My wonderful Romelie

My little girl is 5 years old today!  Five years old!

This is the time of year I put together a photo book to share with the grandparents that shows off the last year of the girls' lives (sorry to publicly spoil the Christmas gift surprise, but I think after 4 years in a row you probably could guess that it's coming).  I was looking through last year's book to try to mimic the format as much as possible, and I was just blown away at how much older Romelie seems.  True, she still acts like she did when she was 3 occasionally, but she also has given us glimpses of what she might be like at age 7 or 8 (wanting to help more around the house, using polite words - sometimes - without needing reminders, etc.) and it's pretty awesome.

Anyway, Romelie...this video is for you.

(Happy birthday, baby.  Love you.)

May thru November

I promised pictures from May onward once I got a cable for my camera.  I have a cable, so here goes!

Romelie took swimming lessons in the Spring.   Three kids, one instructor.  Best swimming lessons ever.

We took a picture of Romelie on this "ride" at Chuck E Cheese when she was tiny, so I couldn't resist getting the "big kid" version.

Cori had fun at Chuck E Cheese, too.  I love this picture cause it looks like she's in some sort of kid zoo.

This is what my kids do with sidewalk chalk.  Clearly the word "sidewalk" is just a suggestion.

Cori's much more physical than Romelie was at this age.  This shelf is her jungle gym.

Both of the kids got a face rash after dinner one night in May.  Apparently they share the same sensitive skin issues.

We tried to get a nice family photo; this was the best one (the ones with me feature crying kids).

Maryland!  We spent a week visiting Grandmommy in June which was an absolute blast.

The girls spent lots of quality time with Grandmommy playing outside...

...and Chason and I got lots of grown up time in D.C.  Yeah, Hubble 3-D.

As you can see, I have some seriously styin' kids.

Grandmommy's birthday!  We ate way too much delicious food....

...then snuggled in for the night.  Thanks for such a great trip, Diane and Roy!

Back in MN...we visited our local community carnival in August and won a cake.  I know, you're totally jealous.

Have I mentioned that Cori is in love with dolls?  She always has to have her blanket and at least one doll with her everywhere she goes.  It's pretty cute, actually, and illustrates another difference between her and Romelie who never had any sort of "lovey."

Labor Day weekend!  We visited Grandmommy at her new pet boarding facility in Park Rapids...

...then headed over to Grandpa's cabin for some outdoor sports and games.

Cori has an awesome pout.  Also, her hair and outfit in this picture make it one of my favorites.

We still have our membership at the MN Zoo.  Check out the penguins!

Halloween time!  We visited Grandmommy and spent a few hours at a pumpkin corn maze festival place.  I don't know what you call it, but it was fun.

Corn kernel crawl.  Ah, small town MN, you're adorable.

Romelie carved a pumpkin this year, but still insisted on painting it afterwards.

Cori painted her small pumpkin, too

And aww...look how adorable they are!  In case it's not obvious, they are Blue and Periwinkle from Blue's Clues.  I wonder how many years I can dress them in similarly themed costumes before they start to protest?

Okay, kids, there's the last six months.  I know these photos only tell a small piece of the story of our lives, but hopefully I will be able to get back to sharing the little details soon.  In the meantime, here's a knock knock joke, courtesy of Romelie:

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Strawberry.
Strawberry who?
Knock knock.

Who's there?

Strawberry.

Strawberry who?

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Strawberry.

Strawberry who?

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Blueberry.

Blueberry who?

Blueberry aren't you glad I didn't say strawberry again?

Hahahahahaha!  You're welcome.

My beautiful Coraline

Clearly I have done a terrible job with the blog in the last year.  I have posted three times in 2012, and it's November.

I feel bad because we have wonderful family and friends who don't get to see the girls as often as I know they would like, and without regular updates they may feel like they're missing some important moments.

I feel bad because I find time to do other things like read and watch TV but don't seem to make time to update the blog, and that feels like a bad combination of lazy and selfish.

Mostly, though, I feel bad because of Cori.  I had always intended to share this blog with the girls when they're older so they can read all of the cute stories, trying moments, and childhood accomplishments that they no longer remember and go "awww..."  Romelie will have that opportunity.  Cori will be like, "What the hell, mama?  Where are my stories?"

