Ski Bunny 2

Alexa also liked skiing, but I think it tired her out a lot quicker than it did Emma. She skiied for about 2 hours and then called it a day. But still, she was singing as we went down the mountain together...

** these pics were taken by my Bro.

Ski Bunny 1

Our first day of skiing, Emma had Ski Camp, bright and early, starting at 9 am. So we took her out first, and Alexa stayed home with my mom and dad and took her time getting ready. Emma was SO excited! And in fact, she loved the half day camp. When I went to pick her up a few hours later, she told me that she wanted to go back again the next day... So we are trying to find another date to enroll her once again.

** these pictures were taken by my brother.

Sweet Treats

Maura had a kid's Inauguration Party on Tuesday (to watch Obama being sworn in), but since MicroStrategy had a "regular working day" (Boo!), the girls and I had no choice but to skip the party. Still, Maura was kind of enough to save me some of her Obama cookies - they were so very cool and delicious. And bonus, we also got a bottle of Orange you glad for a change Soda. No White (House) cheddar Mac and Barakolli Salad for us though. :)

This morning, we had a Kid's Chinese New Year party for Emma, Alexa, and some of their friends. I shared some ancient, Chinese traditions with the kids, they made a dragon puppet, ate their lunches with chopsticks, and got red envelopes at the end. Em and Kiki were very proud to be Chinese today! Here are the cookies I decorated for them. The Chinese character means good luck in Chinese.

Lazy Weekend

These pictures are actually from last weekend - we've been having lazy days around the house - but I think the girls prefer this.

This made me laugh - it was Sunday, late afternoon - and I found the family like this: Arturo working on his Sudoku book, Emma working on a reading website, and Alexa in the art room drawing quietly. Sublime!

If you click on this picture, you can see that the girls have become so fascinated with Arturo's fascination with Sudoku. Here, Emma is working on her own Sudoku book:

Big Girl Beds

It is official -- Alexa is now in her own big girl bed! She is so excited about this, and so proud of the new bed that she chose herself. Here is the last day we had her toddler bed in the room... followed by today - when we got the new bed set up.

Giving Blueberry Surprise a whole new meaning

Emma had two friends over to play this morning before school - Larissa and Virginia. During lunch, the girls decided to use their frozen blueberries as make up. Smearing of blueberries as "lipstick" and "blush" ensued. It was too funny (really it was funny!) not to take some pictures and remember the moment. (And we actually made the bus in time after they washed their hands and wiped their faces... how's that for Super Mommi-ness??!!)

To get the full effect, click on the pictures to blow up.

First Day of School - Revisited!

Here's a cute picture that my neighbor Mary Kelly sent me of the three kids on the first day of school. It all seems so far away: the anxiety (mine), the anxiety (Emma's), the sunny and warm weather...

Howard entertains the kids

After golf, everyone headed for Ginny and Hollis' house for dinner. Howard had the kids in stitches during dinner. All the laughing pictures below are in direct response to Howard's antics!

The fight for holding Tommy resumes:

New Year's Day

The guys went out for a round of golf New Year's Day (despite a frost delay) and the ladies stayed in, stayed lazy, and played with the kids...

Heartbreaker T-bone:

Playing Duck Duck Goose with Aidan:

Cute shot of Emma teaching Aidan how to play with her laptop:

Tommy, getting lots of love

Alexa sure loves to perform "dance shows" and she sure loves an audience - she twirled and arabesqued her way through many shows - the bigger the audience the better!

We love Chef Spence

Late dinner, but well worth the wait!

Happy Birthday to Ginny!

Happy New Year's - Kids' Version

We had a very full house for the New Year - Margaret, Howard, and Aidan came to visit us from North Carolina and stayed until the weekend. For NYE dinner, we had a wonderful personal chef come and cook us a dinner after the kids had gone to bed. I'm still dreaming about the duck salad that he made...

Elizabeth, Alison, Ginny, Margaret, Chris, and Hollis, and Howard all came for dinner and most of them stayed the night as well.

But at 7 pm, we told the kids that it was the countdown for the New Year! They watched our kitchen clock tick away the "last" 10 seconds of the year and there were kisses and hugs all around...

It's a little hard to see, but if you click on this picture, Em and Kiki are watching the clock with a slightly concerned look on their face...cute.

Giving my girls a New Year's hug:

Afterwards, Emma helped me set the dining room table for the adult's dinner

Baby Tommy was definitely the main attraction throughout the 4 days of fun we had with the gang.