Onto Better Months

 January is THE WORST MONTH of the entire year.  If you ask me, which you didn't. 

 Christmas is over and the weather is drab.  There isn't much to look forward to except the second semester of school, which isn't exactly thrilling.

 But it is officially February, and I am thrilled we have past the worst month of the year.  I took these photos of Orelia in her "Valentine's dress" (from last year) for us to put on her Valentines for classmates this year.  Valentine's Day with preschoolers is such a sweet holiday.

 We have had a child-sized art table for awhile, but after I organized our art supplies in easy reach (with tons of paper on hand), both kids have been loving sitting down side-by-side to create every day.  Sometimes they create masterpieces together (and sometimes they fight over who gets to physically hand these pictures of Mommy/Daddy), and sometimes they create separately.  It's so fun to see them sharing something I love so dearly.

 Bennett wants to go to school every day, but he survives on his three days a week.

 He often plays inside with trucks, trains, or puzzles, but he can also have a blast outside being silly with friends.

 He and a new friend spent ages "delivering packages" to one of the play structures last week.  He may have learned to love packages from all the Amazon and Google Shopping boxes that show up on our doorstep every week.  Or maybe he just loves the trucks that deliver the packages.

 Orelia had her 100th day of school on Monday, and we spent the morning counting out 100 Froot Loops and then stringing them onto a necklace (followed by eating said Froot Loops the second the necklace was placed around her neck).

 Orelia loves any reason to celebrate, and the 100th day of school seemed like as good a reason as any to her.

 February came with a bang here and we have been having 70 degree days all week.

 The sun is staying out later, which means there is actually sunlight when Bennett wakes up from his three hour naps (hence the sleepy-eyed, dog-armed photo).

 Never underestimate the power of sunlight to brighten a mood, and just this extra bit of afternoon sun has made our nap wake-ups that much easier.

 Bennett has been battling a stomach bug on and off all week, though somehow has managed to take some of his cutest photos.

 Every time I see his cute face lit up by the late afternoon sun, I can't help but break out my camera.

 He took a very early nap on one of his sick days, which meant he woke up while his sister was just starting her nap.  We had an hour and a half of leisurely quality time alone, which was quite nice.

 His sweet preschool teacher had given me the art supplies they were using that day to make trains since she knew Bennett would have enjoyed that particular art project.  We spent a long time arranging all of the train cars, gluing them down, and then creating animals, people, and cargo to add to the train.  Thank you Teacher Becca for providing us with an hour's worth of entertainment!

 Orelia, who always dresses as if it is summer, has started dressing in bathing suit tops again now that it actually feels like summer outside.

 She got so much attention for this outfit at school on Friday that she wore it today again.  She would probably like to wear it tomorrow, but I think I might insist on cleaning it first.

 We are crossing our fingers that Bennett has finally kicked his stomach bug now, and can go back to the land of the living tomorrow.

 He spent the morning at his favorite "sick day" activity, walking around the dog park with Daddy where none of the nearby creatures can catch whatever is ailing him. 

 It's hard to believe any kid in the "snakes and snails and puppy dog tails" realm could look as sweet as this by choice.  (Trust me, I would never consider trying to get either of my kids to pose like this.)

 So happy February, everyone! 

In Palo Alto that means the daffodils are coming up and the magnolia trees are blooming.  And it means the worst month of the year is behind us!

Basketball and Duplo

 Our little girl is growing up, and she joined her first team this winter.

 We have always had a pretty busy schedule, but YMCA basketball is our first foray into true team sports with "actual" games.

 Every Saturday morning this winter, Orelia will have a 30 minute practice followed by a 30 minute game (she will play two quarters in each game).

 Why basketball?  Why now?  Well, some of our closest friends are the coaches and some of Orelia's best friends are playing, so we decided why not?

 Orelia had been eagerly awaiting what she deemed "the big game," and she was basically ecstatic the entire time she was practicing and playing.

 Bennett decided he wanted to come and watch (which you can imagine he later regretted).  He deemed himself the coach and said he wanted a whistle.  A toddler with a whistle in an already loud gym is pretty low on my list.  No thanks, buddy.

Orelia knows very little about basketball, but it turns out neither do most of the members of her team!  So she fit right in!

