Our Tiny Dancer

Sabrina was wonderful in her Holiday Dance Concert this weekend! We were so proud of her. It's been amazing to see her maturing and really loving something. She never wavered for a minute on dance this year (which was different from other activities we've tried in the past...swimming, soccer, etc.) She woke up each Saturday morning excited about dance, she thought about it whenever we missed it if we were out of town, and she knew exactly when her show was and all of her moves. As you can see in the video, she was pretty enthusiastic too. Celia was in the class as well and that made it even more fun. They were just great together. Unfortunately you can't see her much in the video (Celia) but she was right next to Sabrina in the second row. Sabrina is second from the left in the second row. You'll be able to spot her by the exuberant hand motions right at the beginning.

Sleepover with Lindsey

The night before Thanksgiving we spent a great night and morning with Lindsey at our house. She was a wonderful houseguest and the girls had a blast together. 

Happy Halloween 2014

Halloween 2014

We're finally getting better at this Halloween deal! We managed to make it to the Munchkin Masquerade on Pearl St. in Boulder, hit Brent's office party, then made it home for trick or treating and avoided any meltdowns completely! I think that's a first for this sugar-fueled, hyped-up event. Sabrina was very excited about her Elsa costume (complete with a ribbon "long braid" that we devised together to make up for the fact that her hair is still pretty short), and Kali didn't understand WHY we were dressing her up like Tinkerbell, but she thought the wand was cool and the wings were annoying...then she discovered the candy in big bowls all around her. Jackpot. I have to give her credit though - she was fairly subdued even though she's definitely our candy kid. Fun times for sure!

Kalira Teal is 2 1/2!

Last Tuesday, we surprised Kali by letting her know that it was her 2 1/2 birthday.  She was thrilled!  She kept asking "It's my birdday??" When we explained "half birthday" she tried to say it, but just ended up at Birrday again.  It'll do.  Speaking of her verbal skills, she's killing it on sentences and much more advanced thoughts lately, but we're also noticing the difference between her and Sabrina at this age.  While Sabrina had an adorable "lellow" phase, she said almost everything exactly right.  I think we took it for granted.  Kali says many things with much more of her own "twist" than Sabrina ever did.  Her sister is "Sabweena," oatmeal is a very long word "ooooAAAtttmeal," breakfast is sometimes still indecipherable (in fact Brent came up one morning to ask what she was talking about and we finally settled on breakfast) but it's something like "bweaakist," and our favorite is still when she's explaining where something is, it's usually "ober der."  She is extremely polite most of the time and almost always says "Thank you for cooking" whenever we sit down to eat, or "thank you for opening that for me, Mommy" or even "thank you for saying 'you're welcome' Mama."  Everything needs to happen "in two minutes" these days - whether that's leaving for school in the morning, not playing with her toys anymore, or going pee on the potty (we learned to ignore her request for 2 minutes in that situation).  And speaking of peeing on the potty, she's had a breakthrough week!  We started sending her to school in underwear last Tuesday (coincidentally on her half-birthday...easy to remember for us) and she's only had a handful of accidents - and that includes no diapers during naptime.  She's getting it!  We've noticed a big change recently and she even asked to get out of the bathtub tonight to go pee in the potty.  Huge strides there!

We tucked away a few presents at Christmas when we could see that she'd gotten enough already, and we're so glad we did because it was very fun for her to open two gifts that night.  She got a Little Mermaid Duplo set from Aunt Deed and a latch board puzzle.  She pulls us downstairs regularly now asking us to "go play with my mermaid blocks."  Thanks for the set, Deed!

Here's a photo of her opening the gifts and up top are a few of her being goofy in the bath last week.

Happy half-birthday you sweet, funny, challenging, strong-willed little lady.

