Arwyn Week 82: Weathering The Storm - 1/12/2017

Arwyn gave us a bit of a run for our money this week.  She's definitely no longer our sweet little Arwyn a hundred percent of the time, which makes it that much harder, because we rely on her to be the easy one, and if she's not easy, it feels like all is lost!  She's still on her spree of letting Leia know that she's not always happy with her.  We were playing with play dough one day, and they each had their own stash with plenty of play dough in different colors, but Arwyn kept trying to go and take Leia's play dough "beans" that she was making, and Leia of course was pissed and kept yelling at Arwyn to stop.  Arwyn did not like being yelled at and did not like that she wasn't allowed to take what she wanted, and if looks could kill, that's how she looked at Leia right before she walked around the table to bite her and pull her hair out of her head!  Then another day we were trying to build our new train tracks, and even though Arwyn had her very own set to build and play with, she kept kept smashing Leia's tracks as soon as I would get it built.  It was a total Incredible Hulk move, again with a wicked smile on her face.  She's trouble these days I tell you!  On the other hand, she's been a huge help to me this week.  She stood on her stool and "helped" me wash dishes and make lunches, totally entertained and causing no fusses, which allowed me to get so much stuff done for a change.  And we had a little family dance party in her room the other day, and it's so funny to watch her when we put music on.  As soon as she hears the beat, she really starts moving to the rhythm and likes to get her groove on.  I think we need to play music more often and let her dance more, because she's so fun to watch.  The big news of the week was the HUGE snow storm and power outage that we had.  We got so much snow that it's hard to get down to our back yard right now.  And our power went out at 10 pm on Tuesday night, and luckily we got it back by about 2:00 on Wednesday afternoon, but all the reports we were hearing indicated that it could have been off for several days (and in some places it was), so we got really lucky.  We discovered that we were very unprepared to deal with it, which wouldn't have been a big deal if we didn't have kids.  But we learned that having small children adds a whole new level of difficulty when dealing with the elements.  Arwyn was a crying and needed to be held by me virtually the entire time, which really made it difficult to function and problem solve.  Plus, we figured out that in a power outage we have no sources of heat available to us, so with two little kids, it didn't seem possible to stay at the house.  Luckily we only had to spend one day at Nana and Poppy's in front of their fire.  Clearly we have some work to do before the next time...

Leia was pretty funny this week.  She was so excited one day when I said that we were going to bring Audra home from school with us, and she instantly started acting like a much older, mature girl talking to the two littler girls like adults do.  She was bending over and asking them how their days were and telling them to get their stuff ready.  Then she pulled a full on Tom Sawyer, getting Audra to carry her artwork out to the car so that she could help carry the extra lunch bags.  "Be very careful Audra, it's really special to me."  Then she picked up the lunch bags, decided they were too heavy and pawned them back on me, and ended up being the only one NOT carrying anything to the car!  Little trickster!  We had a pretty miserable rainy weekend of indoor time, which meant lots of movie watching.  Leia insisted on taking a nap with me one day, not sure why, but it seems to have been an isolated incident, so I guess there's nothing to worry about there.  She did have her first nighttime waking and calling for Mommy in a long time, which was weird.  I actually don't even know what the problem was because Josh took care of it, and again, it seems to have been an isolated incident.  Leia was very excited about the power outage, and went up to pack her own suitcase the second she found out we might be leaving.  She actually did a good job too; she got all the essentials into one small backpack she could carry herself.   I thought this might be a good sign of future cooperation, but no, she got restless, needy, and all up in Arwyn's business (causing Arwyn to scream), so between the two of them, it was quite a nightmare.

Stocking up on groceries for her new kitchen!

Tutu and snow boots...now she's ready for anything!

We made another Gingerbread House (well, train this time) since Santa keeps coming to eat our other one!

Password = Leia

Leia's Christmas Tree Ballet from Katharine Transue on Vimeo.

