...and every mother's child is gonna spy...

Christmas morning 2010

12:35am Santa and Mrs. Claus finally get the last of the gifts wrapped and placed carefully under the tree.

3:46am Two small girls cheerfully march into our bedroom. All the lights in the hall and the playroom are on and we are wished a very Merry Christmas.

3:47 Two small girls are escorted back to bed and tucked up tight.

4:10 Elder daughter awakes with nightmares (sugar plums, perhaps?)

4:25 After considerable negotiation a makeshift bed is made for elder daughter on sofa in master bedroom.

5:05 Elder daughter happily announces in a loud voice that the scary shadows don't come into Mommy and Daddy's room, only into the girls' room.

5:25 Elder daughter announces that she is not scared anymore and misses her sister, so she is returning to her bed.

6:01 Two small girls are up for the day and are requested to please play quietly in the playroom.

6:07 Mommy, can you please put this doll's arm into the sleeve?

6:11 Mommy, can you please hook this Playmobil piece back together? ... It broke!

6:18 Mommy! Evelyn stayed dry all night and you have to come look because she wants to show you her diaper!!

6:22 Mommy, can you please reach a shirt from the shirt drawer?

6:27 Come ON! Get UP! We want to open our presents!!!!!!!

6:28 All hope is given up of ever sleeping again in this life.

HO!HO!HO!

Bedtime Evasion

Evelyn: I don't want to go to bed right now!
Me: Oh? When do you want to go to bed?
Evelyn: At 30 o' clock!

You are what you eat

One of Sierra's gift books this advent season is "I Met a Shy Fellow Who Swallowed a Cello." In the book the fellow swallows not only a cello, but practically a whole orchestra--one instrument at a time. When I started reading it to the girls this morning Evelyn quickly stopped me after the first page or two. "That's actually not appwopwiate!! They are eating things that are NOT FOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!"

Railroad Crossing, Watch out for the Cars.... Can you say that without any R's?

Tonight Sierra got her R's!!! Up until today the poor thing has not even been able to say her own name properly (it's hard to think of all these things when you're giving a kid their name...) but she just graduated from Siehwa to Sierra for real. When she realized she could say it, she just kept saying her name over and over again. It must be a total revelation for her! We were both so excited and she ran in to show Jonathan that she could say "I ran the race, it was great!"

Terms and conditions

Evelyn just knocked down a bunch of stuff off a shelf in the girls' room. Sierra: "NO! I do not ACCEPT that!"

Warm Weather Wishes

Evelyn says: "I don't want to go outside again until it's spring."

Wake up call

I've been having a hard time waking up Sierra in the morning ever since we got back from the West coast. It's taking her forever to readjust to this time zone. This morning I was joking to Evelyn about have to roust Sierra out of bed each day. Tonight Ev asked if I was going to have to "roast" Sierra in the morning again. :-)

First Official Cello Recital

 
 

Sierra played in her first official cello recital tonight! She was slated to play Twinkle in the recital, but in the last few days she also figured out her new piece, French Folk Song. She played it for her teacher right before the recital and after hearing it, Elisa said, "Well, do you want to play it in the recital tonight?" Sierra's reaction was, [shrug]... "Well.... sure!" So she played both, and did great! She also played along with the cello choir on two pieces and looked like a pro up there. We were so proud of her!!

The recital was in Grove City, about an hour+ north of here and they were forecasted to get 16 inches of snow during this 12 hr period. We were a bit nervous about heading up into that, but we went ahead and did it. The drive was fine on the way up until the last five miles or so. Coming back was slow and nerve-racking, but uneventful. We had planned to go with Grandma and Grandpa altogether in the van, but because of the dicey weather the van was not a good choice and since we couldn't all fit in the car, they decided to stay back and keep Evelyn (who wasn't too keen on going anyway, and would have had a really hard time sitting through it to begin with). Ev went to have a sleepover at G&G's so on the way home Sierra was bemoaning the fact that Ev wouldn't be there to sleep with her tonight. She said, "I won't get to wake up and kiss her in the morning!" So sweet!

Bestowing graciousness

Ev: I'm thirsty, mama!
Me: Would you like a glass of water?
Ev: Yes, I would. Bless your heart!

Wanted: bow

We were driving the other day and the Brahms double concerto came on the radio (for cello and violin). Sierra was listening intently and Jonathan asked if she would want to play that piece with him someday. Her eyes got very big and after a long pause she said, "Whoa! I'm really going to need my bow to play that fast!"