Petshop Beach & Other Winter Fun

Here is Annie with her good friend Aubrie playing none other than the famous "Petshop Beach," a favorite these days. It involves taking all of the "Petshops" (which the original was actually deemed "Bobblehead Kitty" by Oma) and immersing them in Annie's little kitchen sink for hours. Other favorites are figure parades, playdough, and Peri dress-up.

"For the Children in Haiti"

The title of this post is Leia's usual prayer both at dinner time and at night. Ever since the huge earthquake in Haiti in mid-January, Leia has prayed and prayed along with us for the Haitian people, . . . especially the children. I tried to figure out something small we could do that would truly allow the girls to help the situation (more than just collecting change through school and giving a donation through church), . . . and the answer presented itself in the form of the girls' unused stuffed animals. Annie and Leia get so many of these stuffed friends, a few of them always get left by the wayside, . . . never truly to be loved. The girls themselves went through their bins and found ones they really wanted to give, . . . enough to fill a large box. Together we addressed it to the Pediatric Unit at the General Hospital in Port Au Prince, packed all those stuffed toys, and sent it off right away. In reality, it doesn't matter when the hospital gets the package. There will always be poor children there who will bear a smile at seeing one of these cute toys.

Our Little Tantrum Kid

Annie's black eye makes this picture even more pitiful, doesn't it? : ( Well, the truth of the matter is that if Annie isn't put down for a nap every day around lunchtime, . . . this face ensues (along with kicking, screaming, yelling, scratching, biting, and sometimes spitting). Yes, Annie has true tantrums when she is tired, . . . today's was set off by her not being able to spoon her snowcake into her mouth with her mittens on. Oh my. And, yes, these tantrums always end with the "Thinking Corner." (Luckily, this phase didn't last long.)

The Big Snow 2010 (Day 3)

Mamma being afraid to try anything bigger, the girls and I created our own little sledding hill right off the big drift by the back door. We even made a ramp down to the yard so we could have a double drop. It was a tiny little slide, but we had a LOT of fun on it! Then we made "snowcakes" with our sandmolds, complete with chocolate syrup and sprinkles! The girls really enjoyed them!

Leia's Tinker-Dolls

Santa hit the jackpot when he brought Leia tinkertoys this Christmas! They are used every single day! And today after trying to make a sunshine, but running out of spokes, Leia discovered that her creation looked like a guy! SO she made a whole family of Tinker Dolls for us to play with. She made two families: ours and Shenan's. You can see Leia and Shenan in the "pool" with "flippers" and Annie and Armelle in the "pool" as well with "floaties." Leia is holding Daddy and Mamma. : )

Rediscovering Dress-Up

With the snow still outside and school cancelled, the girls came up with a wonderful inside activity that we had all but forgotten about: dress-up! This has been the main activity during this second big snow this winter. And oh how we're enjoying it! Lots of dancing bunnies, lions, angels, dogs, and other fun creatures are invading the home. Annie even did some Wii yoga as a bunny today!

The Big Snow 2010 (Day 2)

Even though there was a lot of melting going on outside today, we decided (Mamma decided?) to go sledding outside anyway. Our snow track on the road was gone, so we needed to find another place. We decided to try the pasture this time. Mamma went down first just to make sure it wasn't too fast. I stopped a lot sooner than I thought (right by the barn). Thinking it was okay, we decided to toboggan together. I was the end tube just so I could hold the rope handle (thinking I could roll off and stop everyone if it got too fast). We started down. It was too fast. I rolled off, . . . and the jump rope handle BROKE! It was a parent's worst nightmare! Somehow Brian and Leia rolled off, but Annie kept going on down. She slowed up, . . . but then she hit the fence post, went under the barbed wire fence, and right to the edge of the ravine with a small stream running underneath it. Brian scaled the fence and grabbed her. I just sat in the snow holding my little Annie who was crying and saying, "Mamma! I bumped my head!" : ( When Leia asked Daddy what was wrong, he screamed, "Your sister just hit a fence post, went under the barbed wire, and almost went over a cliff!" Such are the exploits of inexperienced sledders. : ( We are really blessed that the only injury was a black eye from the fence post. I shudder to think what could have happened. : ( Poor Annie!!!