Leia was putting on beautiful ballet shows for us in Nana's Pit...maybe she'll be a dance composer because I think she just makes all this stuff up but clearly it's legit!

Two Mermaid Princesses with their mermaid tails...Thanks Uncle Cody!

I love it when these two snuggle!

Who knew mermaids could ski?  Does that make her a ski mermaid instead of a ski bunny??  But seriously, she's been wanting to dress up with a mermaid tail for so long, and finally it's a dream come true!!

Arwyn is starting to use a fork and spoon for at least part of all meals these days!

Password = Arwyn

Arwyn's Meal Time Antics from Katharine Transue on Vimeo.

Arwyn was getting silly and getting attention with her fork tricks!

Never a dull moment with these two!

And now they are learning to play the same games...when these two really start teaming up, we are in big trouble!  (Now it's still just cute!)

Cornholio!

When you want to take your shirt off but can't quite complete the task on your own, you just have to improvise.

When we finally got her to stop smashing the tracks, she was actually rather entertained by the whole thing!

Password = Arwyn

Arwyn's Belly Dancing from Katharine Transue on Vimeo.

Arwyn really feels the beat with her whole body when she dances to a song!

Daddy goes for the punk rock look...

Uh oh, looks like Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep and can't tell where to find them!

Leia dominates the dance party circle!

Password = Leia

Transue Dance Off Circle from Katharine Transue on Vimeo.

Dance party in Arwyn's room, everyone takes turns going to the center of the circle, but Leia and Arwyn definitely have the best moves!

Mesmerized by Leia's incredible dancing skills!

We had 4 feet of snow in the back yard, but it was no match for the flood waters...Lake Leia is coming back! 1/8/17 3:00 pm

Group dance!

Arwyn's got her rocker headband on, and now things are really getting wild!

Password = Arwyn

Arwyn in the Audience from Katharine Transue on Vimeo.

Arwyn is cute no matter what she does, including cheering on all the dancers in the dance off circle!

A bit hard to tell in the dark, but Lake Leia is now in full effect: 1/8/17 at 10:00 pm.

Big smiles!

Devil horns...help!

The ballerina and baby Rudolf...these two just make me laugh.

The rains and flood waters have finally subsided.  Bring on the snow! 1/9/17 5:00 pm

It's getting deep! 1/10/17 9:00 am

And we're buried, only 3 hours later.  1/10/17 12:30 pm

At last a small break in the action...beautiful night!

Josh's artsy pictures.

There's just something so special about a fresh snow scene lit up by the full moon night.

Peaceful ending to a wild week.

Arwyn Week 81: Arwyn the Chatter Box - 1/5/2017

Arwyn is turning into quite the talker these days.  She has more new words all the time, and has even started saying some recognizable 2 and 3 word sentences.  "I dow" means "All done," "I nee how" means "I need help," and "He yo" means "Here you go" (as said while trying to hand you something).  It's pretty amazing and so fun every time we hear a new sentence.  She's been really good at drinking out of a glass for a few weeks now, to the point that I actually trust her with real glass, if it's a small one.  She was really excited the other day when Leia and I let her help us make fresh squeezed orange juice.  She was patiently watching Leia do everything, and was mostly content and interested, but when I said she could squeeze the last orange herself, you should have seen her face light up!  Our "little" Arwyn seems to have shot up all of a sudden, because she's now tall enough to walk all the way around the hot tub on the benches.  She's also super confident in the water and likes to imitate Leia's jumping antics.  Leia stands on the higher bench, counts "1, 2, 3, 4, 5...Canon ball!" then jumps into the middle of the tub, splashing all of us.  So now Arwyn likes to stand up there also, and she counts "2, 2" and jumps, whether we are ready to catch her or not!  Sometimes we aren't ready and she goes under, but she's figured out how to spit out the water if she takes any in, so she comes up smiling and unfazed every time.  It's so hilarious, especially the 2-2 countdown.  Arwyn saw her first fireworks ever on New Year's Eve.  The good thing about it getting dark early in the winter is that the fireworks were early enough for her to enjoy.  She was totally amazed, and never took her eyes off the sky.  Arwyn has started to be a bit of a pistol lately, however.  Apparently 18 months was long enough, and she's decided she's finished taking shit from Leia.  She will freely bite and pull hair in retaliation for things she finds overly offensive.  And she's really taking this self-potty training to a difficult place for me and Josh.  She will start saying "potty, potty" and throw a fit if you don't let her take her clothes and diaper off.  And then after a few tries on the potty, she refuses to put the clothes and diaper back on.  She just wants to stay naked all day, but she's liable to have an accident on the floor any second...agghhh!

