Disney on Ice

Never mind a post about all the craziness and fun around shopping for gifts and decorations for the house, preparing and mailing out Christmas cards, making little Christmas treats, preparing to host Christmas dinner, or the cute Joy School nativity play. Let's jump to what's most important here - well, because it was the most recent exciting event :-) And we'll post some Christmas-ey things soon. We took the girls to Disney on Ice last night!

Despite Molly’s anticipation of “Cim-bwella” coming and threatening at one point to be grumpy until she did show up (she didn't follow through on that threat, thank goodness)...and then her subsequent disappointment when the show was over and Cinderella HADN’T showed up, they really did have a great time and loved the show. We had awesome seats, so I attempted to take some pictures. None of them turned out great because obviously everyone was in major movement. But we did get a couple that are decent enough to include in the post. (Which was the main purpose in taking them, of course :-)

Before we went, we gave the girls a princess shirt to wear. They were thrilled and said, (to quote Elizabeth), "What a wonderful surprise!" Greg was teasing her earlier that day that they were going to wear their pajamas. Throughout the day, then, Elizabeth would ask me if they were really going to wear their pajamas. When I told her that they weren't and that Daddy was just teasing she would ask me, "What are we going to wear then?" I told her that she'd find out when Daddy got home. So the suspense had been building. And I think they have worn that shirt every opportunity they have had since then (this post has now been 2 days coming).


Molly wanted to touch the ice. We didn't give her permission, but we weren't paying attention for a split second (probably because I was taking this picture), and before we could pull her away, one of the security guys had already done so. Greg immediately said, "Ooooo, you're busted." He made the guy laugh and it was a light-hearted moment instead of one where we were embarrassed because we weren't watching our kid close enough to stop her before the act.

Tinkerbell came down from above and I loved the expression on Molly's face as she watched her.

The only segment that the girls weren't so familiar with was Lion King. But Cars, Ariel, Tinkerbell and Mickey Mouse and his crew definitely caught their attention and they were thrilled!

Walking back to the car on a very cold, wintry night.

Happy 1st Birthday Julia!

Our little Julia turned one on Thursday - my, does time fly! She sure doesn't seem big enough to be one year old or to be doing the things that she does. (See previous post, "Our baby isn't our baby anymore", on her latest development.) And as a little addendum to that post...right after I wrote about how cute it is when she points and how many things that she was getting into, I found her getting into the kid dish cupboard for the first time. When she realized I was taking a picture, she turned around and pointed to me (or probably the camera).

Anyways, see below for birthday pictures. We had a couple of mini present opening sessions when we visited with family over Thanksgiving. Then on the evening of her birthday we celebrated with a couple of presents from us and a pumpkin pie with a candle.



You can see that the sisters were overly anxious to help out!


Grandma Lassen gave Julia some dishes - a couple of bowls and a spoon and fork set. Although she liked the toy and books too, she took a particular interest in playing with the bowls. She was putting them on top of her head, which was the picture I was attempting to capture here. Almost.


Here we are, reading a cute book that my parents gave to Julia. Elizabeth and I were reading it together. The words were ones that she knew - like "zoo", "boo" & "moo".

On a separate note, if you're wondering where part 2 of the Christmas Tree post went...well, we haven't really finished part 2. We got the tree up, put the lights and ornaments on, and there are a couple of obstacles to finishing the project. First off, the tree is still crooked because we need another person to help us with it. Second, the ornaments barely filled half the tree since it is a significantly bigger tree than we've ever had. Then Greg left to go out-of-town. And I didn't have the gumption to take three little ones to the store this weekend to search for more ornaments. So...maybe we'll just spread the ornaments out. I mean, hey, the tree looks great from the outside looking in. It's not until you look at it inside that you notice how sparse the decorations are!

I'm also realizing that I mentioned I'd say something about Thanksgiving...we had a great Thanksgiving Day. We went to Greg's sister's house and enjoyed yummy food and good company. The girls always love to play with their cousins. Julia also opened up some fun presents, as you saw in the pix above. Greg had to work both the day before and after Thanksgiving - late/early and long hours. So Friday it was just us. Then on Saturday we went to my parents' house. I was able to go out for a super fun lunch with some good High School friends. I hadn't seen any of them for at least a year and a half! So it was a great reunion. Greg met us at my parents' house later - after working for a little while. Then Sunday after church my parents and my brother Matt and his wife, Laura, and son, David, came over. We had another present opening and had a nice time visiting with the family. And that was our fun weekend!

