Happy {little} campers

We have two very happy little campers in our house today. First, Mira took all her allowance earned-to-date (and a little Valentine's Day $$ from gma/gpa Norstad) to Target today while we were getting groceries, and picked up two of her most coveted toys: The Littlest Pet Shop. She really loves these little creatures, and was so excited that she had actually earned the money to buy her very own sets that she was jumping up and down when she gave the cashier her money. She's really proud of herself for all the chores she's done lately. We're proud of her too.
And Amelia is still obsessing over her "pink princess jammies" and wears them to bed every night. Since she has outgrown one of her sets, we set off today to find another pair. Ta-Da! Behold! The PURPLE princess jammies, which she put on the second we got home from the store. You look beautiful, Amelia!
Mira also celebrated her 100th day of kindergarten last week. She had such a great time! They all brought in 100 snacks and 100 of something else and took guesses on if 100 licks of a lollipop would make it disappear. Mira thought yes, but sadly there was still some lollipop left after 100 licks. Here is Mira on the 100th day of school. She asked for "fancy hair" so we put it into two braids. She looks beautiful!

Mira and Amelia go ice skating!

We celebrated Chris's dad's birthday yesterday with a delicious brunch out and ice skating at The Depot downtown Minneapolis. Mira and Amelia got to try ice skating for the first time, and we were impressed with their first experience with it.

Mira just getting on the ice with Grandpa Randy!
Amelia trying out her "ice walker" with Grandpa Randy:
Mira getting a helping hand from daddy and Uncle Matt:
Amelia is trying hard:
Mira started getting the hang of it with the "walker":
Amelia learning just how slippery the ice is!
Mira is learning the ropes with her dad, who happens to be an excellent skater! Me? Not so much.
Mira is getting the hang of it!
This was Amelia's free ride toward the end of the day:
We'll definitely take the kids skating a couple more times in the near future. I might even try it again. Then we'll let Mira decide if she wants to take ice skating lessons. She thinks she might!

Today we met in Rochester to celebrate Annabelle's 1st birthday and Nick's 3rd birthday. It was at Pip Squeaks and the kids had a blast running around all afternoon. We have nice tired kids tonight. Here are a few photos from the day:

Nick, Anna, and Olivia and their cakes:
Anna took full advantage of her "smash cake":
Amelia really enjoyed the "roller coaster":
Mira and Abby had a great time playing all afternoon:
Me and sweet niece Annabelle:
Anna on her new rocking chair from Grandpa Bob and Grandma Martha. They give all the grandkids a rocking chair for their first birthday:

Obsession and Thai food

Amelia is still super obsessed with her "pink princess jammies." As soon as she takes off her coat and boots when we come home, she runs upstairs to put them on. It's really helped her to learn how to get dressed and undressed by herself. The motivation to wear these princess jammies is high! The only problem is on the weekends if we run an errand in the morning. Amelia wants to put these jammies on as soon as we get home, even if it's 10:00 in the morning! And God forbid if they are dirty! We need to sneak them in the wash and have them clean and dried before she notices they are gone or she asks about them constantly until they emerge from the dryer, ready for another wearing.
Mira is gearing up toward her 100th day of kindergarten on Thursday. It's a big deal at her school. We need to bring 100 food items (she picked Lucky Charms) for the community trail mix at school. And another 100 of any other item (she picked popcorn kernels) to show what 100 items look like. She better be able to count to 1oo after this!

Last week, I took two community education classes: a jewelry-making class and a Thai cooking class. They were both really fun! I made a necklace for Mira, which she wore to school the next day and ended up bringing it home (unstrung) in an envelope. When I asked her how it broke, she said it "just fell off." I know I didn't make it that poorly, but she's sticking to her story that it just broke with no provocation from her. My jewelry-making confidence is shot!

The Thai cuisine class results were much more favorable. I made a Pad Thai for the family the next night and it was a big hit! Delicious, citrus-y, peanut-y, cilantro-y. Yum! There are many more cooking classes in the schedule. I'll have to look into another one (italian, perhaps?). Here are the fruits of my labor. It tasted as yummy as it looked!

Chris started his job at Target a couple weeks ago and is getting into the rhythm of the work day. He takes the bus, like I do, into downtown each day. It's fun to meet for lunch with him again!

Tomorrow we head to Rochester to celebrate Annabelle's and Nicholas' birthdays! Will be fun to see my family again. I'll post photos from the party soon.

Potty training? Eh, not so much

We had a very small success with Amelia and potty training the other day. She sat on it! And a tiny bit came out. But that was it. Now we are back to diapers. We're sure it's just too early for her and she doesn't know when she's going to go. Maybe in a couple months we'll try again.
And Mira is doing a fantastic job with her chore chart! I made a chore chart for her to track how to earn her allowance, and laminated it. When she "x"s off each item for the week, she earns her allowance. Since it's laminated, we can wipe it clean each week (we use a dry erase marker). She has to feed Winter every day, clean the playroom 2x a week, help with dishes 3x a week, dust the furniture 1x a week, etc. It's working out very well!
Amelia and Mira also made butterflies in daycare. Because they are covered in glitter, and I don't keep things with glitter (unless I laminate them. I think I'm a laminating addict!), I thought I'd take a picture of it instead of keeping it. Here are their efforts!
Is everyone sick of digging out from the snow? We got quite a pile of it at our house, and I had to finally shovel off the deck. Good exercise! Have safe drives the next couple days!

Really, not much

There is really not much going on here. Just thought I'd post to give the grandparents, aunts, and uncles their photo fix of the girls.

Mira is getting ready to celebrate her 100th day of kindergarten in about 2 weeks. She's so excited and it's a pretty big deal at her school! We had to decorate the number "73" for the wall. It got covered in glitter-glue and yellow and purple feathers. Yes, it's as pretty as it sounds!

Mira has taken to reading with a passion. She loves the "Biscuit" my first book series and is so proud when she reads them to us. She knows so many sight words too. I love seeing how much she has absorbed this year in kindergarten. It's quite exciting to see her writing and spelling and reading and doing math!

Mira now has a chore chart and is getting an allowance when she completes all her chores for the week. She was so excited at Target today and couldn't decide what to spend it on! We're hoping she starts learning how to save her money for a bigger splurge, instead of on candy and $2 toys.

Amelia is growing like a weed! She's still in love with her "pink princess jammies" and insists on wearing them every day. She's doing much better with talking too late into the night while Mira is trying to sleep. We started a sticker chart and it seems to be doing the trick. She's still as sassy and willful as ever. What? That sweet face? Absolutely!
Winter is adjusting to life at our house pretty well. His house accidents are far fewer, and he's quite a sweet little dog. He is having to adjust to spending the day alone now that Chris started a job at Target Corp. this week. We are all adjusting to the new schedule, and I really miss my housekeeper, grocery-getter, laundry-doer. So we are back to cleaning house on the weekends (boo!) and doing laundry and grocery runs whenever we can fit them in.
Here are the girls this morning, on their way to Japan! Actually, we just took them to the grocery store. Good times. I asked Mira why she wanted to go to Japan, and she said she wanted to get some food. I asked what kind of food. She said, "Pizza!" Ha!
Hope you are all well. Lots of snow coming in the next few days. Stay warm with hot cocoa and marshmallows!