Whew!

The last week has been pretty crazy around here, and we apologize for our lack of blog entries. A quick recap:

• Christmas Eve day the girls and I were baking cookies when we heard a strange sound coming from upstairs. Turns out that Santa had made a quick stop to our house to deliver a gift for Cici -- a kitty named Peanut. We could only surmise that he needed to drop Peanut off a little early so Peanut wouldn't get too cold riding around in Santa's sleigh all night. Cici was thrilled to say the very, very least.
  
• Christmas Eve was spent here at our house with the S--- family, and we opened presents, played games, and enjoyed pork posole for dinner (go me!). It was a wonderful evening spent with people we love and the girls were over the moon with their new toys and kitty.
• Christmas morning the girlies were up around 6:30 to check out their loot from Santa and the grown-ups were right on their heels. We spent the morning lounging around and playing with the stuff from Santa, and then we were off to the airport.
• Some good friends who live in Arizona were en route to Chicago and had a lengthy layover in Minneapolis, so we spent some time with them in the warm and cozy Starbucks near baggage claim #4. Oh well, sometimes you just take what you can get.
• After that we scooted off to Grandma 2's house for the rest of the day and had a blast with the M---- family. Ruby caught some sort of bug and spent most of the day in Grandma's bed sleeping through Christmas, but Cici played games with her cousins and probably ate a lot more sugar than we realized. We also made our usual Christmas trip to my grandpa's grave where we said some prayers and sang a couple songs (in single digit weather no less). It's a special part of the day and a way to honor a man who was very important to me -- I think Cecilia has really come to enjoy this tradition, too (especially the part where she rides in the back of Uncle Ramon's truck on the way to the cemetery with all her big-kid cousins -- nevermind that this year Ramon was pulled over by the police...). Anyway, we gathered our gang and left around 9:30 with all four of us totally exhausted.
  
• We spent the next couple days recovering and putting the house back together -- a giant feat in and of itself. We still managed to have some friends over and the girls had a playdate and a nice time was had by all.
• On Sunday we took the girls to a giant water park to celebrate Auntie Sarah's birthday -- SO MUCH FUN! Cecilia was her usual brave self, and there were a couple of water slides that scared the grown-ups more than the 6-year old (I'm talking to you, JUDY!). She even attempted the surfing thing, and even though it didn't exactly work out, we were all very impressed that she tried. Here she is:

• The last couple of days have been dedicated to cleaning, purging, and organizing. Not much to report there, but it sure does feel good!
  
• Today we're preparing for our New Year's Eve celebration and our big lobster-fest! I'm sure we'll have pictures to share in the next few days.

Finally, thanks for reading the blog over the past year -- we've had so much fun writing and sharing the goings-on of our girls and we've already had fun going back and reading entries that we wrote months earlier. It's amazing how fast it all goes, and so easy to forget all the little moments that make parenting so stinkin' fun. Thanks for playing along with us. Happy New Year!

Gender-Identity Issues - Not Just For Animate Objects Anymore.

["Billy" is Ruby's doll.]

Dadam: Ruby, is Billy a boy or a girl?

Ruby [after thinking a moment]: Well, he's sort of like a girl.

The Love Affair Continues

Last night we went out for Vietnamese food so we could keep our kitchen clean and eat a meal that somebody else cooks (yay!). Cecilia has been a fan of pho (a delicious Vietnamese soup) for some time, but last night she decided to branch out and try something new. We started with fresh spring rolls (sort of like egg rolls but not fried and served cold). She ate her portion, then the rest of my portion, and then the rest of Ruby's portion. It came with a rather thick dipping sauce, so when the spring rolls were all gone she simply picked up her fork and started eating the sauce on its own. Then came some cream cheese wontons and, though I have some doubts about their authenticity in Vietnamese cuisine, they are a known family favorite. How can you go wrong with deep-fried cream cheese? And again, Cecilia ate her portion plus some of Ruby's and some of Dadam's (I can hold my own when it comes to fried food, thankyouverymuch). And then the entree that the ladies shared -- a chicken stir-fry with vegetables. And yet again, Cici ate more than both me and Ruby. Just like most people, Cecilia enjoys pizza and burgers and - more recently - tater tot hotdish, but it amuses me to no end how much my daughter likes Vietnamese food.