We have pix from the night of Julia's birthday, but I am going to post those separately and on another day since this is getting quite lengthy. Or, rather, I am tired of working on it and I'm ready to go to bed :-)

Christmas Tree - Part 1

Everybody bundled up for Christmas tree shopping



Getting warm inside while waiting for the Christmas tree. And petting the in-store kitty cat.


Yes, that is Greg making a face for the camera.


We have had a small artificial tree since we were first married. This year we decided it was time for something bigger. We explored the idea of buying a bigger artificial tree (pre-lit because putting on lights is Greg's least favorite part). But we finally decided to go buy the real thing. I have such great memories of having real Christmas trees in our house growing up. Picking one out was always fun too. First, Greg and I were both excited about the prospect of going to a Christmas tree farm and cutting one down. But in the interest of time, we ended up going to a local gardening store and buying a pre-cut one there. Despite the fact that it was so dark (not well-lit) and we couldn't see some of the trees very well, not to mention how freezing cold it was, we had a pretty successful trip. Our task tonight is to decorate. So that will be part 2. Yeah!

Thanksgiving P.S.
I didn't mean to completely skim over Thanksgiving. But I originally thought that we didn't have any pictures. Then I just now found some of Julia opening presents on a 2nd disc that we had been using that I had forgotten about. So that's next! (Later today/tomorrow because I've just finished taking advantage of a nice playtime where everyone got along for a considerable amount of time! Thanks girls! :-)

Our baby is not our baby anymore...

and I guess that's OK - considering we'll have another one in just two and a half short months. But it is just amazing to me how much Julia has grown and changed in the past two months. Not only developmentally, which I will talk about in a minute here, but her eyes have even changed color and she looks much different. When she was born - and for quite a few months - she didn't seem to resemble her sisters, or even Greg, so much. Many people said that she looked like a Perkins (my family). But once her eyes changed from a grayish-blue color to a brownish color, all of the sudden I started hearing comments that she looked just like her sisters or her Daddy.

Above is Julia "walking" with her little walker. I say "walking" because she is just starting to master this skill, so she does more standing with it than walking so far. But she loves it and I'm sure she will be walking on her own before we know it. She started crawling a little later than the other girls - at 10 months - but since then it seems there have been changes every week in her mobility. She can pull herself up onto anything now, as well as walk anywhere as long as she can hold onto something. She has a sudden interest in the stairs (yikes, how quickly we forget about this stage) and I have to be constantly on-guard now.

Just in the past few days she has started clapping and pointing. Her fingers are so petite and cute! She is showing more emotion, and is starting to show signs of toddlerhood. When she is upset that she can't do something or have something, she has been known to throw herself down on the floor (from her crawling position - so not too far :-) She is actually more mild-mannered than either of the other two at this age, but she's still #1 a girl and #2 approaching toddlerhood.

Finally, Julia is discovering that she can get into things. Oh joy. In addition to finding the toilet paper, she also did this today...


She emptied most of a box of Kleenex, then just left the big fluffy pile of Kleenex to go play with her toys. The fun of it for her was simply the process of pulling out the Kleenex. At least it was salvageable and not all torn up! Greg informed me that she did the same thing with the baby wipes yesterday. All of this said, Julia seems to be very cautious, just as Elizabeth was at this age. When she sees something new, her way of discovering it is to look at it for a few seconds, then touch it ever so lightly for another few seconds, and usually she is satisfied and moves on by then. We have loved every minute of this past year, having Julia with us. Her 1st birthday is on Thursday, so more on Julia later this week!

First snowfall

This is a little late coming, but sometime last week was our first real snowfall. (My days are blurred together - the girls have been sick and Greg was out-of-town a good part of last week :-) Anyways, the girls were thrilled and just wanted to wear boots and walk around it. Well, Molly wanted to eat it...

Overheard

"You are no fun when you're constipated."

I laughed out loud when I heard Greg say that to Molly this morning after she finally went to the bathroom. Without getting too detailed, potty training is going quite well...but Molly can hold things in for days. Before she finally goes, she is really really grumpy for a while. And after the fact she is so pleasant! I know in a few years she probably won't appreciate that I shared this with the world. But Greg's comment was just so funny I couldn't help myself.

