Leia started getting an allowance last week, and she is so proud now to be carrying around her wallet and having money to spend. She really wants stuff, but she also really wants to hoard her money, so it's a very tough decision. When we stopped for an ice cream treat after our ski day at Northstar, she walked through the whole store checking everything out before deciding to stick with the original ice cream. She actually really wanted to buy the box of bandaids, which wasn't a bad idea since she and Arwyn are the ones that always waste them anyway, but I felt bad about that because I knew they would be really over priced for what they were getting compared to at the drugstore. Unfortunately there was only one flavor of ice cream that they could afford, but luckily they both ended up liking it (lemon sorbet). Leia cracks me up with her one liners all the time, and this week was no different. Leia is always racing Arwyn, which is really not a fair race given their age difference, and it creates a lot of jealousy and bickering between them, so I'm constantly trying to discourage the competition. But Leia mostly just ignores me, and keeps right on racing Arwyn and winning. Then one day this week, when we were walking into school and I was struggling with carrying all their crap, Arwyn, for once, decided to race Leia (she learns everything from the master). Out of the blue, Leia had just decided to help me carry one thing, which she rarely ever does, and so when Arwyn started racing, Leia calls out, "Googie, it's not about winning, it's about helping!" She decided to help me for the first time ever, and all of a sudden she's lecturing on good morals? Go figure. I'm pretty sure she only said it because she knew she was going to lose! We've been trying to get the girls to watch the Olympics this week. Mostly they are annoyed that it means they can't watch their shows, but once they actually start watching, they think it's pretty cool, especially the skiing and ice skating. Leia's favorite part of the Olympics was when Bryce Bennett came through the finish of the DH training run and yelled out, "Dude, it's like butter!" Leia had her first time skiing through a real race course this week when we went to see Daddy over at Northstar. It was a pretty steep and a little bit ice GS course, and she was definitely scared, but she didn't give up, and did a great job skiing all the way down! You could definitely see her face brimming with pride after that, and exhaustion! Leia and Arwyn love to play "Family" together. Usually Leia is the mom and Arwyn is the child, but sometimes they switch it up. But the mom always calls her child "son." This week I noticed that while Arwyn was her son, she had a girls name and did girl things. I finally asked Leia if her child was a boy or a girl, and she said girl. I tried to explain that a girl child is called a daughter, she seemed to hear me, and then two seconds later she went back to calling her "son" again. Too funny!
Arwyn's favorite activity at school is their weekly trip to the library for story time. She's been asking me to take her to the library for awhile now, but we just haven't found the time. Finally this week I made time, and Arwyn was so excited. Both girls had a blast, we read a book together, and they ended up checking out 5 books and 2 DVD's! Then we went to the museum, and Arwyn did such a good job of playing with Leia this week, which was very fortunate since I was a solo parent. But it's funny because I noticed that Arwyn is developing a sense of fear that she didn't really have before. She has always loved climbing, and the heights never bothered her, but when she was climbing her favorite corkscrew at the museum, all of a sudden she was scared and really wanted my help. She's done it alone with no fear a million times, so it was weird to see the change today. It's the same at skiing too; she always wants to be held now rather than being alone on her leash. As I've mentioned before, Arwyn's bedtime stall tactic is to say she wants to tell me something, even though she doesn't have anything to say. This night was no exception, but what she finally came up with was so great: "I...I...I...I...I had fun at the library and museum wit you, Mommy." "I did too Arwyn. And that's the same thing I was just about to say!" So funny that we were thinking so alike at that moment, especially since she doesn't normally choose to say that kind of stuff for her last words. Arwyn is starting to have some days where she insists on silly clothes combinations like her big sister...Lord help us! Luckily we can still trick her into clothes of our choice most days. We had a fun ski day at Northstar, but of course Arwyn was really tired by the time we actually got on the hill. And she was really scared to be on the leash even though it was a pretty flat run. Finally we got her laughing, and then everything was alright. And she sure was proud to have overcome her fear and skied down successfully. Everything with the girls has to be exactly the same or it's a huge fight, no matter what, so I made sure to start giving Arwyn an allowance too. She is really excited to be spending money on stuff just like her big sister. When we got the girls to watch the Olympics, Arwyn definitely got fired up about it, and decided, "I want to ski on that course at the Olympics!" So cute, and it sure made Dad happy! Arwyn is full on in the "watch me" phase of toddlerhood, and even in the car she's constantly doing silly little things that she wants me to watch. I finally had to tell her that I can't keep turning my head, it's not safe, but I can listen to her when we are in the car. Next thing I know, the whole car ride home was a nonstop barrage of "Listen to me again, ok Mom? Listen to me again." Arwyn cracked me up so hard one day this week. Leia had some sort of exciting moment happen to her, and yelled out, "Hallelujah!" Without missing a beat, Arwyn pipes in, "Hi-ya-yu-ya! I know her, she's my friend!"