MommyBriniKali Go to the Pumpkin Patch

This weekend I took the girls to Cottonwood Farms (by myself because Brent was off mountain biking in Fruita/Moab) and we managed to take some photos with the good camera, AND buy 4 pumpkins, 2 squash, 2 small pumpkins...and an apple to feed the starving children. It was comical at times, very sweet and bonding at times, and extremely crowded which made everything that much more...exciting. Example: finding a wagon to pull along is difficult when it's crowded, especially when you already picked out the pumpkins and the girls are dead set on the exact ones we chose! Scramble back to the entrance to get a wagon, run back to find people taking pictures with the pumpkins you just stacked up and put off to the side, assuring the girls that "those other people" weren't taking them from us, then realizing that you really needed two wagons because you chose big pumpkins...at least I could laugh at myself). All in all, we had a fun morning, scored some great pumpkins, and got some even better photos. I really love these girls. Sabrina took several of these - she found the "big" camera pretty fun!

Cottonwood Farms 2014

Happy Birthday to me, Jill and Natalie!

Lots of Libra birthdays to celebrate this week!

The girls and Brent made a wonderful breakfast and dinner for me on Wednesday to celebrate my birthday. Sabrina was most proud of the pink mashed potatoes, made with puréed roasted beets along with the potatoes. They (ok Brent) also made creme brûlée. My favorite. It was perfect. In fact, it was so good that we had to eat it again two days later to celebrate Jill's birthday. 

Then we had a big milestone in our extended family with Natalie turning 40 today!  We celebrated grown-up style in a fancy penthouse in Vail. Fourteen of us (plus three babies who snuck in) went for the night and had a hired chef for the evening who made a four course meal and a fabulous dessert for us. 

The kids stayed with a teacher from BMS named Janina. She was wonderful with them. She even hung in there when our fall weather turned into a complete blizzard in Vail this morning and they closed I-70 for several hours and we were stuck on the other side!! Doh!  We got home several hours late but to two very happy and well cared-for girls. (We really miss Nana and Poppy, and yes, we realize how spoiled we are!).  Here are some photos from the drive up and the cool sculpture in the square below our penthouse. The ski hill is just behind me taking this photo. We were on the top floor. It was fairly amazing really. 

(And one of sweet baby Emma who got to tag along to the grown up party)

Happy birthday Libras!

Singing Ladies

Last night at dinner, both girls were in a very adorable singing mood.  With my fancy new iPhone 6 (thanks for my early birthday present, Brent!), I actually have the memory again to take videos, so here goes.  Sabrina is still obsessed with Frozen (after a bit of a hiatus over the summer...understandable, I suppose) so after her debut of Do you Want to Build a Snowman back in May (video below), here is the next installment of "Let It Go."  Kali just learned Mary Had a Little Lamb.

  (note: she was also watching herself in the video as she was singing so she was making super funny faces like she does in the mirror!)

Sabrina Loses her first tooth!

While we're still unsure of exactly what transpired prior to her tooth loosening up on Monday (many odd parts of the story, like the fact that it happened "at school" on a Sunday...and nobody from school reported anything happening), but regardless of the story, by Thursday morning the tooth was out and saved in a special envelope designed by Sabrina and Poppy, destined for the tooth fairy.  We took her to the dentist (she was a bit nervous about that, as you can see) but he xrayed her front teeth and showed us that the big teeth are right there and the roots are starting to dissolve, so he saw no trauma or issues at all.  Just time for the tooth fairy!  And a special Jamba Juice trip for being so great at the dentist.  Followed by a session of "working from home with mom" which was clearly hysterical.

What a big girl.

The new swings are a hit!

Brent spent some serious time on the ladder in the past two weeks installing new swings for the girls. He got battle scars on his knuckles to prove it. The bonus with these swings is that they can both get into them on their own and they're both starting to figure out how to "pump" to get themselves going.  Parental Freedom while cooking dinner!  

This is a classic Kali face and it's accompanied by a deep, guttural cackle.

The girl LOVES to play!

And this is a classic Sabrina outfit right now.  

She wears the brown "fancy" dress about 5 days/week, changing into it immediately upon getting home after school.  Recently she's started wearing huge colored glasses and enormous jeweled rings too. I think she might end up an old Jewish lady in New York City if this continues...

