weekend

My wee baby sister got married this weekend. I claim the little angel. I love this picture. Gary held Zurich up and my dad snapped it... his flash doesn't work so it was a little shakey (my camera broke... or more specifically my sd card got fried, it is a very sad/frustrating/depressing thing for me, I was stressing over it most of the day.Lets not talk about it anymore other than to say: Gary loves me and ordered a set of three new ones today).

I suppose it's obvious she's not a baby anymore. It was a lovely wedding and reception and now I just wish them the best as they start their adventure.

In the mean time we have been staying at my parent's house, Olea has been a doll she loves being here and the new things she experiences. We picked up a little snow shovel her size and she has made it her personal mission to dig my parents out... there is a lot of snow here. My mom's dishwasher is broken and so Olea has volunteered to do dishes and loves it. Right now she's working on shoveling the front step, after cleaning of the "park" (swing set) and widening the parking area a bit too.

Dear Santa

Olea's Christmas Eve letter to Santa. She went to her room to write a note to Santa and dictated it out loud so here you have it Santa. pookabapetities are Peek-a-boo Petities. Bless my child for being consistent on what she asks Santa for... and for it being a bugetable item.

Dear Santa,
I wish I had pookabapetities but mommy won't buy them.
Every day, it's not the day to buy them. But I did make happy choices so
Could you please find them and give them to me? If they aren't here I will be sad
but, if you do I'll be proud. I will give you some cookies and milk
and this note. If you could please give me pookabapetites.
Thanks,
Olea

Reindeer and snow

Real ones, which are much smaller than I thought... after seeing some at Thanksgiving Point (free by the way for cheapies like me).

Our fake ones: Thanks to Brittney for this fun craft idea. Gary even participated in making them with us. I love having him home on Friday. Bet you can guess whose is whose. After Zurich went down for a nap we took in some snow time. Olea buried Gary... with some help and we made a flat snowman since the snow was too dry to build an upright one. Snow angels too. On the way back in Olea had her hat pulled over her eyes to "keep my eyes warm" hilarious, I think.

Girl, 4 year old... life trauma

I admit.
I am trying, but I am not being the attentive mother I think I usually am to my four year old daughter. I claim it's not my fault. I haven't had a decent night's sleep for long enough I don't even remember, and I NEED my sleep. Life events are such that when Gary has gotten home the last few weeks probably...we have spent the hour at least talking about work and finances and Olea ends up getting shushed aside. These are important things and on Gary's mind and need to be dealt with... and Olea well she's acting out, all day long.

Like Morgan muses on her blog about her 4 year old....I know that my daughter's stubbornness and behavior are a must in today's world. However, I don't do well with the stubbornness for stubborn sake. Nor do I do well with behaviors she picks up from other kids. "I want..." "I don't want..." whenever she is asked to do something, or just plain ignoring me.

Typically I try to do fun things with her, it's something we got into with her being 3 years older than her next sibling. Lately though my patience is shot because she's not being obedient enough to do those fun things without stressing me out. The other night I tried to make gingerbread men with her. One thing after another and her not listening to what her part in the whole ordeal was and we ended up just making balls =cookies. It worked but I was dissapointed and I think she was too, because she wanted to make gingerbread MEN. We do art projects together and read and color etc. We typically have a good time. Lately though her attitude is doing me in. Chalk it up to the sleep issue... or behaviors she learned from others or my own state but it's been hard. She's gone to bed early twice this week. I am just DONE with her. It doesn't help probably that I teach Sunbeams on Sunday and often don't come home from it in a very happy or patient mood. (she's not in my class) It's not the refresher I think Sunday could be... maybe that is my fault.

She is a good girl. Albeit a bouncy ball, but a good girl. I know this. I just need to remember it when I've been up every half to one hour all night with a fussy baby, and a sore body and my little girl just wants some serious mommy time. Is that it? Is that all it will take... honestly, I don't think so. It never is that easy is it? We're going through another transition. I need to learn how to deal just like she is learning how to deal.

SNOW! finally

First snow day! Olea was really excited to see snow. Zurich... well he just thought it was strange. He's been a bit sickly lately so I didn't let him roll around in it... besides I didn't want to get down at his level and get all wet. Zurich just totally relaxed in the swing and watched Olea and I have a snowball fight. Olea had to go to preschool first so she was thrilled when for preschool they got to draw the letter F in the snow. After school though I couldn't resist letting her play in the snow, even though I was exhausted and sore from shoveling our driveway, which is pretty steep and if it ices over, well it's over, we can't get into our garage. Gary on the other hand... didn't have such a great time with the snow, since it took him 2 hours to get to work. This morning Olea was disappointed that there wasn't more snow. So we watched as much as she and I could stand of the weather... about 1 min where we gathered more snow was due this weekend. That was enough to appease her for a while.

The past week

We put up the other Christmas tree, the one we will actually use for the festivities. The other is just decoration. And other decorations upstairs, don't tell me I look fat. It's rude. You can tell me I look crappy, Gary isn't exactly a photographer... neither am I particularly photogenic.The kids got to sit on Santa's lap twice in two days. Zurich just liked the candy canes.We got to go visit my sister and her fam for her new baby's blessing. Olea tucked the sword in the sheath... all the way down the leg of her pants. Hilairum to watch her draw out the sword. Zurich also found a sword that was to his liking. This week Olea, Zurich and I visited a friend from High School for her little one's 4th birthday.
Olea didn't let me wash off the "fairy make-up" till this morning... the party was Wednesday.I finished going through the bridals I took for my sister.My parents came to visit and we took in some festive fun at Thanksgiving point. Hot Chocolate, Reindeer, and the drive through lights. I love this pic. Zurich enjoyed driving through the lights.

Bride

After a disappointing session with a professional photographer my sister and I got together to take bridals that actually looked like her. It was a good time. Esp since her and her fiance and I had a little secret that our chauffeur didn't know about. Our chauffeur was my mom. Her fiance against all "rules" was there to keep her alive, or at least real. He kept saying stuff that I wasn't even hearing since I was taking the pictures and had my mind on that and it worked to make her laugh, embarrass her or frustrate her. It was pretty funny. There is a great shot of her making her mad face at him. One of my sisters commented that he will likely choose that one to frame and put in the house. EHEHEH
And I think she will have something to display at the reception that pleases her... and looks like her.
More will be on my deesign blog when I finish going through them.

Random happenings

Olea keifed some clothes pins from Oma's house I think. Because we came home with some. Zurich used them like chopsticks to eat his string cheese.

I asked Olea to go get the camera, here is a self portrait on her way down the stairs,

and then she took a pic of me before surrendering the camera.

This is the reason I asked her to get the camera.

My mom likes this painting a lot... but I have other plans for it... and she said she just wanted a picture of it before I went ahead with it.

Then we got out the Christmas decor. Olea was SO excited. Zurich was curious.

Olea and I set up the Christmas Village.

she really wanted to keep rearranging the little people.