Next year's holiday card

Done and done :o)

Tooth!

Big girl m not only had a big week of travel and play last week, she also hit a major milestone - her first tooth! So far she's been a good sport about it, and about all the other crazy we've been dragging her through :o)

Skiing, part 2

So the fun on skis continued.  Tuesday while Alex and I skied Deer Valley, Caroline and Jean took c back to the driveway.

The practice seemed to have paid off, because when Alex and I joined the skiing fun Wednesday morning, c could do this:

Yes. Look close. You are seeing what you think you're seeing - that is c JUMPING on skis. Because, why not?

Having clearly mastered the driveway skiing, we proceeded to cross the street to the snowmobile path that was groomed and had a hill. Alex took her to the top:

then let go!

luckily I was at the bottom to both offer guidance of proper leaning technique, and to catch her :o)

And after every catch the first word out of her mouth was "AGAIN!"

C's a huge fan, and remarkably stable on skis. Tentative plan is to bring her to the actual mountain before heading back to Madison. We'll see how it goes!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! We had a wonderful celebration last night followed by about a foot of snow overnight and it's been snowing all morning. A fantastic day to sit around and feel lucky and grateful.

 

The Mad City Provans hope your holiday season is filled with Life

 

 

Love

 

 

 

And Happiness.

 



Skiing Part 1

Well, I guess you're never too young to start. We rented skis for c on Monday and to say they were a hit was an under statement. On day one, we stuck to going up and down the driveway.

To be continued...

7 Months

Lucky girl m got to celebrate her 7 month birthday out at Grandma and Grandpa's house! Good thing Lemur made the trip.

Both m and c were great on the trip out here. This is officially m's fourth flying trip. Not bad for 7 months.

Neither girls seem to be minding the altitude, and much fun is being had by all.  Especially lemur.

Almost vacation

Happy last work day to my family before a WHOLE WEEK OFF! We're getting in the holiday spirit, that's for sure.

Holiday Hunt

Special Guest Post: C's Daycare Teachers
We get emails from c's teachers every day with a little update of how the day has gone so far. Today's was cute enough I thought I'd share :o)

We are back and warming up after we went on a Holiday Hunt! After breakfast, we decided to go for a walk around Research Park and find holiday decorations. Over by the Feynman Center, we found lots of blue lots outside. Inside we found a Christmas tree!!

There was also a snowman inside. When we went back outside, Stefanie spied some snowflakes. It was tricky to see them, but we eventually spotted them on the BTC. Then we went through the road and tiptoed into a “cave.” Then we ran around because “The Christmas Tree is going to get us!!!” While we were running around, we spotted two large wreaths hanging on the Agora building. Then we noticed the cow was no longer outside. After some thought, we decided that he was probably inside because he didn’t want to get broken or didn’t want to be cold.

We thought that the other cow might still be outside. Our teachers thought he would also be inside. So we went over to the Farmer’s Market area to find out. The suspense was hard to handle!! When we FINALLY made it to the pavilion, we discovered that the cow was not outside. Our teachers were right. After that, there weren’t any more lights or decorations, but we did a lot of running from bears.

Our walk was full of adventures! Now we are going to spend some time playing in the classroom and will eat lunch soon. We hope you are having a marvelous day!

Brave Souls

M came home with a little blue paint under her nails the other day. I didn't think much of it at the time. Turns out it was the only remaining evidence of what might be the bravest thing a baby room teacher could do - full body painting...

M's a fan

Visit

We were playing in the living room on Sunday morning, and all of a sudden c stopped playing, sat down and stared out the window. I started to ask what was up and she shushed me and said she was watching the birdie. I looked out expecting a finch, and instead saw this guy:

I'm pretty sure he's a hawk. And whatever he is I'm happy he was outside and we were in.

The beginning of a beautiful friendship

So max has been a fan of us feeding m since we started to feed m, but hasn't really interacted much with her directly. Now that she's sitting up and interacting I suspect that's about to change...

Now it could be that max was just smelling residual breakfast

but i'd prefer to think that instead he was greeting his next great playmate :o)

Let the record show...

...that m is not ALWAYS smiling.

Early morning November 28th 2014. M had rolled on to her belly and was none to pleased that I took a picture instead of rolling her back over. A mom's got to get photographic evidence while she can!

Do you want to build a snowman?

Wisconsin weather is weird. Mid November - high of 10 degrees. This weekend - high of 45. Now let's be very clear I'm not complaining about it not being freezing :o)

Anyway, it was cold in Novemeber and we actually had snow. So when folks were in town for Thanksgiving C and Grandpa built an honest to goodness snowman.

Sam helped too.

But he wasn't particularly impressed.

Hi Friends

So I blinked, and now apparently we're well into December. Huh. I wonder how that happened.

Things are fine on the home front. M is sitting:

and eating

And c and her class are exploring the woods with a surprising lack of snow for December

and I am slacking when it comes to blogging :o) This weekend - back to an actual computer to process pictures and write something worthwhile!

Pintrest worthy

Thursday's thanksgiving was a grand success. 12 people, 13 dishes, lots of fun and countless laughs. The table was beautiful:

And for the first time, I feel like I made food that was really good too! In case anyone wants it for later on, here are the recipes:

• Turkey: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe.html
• Cranberry sauce: http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/slow-cooker-cranberry-sauce-recipe/
• Squash: http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/quinoa-stuffing-recipe-quinoa-butternut-squash-cranberries-pistachios/
• Creamed corn: http://www.foodiecrush.com/2013/11/5-ingredient-slow-cooker-creamed-corn/
• Green beans: http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/healthier-green-bean-casserole/
• Stuffing: thank you stove top!
• Sinful potatoes & fluff: ask Caroline and Carol :o)

Story time

Yesterday before the crazy started, Jean volunteer to read a book. ALL of the little ones were excited to listen...

Okay maybe we can't translate max's posture as excited... but at least he's pointing in the right direction. 

The littlest one though, she was excited.

Big girl

We had m's 6 month appointment today. Here are the stats:

Yup, she's big. And a trooper! 4 shots and she was still totally done crying before we got to the car. Can't keep this girl from smiling for long. To prove it - some shots from daycare...

And oh yeah, she sits up now :o)

6 months!

So two in a row for m, but I couldn't pass up the lemur shots on her half birthday.

You, my dear, are a sturdy baby. I'm thinking ballet might not be in your future, but you might end up being the swimmer. At bath time tonight you splashed as I have never seen a baby splash before. You should have seen max flee to the corner of the bathroom :o)

Your arms and legs are pretty much always moving, and nothing is safe from your death grip (especially not hair). Generally once gripped things are straight to your mouth, though interestingly enough that doesn't seem to be the pattern for food. That just gets tossed straight to the floor...


The only hair that seems to be growing is the stuff on the very top of your head which I attempted to braid this morning. Fun, but not particularly practical.

Happy half birthday baby girl. Keep being awesome.