Violet goes sledding

I’ve been asked a couple of times this week with our huge snowstorm, “Did you take Luke and Violet out to enjoy the snow?”  Let’s just say that a couple of feet of snow is just not much fun when you’re only 1 year old.  I mean, really, is this the face of someone who is enjoying themselves?

You can’t tell, but she is perched atop Livvie’s snow fort “with a real life tunnel to crawl through!”  Violet was the only twin that braved the elements for a sleigh ride.  Luke slept through the fun.  Violet wishes she was so lucky.  This was after Michael pulled her and Olivia up and down the street for awhile. 

Olivia did a great job of holding onto her sister while sledding.  We bought a big purple sled for just this purpose, but I really didn’t think it was going to see so much action so soon.  Usually, any meaningful sledding involves a trip to Mt. Hood.  Very thankful we bought sleds early this year.  We’ve learned the hard way that in Portland there’s a short window to buy sleds, mittens and children’s snow boots.

This might be considered a smile…..perhaps.

Sledding

Michael, Papster, and Olivia went sledding on Saturday.  Michael, Jen, and Olivia went sledding again on Sunday.  And then, Michael and Olivia went again on Monday!

This hill might not look steep from this angle, but it was perfect for us.  We were on the leeward side of Franklin school which meant we weren't blasted by the wind ("it's so blustery" says Olivia).  There was also a nice arc to the hill that kept us out of 52nd (well, most of the time it did). There wasn't much snow yet, but we got plenty more in the next couple of days.

 

The twins haven't been out in the snow since Winter Storm #1 (we're on #3, but #2 was such a bust it's hard to count it).  They have made some major milestones of their own this week.  Violet is now signing "out" back to us which makes all of the months of signing to them worth it.  Luke and Violet are also making major strides across the room.  They are both comfortable walking and have been really showing off for Grammy and Papster (except when they need to get somewhere fast).

Violet has figured out how to put the big blocks together and takes short breaks from dismantling them to actually do a little assembly. 

Weather drama

Poor Eliz was forced to drive up from San Francisco.  She missed a connection in Dallas and basically couldn't get another flight into Portland before Christmas.  She was able to get to SFO, spend the night at Schnerbs' house, and then drive up without a problem today.  Deb decided to wait it out in Arcada another day and hope for a break tomorrow.  Cat's flight into Portland is late Wed. and we are due for more snow Wed. morning.  We are only thinking positive weather thoughts.

Snowing in Portland!

It doesn't snow often in Portland and when it does it tends to cripple the city. So, it was a big surprise to wake up to a couple of inches of snow this morning! The city doesn't have any plows and state law doesn't allow salt to be used on the roads, but the biggest problem is the people who abandon their cars. We're not sure where the people go once they get out of their car in a snowstorm, we've just seen the empty cars on the highway.  They don't even pull over, they just abandon their cars in the lane.

It took about 45 minutes of prep to get snowsuits, shoes, jackets, and gloves located and on.  Violet lasted about 5 minutes once we got outside. She was not amused. In this photo, you can see how they both ditched the gloves pretty quick and no amount of conversation could change their minds. Neither Luke nor Violet liked walking in hard shoes, so they attempted to crawl on naked hands. Violet complained quickly, but Luke lasted a little longer because his hands slipped inside his jacket and he crawled around on his sleeves down the street. No walking. I guess we will have to wait till next year for snow angels in triplicate.

Livvie had fun, snowballs, snow angels, writing in the snow, playing chase. But she soon was too cold and retreated inside for hot chocolate. It's cold, real cold, about 10 degrees with the wind chill. We're out of practice with this kind of gusty, frozen weather.

Naturally, we didn't have enough milk and eggs. The lack of whole milk is quite a problem when 2 members of the household still get most of their calories from milk. The first snow storm of the year and we were flat-footed and under-prepared. At least we can claim Michael's "surgery" as out excuse for not preparing for the biggest (only) snow storm of the year! Lucky for us we're only a block from the store.

For the video fans, there is a little taste of our lovely snow day over at YouTube.

MudBowl

The annual MudBowl was held in the park between Amryn and Phoebe's house on Saturday.  We arrived late (typical) and didn't play in the game, but we had a great time with the girls.  Deb left the game at half-time to join us playing catch-ball.  Olivia is starting to make up new games and new rules.  Catch-ball's rules vary by day.

 

Amryn and Olivia took Violet for a "walk".  It was maybe a tad quick for poor Violet, but I think it was mostly enjoyable because of the attention from the older girls.  We hit the playground next.  Luke and Violet got to go for a swing.  You can see how ecstatic Luke was about the opportunity below.