Mom Chronicles:
Josh left for another trip this week, and I made the rather ill-timed decision to start enforcing some new rules around the house. It definitely caused a lot of backlash, and made for a really tough week for me. One night, Leia decided she didn't want to eat what I had made for dinner, fought with me about making something else, and took off in protest: "C'mon Arwyn. Let's get out of here!" Arwyn definitely would have eaten the dinner without the influence of Leia (and realistically it was a dinner Leia normally likes, just not what she wanted this night), but of course she went along with Leia for the ride. Unfortunately they got into a fight shortly after, which cause Arwyn to accidentally pee on the floor. After I cleaned it up, I left the bottle of cleaning solution on the floor while I went to put the soiled linen in the laundry, and next thing I know, Leia has sprayed out the rest of the cleaning solution all over the floor, laid out strips of toilet paper all over it, and then completely disappeared. After getting all pissed and yelling at the air because I can't find her anywhere, I clean up the mess and get back to trying to eat dinner, yelling at everyone that dinner ends in 5 minutes. Next thing I know, Arwyn is telling me that Leia has done something else, and I see that she's gotten more toilet paper out and tee-pee'd the staircase! Grrr! Finally she appears, and I'm able to talk to her a bit. I ask her why she's done this stuff, and she tells me, "I was mad at you, so I set a trap for you." Oh, this was a trap! Ha! I chuckled on the inside, but explained that maybe it would have been better to talk to me about why she was mad, rather than setting a trap. Then I notified them that as I had warned, dinner was now over, and it was time for bed. Oh the screaming and crying. Now they wanted to eat. Now the meal sounded ok. Now I am racing them back downstairs to scoop up the dinner plates and place them out of reach! "Sorry, I told you it was dinner, I sat here and waited for 40 minutes, and I gave you several warnings that dinner was going to end. Now it's too late. Next time you'll make a better decision." Next thing I know, I'm standing in the bathroom trying to get them to brush their teeth, and Leia is throwing that money she can't bear to part with at me, saying "Please, I'll pay you to let me eat dinner!" Oh the irony. I thought I finally had them calmed down and in the room ready to read a book, but then Arwyn is still so distraught that she can't eat dinner, that she runs back down to the table, and sits there crying at her seat, missing the entire book. And can you guess what happened next? Yep, then she got upset that she made a bad decision about missing the book. Oh my god! And did I mention I'm ready to bang my head against a brick wall by now?
This was the second hard night in a row for Arwyn and I (or maybe 4th?, every night seems to be hard for her these days), because the night before I put my foot down about nagging and begging to get the teeth brushed. It was Valentines Day, and they were already being difficult because they were so cracked out on sugar, and then, like every night, she wasn't cooperating with the brushing. I told her if she didn't open her mouth and cooperate on the count of 5, no treats the next morning. She tested me, refused, and I said that's it, no treats. Oh boy, that was like the end of her world. She was sorry, she was ready to cooperate now, she wanted to brush her teeth after all. I said sorry, it's too late, next time you do it the first time I ask you. You made a bad decision, but I know you won't do that again tomorrow. And guess what, she didn't, at least not about brushing her teeth. She made bad decisions about eating dinner and reading books instead. She'll learn.
