First Sleepover

Giggles, movies, late nights, and just a few tears from little sister.

This weekend was CK's first sleepover. Her and her good friend KP had two sleepovers. One at KP's house and one at our house. CK had a hard decision. She wanted to go to her friends alone, but didn't want to hurt her sister's feelings. (O had been invited to join them.) I told CK not to worry about O, we would talk to her and daddy and I would have a fun night planned for her. I could understand how CK felt. I wanted her to make the decision based on what she wanted. Even though I didn't want to see my baby upset because she would miss her big sister terribly. I knew it would be so hard on O, but so good for both of them.

I sat and talked with O a few nights ago. She took the news of her sister going on a sleepover at their friends very well. A little upset, but I think she understood. CK was very surprised.

C and I were prepared for a very long night of crying and tears with O on Friday night. We dropped CK off at her friends and we took O out to dinner, shopping at the mall, and Cold Stone Creamery for dessert. O had won a gift card at school and was excited to use it. I told O she could have anything she wanted. She didn't have to share tonight. She was going to have mommy and daddy all to herself. Oh, the smiles. O quickly learned how fun it would be that big sister was off with a friend. It was hard for her, but O was strong and we had so much fun shopping. She even picked out a book and nightgown for her big sister. So sweet! Always thinking of others.

After shopping we went to Cold Stone Creamery so O could use her gift card. She wanted chocolate ice cream. Good choice. I explained she could pick a topping to get mixed into her ice cream. She took a quick glance at all the jars behind the glass. She did a double take at the Gummie Bears. Yep, that was a jar of Gummie Bears! "Gummie Bears" she said with a big smile. Okay.

Here she is eating her Gummie Bear ice cream. Turned out not to be that great of an idea. If you don't eat all the Gummie Bears right away they get too hard to eat. She still enjoyed it.

When we got home O got to pick out the movie she wanted to watch...Cinderella II. I cuddled with my baby (well big girl now) we watched the movie together while daddy sat nearby on the computer. I read her a bedtime story and she was a sleep....without a tear. (I probably tired her out it was about 9:30pm.) I am so very proud of her. So strong, such a big girl.

CK had a great time at KP's house. They played, watched movies and stayed up late. CK didn't want to leave.

Tonight it was KP's turn to spend the night at our house. The three girls had a great time. We made pizza, they watched a movie and they played for hours in the girls room. As they listened to a book on CD (as they fell asleep) it put a smile on my face to hear the giggles coming from the bedroom.

eating jello while watching a movie.

girls and horses....Thanks to Auntie D there is plenty to go around.

What a wonderful weekend of memories. I'm sure this is only the first of many sleepovers.

Happy New Year!

I must admit, I don't know a lot about Chinese New Year. Wanting to learn more, I looked it up on the web.

There are many traditions on what to say, what not to say, what to wear, what to do, what not to do during the New Year celebration or at least on New Years Day. Many taboos and superstitions. The celebration, I have learned is 15 days long.

I haven't done very well, but I didn't know any better. That's gotta count for something....right?

The good news, I have not cleaned today. I have not swept my house at all today. This is good. You don't want to sweep good fortune away.

The bad news, My house is dirty. I was suppose to clean it before today, so that today it would be clean. There is even a special way to clean.

I'll try and do better next year.

I wish you good fortune and good health for this year of the Ox.

Jambalaya from Fun Friday

O and I are making dinner tonight!

Read more...

Life According To My Daughter

On Christmas evening in the bathroom at

Nonna and Papa's house:

O: "Boys should not see girls go pee.

     Girls should not see boys go pee."

Mommy: "No it's not nice. You're right."

O: "Because we would see their peanuts."

Not laughing, I told her the correct pronunciation. 

Later, I couldn't stop laughing.

In the car just getting into the

mountains on our way to Tahoe:

O: "HEY! Where's all the snow!"

Mommy: "We're not high enough yet. There will be snow."

About 15 minutes later:

O: "SNOW! I knew it. You didn't lie mommy!"

Almost 6 years old and already doesn't believe her mother. We are in such trouble. God please help me.

Flashbacks

When we came home from our wonderful Tahoe vacation I had flashbacks to last winter and discovering our horrible water leak.

This year our master bathroom sink decided to leak while we were gone. What is with going to Tahoe for New Years and coming home to a leak? I don't like this.

C discovered it was the hot water valve that was leaking. Once he turned it off it was fine. No hot water from that sink, but no leak. I put a fan on the open emptied cupboard and carpet to dry everything out.

Today I called my wonderful contractor (The LAST thing I wanted was for there to be damage on the new work that just got finished. Part of the bathroom is above the family room.). My contractor came over this afternoon and said it was not that bad. No repair needed! Thank you God! It just needs to dry out. He pulled the carpet back. It should take a few days, then he'll be back to tack the carpet back down. 

What a relief!

Friends Welcome Here

My cousin, Windshield Rosary, always has a wonderful thought provoking post. A day can not go by that I don't read her blog.

Her "Friends Welcome Here" post goes for me as well.

It's Snowing...

and my girls are sledding and loving it!

Our little snow bunnies

Happy New Year!

We have been ringing in the new year in Lake Tahoe. It's so beautiful here. It has been crisp and sunny, until today. Today is snowing. I love sitting here in the house watching the snow fall. It's so peaceful. Such a great way to start the new year.

Check out my photography blog (link below right) for some other images I've taken the last few days. Here are some fun photos of what we've been doing.

On New Years Eve we went into Truckee on our way to a friends house for dinner. So many great shops it was fun walking around.

Happy New Year! Our two little party animals. We had a great New Years Eve with friends in Truckee. The girls were barely awake, but perked up to pop streamers and wish everyone a happy new year.

Playing on the beach....snow or sand, our girls are happiest by the water.

Sledding in the side yard. We don't have to go far to have fun. We had a nice little (and I mean little) hill on the side of the house. Perfect for our girls, and Nonna, to do a little sledding.

Daddy made the hill a little bigger in the afternoon and the girls went out by themselves. They had a great time. They didn't care that it was getting dark. As a matter of fact they started throwing snowballs at the kitchen window and O asked us to turn the light on. Sorry, no side yard light....time to come in.