Is It Still Winter?!?!?

MiniM.E. has been constantly saying, "Mommy, I'm tired of the snow," "Mommy, I'm tired of the cold," "Mommy, is spring tomorrow?"

I totally feel the same way.  This has been a long cold winter and MiniM.E. and I are ready for some sun and warm weather.

We've been getting back into the routine since coming back from NH and have been trying to keep busy.  Our week so far:

Cakepop at Starbucks

Throwing rocks in "the stream"

Pedicure turned nap 

Finger painting 

the mall

"Big" carousel at the mall 

little carousel at the mall

Bathtime!

at the TreePaad

collecting balls for the ball cannon

On the agenda for this weekend: baking a cake for Mommy's birthday.  MiniM.E. has been talking about it all week.  In case you were wondering, it will be chocolate with "bannilla" frosting and lots of sprinkles, per MiniM.E.'s request.

What a Beautiful Day!

After we came home from skiing we had to take advantage of the warm weather and go out and play in the snow.

And take a dip in the hot tub.  MiniM.E. loved melting the snow in the warm water!

Today it's back to NY.  Thanks for having us Gram and Grumpy!

New Hampshire & Ski Trip #2

This week is school vacation in NY and all our activities were cancelled for the week so it was the perfect time to visit Gram & Grumpy in NH.  We haven't been to NH since Christmas and MiniM.E. has been asking about it for weeks.

Coming to my parents is always a nice break for me because while we are here MiniM.E. wants absolutely nothing to do with me.  Half the time I am not even allowed to be in the room ("I don't WANT Mommy in here!!!").  I'd say I was sad about that but that would be an outright lie.  I love MiniM.E. to pieces but sometimes I just need the break.

So, instead of having tons of photos of MiniM.E. playing here, I have um... one?  I mean, it's awfully hard to take photos of your daughter if you aren't allowed in the room...

MiniM.E. at the dinner table

Today though, instead of playing at home, we took MiniM.E. to Pat's Peak to go skiing on the bunny slope.  

Dancing in the van

Ready to go!

Her second time on skis she did a lot better keeping her balance and standing on her own.  It was a little more short lived than our first skiing adventure- we only made it up and down twice.

The best part of the day for MiniM.E. was sitting in the lodge by the fire and eating this big cookie... In fact, before we even got the skis on she started saying, "I'm so chilly, I want to go in and sit by the fire and eat a cookie."

Two is More Fun than One

This weekend Bob is visiting his brother in Long Island.  Usually, I like a little mommy-daughter time, but lately our days have been looooonnngg, and I have to say I was a little worried about having MiniM.E. all to myself overnight last night (Gram came to the rescue today!!).

To top it off, I also agreed to baby-sit one of MiniM.E.'s friends while her parents went out for a Valentine's dinner.  Again, usually would sound like fun, but MiniM.E. has been quite demanding... add to that her newfound anti-sharing sentiments and I was more than a little concerned about how our evening would unfold.

A. was a little timid at first, but MiniM.E. immediately stepped it up and instead of insisting that A. went home right away (as I expected), she went right over, cradled her cheeks and said, "It's okay, your mommy and daddy will be back to pick you up soon."  Then she brought her in and showed her around.  Dinner was first on the agenda, and once the girls were full of yummy dinner (brought by A.'s mom), they played and played.  Lots of water was involved...

All in all, I have to say having two two-year-olds was much easier than having just MiniM.E.  They kept each other occupied (I washed the dishes after dinner!!) and laughed and giggled and were in great spirits the whole time.  Thanks for coming over, A.!  You made the night much easier for MiniM.E.'s mom :)

Oh, Winter...

Seriously?  For one, this is too much snow.  I mean, I love snow, and MiniM.E. is pretty into sledding this year, but bring on spring.  I could use some playground weather.  Or at least puddle jumping...

It's snowing now AGAIN.  And we're in for a foot or so... exciting to watch, but not so exciting when it means being stuck inside with your antsy toddler.

And secondly, give my kid a break!  She gets over the flu, has a week of feeling good and you give her the stomach bug....

At least we had a good few days of fun in the middle.  And she's finally returning to her normal self after a rough day of throwing up last weekend.

We tried out open gymnastics at the YMCA at the beginning of the week:

And went sledding with friends yesterday:

We made a bunch of Valentine's Crafts while Molly wasn't feeling well, but I am not cut out to be a craft blogger and as much as I thought I would photograph the materials, process and finished products, I have nothing to show for the time we spent.  Oh well... we had a good time!

Happy Early Valentine's Day!!

Welcome February!

After the longest month of at least one person in our house being sick that I can remember ever.... we made it to February.  Since MiniM.E. was born I cannot remember a week (let alone a month) where we stayed inside or I took as few photos as I did last month.

But we made it through, and I'm happy to say that the first weekend of February showed lots of promise!

Saturday we went out for Saratoga's Chowderfest.  We'd been since we moved to Saratoga-- the first year was a bit of a shock-- Bob had to work and I took 2 1/2 month old MiniM.E. by myself to a festival full of people and lines for tiny cups of chowder... not so impressed.  Last year, MiniM.E. had no desire to sit in a stroller and wait in lines, though we got there super early to make sure to taste some of the best... we still ended up spending most of Chowderfest at a coffee shop.

So I didn't have high expectations for this year.

And we had a blast!

We took the bus into town (which was probably the best part for MiniM.E.)

She brought Dolly in her carrier and walked the streets:

We made footprints in the snow (also a highlight):

Managed to taste the two best chowders in town and swing by Ben & Jerry's for some ice cream chowder for MiniM.E. before she needed a break to walk the park and throw rocks in the stream:

We hit up a few more chowder spots... spent half an hour at Northshire Books and three times that long putting the dollies to bed at G. Willikers before ending our day at Druther's where MiniM.E. insisted we push through the hundreds of people in the courtyard and wait in a 30 minute queue for a table...

All in all, Chowderfest was a blast the third time around.


Sunday we finally had weather good enough (if you call mid 30's with drizzle good weather) to try skiing with MiniM.E. on the new skis we bought her.  She has been talking about it since the first snow fell and she was SO excited.

West Mountain seemed like a good first time skiing choice.  With the magic carpet and the easy sloping bunny hill, we made a good choice.

All decked out and ready to go.

Magic carpet!

(forgot you can't take sideways videos...)

Video of skiing to come... technical issues with the video camera... 

The magic carpet was obviously much more fun than actually going down the hill on skis, but we made a total of four runs, which was four more than I thought we would make.

After a snack by the fire (and another in the lodge), MiniM.E. said she was done for the day and we packed up to go home.  (She said she wanted to ski again as we were walking to the car... next time...) I think it was a successful first ski day!