Luke and Violet had to endure the chilly weather without an afternoon nap.  Violet does better at this than Luke.  It started to get cold as the sun set, but we got this nice family portrait almost by accident as it went down.  Another beautiful day in Oregon!

 

Festival of Trees

The Festival of Trees at the convention center was not quite what we had in mind, but the kids didn't seem to notice. They had model trains, a craft area, face painting, Santa pictures, very amateur singing and dancing (and baton twirling!), an ambulance (the event was sponsored by a health system - not Legacy, the OTHER health system), and a teddy bear hospital. Teddy Bear hospital was the favorite. This picture belies how crowded in there it was. 

Michael rescued the twins from the chaos of patiently waiting to bandage, mask, and prepare for surgery Olivia's newest best friend, Harry (his name was later changed to Rudolph for seasonal reasons). Poor little guy was covered head-to-toe in bandages and band-aids by the end. While Livvie enjoyed all the kiddie events with her cousins, friends and Aunt Deb, the twins spent much of their time crawling around in the corner of the room or ruthlessly pulling their parents hair whilst being carried on shoulders. Goldfish, a couple bottles of milk, a chance to get out and walk around, staying out well past their "normal" bedtime - actually, it was a banner night for them. I'm not sure what I'm complaining about. We met a bunch of friends there and every single kid had a great time at this event, it's worth the four bucks.

Ok, Olivia wasn't really happy at this moment in time, but the girl was just told that she had to leave this magical wonderland. You'd be grumpy, too. Even if you had a lovely commemorative snowman on your cheek.

Some days things work out really well with the twins. After staying up that night for the Festival of Trees, the twins slept in until 9am the next morning.  They were awake by 8am actually, but they hang out in the crib talking to each other softly.  It is really sweet to lay in bed and listen to them, there are worse ways to wake up.  We went in to get them when Olivia hopped out of bed and came upstairs to briefly snuggle and then harass us out of bed.

Zoo Lights

We took the entire crew to Zoo Lights tonight.  Mark, Ceyriss, and Amryn met us at the zoo along with Claire, John, and Phoebe.  That was in addition to our 5 plus Nana and Papa.  Big crew.

We had a beautiful night for the lights.  Dry, cool (but, not cold), dark, with a cool spooky moon.  We arrived early (tip: if you plan to go, go early; parking was a mess as we left).

There aren't many animals out and about at the zoo during Zoo Lights, but we did get to see the tigers.  They were out wandering around and playing which is big change from their usual sloth-like behavior during the day.  We also had another treat, seeing the new baby elephant.

Livvie's favorites were the gingerbread house and the little submarine inside the rotating fish pond (we have no pictures of these things, though).  She spent a lot of time looking for the peacock and we finally had to explain (again) that the peacock doesn't live at the zoo anymore (it wasn't being very nice to the children, story here).  We did spot the peacock in lights, actually two peacocks in lights.

The twins enjoyed themselves and were exhausted by the end.  They chose to skip the second nap today, but stayed awake for the entire trip by eating goldfish and pretzels the whole time.

Olivia's room

Oops, I think it's time for Olivia to get a haircut!

Luke and Violet like to get on to Livvie's bed and bounce (no doubt emulating what they see her doing).  The bedrail that Luke is holding onto is remarkably strong (and thoroughly tested). 

We're not out of the small objects in the mouth stage yet.  Violet has been caught a couple of times this week with Olivia's jewels (small plastic irregularly shaped objects) in her mouth.  Olivia has been incredible about not leaving anything small where they can reach it.  Both times this week, the jewels  showed up in her mouth after we had other kids come over and play in her room.

Livvie has been warned about the jewels and other small objects (i.e., Polly Pocket anything) and how they will become "ours" if we find them on the floor.  Once they are ours, we leave them on the counter and she has never tried to take them back.  After a couple of days, we usually get a very polite, "is it time for the crown (or whatever object was taken) to be mine again?"  Naturally, we've forgotten the item was even present by this time.

The Twins' 1st Birthday

Luke and Violet enjoyed their 1st birthday celebration yesterday.  We waited for this special day to introduce them to chocolate.  Jen made banana cake with dark chocolate buttercream frosting from scratch, and it was a big hit. Here's the before shot...

Violet got a little more excited about the chocolate.  The texture was just right to smear into the hair.  Perfect.  Bath time!  Despite the fact that they each had huge pieces, they felt compelled to steal cake from each other.  Ah, siblings.  Needless to say, the post-cake-sugar-high was something to behold.