Coraline May...my beautiful, wonderful, charming, hilarious, strong-willed girl...happy 2nd birthday (yesterday).  I love you so much, and for you, I am determined to get back to updating this blog on a regular basis.

Family and friends, if you are still reading, that's just bonus.  :)

Here's as up-to-date as it gets:  a couple of videos of Cori taken just this morning.

There you go, Spanish learners.  "Hello" in Spanish is clearly "Ardr."  Speaking of my brilliant daughter, here is another video of her showing off her phone skills, her letters, and her numbers.

Hey...she just turned 2.  Whaddya want from her?  Love you, baby!

In the meantime

I still cannot find my camera cable, so all of the wonderful photos and videos from May through now are trapped on my new camera.  It's really hard for me to remember and share what's happened in the past three months without visuals, so I've felt a little stuck.  Today I finally ordered a new cable on amazon, so that should arrive in a week or so.  In the meantime, I wanted to put an update in before everyone just gives up on me completely. 

I thought I might upload a cute video or two of the kids, figuring it had been a while since I'd done that.  I checked back through the old blog entries and as it turns out, the last time I uploaded any videos of either of my children was in April...of 2011.  Yikes.  So with that information...here are a ton of old videos of my kids, in chronological order.

First we have Cori at about 5 months old, giggling asthmatically:

Next, here's Romelie around that same time (April 2011) making up a few songs.  You'll probably hear these on the radio someday...they're pretty amazing:

Speaking of the Olympics (what?  nothing...weird transition), here's Romelie back in August 2011.  Future soccer player.  Or songwriter:

By September 2011, Cori had learned how to play catch. Check out the athleticism!

In October, Romelie demonstrated her dancing abilities yet again.  That and the fact that she watches way too much TV:

Everyone should have some classic opening presents at Christmastime videos.  Here's one of ours from December 2011:

And finally, Cori back in February 2012 showing off the words she knew back then:

Hope you enjoyed the videos!

Return of the Blog

Happy new year!  Welcome 2012!!

(Pause.)

Um...it's June.

(Pause.  Cough.  Pause.)

Yeah.  Yeah it is.

(Pause.)

So...what happened?

(Sigh.)  Okay.  So I got a new (used) computer from my brother for Christmas, and it's a Mac.  I always used PCs, so I had to do a lot of reorganization of files, including my photo files which I have a super OCD way of labeling.  I didn't want to write in my blog until I had taken care of this since I usually have photos in my blog.  Six months later, I have mostly organized my photos...and my blog is nearly dead.

Luckily, I have a brilliant idea for how I can resuscitate the blog.  PHOTOS!  Here goes.

Football season came and went.  Vikings sucked, so...go Texans!

Touchdown!

Cori has teeth.  She likes to bite me with them.  She seems to think this is a hilarious joke.  I disagree.

This picture was taken in February.  In Minnesota.  

Um...where's the snow?

Cori likes to take everything out of her cabinet so she can crawl inside.  If I have to clean up afterwards, at least I get a funny picture out of it.

This picture is from March (still MN.  It was a weird winter).  She's a runner.  Very different from Romelie at this age.

Cori fell asleep on the way home from the zoo.  Check out her new hat from daddy!

Cori in the backyard.  In her swimsuit.  Once again...March.

Cori doesn't love the water, but she loves doing what Romelie is doing whenever possible, so it was pretty motivating I guess!

Romelie's trying to grow her hair as long as Rapunzel.

I just think this is funny.

Happy Easter!  We dyed eggs at home...

...10 different colors!

Then we visited Gramma for her birthday...

...made a stop at the library...

...and got lots of hugs!

Easter Sunday included a visit to Grandpa Dan's...

...and of course an Easter Egg hung!

Cori needed a little help finding her eggs...

...she gets a little possessive with her stuff...

...but ultimately figures Easter's a pretty good day

So...that's pretty much all that's happened in the last six months.

(Pause.)

Um...seriously?  What about Cori's new words?  What has Romelie been doing lately?  Isn't your house on the market?  What's happening health-wise with the girls?  Didn't you just take a trip to Maryland?  And did you seriously not even mention Cori's blanket?

Okay okay!  Yes, this is just January through April.  May's pictures are still on my new camera and I can't find the cord to plug it into my computer to get them off of my camera.  Also, there's just too much to share and I've been sitting at my computer for about 3 hours.  That's all I've got for now.