The last Mom Chronicle of the week is the hell that is learning about allowance. Leia wanted to spend her money on a drink after ski class this week, but by the time we figured out that she didn't want to go to school after skiing, we were already at the car. We started to go back into the lodge, but the girls started fighting, and was not going to tolerate that, so into the car I plopped them, and home we went. But before I even got out of the parking lot, I wavered, and right then and there my battle for the day was lost. Long story long, they convinced me to stop at 7-11 so they could still buy their drinks. But as soon as we got inside, they couldn't believe their eyes at all the wonders that were tempting them to buy. They didn't even make it to the drinks or candy aisle; they went right down the household aisle, and wanted to buy everything from engine oil to cleaning products, and everything in between. I tried to steer them to the drinks, but then the valentines display caught Leia's eye, and she HAD to have a new valentine bear lovey. When I told her she didn't have $5, all hell broke lose AGAIN. In the end we agreed to go home, count all her money, and come back after nap if she had enough. She tried to line up 5 nickels and tell me she did indeed have $5, and when I broke the bad news, she was totally freaking out. I'm not even sure how I finally got them both to bed, but when Leia woke up, she picked up right where she left off, crankier than ever. Oh the abuse I took. She hit me, she pulled and stretched my clothes trying to drag me somewhere, she tried to steal my wallet and my ski pants cash, and made my life hell for a good 20 minutes, not actually wanting to do any real work to earn more money, pissed that I wouldn't give her an early allowance for next week, and distraught that she couldn't find enough money laying around the house. Finally I'd had enough of the abuse and just asked her if she'd bothered to check all her piggy banks. Well no, she hadn't. Low and behold, Darth Vader was totally loaded! "I love you Darth Vader, I love you Darth Vader. See Mom, we don't have to work for money, we just have to look harder around this house!" So much for that lesson on money! So the next thing you know, we are back at 7-11, and no, the story doesn't end here. Leia gets her valentines bear, and decided she wants the drink too (because like I said, Darth Vader was loaded, the kid's got cash now. Or change, to be exact). Now it's 5 o'clock at 7-11, and everyone stops by at this time on their way home from work, so it's kinda busy. And there we are counting out $6.64 in pennies, nickels, quarters, dimes, and 1 dollar bill. They actually had to open a second cash register! Finally we finish, and the lady is a little shocked that we've just given her all this change. But she goes with it. Now it's Arwyn's turn. She wanted Chewy Chip Ahoy Cookies. They are $1.50, which is just about all she has. When we put it up on the counter the lady says, "You know, this is on sale, 2 for $2." I just froze, and my heart sank to the floor. Because the penny saver in me knew this was a good deal, but this wasn't my money, and Arwyn didn't really even know what's going on. Finally I just tell her that I didn't think Arwyn had enough money, and she says to me, "Come on, won't you just cover it for her?" "No, they have to pay for treats with their own money if they want it." "Wow," she said, "that's great that they are learning money lessons at such a young age." Of course, as soon as I opened Arwyn purse, the lady blurts out, "See, she does have enough!" So I bought the 2 bags, and was so disappointed in myself. But then we realized that it was a good thing after all. Arwyn was going to have to pay Leia for half of her drink that they had planned to share, so now Arwyn just gave Leia the extra bag of cookies instead. Now they both had cookies, they both had drinks, Leia got her lovey, and everyone was happy. And I was ready to collapse into bed, but of course couldn't for many more hours!
Leia's first time skiing down a real GS race course!
Love the live action laughing shots.
