Kindergarten Tea

Yesterday Cambrie and I attended the Kindergarten Tea for her new elementary school.  It is a great school.  There is a lot of parent envolvement, local support from our neighborhood, good programs (they've been able to keep all the music, art, science, and PE classes even with the budget cuts), and have been testing really well.  While the parents listened to the presentation about how wonderful this school and school district was, Cambrie and the other soon-to-be kindergarteners played games in the gym.  I love that she is confident enough to go an play with new friends and that she isn't too-clingy.  I also love the fact that we have six other girls from our ward who are also going to be attending the afternoon kindergarten class and I have six moms to talk with, coordinate with, and enjoy our kindergartners together.  Once the presentation was over we collected our frolicking kids for a tour of the school.  Cambrie and I had walked around together when we picked up her kindergarten packet, but it was nice to get some explanation for the school ground and school programs as a whole.  We got to visit a kindergarten classroom and were able to meet the teacher, some students, and see what they will work on next year.  Cambrie is really excited.  Every day she asks if it's time to go to kindergarten yet.  I must admit that I am just as excited.  It's fun to think that my little girl is old enough to walk up to that school every day and is becoming more independent.  With her new hair cut and her missing front teeth, she looks even older like that's where she is supposed to be. 

Cambrie's new "Do"

Today while I was about half-way through trimming Cambrie's hair, she told me that she wanted me to cut her hair all the way up to her neck.  I stopped cutting and just to clarify, asked her if she wanted all of it really short.  She said yes.  She wanted her hair to look like Kit's.  Since we weren't doing anything else today I decided, "What the heck?"  So we scheduled an appointment at Pigtails & Crewcuts and hopped in the car for Cambrie's first real hair cut.  This is her "before" picture, but remember I had just cut off two inches already.

We walked into the store and Cambrie got even more excited than before.  There were cars you could sit in to have your hair cut, Ratatouille was playing, and there were toys everywhere.  Her stylist totally treated Cambrie like a little lady.  She let her choose where to sit, asked her how old she was and what she liked to do, and then asked her how she wanted her hair cut.  I was a little surprised that the stylist didn't ask me for my opinion first, but looking back I'm glad she treated Cambrie with so much respect.  Once Shawn had finished interviewing Cambrie she gave a quick, "Does that sound right Mom?" before getting to work. 

I was crossing my fingers that Cambrie would still like her short hair after it had all been cut off and once reality set in.  It was a relief seeing her smile at her reflection when she was done.  To top it all off, Shawn also sprayed some gold glitter in her hair and on her arms to make her smile after she was done.  Cambrie kept touching her hair and smiling every time she saw her reflection. 

Since it's too short for pony tails now I took her to the store to let her choose the clips she'll be wearing in her hair instead.  She told me that now her fake teeth are out and she has short hair, her friends won't recognize her because she looks like a new person.  I think she's a cute little person and she looks so grown up!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day around here was fun, but I don't have many pictures to prove it.  You'll just have to take my word for it.  The week before Valentine's Day I decided to give the girls a small treat by their beds for when they woke up.  In future years it will probably be love notes of some kind but they respond better to goodies now.  They loved waking up and seeing a little surprise just for them. 

The morning of Valentine's Day I had fully planned on making pink Valentine's Day pancakes, but those plans changed.  Instead we picked up Jeremy from their airport first thing in the morning as he had been in Utah surprising his brother at the airport who just got home from his mission.  He really enjoyed his trip and he even surprised me with some pearl earrings for Valentine's Day.  They're so beautiful!  I thought that once we got home from dropping off Jer we could still do the pancakes, but then I realized I had a presidency meeting.  Unfortunately the girls just got pop-tarts for their breakfast at that point.  Sorry girls.  We went to the presidency meeting and they each came home with goodies from their friends.  I apparently wasn't that prepared.  But for lunch we did get PB & J heart-shaped sandwiches, so that was fun. 