Breckenridge Oktoberfest 2014

Uh oh. I think these kids had a little too much fun at Oktoberfest Breckenridge. Liederhosen, Dirndls, face painting, polka music, enormous pretzels, and beer. We loved it all.

Cute Little Tapping Mouse

Sabrina was in a ballet/tap class this spring and here is a photo and video of the final show.

Here's her portrait in her costume:

Aunt Deed was here to see it from MN which was a great treat!  Sabrina loved having an audience and handled the lights/costumes/pressure really well.  We might have a performer on our hands.  

I took this video at the dress rehearsal even though we weren't really supposed to and they don't allow any photography or videography during the real show, so unfortunately it's pretty bad quality but hopefully you can get the idea. Sabrina is fourth from the left and she was on it a lot of the time!  She was singing her heart out during the show too.

Kalira Turns Two!

We celebrated Kalira's second birthday on the beach in Mexico.  It was a great week of tons of pool time, beach time, and "macamole" which was her favorite food all week.  She insisted that she was "twoeee" all week and thinks it's hysterical to pretend like she's three not two.  That's definitely her best joke right now.




After we got back home, we welcomed Grandma Gail and Grandpa Rich for the weekend and we had a birthday party at the park with friends to cap off Kali's birthday season.  Unfortunately, Sabrina got sick that weekend with croup and she had to miss the festivities, but she was able to rally the next morning for a fun Mother's Day brunch (albeit in the SNOW!!) at Nana & Poppy's where we had all the grandparents together.

Kali is talking up a storm these days and growing up in leaps and bounds every day!  Here is a random video from the other night that shows her goofy personality, her words, and her sweet love for her sister.

This one also shows her quintessential "two-ness"  Wahhh I want Daddy...hot dog?? sure!

Sabrina's latest obsession is definitely showing that she's her mother's daughter - a Disney musical, Frozen.  Here is her rendition of "Do you Want to Build a Snowman?"

"Bwini Ice Pack"

(sorry for the weird hand on Sabrina...she really does still have all her limbs in tact, but the photo was too cute not to share) 

The sisters are really clicking.  A story the other morning reminded me of the importance of writing these things down since I'm sure I'll forget the pure sweetness of these moments all too soon.

The other morning, Kali bumped her head on something (we're never really sure, she's basically a bull in a china shop so this happens often) but this particular morning, she only wanted Bwini (Sabrina, Brini, Bwini, Sabina) to get her the ice pack.  Sabrina happily obliged, loving any chance to be the big sister & caretaker for Kali, and Kali and I went to sit in the comfy rocking chair.  But when we sat down, Kali nudged me a little and said "No Mommy, Bwini sit" - so Sabrina came to sit with Kali, put her arm around her and Kali laid her head on her shoulder.  awww.  Such a sweet moment.  I wish I had gotten a picture of it, but of course it was over before I could.  Hence, writing it down so I can remember it.  They are laughing and playing together more and more.  And we've even caught them getting a little naughty at the dinner table together and then cracking up at each other.  I'm sure this is just the beginning of that behavior.  It's hard not to laugh with them while telling them not to, say, smash their food with their hands.  It's been such a nice corner to turn though with them truly enjoying each other's company and knowing each other more and more each day.

Kali is talking up a storm these days and saying new things, and saying things more clearly every day.  Her favorites these days are "it's in my tummy!", "Yummy in my tummy", "My do it" or "Me do it" (we're working on that one!) and everything "Bwini".  She loves to talk about Nana and Poppy, yell at the dog (unfortunately), sing parts of Happy Birthday, "Row Row Boat" (or "whoa whoa boat"), and "ABCD...P...Y..Z" and she can count most of the way to ten, although it gets a little choppy there in the middle sometimes.  She's loving BMS and is always in a great mood when we pick her up.  She has close friends Hunter and Nora there, and loves to say hi to Bwini through the fence.  They apparently have a little thing of touching each others' bellies through the fence.  One day her teacher told us that the only time Kali cried or got upset all day was when Sabrina had to go play and she left Kali standing at the fence in the Toddler playground.  Crushing!  Sabrina's response "Yeah, well...I just HAD to run away RIGHT THEN.  I had something really important to do with my friend, Cici"