Arwyn's favorite activity at school is their weekly trip to the library for story time. She's been asking me to take her to the library for awhile now, but we just haven't found the time. Finally this week I made time, and Arwyn was so excited. Both girls had a blast, we read a book together, and they ended up checking out 5 books and 2 DVD's! Then we went to the museum, and Arwyn did such a good job of playing with Leia this week, which was very fortunate since I was a solo parent. But it's funny because I noticed that Arwyn is developing a sense of fear that she didn't really have before. She has always loved climbing, and the heights never bothered her, but when she was climbing her favorite corkscrew at the museum, all of a sudden she was scared and really wanted my help. She's done it alone with no fear a million times, so it was weird to see the change today. It's the same at skiing too; she always wants to be held now rather than being alone on her leash. As I've mentioned before, Arwyn's bedtime stall tactic is to say she wants to tell me something, even though she doesn't have anything to say. This night was no exception, but what she finally came up with was so great: "I...I...I...I...I had fun at the library and museum wit you, Mommy." "I did too Arwyn. And that's the same thing I was just about to say!" So funny that we were thinking so alike at that moment, especially since she doesn't normally choose to say that kind of stuff for her last words. Arwyn is starting to have some days where she insists on silly clothes combinations like her big sister...Lord help us! Luckily we can still trick her into clothes of our choice most days. We had a fun ski day at Northstar, but of course Arwyn was really tired by the time we actually got on the hill. And she was really scared to be on the leash even though it was a pretty flat run. Finally we got her laughing, and then everything was alright. And she sure was proud to have overcome her fear and skied down successfully. Everything with the girls has to be exactly the same or it's a huge fight, no matter what, so I made sure to start giving Arwyn an allowance too. She is really excited to be spending money on stuff just like her big sister. When we got the girls to watch the Olympics, Arwyn definitely got fired up about it, and decided, "I want to ski on that course at the Olympics!" So cute, and it sure made Dad happy! Arwyn is full on in the "watch me" phase of toddlerhood, and even in the car she's constantly doing silly little things that she wants me to watch. I finally had to tell her that I can't keep turning my head, it's not safe, but I can listen to her when we are in the car. Next thing I know, the whole car ride home was a nonstop barrage of "Listen to me again, ok Mom? Listen to me again." Arwyn cracked me up so hard one day this week. Leia had some sort of exciting moment happen to her, and yelled out, "Hallelujah!" Without missing a beat, Arwyn pipes in, "Hi-ya-yu-ya! I know her, she's my friend!"
Mom Chronicles:
Josh left for another trip this week, and I made the rather ill-timed decision to start enforcing some new rules around the house. It definitely caused a lot of backlash, and made for a really tough week for me. One night, Leia decided she didn't want to eat what I had made for dinner, fought with me about making something else, and took off in protest: "C'mon Arwyn. Let's get out of here!" Arwyn definitely would have eaten the dinner without the influence of Leia (and realistically it was a dinner Leia normally likes, just not what she wanted this night), but of course she went along with Leia for the ride. Unfortunately they got into a fight shortly after, which cause Arwyn to accidentally pee on the floor. After I cleaned it up, I left the bottle of cleaning solution on the floor while I went to put the soiled linen in the laundry, and next thing I know, Leia has sprayed out the rest of the cleaning solution all over the floor, laid out strips of toilet paper all over it, and then completely disappeared. After getting all pissed and yelling at the air because I can't find her anywhere, I clean up the mess and get back to trying to eat dinner, yelling at everyone that dinner ends in 5 minutes. Next thing I know, Arwyn is telling me that Leia has done something else, and I see that she's gotten more toilet paper out and tee-pee'd the staircase! Grrr! Finally she appears, and I'm able to talk to her a bit. I ask her why she's done this stuff, and she tells me, "I was mad at you, so I set a trap for you." Oh, this was a trap! Ha! I chuckled on the inside, but explained that maybe it would have been better to talk to me about why she was mad, rather than setting a trap. Then I notified them that as I had warned, dinner was now over, and it was time for bed. Oh the screaming and crying. Now they wanted to eat. Now the meal sounded ok. Now I am racing them back downstairs to scoop up the dinner plates and place them out of reach! "Sorry, I told you it was dinner, I sat here and waited for 40 minutes, and I gave you several warnings that dinner was going to end. Now it's too late. Next time you'll make a better decision." Next thing I know, I'm standing in the bathroom trying to get them to brush their teeth, and Leia is throwing that money she can't bear to part with at me, saying "Please, I'll pay you to let me eat dinner!" Oh the irony. I thought I finally had them calmed down and in the room ready to read a book, but then Arwyn is still so distraught that she can't eat dinner, that she runs back down to the table, and sits there crying at her seat, missing the entire book. And can you guess what happened next? Yep, then she got upset that she made a bad decision about missing the book. Oh my god! And did I mention I'm ready to bang my head against a brick wall by now?