Falling leaves

I love the beautiful, bright colors of the tree in our front yard! Yesterday, Greg and the girls went out to rake. And not necessarily because the whole yard was so, so full of leaves, but so they could have the fun of raking and making piles to jump in. The girls loved it!







I remember raking leaves as a family when I was little, and even though I'm sure it was pulling teeth for my parents to actually get us to help, I have fond memories of that type of work day. When Greg suggested a while back that we look into buying a leaf blower, I couldn't agree because I wanted to be able to create those same memories I had as a child. I'm all for some of the modern conveniences that make today's jobs easier (I'd love to have a snowblower), but the leaf blower wouldn't be one of them. There's nothing like a good old-fashioned rake :-)

The New President of the United States

Tuesday night I checked in early, so I wasn't able to find out final results of the election. The next morning I varied from our normal routine a bit. Instead of helping with breakfast right away, I came to the computer and asked Elizabeth to help herself and Molly get some cereal. (Greg was out-of-town.) I was on the computer for a few minutes, then proceeded to finish helping the girls get their breakfast. When I walked into the kitchen and started to help Molly said, "Mommy, you're a big helper." I said, "You girls are the big helpers. Thanks for getting your breakfast while Mommy checked the computer. I was checking to see who just became the new President of the United States." Molly immediately said, "Santa?" Obviously this was the first time we had talked anything remotely close to politics with them. And since I am pretty conservative, and the message of "hope" and "change" didn't really resonate with me considering Obama's very liberal voting record in the Senate, Santa is sounding like a really good choice to me right now :-)

Halloween!

On Thursday we had a fun Joy School Halloween Party. We invited lots of other kids, so there was a great turn out and everyone had a lot of fun. Above is Cinderella with a couple of her good little buddies - Tinkerbell and Jedi.


Greg stayed home with Julia while she napped and to my surprise they showed up to the party later - Julia all dressed up! William was admiring her little costume...or maybe just admiring her :-) (His mom and I think they'll make a cute couple someday.)

Bean bag toss and apple bobbing...





The kids did some fun crafts in addition to the bean bag toss and bobbing for apples, and just plain had fun playing outside in the beautiful weather. I wasn't surprised that Molly dipped her face right in for the apple bobbing. She didn't get the apple, but I thought she made a great effort! Elizabeth, on the other hand, decided that she didn't want to do it because, as she said, "There would be too many people looking at me, Mom." (This is a common fear of hers.)


Cinderella, Tinkerbell, Peter Pan, Ariel, and the little cheetah.


The weather was absolutely perfect for Trick or Treating! We had our friends come with us and the dads and kids had so much fun collecting candy throughout the neighborhood. I enjoyed passing out the little trinkets (play-doh, bouncy balls, bubbles, pop-up toys) and seeing all the kids get excited to get the toys. Afterwards we had a yummy dinner. It was quite the pleasant evening! (Except for that we missed you, Katie!)

The next morning we dumped out the pumpkins to look at the candy (as is our ritual now). The girls are very curious and like to look at all the different shapes and sizes of loot they collect - even though they don't desire to eat it. Dad collected a bag of candy to keep for later, and we packed up the rest to give away. The girls excitedly talked about the toy they were going to get in exchange for their candy. Then they set off to Costco with Dad to get their Princess and Pony set that we had previously decided would be THE Halloween toy. When they got home we were about to head back out the door to Greg's sister's house for the day, so they patiently kept the toys in their boxes until we arrived. The whole way, everytime Greg and I looked in the rearview mirror, the girls were just sitting there with the big boxes in their hands, their faces barely peeping over the top. Just waiting to open them. Their grandma, aunt, uncle, and cousins, were more than happy to join in the fun and help them open the toys. It was so much fun to watch. And I love how we have been able to create traditions that work better for us, that don't revolve around the food and candy.

Jack O' Lantern Fun and other happenings

We had fun a couple of weeks ago carving and coloring pumpkins. Julia decided that the pumpkin top tasted good...









One night we took some pictures while hanging out in Daddy's office - here are a couple of cute ones...




Molly, Julia, and I didn't make it to the Family Fall Festival at church on Saturday night because of a lovely flu bug going around the family, but Greg took Elizabeth and got a couple of photos of the pretty Cinderella. Apparently she turned into the grumpy Cinderella after a while...