 She left the experience so pumped up and said she wants to play basketball for the rest of her life.  I'm not sure if that's going to happen, but I am so happy she is playing in a way that encourages the love of the game.

 Bennett is frustrated he doesn't have soccer class in the winter, but he's entertaining himself by building "Chicago City" out of Duplo every day.  We aren't sure where he even heard of the city of Chicago, other than one of John's work trips a year ago, which makes playing "Chicago City" all the more fun.

 Our Duplo ice cream set is living its best life these days too (a second life, really, as Orelia always loved these) as Bennett creates cone after cone of creations that he either lovingly shares or cheekily hoards.  That's Bennett in a nutshell, really.

It's time to wake up my favorite Duplo ice cream maker from his three-hour nap or else he will never sleep tonight.  Wish me luck!

January Things

 Christmas break is over and we are back to whatever passes for normal.  Mostly, we are just busy smothering our little brothers with affection to the point of suffocation...but that's another story.

 We enjoyed extra days with Daddy home from work around the holidays, and John made sure to take them on lots of adventures.

 I'm not much of a homebody, but it turns out that compared to Weekend John, I am the homebody of the family.  I slept in and then went for neighborhood walks on a few occasions while the rest of the family was out running around at dog parks and the like.

My parents were here for the week after Christmas, and Bennett enjoyed many, many trucks books read by Grandpa on the couch, and Orelia enjoyed spending time as a sous chef with Grandpa.

 And since life is short and the waffle cookies are always eaten too quickly, Orelia and I had to make another batch of waffle cookies to finish out the season.

 My parents stayed home to watch Bennett while Orelia and I trotted off to Portland to visit our best friends again (and also eat more Portland doughnuts).

 Orelia and I both get so much out of our short trips to Portland.  It always makes us appreciate our close friends who mean so much to us.  It's amazing how much impact a friendship can have on a person even when the friend lives far away.

 After the Portland trip we had ANOTHER week off of school, but we are finally back at school and activities as of Monday.

 Both kids are beyond excited to be back at school this week, and it's so wonderful to see them thriving at school. 

It may also be wonderful for them to just be at school for my sanity in general, but that's another story.

That Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania

We spent a lovely Thanksgiving week visiting family in Pennsylvania, and somehow I never got a chance to blog about it.

 The kids had all kinds of fun adventures like visiting the Crayola Experience,

And riding on old fashioned steam trains (while eating gigantic cookies, apparently).

 The most important part of the trip was spending time with family.

Uncle Bobby hosted us in his beautiful home, and the kids loved spending time there.

 Orelia also loved spending time in Bobby's salon.

 She was very much at home in a salon chair getting a princess hairdo.  (No one is surprised by this.)

 Bobby also arranged for us to go on a horse-drawn carriage ride.

 Orelia felt quite regal and did her best princess waves to everyone as we rode past.  (I'm not kidding.)

 Bennett tolerated this excursion fine, but mostly enjoyed stories about "Snoopy and Flower" from Grandma and visiting Target to buy trucks as rewards for going potty.

There are few things Bennett likes more than a trip to Target (a boy after my own heart). 

 We loved all our family time out East and plan to go back this summer to see everyone again!

Look What You Made Me Do

Some years Orelia likes her dance recital songs.  And some years she LOVES her dance recital songs.

This year she and her crew performed a hip hop dance to Look What You Made Me Do (by Taylor Swfit) mashed up with Circus (by Britney Spears).

It's the stuff of five year-old girls' dreams.

Orelia loves being on stage and giving it her all.

And this year was no exception.

Her hip hop dance can be found here (she's middle/left).

And her ballet dance can be found here (she's middle left).

She practiced her dances at home many times, and by practice I mean she performed her dances for audiences of her family and friends.  She loves dancing if it means having fun and having eyes on her.

During the finale she slowly but surely made her way to the front and center to perform the finale dance.  Ha!  She doesn't have stage fright - yet, at least.

And just like in years past, she loved wearing lipstick and hairspray for the recital, and apparently backstage kept asking whether her lipstick rubbed off if she ate or drank anything.  Woman problems.

We are so proud of this fun performer for giving it her all and having fun on stage yet again!