This was the second hard night in a row for Arwyn and I (or maybe 4th?, every night seems to be hard for her these days), because the night before I put my foot down about nagging and begging to get the teeth brushed. It was Valentines Day, and they were already being difficult because they were so cracked out on sugar, and then, like every night, she wasn't cooperating with the brushing. I told her if she didn't open her mouth and cooperate on the count of 5, no treats the next morning. She tested me, refused, and I said that's it, no treats. Oh boy, that was like the end of her world. She was sorry, she was ready to cooperate now, she wanted to brush her teeth after all. I said sorry, it's too late, next time you do it the first time I ask you. You made a bad decision, but I know you won't do that again tomorrow. And guess what, she didn't, at least not about brushing her teeth. She made bad decisions about eating dinner and reading books instead. She'll learn.
The last Mom Chronicle of the week is the hell that is learning about allowance. Leia wanted to spend her money on a drink after ski class this week, but by the time we figured out that she didn't want to go to school after skiing, we were already at the car. We started to go back into the lodge, but the girls started fighting, and was not going to tolerate that, so into the car I plopped them, and home we went. But before I even got out of the parking lot, I wavered, and right then and there my battle for the day was lost. Long story long, they convinced me to stop at 7-11 so they could still buy their drinks. But as soon as we got inside, they couldn't believe their eyes at all the wonders that were tempting them to buy. They didn't even make it to the drinks or candy aisle; they went right down the household aisle, and wanted to buy everything from engine oil to cleaning products, and everything in between. I tried to steer them to the drinks, but then the valentines display caught Leia's eye, and she HAD to have a new valentine bear lovey. When I told her she didn't have $5, all hell broke lose AGAIN. In the end we agreed to go home, count all her money, and come back after nap if she had enough. She tried to line up 5 nickels and tell me she did indeed have $5, and when I broke the bad news, she was totally freaking out. I'm not even sure how I finally got them both to bed, but when Leia woke up, she picked up right where she left off, crankier than ever. Oh the abuse I took. She hit me, she pulled and stretched my clothes trying to drag me somewhere, she tried to steal my wallet and my ski pants cash, and made my life hell for a good 20 minutes, not actually wanting to do any real work to earn more money, pissed that I wouldn't give her an early allowance for next week, and distraught that she couldn't find enough money laying around the house. Finally I'd had enough of the abuse and just asked her if she'd bothered to check all her piggy banks. Well no, she hadn't. Low and behold, Darth Vader was totally loaded! "I love you Darth Vader, I love you Darth Vader. See Mom, we don't have to work for money, we just have to look harder around this house!" So much for that lesson on money! So the next thing you know, we are back at 7-11, and no, the story doesn't end here. Leia gets her valentines bear, and decided she wants the drink too (because like I said, Darth Vader was loaded, the kid's got cash now. Or change, to be exact). Now it's 5 o'clock at 7-11, and everyone stops by at this time on their way home from work, so it's kinda busy. And there we are counting out $6.64 in pennies, nickels, quarters, dimes, and 1 dollar bill. They actually had to open a second cash register! Finally we finish, and the lady is a little shocked that we've just given her all this change. But she goes with it. Now it's Arwyn's turn. She wanted Chewy Chip Ahoy Cookies. They are $1.50, which is just about all she has. When we put it up on the counter the lady says, "You know, this is on sale, 2 for $2." I just froze, and my heart sank to the floor. Because the penny saver in me knew this was a good deal, but this wasn't my money, and Arwyn didn't really even know what's going on. Finally I just tell her that I didn't think Arwyn had enough money, and she says to me, "Come on, won't you just cover it for her?" "No, they have to pay for treats with their own money if they want it." "Wow," she said, "that's great that they are learning money lessons at such a young age." Of course, as soon as I opened Arwyn purse, the lady blurts out, "See, she does have enough!" So I bought the 2 bags, and was so disappointed in myself. But then we realized that it was a good thing after all. Arwyn was going to have to pay Leia for half of her drink that they had planned to share, so now Arwyn just gave Leia the extra bag of cookies instead. Now they both had cookies, they both had drinks, Leia got her lovey, and everyone was happy. And I was ready to collapse into bed, but of course couldn't for many more hours!