Grammar Lessons.

[Dadam is dropping Ruby off at daycare, and we see another kid's mother dropping him off at the same time.]

Ruby [looking at the mother]: Who's her?

Dadam: What?

Ruby: Who's her?

Dadam [correcting her]: "Who's she."

Ruby [very slowly, as if if speaking to a moron]: She's Elijah's mom.

SERIOUSLY, DO NOT TELL CICI ABOUT THE CAT!

Momlissa yelled at me when she saw that I had posted about this. Apparently she does not have faith that everyone who reads this blog can keep their mouths shut about the surprise. LET'S ALL PROVE HER WRONG, SHALL WE?

Cici's Christmas Present.

Shh - don't tell her.

A Happy Visit.

We recently had Christmas a bit early at our house, as my mom, dad, sister and brother-in-law came for a visit. As you can see from the bottom picture, the presence of my sister's family was a surprise for my parents. It was a really good time, and I think everyone got a bit spoiled - especially two bathrobe-loving elves I know.

Addendum To Previous Post.

I think the photo in the previous post needs a little more explanation. You really can't tell from the picture, but Cici told me she was fully aware that this Santa Claus was not the real Santa Claus.

The reason? The girls had just seen the real Santa Claus at an event a week earlier, and the real Santa Claus had a real beard.

That's how you can tell the difference between the genuine article and the fakes, don't y'know.

Face Time with the Big Man

These Are Not The Droids You're Looking For.

Lately Ruby has taken to climbing into our bed in the middle of the night (as well as to throwing tantrums, but that's a topic for another post). The other night I tucked both girls in, and Cici of course started snoring like a horse at once, but a few minutes later I heard Ruby thumping around upstairs and went to check on her. I found in the grownups' bedroom, of course, and this is what followed.

DADAM: Ruby, what are you doing?

RUBY: You told me I could sleep in here.

DADAM: No, I did not!

RUBY: Dad, Dad - listen. [She takes my hand and looks me straight in the eye.] You told me I could sleep in here.

Turkey Kielbasa

There hasn't been too much to report on the past several days -- we're just trying to keep up with our busy day-to-day life and get lots of stuff done in time for Christmas. The most exciting thing that's happened lately was a terrifying incident last weekend where Cecilia choked on a piece of turkey kielbasa, turned a horrific shade of red/purple, and I made my first-ever attempt at the Heimlich maneuver. Thankfully it only took one good thump on the back (as I positioned myself to perform the aforementioned maneuver) and the hunk of turkey kielbasa plopped onto the table. The whole thing only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to scare the bejeezus out of both mother and child. Not sure who cried harder afterwards -- Cecilia or me (it was me). Not sure we'll be eating turkey kielbasa again any time soon...

In other news, our (gorgeous!) tree is up and the house is more or less decorated, so we'll have pictures to post in the next day or two. Stay tuned...

Cecilia

Yesterday we took the girls to a little tree-lighting ceremony at a coffee shop in Minneapolis. Dadam was going to play the pipes and I brought the girls along because we knew Santa was also going to make an appearance. I told this to the girls in advance and Cecilia started working on a letter to Santa straight-away. She wrote quite the little card, and when I read what she had written I had to laugh at my beautiful daughter -- she hadn't asked for a single thing. No, my daughter wrote a letter to Santa asking if he could please say "Ho Ho Ho" loud enough for her (and her sister) to hear, because she's never heard him say it when he brings presents on Christmas Eve. What 6-year old writes a lengthy letter to Santa and never once asks for him to bring presents?!

Sometimes I just cannot believe how big and good her heart is.

Pink Eye

That's what Ruby has. In both eyes.

Ummm....YUCK.

She's being a real sport about it and doing a nice job with the eye drops, so hopefully it will be over in a matter of a few days. Seriously, though. This child gets EVERYTHING.