(snort) Yeah.  See you in 2013.

Don't be cynical.  I will share May & June pics soon.  I will share some more information. I will pass along funny stories and even throw some videos up here.  Soon.

Promise?

Yes.  I promise.

Christmas vacation!

We are back from our vacation (sigh), but it was wonderful (yay!), so let's recap (okay!).

We were in TX from the 18th-25th. When my dad drove us to the airport at 5:00 am - thank you Dad!! - it was about 20 degrees, but when we landed in Houston, it was low 60s. Awesome. While in Houston...

*We went to the park. A lot. Romelie was very excited to play on the slides and swings and walk around the baseball field. We were very excited that it was warm enough to do these things. So it was pretty much a daily event.

*We went to see "The Nutcracker." I had never been before, so Steve and Angel got tickets for me and Chason to go while they babysat for the girls. We had delicious sushi before the ballet, and the show itself was beautiful. I especially loved how dressed up folks got for this event. I don't know if it was because it was ballet as opposed to theater, or if it was because we were in TX and not MN, but folks were wearing suits and gown...little girls were wearing outfits I could never imagine Romelie wearing...it was fascinating. Thank God I wore a dress!

*We spent time with family (of course!). We saw Chason's step-siblings Will and Heather and their respective kids James and Dub, as well as Will's wife Erin. Man, Romelie loves the heck out of James. They played together for hours and only "fought" once. That's pretty amazing, I've got to say. Bronwyn, Greta, and Torin came over, and we went to their home as well, so we were able to catch up and Romelie got more fun cousin time. We also went to Tomball to visit Chason's grandma Nona and spent some time with his uncle and cousins.

*We saw Crystal! I went to dinner with Crystal and David (Thai curry, yummy), and Crystal and I did some very important shopping. She brought cookies for the Dancers, too. Merry Chrismas, bestie!

*Cori started walking! She was up to about 6 or 7 steps before our trip, but now I would just officially declare her as walking. Granted, she walks like she's intoxicated...but she can make it across a room. So it's walking. She also climbs stairs...she likes to climb up one stair and then look over her shoulder to make sure someone's noticed. Then as soon as you make a move towards her, she giggles and climbs as fast as she can. Turns out this is a really fun game to play over and over again. Oh, and she gave me a hug for the first time. It was wonderful. She grips around your shoulders and gives you pats on the back.

*We ate a lot of food. I will not be making it to my weight goal by Dec. 31, though I'll still be darned close. Damn you, Whataburger/Jack in the Box/Sonic! Also Angel and Romelie made cookie bars. And I made ginger cookies. And Romelie and James made sugar cookies and decorated them. And then I ate 35 cookies. Not exaggerating.

*We read a lot. Chason is halfway through the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, and I read two YA novels that weren't bad. Ah, vacation.

*We went on a hayride! This was amazingly cool. I guess there's a school that does this as a fundraiser for their senior all-night party. They hitch trailers up to trucks and fill them with hay bales, and then they tow you around this neighborhood where people do some amazing Christmas displays. Steve and Angel rented out an entire trailer for our extended family, and I sat in the front with Brownyn, Chason, Torin, and all the little girls. It was cold but not freezing and it lasted just about the perfect amount of time; it was a wonderful family night that got me totally ready for Christmas!

*We celebrated Christmas. Unfortunately Dub was really sick and we didn't get to see him and Heather Christmas morning, but Will, Erin, and James came over and everyone opened gifts and stockings. Then we packed everything up (minus a box of things that didn't fit!) and headed home.

Thank you, Steve and Angel, and everyone for such a wonderful vacation!!

Back in MN...we arrived Christmas night. My mom got us from the airport and took us home where we had dinner and presents under the tree waiting. Paul is in town, so he came over as well, and we ate, opened gifts, and stayed up way too late. Then on Monday we went to my dad's house to celebrate Christmas with him, and that evening he babysat for Cori while Paul, Chason, Romelie and I went to see The Wizard of Oz at The Children's Theatre, a gift from my dad to us. It was a great production and we got to see some folks we used to work with during and afterwards.

And now...we're back at work. The girls are back at daycare. Everything is pretty normal except for the weather; it's 38 degrees out right now, and there's no snow. Not that I'm complaining!