Sunny Day

Yesterday was awesome and sunny (though still cold :P), so it was a great opportunity to get some up-close pictures of the girlies!  I tried to do a photo shoot, too, but as usual it didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped! :)

(making a Daddy face!)

I kept trying to explain to Maya that she couldn't put her arms around Charlotte's neck...so Maya moved her arms to under Charlotte's arms, but put her *hands* under Charlotte's neck :P  Apparently I needed to be more clear in my explanation!

Best shot of the day.  Turns out Charlotte can't (won't?) smile on command :)  

How most of the day went

How Charlotte told me she was D-O-N-E-done

Cleaning up toys is serious business!

If you're wondering how I magically got her to clean up...let's just say that I'm not above bribery! :)

Snow, Painting, Popcorn

I suppose I only have myself to blame for this, but I *hate* the snow and the cold.  I know, I know, it's what you get when you live in NE Ohio.  But truly, I could live the rest of my life with no snow and be no sadder for it.  Unfortunately for my girlies, this means we don't get out much in the winter.  I mean, we go from house to garage to get in the car, and then run from the car to our destination...but we don't really go out to play.  I just hate being cold, really.  But, the other day Michael left before the bulk of the snow hit, and I knew that I had to shovel the driveway before I'd be able to leave for preschool drop-off (and believe me, I contemplated taking a day off from preschool! :)).  So I bundled the kiddos and we trekked outside.  You will notice that Maya is wearing a fancy coat and rain boots.  This is because her snowboots and ski coat were in Michael's car ~ 10 parenting points for me!

Turns out Maya did not get my hate of snow!  She played and played and would have stayed out there for WAY longer than the *maybe* 15 minutes it took for Charlotte to go from "Mommy I really don't like the snow" to complete-meltdown-I-will-fall-over-and-not-get-back-up.  So turns out Charlotte and I share the same distastes :P

The following picture pretty much sums up how they each felt about the whole situation:

Fortunately after preschool that day, we got to hang out with Sierra, Isaac, and "I love the snow more than life itself" Isabella.  Maya and Isabella gladly tromped through the waist deep snow, ate lots of snow, went down the snowy slide into a snowdrift, and basically stayed outside until Sierra and I forced them in!

*****

If you've been reading my blog for very long, you'll know that I'm, well, a bit of a freak when it comes to being messy.  Maya is very...um...artistic.  Do you remember this:

Or this?

Or this?

Maybe even this:

So you can understand my trepidation when it came time to paint the balloons we paper mached *before* Christmas.  But, I got tired of seeing them sitting there all alone and not colorful on the counter, so last night Michael and I took the plunge and set up the paints (which are stored high, high up) for the girlies.  Maya did surprisingly well!  I really was impressed with her!  Charlotte, too, was very into the whole painting thing.  Might have to do that more often!

Finally, Maya and Charlotte had their first experience making popcorn in the Whirly Popper for movie night on Saturday!  They both thought it was pretty fantastic (even though Charlotte didn't get to eat any!) and Maya has already requested to do it again.

Two more pictures.  Maya "on my way to ballet" :)

Charlotte being cute, trying to figure out the nesting barrels:

The Last Christmas Post (for 2010, anyway! :))

Ya, ya, I know it's 2011.  But *Christmas* was in 2010.  Our final trip for the holidays was to my dad's house, and we had a great time!  The girlies were spoiled with love, attention and gifts, and Michael and I were, too!  My dad and stepmom surprised me with an external flash for my camera which I am LOVING.  And my sister gave me a book about photography, which is awesome ~ and while I will admit that I haven't *read* a lot of the book, I am loving looking at the pictures (and will certainly get around to reading it at some point :D).  Fun times were had by all :D

Photo credit goes to Michael.  I think this picture could easily be featured in "Meat" magazine ;)

Maya was as excited for Charlotte's gifts as she was for her own! :)

I cannot easily explain the level of excitement Mary had upon receiving "The Shark".  FINALLY she will have clean bathroom floors.  Phew! 

As you can see, Eric was *thrilled* with his brand new Swim & Splash Mermaid Dora

Michael's favorite gift, though he is a little worried that the giraffe is going to come alive in the middle of the night like that creepy clown in the USPS commercial.

More dress-up clothes!  She wears this dress for several hours each day.

You can't tell easily here, but Maya is attempting to dress Charlotte like a princess, as well.

Fortunately Charlotte escaped.  That was a close one! :)