Leia also had so much fun watching the fireworks.  Of course, she insisted on ice cream again because she can't have a trip to Squaw without it, and her father wanted a nice night rather than a fight, so treats all around!  She was also in seventh heaven when we went back to Cary's for dinner.  She got to stay up late, play all sorts of new games, and hang out with her friend Ben.  Plus, she got to sleep in a bunk bed and now she's totally infatuated with them.  She and Josh both want one, but I will hold out until I can be sure that the two of them will always change the sheets because bunk beds are a pain!  Anyway, it was also the first time sharing a room with another kid besides her sister, so she was all nervous and quiet and didn't pull any of her normal bedtime stalling antics.  It was so great for me!!  She was back to her perfectionist mode with her drawing this week.  This time it was a picture of Princess Sofia, and she kept getting so pissed about her inability to draw the dress and features to her satisfaction.  I put a halt to the whole art project after the 5th sheet of paper was disgustedly tossed to the floor.  It's funny, even though Arwyn is starting to hurt Leia back, Leia is really starting to enjoy her company and rely on her as a playmate.  She used to always want me to put Arwyn to bed so she could have my attention to herself, but now she's always asking if we can wake Arwyn up.  I guess she misses her little sister when she's not around!  Leia has been so funny because she's started this new thing where, before she goes to bed, she likes to lay out her outfit for the next day on the floor in mannequin style (shirt on top, then underwear and skirt, with pants laid out below).  I was so happy about this because it really sped up the morning process, but then one day she got all dressed and changed her mind and outfit three more times before we could actually leave.  Now she still likes to lay everything out, but it's no guarantee that she'll actually wear it.  Oh well.

Out and about in The Village on New Year's Eve...Arwyn loves people watching!

Very intrigued by her first fireworks.

All eyes are on the sky...we had some happy campers.

Lots of fun new games up at Cary's house!

Password = Arwyn

Arwyn Says "Boo" from Katharine Transue on Vimeo.

Learning new tricks from her Dad and Sister, Arwyn tries out her new skills of hiding and scaring us!

Password = Arwyn

Arwyn's Bathing Suit Peek-a-Boo from Katharine Transue on Vimeo.

Playing Peek-a-Boo with Leia...Arwyn loves to make her sister laugh!

Password = Arwyn

Arwyn the Jumping Machine from Katharine Transue on Vimeo.

Arwyn has been doing a lot of practicing, and is now jumping really high!

Password = Arwyn

Arwyn the Chatter Box from Katharine Transue on Vimeo.

Arwyn has a lot to say these days.  Sometimes I understand, but this time, not so much.

She's a total pro on the harmonica...seriously, it sounds like a real song!

Watch out Leia, there's a bear eating your head!

I think it must be Crazy Hat Day at the Transues or something.

A rolling tower as tall as she is, and believe me, that's tall!

Off to deliver Get Well Soon Flowers to our friend Cary.

Date night dinner of Lobster Tail and Crab Cakes...thank you MumMum!

Apparently Santa really liked our Gingerbread house on Christmas Eve because each night for the last week he keeps coming back to eat a little more..."That sneaky Santa" says Leia!

