Roller Skating

I forgot how hard it can be to learn new skills. You watch a baby learn to walk, talk, etc. and it's so exciting. Teaching a kid to roller skate is just plain hard...and a bit comical. Gussie is old enough to grasp the basics and have a decent sense of balance to start with. She's been roller skating a couple times before so she needed just a little help. 

Winky was just crazy. The best way I can describe it is like pushing a wheelbarrel around the room. She couldn't get her feet for more than a few seconds unless we supported her. We would just giggle as we walked around the track.

Winky liked to rest and touch the floor. I'm not sure if she was checking to see if it was moving or what, but it was funny to watch.

Catch-Up time

Wow! Where has the time flown? To be honest, quite a bit of it has flown by on facebook and trying to stay warm during these 5!! months of winter. UGH!! We've had a few big events in the last few months and Winky's birthday was a lot of fun in February.

 

Winky posing at the beginning of the birthday party.

She loved her princess cake. 

The party was at a the gymantics place where the girls take classes and the kids had a lot of fun jumping in the pit, bouncing on the trampolines, and climbing the ropes.

Halloween

We had a very happy Halloween with lots of fun and tons of treats! Gussie was a Hawkeye cheerleader and Winky was Sleeping Beauty for her preschool party and Cinderella for Trick or Treating. With so many princesses to choose from, what's a girl to do??

Gussie with her two best buddies from school.

The girls were very excited to go trick or treating. The weather was beautiful this year and it was the first time when they didn't have to be all bundled up with lots of layers before they went out. The ran from house to house and happily shouted "trick or treat" at everyone.

One of the houses in our neighborhood went all out and decorated their whole front yard for Halloween. The girls had a great time exploring all the ghoulish decorations.

Monday Evenings

There are some Monday evenings that are the loooongest of my life. Paul closes and gets home as the girls are going to bed so we have a long day together. On bad days, it can be really trying, but on good days, we have a lot of fun together. This was one of those days.

My cousin Rachel gave the girls some of her clothes and they absolutely love them! To be honest, they loved everything about Rachel: her room, her bed, her clothes, and just the idea of her. It's cute to listen to them talk about her. The girls wore their dresses and we put on some music and danced around the house. Then we went outside for a walk and found a Walking Stick on a plant on the porch. He just hung out while we watched him and snapped some pictures.

San Diego Zoo

Ahh, the straw that broke the camels back...or should I say ours?? The trip was winding down and we had promised the girls we'd go to the San Diego Zoo. We had fun but everyone was exhausted and pushing ourselves to enjoy it. By lunch time even Winky was complaining, and she's usually my trooper. As we arrived back at Aunt Di's house, Gussie said to Mom, "Grandma, I don't think I can do the Wild Animal Park tomorrow" in a sad and pathetic little voice. We all agreed, a day of rest was needed and Aunt Lynda provided the perfect day for everyone. We spent the next to the last night of our trip at Lynda and Dave's house with a nice family BBQ, and then went to a park near her house for an afternoon picnic. The girls were very happy and it was the perfect end to a wonderful trip.

We stood in line for quite awhile to see the pandas and it was worth it. We had a great view of two of the adults and the baby was sleeping in the tree. I love this picture I got of the Mom munching on her bamboo.

Gussie's's new favorite dog is Willie from Aunt Lynda's house. She could eat our little Panya for a snack if she wanted to. The girls thought it was pretty neat to have a big dog around which is a good sign for the future.... (Is my Mom falling over as she reads that??) ;-)

The Beach and Seaport Village

We had a nice relaxing day on Sunday after the wedding and enjoyed walking around Seaport Village and drove over to Coronado to play on the beach. Here's some pictures of our day.

Both girls loved the hat shop at Seaport Village. Winky tried on everything she could get her little hands on and modeled for me. Gussie ooh'ed and aah'ed over lots of them, but she wouldn't try anything on or pose for the camera. :-(

We took Gussie to the beach when she was very little before we moved, but this is her first time back that she'll remember. Both girls were unhappy about the waves at first but Grandma showed them how to jump the waves and by the end, they were begging to stay longer.

The Wedding Day is Finally Here

The wedding was a lot of fun and just a little stress for us. Getting the girls ready that morning drove me crazy because Winky decided it was a gymnastics day at Aunt Di's and messed up her hair over and over again. Gussie cried every time I tried to put her hair up and I think the emotions of the day were just getting to her. Is this a bad sign of how things will go today?? is what I was thinking.

The girls were invited to get ready with the "big" girls (Kristin and the bridesmaids) and they basically stared in awe as Kristin put on her beautiful dress. I hope dreams of big weddings aren't dancing in their heads. ;-)

We rode to the church in the big limo with the bridal party and Gussie thought that was very exciting. Winky used the opportunity for a much needed nap and doesn't remember much beyond the tvs and the music.

