Classic

When my Aunt Patti brought up the fact that Meri's birthday is almost here and asked her what she wanted, Jell instantly piped in, "Well, WE haven't had time to think about that yet."

Jell: "Hey mom, ZUMBA!"
Mom: "What's zumba?"
Jell: "Nothing, I made it up. It's a joke."

On Saturday we watched the National Championships, basically the Olympic trials, for Women's ice skating and pairs ice dancing. Every single time there was a lift or jump Jenelle exclaimed, "Wow! I cannot do that." Followed by all sorts of questions like, "Mommy, when will I be able to do that? Can you do that? When will I get my own ice skates ...."

Meri: (totally out of the blue) "Hey mom, I have a happy-pop-osis."
Jell: "No Meri, it's a hy-pop-o-sis."
Mom: "What is your hypothesis Mers?"
Meri: "Dis is my hypoposis." (holds up a weed with a huge grin)
Jell: "No Meri, that is not a hypoposis. A hypoposis is an idea you can test" (Way to go Dinosaur Train)
Meri: "But dis is my hypoposis!" (weed)
Jell: "Okay, it can be pretend, but it's not a real hypoposis ... Mom, I have a hypoposis."
Mom: "What's your hypothesis?"
Jell: "My hypoposis is that worms go deep in the ground in the winter to find more food." (we've talked about this recently and even had to google where worms go in the winter because the girls were distraught that they hadn't seen a worm in months)
Mom: "And maybe to get warm."
Jell: "Yep, that too."

Meri held hands with her friend Sam all during circle time when I taught preschool on Tuesday. She totally initiated at and was very pleased with herself. She just sat there smiling. I had to pull the plug when she gave him a kiss on the cheek. Oh boy.

Also, the difference between boys and girls as I've observed it this week teaching Meri's group: Boys try to "kill" the bad guys (pretend ones luckily) by running full speed through the house, yelling, shooting them, kicking, punching, etc. Girls coyly offer their oppponent a poison apple, faint and wait around for true love's kiss. That about sums it up as I see it!

When I taught Jell's school last week, some of the girls came running to tell me that one of the girls, we'll call her Dorcas to protect the innocent, was yelling at them all. I called Dorcas to me and told her we can't yell at anyone. She said, "But I was pretending to be the mom!" Ouch. At least it wasn't my daughter. This time.

Creative experiments

So I hadn't been painting at all, and frankly haven't painted this month that Coop's been gone, but I'm finally getting around to loading these pics so I can hopefully see what you think. I basically was really bored of what I usually do and wanted to have some fun giving something a bit more expressive and loose a try. I did this one first:
Then I painted this one:
And then going way outside the box for me - not even drawing inspiration from a photo but just from my head - I tried this one. I LOVED it as a drawing and halfway through and was rather unhappy with it when I got done.
So I changed it a bit. Still not thrilled. I feel like it makes my eyes go blurry. Not quite sure what's wrong - lack of focal point? too much going on? soft edges not working with hard one? colors? composition? I just don't know. I think it's better than it was, but I'm not even sure about that. But here it is as at present:
So what do you think of them? Any suggestions?

We should join a league ...

because although we can't bowl worth a darn, we have fun trying!
Jell bowled a 75 and Meri bowled an 85 (they used the awesome ramp things). Meri was much more interested in the french fries, and while she would carry her ball to the ramp herself, she barely pushed it down and never stayed to see if it knocked over any pins. Unfortunately, she ended the night by dropping a ball on her foot when she tried to put it back on the rack. Ouch! Jell, on the other hand, was devastated each time she didn't knock "enough" pins over. She's used to being the superstar that she somehow is on the wii. And she doesn't like it when she doesn't win. At anything. Not much to say about Mama and Daddy other than at least we both broke 100! And Mama even beat Bopa!