There's a little more of this on YouTube.

 

We'll slowly start adding some more goodies to their diet over the next couple of weeks: whole milk, cheese, butter (technically, not new to them), eggs and berries.

Naturally, the wrapping paper was the favorite new toy.

The paper or the boxes...

 

Luke put on a show with their new walk-behind toy.  Thanks Grammy and Papster!

Too much Love?

More videos today.  Livvie loves the twins.  Here's a little example of just how much she loves to hold Violet.

 

You can catch a glimpse of the cut Luke gave himself on the nose below.  Well, maybe he gave it to himself.  It's hard to tell.  There's lots of yelling that goes on upstairs when they go to bed and we let them work most it out on their own.  You've got to stay on top of those fingernails, they grow fast.

Barriers don't work very well with the twins now (Violet is climbing over one below).  They attempt to climb everything and are getting pretty good at it.  They are both getting more demanding about being picked up and held, too.  I guess the view is just better from above.

They are both actively trying to figure out how to go down stairs.  Up is easy, but the technique is trickier in reverse.  Violet tries to finesse her way down, Luke likes to lead with his head.

Finally, here's a short video of Luke's dismount from the couch.  Violet had a similar smooth exit earlier in the day (not caught on video) when Jen let her play on the couch and got distracted. 

Serendipity

We've been having a good time dancing around the house with the kids for the last couple of days.  It started with an odd rock band, with a lead singer from Ukraine, called Gogol Bordello.  They sing a song called Start Wearing Purple (click to hear the song online) that is kind of catchy and the kids enjoy the accordion (who doesn't - Michael also has a soft spot for nacrocorridos, but we're not talking about that right now). 

Completely unrelated, we put a movie called Everything Is Illuminated about a Jewish kid's (very rigid) search for a woman that saved his grandfather during WWII.  It turns out that one of the main characters is actually the Ukrainian lead singer and the purple song makes an appearance during the closing credits. 

The movie is premium (You have to see it get the two inside jokes in this post).  We'd definitely recommend it, but it does mix crazy and weird with a darker side at the end.  The back story of the grandfather is a little thin and apparently explained a little better in the book.  Alex (this lead singer guy) is such a funny character in the movie that it's hard to imagine some of that in print.  It's worth seeing.  You never know what can happen with a Netflix queue!

Movie Night

Last night was movie night at Rich and Erika's.  Yes, cheesesticks and popcorn were basically what all of the kids ate for dinner.  We've given up trying to enforce proper nutrition during playdates, it doesn't work.

The kids watched The Sword in the Stone and then Shrek the Third.  We've been hearing all about what Shrek did all day today.

The end of night is always hard.  Livvie typically breaks down with inconsolable weeping when we leave tell her it's after midnight and the party's over.  Karsten ended the night upright and asleep on the couch with the movie-music blaring.  That's a kid who knows how to party right there.

 

Luke and Violet went to bed without any fuss at 8 o'clock and let us enjoy adult time.  They are great about sleeping while we're out as long as we put them in two separate pack n' plays.  At home they sleep together at night, but most naps are done separately now (one up and one down).  The pack n' plays are smaller and there's just too much mauling that occurs in close-quarters.

I know there are some kids that wake up at 6am, but all three of ours slept-in until 9am for us.  Wahoo!

Entropy

Olivia loves putting things together: puzzles, dresses on dolls, home-made bears (ha! another story later about that one).  She's been doing that sort of stuff for so long that I forgot about this whole disassembling phase that the twins are currently in. 

With the twins, towers must be immediately demolished, toys must be removed from all containers, and the air table is very popular for the two minutes it takes to rip all of the pieces off of it.  I know it's just how they learn, but it gets a little old picking up the same toys every night.  I wish I could remember when they switch and start trying to put things together.

It's hard to begrudge the cleaning up too much.  Every day they wake up surprised to find everything put back together (usually in a different spot).  It's like Christmas everyday!  In fact, this is roughly what their Christmas will look like this year.  We'll wrap up some of their existing toys and admire how well they play with the wrapping paper.

Meanwhile, Olivia is reaching new creative heights.  She has gotten pretty good at using each of the cameras.  Despite nearly destroying Michael's noise-canceling travel headphones (not bitter, no, not at all), she has never damaged any of the cameras and we (correction, Michael, not Jen) even trust her with the big SLR now.  She was sitting and taking the picture of Violet above and liked the way that her dress looked, so she snapped this abstract little gem (ok, to be fair, she snapped about 10 of these, but it's digital).