This shot came out a little blurry because I didn't use my flash but it's still cute of everyone waiting for Kristin's arrival. I wish I had a full shot of Kristin in her dress, she was BEAUTIFUL!

Gussie was worn out and needed some Daddy time after the ceremony.

The girls perked up by the reception. They loved all the little details like the crystal trees, the bells on the tables, the Boston Baked Beans (a highlight for them), and the "fancy party" for Kristin and Nick. Both girls said dancing with their Daddy was their favorite part of the day.

Cutting the cake.

Steve, Di, Lynda and Marcy.

Rehearsal Dinner and Practice Makes Perfect!!

The girls did great at the wedding rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner meeting all the new people. Here's the girls walking down the aisle in their special flower girl t-shirts made by Aunt Lynda.

Uncle Dave walks Kristin down the aisle preparing for the big day.

Rehearsal dinner photos at the Fish Market in downtown San Diego.

Sunny San Diego

We had a fabulous time in San Diego and it was made all the more special because we were able to stay with family while we were there. The girls had tons of fun at Sea World, the Zoo, and the beach, but they loved reading and playing games with Aunt Di and Aunt Lynda. One of the most important goals for me for the trip was having them meet my family and have memories of some of the people who love them from across the country. We definitely accomplished that!

I have quite a few photos and I'm going to break it down by days to make posting easier. Our first full day we went to Sea World and the girls seem to agree that it topped their list for fun adn excitement. Winky loved the Sesame Street area with the rides and Abbey Gaddaby, as well as the penguins. Gussie's favorites were the dolphins, Shamu, and the play area.

Even Grandma was willing to try out the rides a little. Once she figured out that she could control the height of the ride their Elmo went from flying up high to skimming the ground. Winky still loved it, no matter how high up they were. Gussie flew her own Elmo and she soared at the top with a big smile on her face. :-)

Shamu show and up close with a walrus.

Getting Closer

The girls will be flower girls in my cousin's wedding in exactly one week. Getting ready for the wedding has been fun (and a bit stressful as I start packing!!) and they are very excited to visit San Diego. The girls have been rather patient with me as we try out hair styles and see what might work with their hair. I've kept it shorter for most of their lives but they've been growning it out for the wedding. To curl or not to curl, to up-do or not, man...choices are tough. The reason we've always kept it short is because they both hate to have their hair done. They like the way it looks when it's finished, but the drama involved drives me crazy. I've been looking at some mom's hairstyles blogs and there are some highly dedicated moms out there that do some pretty intricate hair styles....daily. I can't imagine it. I'm sure my girls couldn't either. ;-)

Gussie was happy to try on her dress and walk around before we packed it up but Winky wasn't as willing. She pretty much cried and stomped around at the mere thought of being in the dress when she didn't want to, so we were grateful just to get a fitting done.

Move It! Dig It! Do It!

Wow, a lot of time has passed since I last posted so I have a lot of catching up to do. This past weekend we went to Move It! Dig It! Do It! which is an event sponsored by a local children's museum that brings in many different kinds of trucks and vehicles that the kids can climb in and on. There were construction cranes (only inside the cab of those!), recycler truck, trash truck, bus, fire truck, police car, combine, construction equipment, you name it, they probably had it. Two of the coolest things were going inside the balloon part of a hot air balloon that was tipped on its side and watching a helicopter land and go inside. They also had all kinds of animals and Winky's favorite...HUGE piles of sand with lots of sand toys to play in it. We spent most of our day there and here's a few photos.

Gussie doing the wheelbarrel race.

Winky drives the recycling truck. Just a little too short. :-)

Both girls had fun playing with the little cars. Gussie barely fit but they pretended to contact each other on the little radios and race around the track.

Watching Hannah Montana

The girls were excited to try out 3D glasses and watch the Hannah Montana concert that was shown on the Disney channel one night. I'm obviously getting old because I had a headache within 15 minutes from either wearing the glasses occasionally or watching the funky looking tv screen. Oh so sad, the days of youth are gone.

The girls started out watching the show sitting down but it didn't last long...

Soon they were singing and dancing along. Cute to watch.

Gussie thought Panya needed to get in on the act as well. If it's true that dogs are color blind, this didn't help much. :-)

Birthday Time Again

We were off to a birthday party for a family friend today and it held a whole day's worth of fun. I got some fun pics from the pool and water slides that I have to post.

Sharon (aka the birthday girl) coming down the slide.

Sharon under water. Glub, glub.

No clue what Paul was trying to do here, but it was amusing. The first slide he went down had a big drop and he tried to slow himself down as he went. Big mistake on a plastic waterslide and he has the friction burns to prove it. We could hear the squeeeeeaaaakkk of his hands and thankfully no four letter words from across the pool. :-)

The girls playing in the bubblers at the edge of the pool.

Gussie and her best friend love to ride horses together. That was in the plans for the morning but the stable they usually go to was badly affected by the recent flooding in Iowa and isn't yet open for business. They had to make due with petting some ponies that were at a local festival.