Sledding at Bachelor

So to keep from missing daddy too much this month while he's in Bend for his internship, we went over and stayed with him for a week. On Saturday when he didn't have to work, we headed up the mountain for some fun in the snow. What a perfect day! There was snow and sun and it was hardly cold at all!
However, for such small legs, it is a long way up the hill.
And partially thanks to the good conditions, this year the girls had a blast!!
Wahoo! (not totally sure what's happening here)
Weeeeeeee!
That was fun!
Hard to give a thumbs-up in these mittens!
Who is having fun?!
Okay so it's also a long way up for long legs with a tired load asking for the royal service.

Snow Ninnie

There was quite a lot of confusion in our house this year. The past two Christmases we've had snow - which is a bit of a miracle because it's happened three times my whole life. So the girls, naturally, thought it always snows for Christmas. All month long they kept saying, "Mom, it's almost Christmas. Where is the snow?" Sadly there was no white Christmas. I don't think they took the disappointment too hard with all the other excitement going on. Then a week after the big day, it snowed. The girls were running around cheering, "Yeah! It's Christmas again!" See what I mean? Confusion. But regardless, while Andrew, Lenora, Ninnie, and I struggled to get back from the mall for hours on a snowy road full of incompetent drivers, daddy took the girls out to play in the snow. He pulled them on the sled up and down and round and round. And they made a snow Ninnie, complete with crazy hair and lacrosse stick and everything. So cute! Now here's hoping we get a little snow to play in while we're in Bend!

Better late than never!

So I should be packing because we're leaving for Bend in less than 3 hours, but I hate packing and I still haven't posted Christmas pics. We really didn't have it together this year, as you may have noticed we didn't send out Christmas cards either. And what's worse? We had them printed out, we just never got messages on the back and never labeled the envelopes. Oh well, here's to a new year. But before we totally move on, here you go Ninnie, here's a couple of cuties.

Christmas Eve gingerbread house making with lots of family:

Ninnie and Meri, who is showing her muscles

Hard at work

The annual Christmas Eve puppet show with lots of helpers

Christmas morning excitement in Christmas pjs

I love the excitement! We didn't have much to spend this year but they didn't care. The gifts from the dollar racks at Target were just as much fun to them to open - can't imagine that'll last forever but we'll take advantage of it while it's still here!

Then Christmas night we did something very untraditional and went to the Blazer game as a family. My dad's client gave him a luxury box and we had a blast with my parents, my siblings and sister-in-law, Aunt Patti and Uncle Jim, Uncle Craig, Grandma and Grandpa Berne, Grandma and Grandpa Smith, Coop's parents, and the Colletts. I sure hope I remembered to mention everybody. It was fun all being together on Christmas!

The girls had the time of their life and the space to roam around and say, jump on the soft chairs was very appreciated.

They would come and cheer at times too. The highlight was Jell noticed how people had made signs and got their picture on the big screen so she wrote go blazers on a pad of paper about 3 inches x 4 inches (the only paper we had) and kept holding it up for all to see.

Go blazers!

Funny girls

I'm not sure what they're doing or why but at least they're happy and getting along! And check out these fashion statements:

I asked them to get ready to go visiting teaching with me. That is what I got. And Meri was sure to bring her Sleeping Beauty phone. You never know when one of the princesses, including Princess Lily (I don't remember any Princess Lily but Meri has been talking about her nonstop lately and receiving calls from her frequently). I want to make sure you notice Meri's shoes. We couldn't find her other crock, so when I brought her tennis shoes she said, "mom, maybe we could wear two different ones cause I want to wear this crock." Is it wrong of me just not to care sometimes? I make sure they're dressed nicely for church and other special things, but other times it makes me laugh and I just don't care. My mom would've never allowed it.

Also, here's some lyrics to a song Jell was singing quite dramatically (always) in the bath today (I just caught bits and pieces): "cause a ladybug also gets privacy ... I'm sorry you don't have any friends, but you do have a mom ... I'm sorry but he doesn't like you cause he likes Meeeeeeeeeee, he likes Meeeeeeeeee ... and the Holy Ghost can help you not feel sad if there are mean girls that make you sad ..." I wish I remembered it all.