Kali loves big trucks and we even spent a lovely (kind of) Friday evening last week having a picnic on our front lawn while they re-paved the road.  Sabrina and I agreed that it was stinky and smelly, but Brent and Kali were enamored with the big trucks, the loud noises, and the vibrations it caused in the ground.  Kali was completely focused the entire time.  Now if she hears a diesel engine, she goes running to the front door or window (sometimes flipping over a trash can under the window to climb up on it so she can see) to see the big trucks.  Then she'll say "Mama, it's all done.  Truck is gone"

Sabrina started dance class two weeks ago, after her skiing class ended, and she's looking forward to her concert on a big stage (Louisville Middle School) in June.  One of the classes had a lot of new kids who weren't behaving well at all and it really seemed to bother Sabrina.  She's still a very sensitive kid who gets worked up in chaotic environments, especially with loud noises.  I hadn't seen her bothered like that in awhile, but i think the chaos of the classroom with 10 little girls running around (and many not listening) unsettles her.  I was really able to see the benefit of Montessori education for her.  It's so quiet, structured, and organized she really seems to thrive there.  She has great friends at BMS - Cici (Cecilia), Raquel, Kaya (boy), Anna, and Jiyu.  We had her spring conference last month and it was wonderful to hear how happy, social, helpful and chatty she is at school.  The only "negative" they mentioned was that she LOVES an audience, which doesn't surprise us, but we realized how specific the environment has to be.  She's not one to perform in front of a group of strangers or be the loudest one in the bunch at dance class, for example, but put her in the position of demonstrating how to do one of the work projects at school, and the girl thrives.  They said that she's not rude or disruptive in doing this, but sometimes they simply have to force the kids to move away from Sabrina so they do their own work sometimes.  But they said the kids respond very well to her and people just want to watch her do her work.  Maybe we've got a future teacher on our hands.

Brent and I are both enjoying our jobs these days and managing to get some good workouts in at the gym or running the trails (Brent).  I've managed to have pretty consistent girls' nights out with friends lately, and Brent's looking forward to using up all the "daddy points" he's accumulated this winter for some epic mountain biking this fall.  He spent a lot of great Daddy-Daughter time while I completed another Vocal Performance Class this fall/winter with a performance in mid-March.  We are attempting, as always, to do better about recording the great things our girls say (somewhere other than Facebook...oops), organizing the house, keeping track of photos between our various devices, planning vacations, making sure we're saving money well, get our will and estate stuff in order, spending quality time with the kids, cooking healthy meals for us and the kids, playing as much as possible, and striving for balance somewhere between it all.  It's not easy and I have bouts of insomnia from time to time just trying to keep it all straight, but it's full and wonderful and I wouldn't change it for the world.  So with the best intentions of posting more often and with photos/videos, signing off.

Heaven with swings in the back yard

Heaven just might be the girls entertaining each other and cracking up.

Like a rock

And my weekend is complete. Tonight at bedtime Sabrina gave me a huge hug, sighed and said "Mom, I love you more than a rock. And I mean more than rocks love other rocks"

"I WUV YOU"

Kali has this adorable habit right now of getting very quiet and cuddly before bed (not to jinx anything, but she's a great sleeper who really seems to have the routine down so well - much easier than Sabrina at this age), but she keeps doing this thing where right as I walk out of the room, I'll whisper "I love you" one last time and she yells at the top of her lungs "I WUV YOU!"  Cutest.  Thing.  EVER.

Sibling Love

Found them playing together like this today.

Broncos Super Bowl BUST

At least our fans were adorable and the food was good. As for the rest of it....yeah...no comment. Go Broncos Super Bowl XLIX (did I do that right?)