, she just sat there with her arms above her head. Poor thing!

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Exhausted!!

The girls and I spent the day at the San Diego Zoo. We had the best time. It's a REALLY hilly zoo and pushing my 70 lbs of children around in the stroller was exhausting. I think I could close my eyes right now and sleep until tomorrow....but surprise surprise, Miss Maggie is still going strong.












Maggie and I were both excited to see the Pandas....it was a little bit of a let down. There were 2 on display and according to the zoo keeper, they sleep all the time. She was right, they were both sleeping. In the picture below you can see one Panda's rear hanging out of the tree. That's pretty much all the Panda we saw. We went back a couple of times, and they never really moved. Good thing the rest of the zoo was cool.


Like I said, it's really hilly...they had a couple of moving sidewalks to help with a couple of hills. We only rode once, but Maggie thought it was so cool...."Mom, it's an airport sidewalk and it's OUTSIDE!"


Maggie says the Zebras were her favorite. She also really liked the Polar Bears.





Maggie said she was pretending to fly the helicopter in Alaska, she was picking up patients to take them to the hospital and talking to Aunt Laura on the radio. I didn't even know she knew what Laura did at work, but she seems to have a pretty good handle on it. :)





Grace slept for about 15 min all day. I assumed she would take a nice long nap while we walked around. I guess she didn't want to miss anything.


Maggie talked me into the skyfari ride....I really don't like those things...


....Grace appears to share my feelings on the ride.


Maggie saw her first 3D movie, it was a 10 min. version of Happy Feet, she got a little scared but after it was over she wanted to be sure I knew she didn't cover her eyes.



Bye Bye Zoo....thanks for a great time!!



Just in case we weren't worn out enough we made a quick stop at Ikea on our way back from the Zoo. I should have taken a picture, I think it was Grace's first trip :)

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WET!!

We flew to San Diego yesterday, Arnie has a meeting here for the next few days. The girls and I will play while he's stuck in a hotel ballroom.

When we got here, it was pouring! By the time we got checked into our hotel room we were wet (and cold). What happened to warm and sunny California. The girls and I did a little shopping and went to dinner, on our way back it was 42 degrees!!! It might have been warmer then that when we left Nebraska.



Vacation=Dessert


Yum, Yum!! Grace was SO good at dinner, until the ice cream came. Every time she wanted another bite she just squealed (LOUDLY) at me. We're working on signing "more" and she does it when she's less adamant, but apparently she's not willing to be patient for ice cream.


Grandma read Maggie (and chocolate milk) a bedtime story via FaceTime. (Grandma, FaceTime is a video chat on our cell phones, so they can see and hear each other.)


Who doesn't want a bubble bath at 5:30am....I guess she didn't get the time change memo.


Last night Maggie showed my parents our room on FaceTime and she showed them the desk and said, "look I have an office, so I can do some work." Good thing....she got to working on her letters this morning, again all before 7am!

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Happy Valentine's Day...

Happy Valentine's Day!!


I got to help Maggie at school today during her Valentine's party, it was fun to watch all the kids bounce off the walls.


Grace crawled all over the house this afternoon with a Valentine card, apparently she loves mail. (Anyone who knows Dick, knows this must be genetic.)


Grace also LOVES the sugar cookies Aunt Bobbie made us, she gets really excited when I pick up the package.


Tonight was parents night at gymnastics, we got to go watch Maggie's new skills. The bar is her favorite!


She was too busy talking to remember to put her hands on her hips. Surprise, Surprise!


After gymnastics we had a Valentine supper with the Ries'. I heart these kids!


Apparently Grace is ready for St Patty's day. Who needs Valentine's Day when you can celebrate the Irish?


Gracie and Carly are both getting new top teeth. Carly was a lot more willing to show me hers.


Maggie showing off her Valentine present....I think there is a picture of her last Valentine's Day wearing goggles, I either have a theme going or need to get more creative :)

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Apparently...

Macaroni & cheese is going to be a favorite....
http://youtu.be/S_FeMpW-Y98

CHOO CHOO!!!

Trains were the theme of our Sunday!

Maggie and Grandma (with some implementation help from Grandpa) made this awesome Valentine box....

Isn't it cool! She was so excited to take it to school this morning. (I know, Valentine's Day isn't until tomorrow, but the teacher asked for the boxes a day early.)

AND to continue our train day...Arnie and I went on the Fremont Dinner Train for dinner with Ben and Amy. Ben decided a few weeks ago that it's what he thought we should go for Valentine's Day. We teased him alot about how it was going to be all old people, but it wasn't :) and we had a good time. It's always fun to hang out with them and we don't very often get to do it without our kids.

Otherwise our weekend was BUSY with catching up, organizing, etc. Maggie stayed in Omaha with Grandma & Grandpa and had a great time.  Yesterday, Mom went to check on Maggie in Sunday School, only to find her telling the class the story. The teacher said she started telling the story and Maggie quickly took over and was doing ok, so she just let her keep going....too bad she's so shy :)

Grace is working hard on standing...

Maggie and Uncle Deem spent lots of time playing outside. Mom would go to the door and before she'd get it open
she could hear Maggie saying, "I'm not cold Grandma, I'm not cold!" She didn't want to be told to come in.

Last week Maggie and Aunt Laura threw a surprise Valentine Party. They made this bear for Grace.
It's so cute, when she squeezes the arm Maggie's voice says "I love you Gracie". Gracie has spent most of
the morning beating the bear because she's trying to get Maggie's voice to come out of it. When I push the button
she just smiles and laughs. I'll have to video tape it.

This morning Maggie asked to wear her cowgirl boots to school, because "Mom, they're pink, like Valentine's Day!"