Arwyn Week 80: The Transue Snow and Ice Princesses - 12/29/2016

This was Arwyn's second Christmas, and while she was more interested in it than last year, she definitely did not "get it", and was actually a bit overwhelmed by all the chaos and abundance.  She really didn't even open any presents on Christmas morning, and instead preferred to play with all of Leia's stuff after she had opened it.  She basically spent the entire morning playing with and organizing all the tiny little objects that came with Leia's Princess Castle while Leia was distracted with opening all the other stuff.  Every time we tried to give Arwyn a present to open, she just yelled "No, No!" and swatted it away.  It was pretty funny.  Josh and I took the girls skiing on Christmas morning (with the rest of our extended family as well), and while it took a lot of convincing and forcing them to go, both girls actually had a great time.  Arwyn was able to stand up by herself on the Magic Carpet this time (rather than needing to be held), and she was loving all the speed of going down the hill so much that she was trying to jump up and down the whole way.  It was really cute.  Arwyn has started to be able to keep her spoon level while she's eating, and therefore can now keep most of the food from falling off.  It's a pretty good skill development in my opinion.  I also took the girls ice skating for the first time, and while Arwyn was too little to actually put on the skates, she ran all around the ice rink in her helmet and snow boots and just had a blast!  Clearly she'll be good at broom ball, since she had no problems navigating the slippery ice.  She even started pushing the training bar next to Leia, and was yelling out in joy the whole time, pushing Leia into all the people (who then proceeded to blame Leia, not realizing that Arwyn was actually the one controlling their movements).  It was really funny to watch, and I was so happy it all worked out since I didn't really know what to expect with bring Arwyn.

Leia had been pretty upset that we didn't have any presents AT ALL under our tree all the way up through Christmas Eve, so when she came down on Christmas morning to see the huge display of gifts, she was totally awe struck!  She was so amazed that Santa actually came and took a big bite out of the gingerbread house that we left out for hime too!  Then when we said go, she was a total maniac  trying to get all the presents open, with no interest in actually checking any of them out.  Well, I guess that part can come later!  And in fact, she did spend the rest of the day (and the days following) slowly going back to rediscover and play with all the great things she received.  When we took her skiing on Christmas, she had no interest in going, but finally agreed to come watch everyone else.  Of course, in the end she didn't want to be left out, so she put her boots on and joined us.  We stayed down on the Magic Carpet this time, and she was able to ski on the leash without physical assistance again.  We do so much better when we stay down on the easier stuff; she doesn't get scared, and doesn't revert back to her "hold me" routine.  It's much better.  I really wish we could get ourselves over to Northstar so she could get a much longer flat run.  I did let go of the leash one time, and she managed to do a turn into a "180" maneuver to slow herself down and stop, so that was great too.  We had my best friend from high school, Monica, and her children come stay with us for a few days.  Jacob and Hayden were a little older than Leia, but they were all best buds instantly.  Leia was so excited to have kids at her house to play with, and she did the best job of sharing her stuff that I've ever seen (well, until Mommy came home and she got tired, then it didn't go so well).  But it was fun to watch them all have to much fun together.  We went with them for Leia's first time ice skating, and it was a blast too.  The balance required for ice skating is actually rater difficult, so I was a little worried about Leia, but I forgot that she's actually a ninja when she's having fun and showing off for other kids, so she did great.  I was very impressed.

Happy girl loves her class at school!

It's almost Christmas...bring on the festive clothes!

Christmas Eve swimming class, playing with her good friend Annabel.

Big smiles because Daddy came to play in the pool with us today!

Arwyn figured out how to stay balanced and floating on her back without flipping over...it's all about the V-Position!

Christmas Eve with my girls.

Emmett and Arwyn doing a little gift exchange.

Happy about finally getting a few presents!

Arwyn got socks, and seriously, you've never seen anyone so happy about receiving socks...guarding them like gold!

Daddy snuggles.

Emmett did a really good job of handing out presents this year.

There's that happy smile!

"Hey guys, did you see these great socks?!"

"Thank you Nana!"

Ok, the new cell phone was almost as cool as the socks, but not quite.

Fast asleep...while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads...

