Little Foodie

We're starting to venture into the world of solid (not smushed up) food with Kate. She's a big fan. We're starting with puffs, peas, small pieces of eggs, etc. I get the feeling that she's ok with that, but is hoping that we'll just go ahead and jump to whatever we're having for dinner (lasagna, enchiladas, etc.). Be patient, Kate, we'll get there!

I'd like to give these peas a rounds of applause.

Kate trying to convince us that just one piece of chicken pot pie won't hurt her.

China doll

Anna has been studying China and Japan the last few weeks at school, so was super excited to get to wear her Chinese pants that her Auntie Lees gave her to school this last week (note: I believe Auntie Lees gave her these pants almost 3 years ago...they're a size 18 months, but they just now fit her...she really is our tiny china doll...). Here she is doing her interpretation of a "Chinese dance". I think this is somewhat derived from the Chinese Tea dance during the Nutcracker, but I'm not entirely sure??

Anna has had so much fun learning about different countries in school this year. And, I'm happy to report that its increased her adventurousness in eating a bit too (well, at least in trying new things). When they were studying Poland before the holidays, she tried a pierogi (which warmed her father's heart--he's a serious pierogi fan...). And, during this unit on Asian countries, her art teacher (Ms. Rosalyn) brought in all the ingredients for sushi and offered each of the ingredients to the kids to try. Anna tried every one! And, then Ms. Rosalyn taught them how to roll and eat sushi, and offered the kids a full sushi roll to try. Anna and one of her little friends were the only two brave enough to do it, but she put the entire roll in her mouth! (Granted, she promptly spit it right back out, but I give her kudos for at least trying it...).

Gingerbread House to Exact Specifications

Susan and Anna finished up the Christmas and New Year's break by making a gingerbread house. As you can see in the pic below, it turned out to be less a of gingerbread house and more of a gingerbread bunker, with only one small window upstairs.

Here you can see Anna taking great care placing the rows of candy in specific patterns. I figure it's only a matter of weeks before she takes a cue from Susan and uses a spreadsheet to plan out things like this...

Countdown to noon

Whew! I am happy to report that this is officially the LAST blog posting of 2009! For those of you that were willing to bear with me on the mega-update that I just posted...thank you! (And for those of you that chose not to, we understand!)

We celebrated an amazing 2009 and rang in a great 2010 at our traditional trip to the Houston Children's Museum for their "Countdown to Noon". As usual, the girls had a great time (even amongst the chaos that always accompanies today at the Museum)! Anna loved sitting on Daddy's shoulders watching the brass band parade and watching the ball drop at noon...

And, prior to the New Year's celebration, Anna had a great time playing at the Museum with her buddy Owen. I think she's really missed hanging out with friends during this two week break from school and other activities, so she was extra-excited to get to play with Owen.

And, the girls had a great time playing together at the Tot Spot...

We hope everyone had a great New Year's celebration, and we look forward to many happy memories (and blog postings to document them) in 2010...

Scrub-a-dub

Our little lady has a new interest that I'm pretty excited about--washing dishes! She thinks its so fun to use her "scrub-a-dub" (the little red sponge in her hand) and wash dishes. Now, this hobby could come in handy...

Silkies

Our girls are lucky enough to have a wonderful Great Aunt Jackie that makes them (and me!) these fabulous silky pillow cases (as well as beautiful blankets). Anna has become particularly enamoured with the "silkies" this past year...she even insists on her pillow at school having a silky pillowcase on it! She decided to take a little "nap" in Kate's bathtub with her silkies...

And, she often likes to get inside of one of the pillowcases and use it as a sleeping bag while she lays on another one on her pillow. Life is tough...

Silky pillowcase, cover, and nightgown? I'm surprised she didn't just slide right off the couch...

Flower child

Anna has adopted the roses in our backyard as "her flowers", and just loves tending to them and showing them some TLC. We spend a lot of time watering them (albeit often with saltwater from the pool...sorry roses!), and just generally admiring them. She's a little worried because they haven't looked so healthy since our snow earlier this year, but I've ensured her that they'll come back this spring...let's hope I'm right!