Snow from Awhile Ago

We had a hot day at the ballpark yesterday and it made me think of you all who just got snow this past week. So to show a little sister solidarity, (and because I never posted anything from my trip) I thought I'd share some pics of my winter snow experience. Reagan and I got our passports and went up north in January to the great frozen tundra of Edmonton, Canada to visit Aimee-lia and Justin and their little darlings. It was c-c-c-cold there, (somewhere in the minus twenties, I block it out after I hear the minus part) but perfectly cozy in the house and the mall and the aquarium and the yummy place we ate sandwiches, donuts and cocoa. 

We really weren't outside much, just to get into the car and back to the house mostly. (Most of the homes there don't have attached garages and some don't have garages at all. . . I don't get it.) Fortunately she and her cousin Zach had a great time playing together inside. Unfortunately, my picture of the two of them is blurry. I bundled Reagan up one afternoon to play in the snow for a little bit, a very little bit. We were maybe out there for ten minutes and then I took her little nose and cheeks back inside before they froze off; I've heard that can happen, though usually it's a different body part being referred to.  

Here's Reagan with all her babies. The cousins, Kara and Kate, arrived just before Christmas and the baby dolls came on Christmas. Reagan was very attentive to the babies, especially making sure they had their pacifiers. She knows the joy that comes from one of those. Isn't it funny how the babies and the dolls are each dressed in green and pink? We didn't stage that, really. 

Me and the adorable armful. Twice as much to hold and love and change and feed, and since I am the auntie I only got to do the holding and loving and a little bit of the changing. So fun! 

Reagan adding a bit of color to the winter white. In about fifteen steps Reagan will make it to the back door on which hangs a plastic bag of full of dirty diapers frozen solid. Who needs a Diaper Genie when you've got the Diaper Abominable Snowman right outside your door. I just got a kick out of that. So glad we went, hope to make it back again sometime . . . during the Summer. :)

Snacktime

I unpeeled a banana this afternoon.

I noticed it had a little bruise and recalled the long drop it had suffered from my careless hands to the bottom of the grocery cart yesterday. 

I felt guilty. . . and a little sad.

Then I ate it. 

Tis the Season. . .

. . .to be ball-y. Cameron has started his rookie season in the Wildomar Little League. He's on the Padres, (inspite of all his Phillies gear. That's just because he is Roy's son.) and couldn't be more excited. The practices have been entertaining so far. Everyone runs wherever the ball goes. It looks a little more like soccer or football, but I'm sure they'll get it by the end of the season! Maddie is playing softball. She's loving the game, and the uniform. Maybe I'll post a picture sometime in the next six months!

Brenna's Brain

Brenna often entertains us with her thoughtful wisdom. 

"If we got a dog, I wouldn't name it Broccoli because if it ran away and we missed it I would say, "Mom, I want Broccoli" and then you would just give us broccoli."

But wait, there's more. . .

The other night we were watching television and there was a commercial on for the new iphone and this is what I heard:

Maddie: It seems like everything that is cool has an i in front of it, iphone, ipod, itunes. . . 

Brenna: . . .ihop.

You may have been wondering. . . but probably not.

Yup, we celebrated Christmas at our house too. Yeah, I know that was way back in 2008; did you wanna see the pictures or not?

I love this mess. It's filled with so much excitement, thought, anticipation, love and joy. There was some stress too, but that was easily wiped away with their smiles.

Our little darlings woke up quite early and quite excited. I felt like I had only been asleep for two hours, roughly, of course. So we sent them back to bed. Actually I think Daddy was jolly enough to go with them to the living room to see that indeed Santa had come and then it was back to the dancing sugar plums for everyone. Apparently, Cameron couldn't get the image of that giant wrapped present with his name on it out of his head. He told us later that when he went back to sleep he dreamed that two elves jumped out of it. He didn't seem disappointed though that it was a new big bike instead of a pair of Santa's helpers. (Although the elves might have been a good gift for me, if they can clean as well as they build.)

All of us in one shot. . . practically a Christmas miracle.