Two wheelin' Lex

Alexa is officially on two wheels! I spent some time with her last week in the afternoons - running up and down the street - with Tessa in the Angelpack - bouncing up and down as we ran alongside Lex. (Actually, I think the running lulled Tessa asleep, because she took a little snoozer right before dinner!) After that, there has been no stopping Alexa. Well, she actually still has trouble getting started - and her braking is a little rough - but as long as she doesn't stop pedaling, she's good to go!

Asparagus!

Our experimenting in Baby Led Weaning (BLW) continues - with some successes.  Tessa loves gnawing on lots of stuff - here we gave her the asparagus we all were eating for dinner that night.  She promptly double fisted it and stuffed the whole thing in her mouth.

Vitamin D

Last week, we had sunny and warm days - such a wonderful change from the rain and gloom.  For many of those days, I spent the whole afternoon out with the kids, soaking up the sunshine and getting tons of Vitamin D.  Before having to get the big girls, Tessa and I enjoyed some quiet time on our front lawn.  Ah, heaven.

Luck o' the Irish

I'm not sure why the idea of a little man dressed all in green coming into our house at night and playing tricks doesn't scare the girls, because it scares me!  Nonetheless, the girls really wanted to try and build a leprachaun trap so we went ahead with the plan.  The trap has a trick top which collapses if a leprachaun steps on it - ensuring that the green guy is snared. 

Emma declared that she was going to put the leprachaun in a "cage" if she caught it, which seemed to us to be missing the point, but oh well.

The next morning the girls excitedly got dressed, ready to see what kind of leprachaun they had caught.  Instead, the critter left us a note to the effect of, "Ha ha, Good try, but you can't catch me!"  And to their surprise, the leprachaun had turned their milk green!!!  AND the little imp switched up all our coats so that they were in the wrong places.  I tell you, there was some serious havoc in our house that morning!

New Do

I finally admitted that Alexa's hair has been a mess and took her to my hair stylist.  Alexa was very bummed that she couldn't go to Cartoon Cuts (where they have no clue what they are doing, but turn on a fun video for the kids) but liked all the special attention she got at the salon!  She emerged looking absolutely adorable!!!  I took some shots that day of her hair:

Banana fana fo Fessa...Tessa!

Tonight at dinner, we gave Tessa half a banana to munch on.  Girlfriend couldn't get enough of it!  Note to self: Bananas get slimy and mushy when eaten by an uncoordinated slobbery 6 month old.

Must...get...another...bite...of...that...Nanner...

Early March, around the house

Tessa always looks perpetually stunned/bewildered/surprised - possibly because she opens her eyes so wide everywhere she goes - just taking it all in.  Here she is staying near Alexa while she plays with her trains.

Vonn Wannabe's

Arturo took the girls skiing this past Monday. It was a little strange for me to be suffering through springtime allergies and 60 degree weather, while picturing the girls swishing down the slopes! They had a blast though - both went to full day Mountain Camp.

Alexa skiing:



Emma Skiing:

Half a Year!

We can hardly believe that an entire 6 months has gone by since Tessa was born!  It has been a month of milestones.  She started daycare a few weeks ago - and the transition actually went very smoothly.  The teachers are very good to her, and she is sleeping very well there.  So all is going well on that front.

We started her on "solids" last week.  She had her first bite of some brown rice cereal and she has also had nibbles of Triscuits and some carrots!  She was gagging on the carrots a bit which was frightening - and the whole thing is messy to the nth degree!

The girls are singing happy birthday to her here:

This is Tessa's first bite of the rice.  Note how her little hand has reached out to grab the spoon from my hand!  She is very insistent these days - it's very hard to drink anything while holding her in your arms - much less eat anything.  Her chubby fingers swoop right over and try to grab everything!

Alexa Ohno

We've been pretty obsessed with the Olympics here.  The girls love talking about and watching Lindsey Vonn and Apolo Ohno.  Here's Alexa at lunch one day, eating seaweed.  She decided to channel him through the soul patch.

Around the house with Tessa

Tessa's first taste of something other than breastmilk - water!  One night at dinner, Arturo decided to let Tessa try water from a cup.  At first she was completely stunned - by the third or fourth sip, she was opening her mouth wide every time the cup got near her...!

Tessa with Sophie

Tessa, aspiring to be like her dad:

Little Miss Matched

My dad, fashion guru that he is, has been on such a Little Miss Matched kick - it's this cute line of kids' clothes that are intentionally mismatched.  For Christmas, he gave Tessa socks that don't match, and at Whitetail, she got this coverall that is off kilter as well.  Note in the picture below, Alexa chose the mismatched socks for Tess to wear with her outfit...cute!

The downside to this is that Alexa now refuses to wear her own matching socks.  She walks around in public with one orange sock and one green sock. 

The upside to this is that when folding laundry, I no longer have to worry about finding the sock pairs; I just throw them in her drawer, and she scoops out the first two she finds in the morning!

Emma and Virginia

My friend, Nancy (Virginia's Mom) takes great pictures and she took this one of Emma with Virginia at a birthday party.  The girls look so happy!

Blizzard 2010 - Snowed In...

With all the snow that we got in the last week, MicroStrategy offices were closed, and the girls' schools were closed for the entire week.  We essentially didn't even bother trying to go out - especially since it took almost a week for our streets to be plowed.

But we had plenty of fun at home.  With Arturo home that week to help with the girls, I was able to plan a lot of fun activities for Emma and Alexa.  Arturo did his share also - I found him teaching the girls how to play chess one morning!

Our crayon box has gotten really out of control.  So one morning, our "activity" was to dig out all the crayon nubs and peel off the paper.  It actually took us a long time to do this, and we got tons of different colors which the girls then mixed and matched in muffin tins.  I melted them in the oven, and when they resolidified, they had brand "new" rainbow crayons!

Another day, I took out some pre-made pie crust that I keep in our freezer, defrosted it, unrolled it - and let the girls go to town with all our cookie cutters.  They decorated with sprinkles and sugar, I baked it - and voila...! Afternoon snack that they helped make!

Tessa's biggest recent activity has been sucking on her fingers/hand/anything she can get her hands on.  The slobber factor is adorable though!

The girls and I made Snow Ice Cream!  We put on our snowgear, went outside, found a "clean" patch of snow - and filled our big mixing bowl with it... Then we mixed it with different stuff - maple syrup, chocolate syrup, sweetened condensed milk, etc... to make all different flavors of "ice cream."  It was my first time doing this - and it was surprisingly good!  The girls got such a kick out of making their own ice cream.  I'm horrified to say we actually finished the entire bowl of snow that we brought back in...

I spent most nights after the girls went to bed, looking online for free printable worksheets.  The girls devoured them each day - they love doing their "homework."  Here's Alexa working on some addition.  (Notice how in many of these pictures, the girls are in their PJ's.  I think we might have spent a good portion of the week all in our PJ's.)

Here are the girls working on their "Tortilla Snowflakes."  There is no shortage of tortillas in our house - so I grabbed a stack of flour ones from the fridge, got the food scissors and let the girls go to town cutting out snowflakes with the tortillas (just as you would make a paper snowflake).  Then they took pastry brushes and painted the snowflakes with melted butter.  Popped them in the oven for about 10 minutes to crispen up - and then let them shake powdered sugar on and eat them! 

Emma dubbed this one her Tortilla Alien...