The Salad Days

The salad days of child-rearing are upon us as Luke and Violet are nearing mastery of the snack trap; here pictured filled with mini-goldfish and attendant Beagle.  This marks the start of them feeding themselves.

 

Luke is the current odds-on favorite to start walking first.  He can successfully stand un-aided and did a no-handed power squat today. Violet walks well with arms raised and hands clasped firmly on your fingers, but she doesn't like the repeated forced-attempts at walking one-handed.  Violet remains the champion climber with several impressive displays up the stairs this week.  It'll be nice to get their hands off the floor since they find every piece of dirt that Sadie brings into the house.  Housekeeping has never been a favorite of ours.

Michael just picked up two new snow sleds for this season.  We went looking late in the season last year and missed the short window in Portland for buying sleds (this window also applies to children's snow apparel, particularly mittens).  We've got some nice ones now and are just in a waiting game with the snow.  In the meantime, Livvie likes pulling Violet around the kitchen and living room.  Luke and Violet together on the sled are a little too heavy, though.  As always, Livvie's dressed as a princess, today it's Ariel.

Halloween

Here's the merry band before the mass candy grab began. Olivia is dressed as Ariel (with Ariel necklace in case anyone asks for a trick, ahh-ahh-ahh ahh-ahh-ahh-a-ahh), Stella is the Jaguar, Kieran is Wolverine (an X-man, not a member of the Fantastic Four!), and Aiden is the Ninja Turtle.

A big part of the fun for the adult escorts was watching Olivia sprint from house to house in heels while holding her just-slightly-too-long skirt with one hand and candy bucket with the other.  She never missed a beat while running across lawns, through flower beds, and mostly on the pavement from house to house. 

We had an amazing night for running around outside.  We sprinted the block at Kieran and Aiden's and headed to Kim and Matt's house before all of the good Alameda Ridge candy was gone.

Poor Violet really looked like a fish out water.  I've got a short video of the poor thing enjoying every moment in this costume.  She was a trooper and didn't try to pull this off too many times.  The stroller ride kept them pretty mellow trying to figure out exactly what was going on with the yelling and the running from the bigger kids.

Luke was dressed like his parents were loyal members of the GOP (that's an elephant costume), which we really didn't see coming until the last minute.  This was coupled with the fact that Jen had a McCain/Palin t-shirt on for the her costume (Ashley Todd).  We really didn't imagine that the B on her cheek could be so easily be missed.  In dim light, she wound up with a costume that just looked like a McCain/Palin supporter in the wrong neighborhood. The t-shirt was a custom job done with fabric paint, so no money was donated to the McCain/Palin ticket.

Michael and Jen both avoided their own camera in their costumes.  Jen's absence is perhaps understandable, you don't want to have to explain a McCain/Palin photo taken out of context years from now.  Michael went as Carbon Footprints which he picked up at the last minute from the guy at the emissions testing center (thank you, DEQ guy).  A quick trip to the Art store for fabric paint and stencils and poof, instant costumes.  The costumes took about an hour to prepare, thanks to some great October weather.

There's definitely some sort of perspective thing happening in this next photo.  Kieran is not quite that much larger than Livvie.  Their costumes kept them warm. The temperature dipped a bit, but that just made it perfect for running around in polyester outfits.

Livvie had a great time at Matt and Kim's.  They ventured out to a couple of houses on the ridge, the one on the left is a gigantic gothic mansion that was super spooky.  Liv couldn't really handle the severed arm on the ground.  She wanted to touch it, but just couldn't bring herself to do it.  It was a little over-the-top, so one can hardly blame the poor princess.

Jacks-O-Lantern

We carved our pumpkins tonight.  Liv drew 3 practice designs and settled on this smiling, toothy version with ears. 

These are actually new pumpkins.  You may remember our trip to the Pumpkin Patch.  Yeah, those pumpkins are now rotten.  So much for going early. 

The twins did not participate.  They had a busy day and didn't nap well, so early to bed.

Livvie let me etch one of the pumpkins.  The etching was done with a church key, which is not as hard as it might sound.  As fun as the church key was, I'd probably buy a couple of wood carving tools before attempting this again.  There's also a ghost on the side that's a little tough to see in these photos. Liv did a little etching, but it was hard and she lost interest quickly.

This is an slightly underexposed shot, but I think it looks a little spookier with a green glow.

The carved pumpkin has a little trouble with airflow and getting enough air to keep the votives at full strength.  An important lesson learned.