Year of the Horse 2014

Happy 2014!

I'm well far behind here.
January has already flown by in a blink.
Libby turns 7 tomorrow. She finally lost another tooth. First grade is going well. She's working on Subtraction skills now.
We had her birthday party on the 1st. We went painting again this year. Invited her entire class. It was really nice. Although, once again Walmart bakery saw fit to mess things up. I ordered Disney Frozen cupcakes for 10am pick-up. When I arrived at 10:30am, they weren't ready and the girl gave me attitude. Said it would take 15 mins, but she was working on something else. Complained to me that she was the only one there, as if it were my fault. Since the party started at 11am, we had to leave and Daddy went back later. #walmartfail

Libby is battling a UTI currently. I hope the antibiotic starts helping soon. Cephalexin (7.5ml, 3x/day for 10 days). Both girls had colds about 2 weeks ago and have lingering coughs. Gotta love winter...

Our weather has been a mixed bag with lots of snow recently.

Tomorrow is O's first grade music concert, "Cantamos Americanos." She's wearing a dress that my Mother-in-law got her in Mexico.

Little sis is loving preschool. She loves "shining" and getting gold stars for good behavior in school. They started doing show & tell recently and she was so happy to tell me that "my teacher said I did it perfectly." :)

Happy 2012!

Sabrina is 17 months old today. Already trying to run and repeating lots of words.

We spent the holidays in Miami with Daddy's family this year. The girls did really well traveling, especially considering the early morning flights. We got to see Oma and Dede one day on our trip. We also participated in the family reunion for Popsi's family. It was a lot of traveling but a nice time.

School started yesterday, which meant 1 day of school for Olivia this week. She took her LalaLoopsie doll for show & tell.

Olivia's did really well with her bathroom behavior on our trip. Nana helped her have lots of "star" and "Rapunzel" days. Her other behavior wasn't so great - a combination of late nights with cousins and showing off for older cousins.

I can't believe it's time to start planning Olivia's 5th birthday. Next month!

School's out for Winter...

Winter Break started today for Olivia. Her last day of school for the semester was yesterday. The kids had a small party. Spring Semester starts on 5 Jan. 2012

Book of the week: "Oodles of Animals"
Word of the week: bells

Olivia & I went to the dentist this past week for a general check-up/cleaning. She did really well. No new cavities. Sabrina stayed w/Ms. Erin, which was a huge help to me.

Sabrina loves to dance, stomp her foot and scream. Yea, I think the terrible 2's are starting early w/this one. She screams at the top of her voice & looks around to see who is paying attention. It's ear-piercing. I like that she understands simple commands though. And she shows interest in the potty. It's very, very basic, but she goes thru an entire routine. I put her on the toilet to pretend to pee. She stands on the stool and washes hands at the sink. Then, dries her hands w/ the towel.

Sabrina seemed to be in a lot of pain from teething today. That 4th molar is working through now. Poor kid. They seem to take forever.

Well, bust my buttons!

Olivia has been buttoning the buttons on her pjs for a month or more (I'm behind on things). These particular pjs are soft, so they're easier than other buttons. She tries w/other sweaters or jackets, but isn't always 100% successful. Still fun to see her learning a new skill.

The potty is still on limited success mode, too. Daddy's newest tactic is to try & bribe Olivia w/bubble baths. He showed her how fun they can be last night. So, he's hoping it's some initiative for her to potty during the day. We'll see...

More snow today!

Skate City

We met some friends (Ann, Joel & Tabetha) & went rollerskating for the 1st time with Olivia this weekend. It was a pretty funny experience. Well, she cried a lot, but you could tell she wanted to do it & be Miss Independent. They locked the wheels on her skates for her, but it was a little scary still. Also, the smallest skate size they carry is an 8 (Olivia is wearing a 7 right now). I had fun watching her try something new and it was nice to be out, doing stuff as a family.

First big snow

We got our first big snow on Sunday, Nov. 30th. I'm not sure what the definition of a blizzard is but we think we had almost a foot of snow at our house. It snowed all day. It was incredible. Olivia had a lot of fun playing in the snow while daddy shoveled the driveway. We bundled her up in the snowsuit that Oma & Dede brought her from Germany last year and her new snow boots ("boops").