While they were eating lunch I whipped up a batch of sugar cookies for Jeremy's office and we surprised Jeremy with a lunch-time visit.  The girls love seeing their dad at the office and I like the visits too (I even got another Valentine present from Jeremy this visit, some new CZ stud earrings).  This visit wasn't as pleasant as others for Cambrie since we decided to take out Cambrie's fake teeth.  The bands on her back teeth were really irritating her gums and we decided to make her a new set that fit a little better.  She screamed and cried and was not at all pleased with the pain.  But she got over that quickly enough once she decided that she looks really cute without any front teeth. 

Earlier that morning the girls had seen their real Valentine's Day presents waiting for them on the table.  After delivering more sugar cookies to some friends the girls FINALLY got to open them.  They got new matching PJ's, and have been wearing them every night since. 

When Jeremy got off work he surprised me with two more Valentine's Day jewelry gifts, some ruby earrings and a red stone necklace/earrings/ring set.  It was a day of pearls, gems, and sparkley things.  So much fun!  I got Jeremy a new ski coat that he had been eyeing at REI and he's actually started wearing a coat to work now!  So it must have been a success.  Normally on Valentine's Day Jeremy and I make our own truffles. Since he had to work late that tradition has been postponed until we can fully enjoy the chocolate experimenting process.  So while it was crazy and we weren't able to do all of the traditions we normally do, we still had a good time. 

Skiing girls

Thursday was another Rogers' family ski trip up at Eldora.  We decided that since McKenzie just sits at the bottom of the magic carpet watching us anyway, why not rent some skis for her and drag her along for the ride?  The plan would have worked perfectly if it hadn't been so windy.  The wind made it cold and McKenzie just didn't last long before she was freezing.  But before we pulled her inside the car to warm her up we went down the magic carpet four times.  I would lift her onto the magic carpet, she would stand for the ride up, then I put her between my legs as we cruised down the bunny hill.  She really thought it was fun and would have smiled had her face not been frozen, but she could still manage to cry.  She finally smiled again once her fingers, toes, and cheeks thawed. 

Cambrie on the other hand toughed it out and braved the cold to tackle...the chair lift! 

We borrowed our neighbor's harness for her and it made all the difference in the world.  I could use it to pick her up so she could sit on the chair and again when we got off so she wouldn't fall down.  I wasn't sure how much control she was going to have since this was her first time not being supported by Jeremy or myself, but I was pleasantly surprised.  The harness had two straps that I could hold from behind to help her turn in desperate circumstances, or pull her back to slow her down.  The biggest trick I had at the beginning was not pulling on the harness too hard as that pulled her backwards.  We had a lot of practice standing up that first run.  Later as Cambrie got faster, my challenge was not running into her with my skis....yes...I did that a couple of times. 

She loved going through the Fun Gully which was a small trail that had cardboard animals along the edges and a tunnel you could go through. 

Jeremy and I alternated back and forth watching McKenzie and taking Cambrie up.  It made it soooo nice that our car was just at the bottom of the lift.  Easy up, easy down.

I couldn't believe it when I looked at my watch and it was 3:30 and time to go.  I was exhausted but Cambrie could have kept going.  She was so proud of herself that she learned how to go on the chair lift.  I was proud of her too.  I had so much fun skiing with my girls!

9 degrees

Today I woke up at 5:00 AM to go run 14 miles....It was 9 degrees and snowing....The roads were very slippery and you couldn't even climb the hills....We had to dodge snowplows....I kept having to scrape ice crystals off my eyelashes....My bandanna I use to cover my mouth froze completely....And the best part was that there were 15 other crazy runners there with me!  Love it!

30 years old, really?!

30 years old, can you believe it?  Jeremy turned 30 years old this year.  That's one of those milestones that makes you think...hmm...we're actually getting older each year aren't we?  Not just the girls.  He doesn't really care for large celebrations, so we kept it low key.  Jeremy and I went out to dinner at Texas de Brazil a couple of days before, and I have to say...yummy!  It's one of those all-you-can-eat meat-off-the-skewer type places, and the food did not disappoint.  The salad bar was divine and the cheesecake for dessert...oh ya, delicious! 