Arwyn's second dentist visit. The first at age 2 went really well, but this one at 2.5 went even better. Cooperated the whole time, even for the doctor at the end!
Pretty cool that I have two kids who come home saying how much they love the dentist and wanting to go back the next day!
Rock stars on their mics!
Cool slimy Valentines balls at the museum!
Leia loved doing Valentines art!
Decorating Valentines jars with mod podge, glitter, and hearts!
Up close and personal with Arwyn's biggest nightmare...froggy!
Cutest little pirate.
Arrgghh Matey, walk the plank!
A good pirate never goes to sleep without her trusty spyglass by her side!
Excited for a day at Daddy's mountain and a chance to ride in the ski bus...no ski vallet needed today!
There isn't much cooler in life than riding on a bus!
We love the village wagons at Northstar!
We don't get to ride in Gondolas every week!
When you're two and a half, everything is new and exciting even if it's not technically new!
Yay, family ski time!
It was pretty steep and a little icy, but Leia was so brave to ski down her first real race course!
Watching Daddy's athletes ski the course.
Ski snuggles!
Loves her Daddy!
They might be smiling now, but everyone is tired, we just navigated a "why did dad have to leave meltdown," we still have to ski down the mountain, get ice cream, navigate the village and buses, and drive home...oh boy, it's going to be a late nap and hard afternoon!
Tally-ho, let's go!
Sometimes you just need a rest!
Arwyn gets a little scared, and doesn't like to ski without being held these days. But once we got her laughing and dancing, she put her fears aside and did fabulous!
More resting in the elevator. How come Mom is the only one who never gets these mini-rests?
The proud ice cream purchaser dishing it up herself.
First time eating lemon sorbet...sour face followed by happy ice cream face.
Lip smacking good!
So serious! Actually just trying hard not to smile.
Sunscreen antics!
They like to put on their own sunscreen these days, and lucky for me this is how they like to do it. Now I can always tell if they've missed a spot!
There's just enough powder to make you want to let it go, but there's just NOT enough powder to cover up all those rocks below. Oh well, at least I actually got somewhat of a powder day for the first time ever on my annual February vacation!
Valentine's Day from my love, Josh.
The girls were so excited to get special Valentine's Day Marshmallow Hearts from Daddy. They got a very unexpected laugh when they bit into something that was supposed to be soft but turned out to be rock solid!
Dressing ridiculously and figuring out about climbing on chairs to get stuff Mom took away from you. (I have almost the exact same picture of Leia at this age!)
So lucky I have Leia to lovingly take care of me and tend to my bloody wound that was inflicted by angry Arwyn.
If Leia's doing it, Arwyn has to as well. Now she said she's sorry, and wants to make it better.
The Valentine's Feast, pink wine and all.
So excited so show off all their Valentines goodies and cards.
Leia insisted on wearing her party shoes to school today for the Valentines Party...she loves a good party!
Leia sets a trap for Mommy...toilet paper and 409.
After cleaning up the trap, Arwyn and Mom discover that Leia has set another trap.
Yep, stairs are tee-pee'd all the way down. And Leia had to use every last square of this toilet paper to wipe herself after cleaning it up.
Crazy hair day! Yes Arwyn, your hair is sticking straight up on it's own free will.
After being upset that she didn't have enough money to buy the lovey, Leia decided not to nap in her room, and set this nap bed up for herself downstairs instead. Initial result? Not much napping because it's way too light and distracting! Net result? Leia was completely cranky and acting totally crazed!
Leaving 7-11 with our big purchases. Happy with the loot, not happy with the photo op!
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