It's 1 AM and Santa is in the house!

"Woooowwww!  Look what Santa brought us!"

Do you think this girl likes presents?

"Hey look, Santa really did take a bite of our Gingerbread House!"

Merry Christmas from Arwyn!

Nana's got a bright red fro...things are getting wild around here!

Happy as a clam to play with Leia's doll house and ignore the chaos around her.

Ok, finally decided to look away from the doll house, and low and behold, a cool new easel! 

Going in deep to retrieve more presents!

Wearing Leia's new boots and holding Leia's new tea kettle...luckily Leia was too preoccupied with presents to notice!

Merry Christmas Steelers!

Tucked right in to her new favorite spot!

Trying out Leia's other new shoes...and that's a "I'm guilty" grin if I ever saw one!

Snow White wearing her new favorite ballet shoes!

Poppy is surveying the wreckage...what a whirlwind!

Family Christmas Ski Day...I've got my charges all packaged up and ready to go!

Arwyn standing up by herself on the Magic Carpet!

Go Leia on the Magic Leash!

Snack break!

I like hugging this little girl when she actually lets me!

Arwyn, our little ski jumper, propelling herself into the air!

Password = Arwyn

Arwyn The Ski Jumper from Katharine Transue on Vimeo.

Day 2 of skiing at 18 months old...she already likes the speed and now she's trying to do jumps!

It's a whole family affair today!

I know she's having fun, but she sure takes it all so seriously...maybe she takes after me?

Successful day, let's head home!

Yep, right back into her cozy little spot.

If Arwyn's going to play with Leia's dollhouse, then by george, Leia will play with Arwyn's.

Such an overwhelming and exhausting morning...we just couldn't fight the request to nap on her couch, we were lucky to get a nap at all!

Look out, here comes Arwyn the Wake Up Monster!

Christmas Dinner...another fun party!

And more presents for Emmett!

"Whoa, cool gift Emmett!"

Leia demonstrating some of her best ballet moves...she really has the arm positions and pointed toes down pat!

Making friends with Cooper's rejected bear while working on the abacus...maybe she'll be a math wiz!

Bedtime, storytime, snuggle time!

Eyes with pupils, hair, noses, teeth, and tongues...she's really getting good details!

I thought you're supposed to get clean in the bath?!

Eying the rink and getting psyched for her first time on ice skates!

Yep, she's a professional figure skater already in her skimpy leotard!

Monica and Hayden turned out to be great little skaters themselves!

Fired up to be running around the ice with everyone else...don't think she even noticed that her "boots" were different!

I was glad to have Monica to help Leia figure it out since I had to keep track of Arwyn, but right away both girls figured it out and left us in the dust!

Arwyn always loves a good people watching opportunity.

Now she's getting the hand of it!

Password = Arwyn

The Ice Princess's Debut from Katharine Transue on Vimeo.

Leia's first time ice skating was a big success.  She moved around both solo and with the help of balance bar.  Big smiles here!

Uh oh, look out, Arwyn is driving that train and she's not looking where she's going!

Screaming with delight!

So much laughing, it was amazing!

Arwyn taking a quick rest while Leia eats it!

Arwyn crashing Leia into Hayden.

Password = Arwyn

Arwyn and Leia Charge the Ice Rink from Katharine Transue on Vimeo.

Arwyn was screaming with delight while pushing her sister around the ice rink, just a little bit out of control!

Instant best friends!

Here comes Jacob, testing out his skills without the helper bar.

Glad we could finally get our families together...it was a fun couple days!

Goodbye hugs are bittersweet.

My cutie little Arwyn puffing out "Da Belly" again!

Oh boy, Auntie M has made a dream come true...high heeled glass slippers!

And a beautiful new Princess Sofia gown, being modeled right in front of the real Princess Sofia in the background...it's the never ending Christmas...and how big is that smile!

Enjoying their nightly snuggle time...love these two cuties!

And look who found another one of Leia's presents!

Clearly we have another princess in the making!