For our family party we had to start by making Jeremy's cake.  I saw these LEGO cakes on Pinterest and decided to give it a shot.  (why the rotation?  I've never had this problem before..oh well).

About that same time Jeremy informed me that his favorite cake is black forest.  How come I didn't know that before?  The trick with making a black forest cake in the shape of a LEGO is that you are supposed to use cool whip for the frosting and I didn't think it would hold it's form well enough.  The other trick to using cool whip is that I wanted to color the frosting bright vibrant LEGO colors, and the cool whip didn't take it too well.  Just adding a little food coloring dramatically changes the flavor, and not in a good way.  Cambrie and I were testing the red frosting when we discovered that.  We both started gagging and trying to get the bitter taste off our tongues.  After our taste buds finally calmed down we looked in the mirror and realized that the frosting had turned our tongues and teeth a very bright shade of pink.  That's when we decided to stick with white, and the yellow one was paler than expected.  But it was still tasty and Jeremy was very surprised. 

For some reason I couldn't find any candles, so Jeremy lit kabob sticks.  They were flaming at least! 

For his presents Cambrie wrapped up two of her toy dogs to give to him.  That was a surprise.  

He also got a shaving mirror, exciting but necessary, I know. 

A sweet Chuck Norris joke shirt. 

And the grand daddy of gifts, a ProSport Hero 2.  Now Jeremy can make all those crazy videos of flips, twists and turns on the ski hill and mountain biking trail.  He has loved it so far.  I failed to get a finale pictures of all his gifts at once, because he jumped to the computer immediately to begin playing with his new toy.  I would consider that a successful birthday.  Happy 30th Hun!    

Snow castle and snow princess

Oh ya, it's still winter!  The 60 degree weather has been toying with us this month; 60 degrees, then the next day is snow, the next day is 50 degrees, and the next day is snow.  But this snow storm is very different than the other flurries we've been having.  It has dumped about two feet of snow since last night and is still going strong.  This afternoon the storm took a little break so we decided to go out and play.  I found another snow suit for McKenzie since she has bad memories from her last one at the X-Games, and go figure, she was so much happier.  We pulled out our sand shovels and buckets and started building. 

I'm not nearly as talented at snow creations as my dear husband, but I did my best.  McKenzie and I made a snow castle. 

Then Cambrie and I made a snowman.  The accessories just make this snowman, wait, it's actually a tropical snow princess with a scarf.  She has the hula hair, tiara, and fleece scarf.  I love it.  Nice job accessorizing Cambrie!

Nutella, Lemonade and Spumoni

I have been so busy working on the blog book, that I haven't had a ton of time to work on the blog.  So here are a few pictures from this week that made me smile. 

Nutella fishy face.  We have been introduced to Nutella in this house, and I have to say that I like it!  McKenzie does too, and when she eats it her face gets messy.  But as a fishy face it doesn't look too bad. 

Cambrie's ideas always seem to get bigger and bigger.  Try to keep up with this project:  her butcher paper ran out so she wanted to use the roll.  She decided to make it into a flag pole.   Seven flags later she finally created something she was happy with.  It was a nice day so she wanted to sit on the porch and watch people walk by.  She decided maybe she should get them something to drink as they walk by.  I made her some lemonade, she pulled out a plate of crackers.  After sitting there for some time and being generally disappointed that there were no dog walkers out at that time, she decided she needed a sign to tell people why she was sitting outside.  She asked Jeremy to make her a sign with all the extra wood in the garage.  Jeremy goes outside and constructs a full-on lemonade stand.  It still needs to be painted...all of that out of an empty butcher paper roll.  Unfortunately she is going to have to wait to use that lemonade stand since today there is two-feet of fresh snow on the ground. 

And then while grocery shopping the other day I found Spumoni ice-cream.  It's been awhile since I've had Spumoni and I really love it.  After dinner we dished some up in our pretty sundae glasses and went to town.  Since my girls were happy I wanted to get a picture capturing this rare stress-free moment.  But can McKenzie really concentrate on smiling when her sister's smile is like this? 

I guess not :)