The "Frozen" birthday party - part 2

After some games and snacks, we sat the princesses down in the front room for a surprise when there came a knock at the door.  Very, very, very much to the girls' surprise, Elsa and Anna came to the party to wish Maggie and Stella a happy birthday!

What should have been elation was stark white fear.  While the other girls were screaming in joy, our girls were screaming in fear and hiding behind Patti.  They told us later that they thought they were real and that Elsa would freeze them (hah!).

Elsa and Anna handled it like pros and within seconds all the girls were huddled around them listening to them tell their story, getting the girls to guess which other princesses they know based on their movie songs, and singing "Let It Go."  Our girls warmed up to them slowly (not yet in the picture below) but only Maggie would eventually sit with them for a picture.

 

After a whirlwind 25 minutes, they led the party in singing Happy Birthday to Maggie and Stella and then they were off on their way back to Arendelle.  Like watching the Beatles leave a concert, the partygoers watched them leave in disbelief.

Not something we can afford to do for every party (or ever again), but it made a lasting impression on our girls and that made it worth every penny.

The "Frozen" birthday party - part 1

Sometimes it's difficult to believe that Maggie and Stella are now four years old.  But they are now independent, funny, strong-willed girls.  They go to nursery school.  They've been out of diapers for a year and a half.  And they like their own things (compared to Will)...like Frozen.

Stella LOVES Princess Anna and Maggie ADORES Queen Elsa.  They sing the songs on the way to school, Stella wears her Anna dress every free moment at home, and the week before their birthday party they asked if Anna and Elsa could come too.  More on that in a moment....

The girls invited some of their friends to their Frozen/Dress Up party.  We were soon overrun by princesses of all sorts and everyone seemed thrilled to be in each other's company in their fun playclothes.

They made Olafs out of marshmallows, pretzel sticks and carrots.

They played pin the nose on Olaf.

And they ate plenty of Frozen-inspired snacks and cake.

And then the real magic happened (check out the next posting)!

Snow!

We probably got more snow last year in terms of inches, but we've had more snowstorms this year than last - and more snow days off of school and work.  We had a couple of inches here and there in December and January, but it was usually gone a day or two later.  Then we got a very short, but very powerful white-out storm on Valentine's Day.  In the 10 minutes it took us to drive home from treating the kids to Ethiopian dinner, the roads became slick, we had an inch or so of accumulation, and it was a true white-out driving experience.

It was snowing so hard when we went to bed that we couldn't see our neighbor's home across the street.

So the next day was a snow day for the kids and the government closed so Patrick got to stay home as well.  Somehow our bedroom window has become the official "look-out" when it snows.

We piled into the van and drove back to the old neighborhood to enjoy their sledding hill.  The kids went by themselves, in duos, and as a three-some.  Even when they weren't the one sledding, they tended to run down the hill.  So after an hour or so, they were exhausted (yeah!!!).

Luray Caverns

In mid-January, we ventured deeper into Virginia and treated the kids to Luray Caverns.  It's a HUGE set of caverns with formations made primarily of limestone and calcite.  Patti and Patrick have been to caves in Madagascar and Puerto Rico, but the kids had never experienced anything like that before.  They really were expecting a room-size dark cave so when we ventured around for an hour, looping up, down, and around, they were amazed.

The kids learned - and remembered for a short time - which formations were stalactites (have to hold tight to the ceiling) and which were stalagmites (might grow to the ceiling).

Will was amazed by the Dream Lake, which is an optical illusion because it's only about 20 inches deep.  He took Patrick's hand and walked right up to the guide to ask him why the lake didn't turn into a formation too.  The guide thanked Will for such a good question before explaining to him that the water drips slowly out the back of the lake, making a waterfall formation that no one can get over to see and appreciate.

First-ever ice skating

In early January, we took the kids ice skating at the local rink in Silver Spring.  They had never skated before, and we haven't skated since LONG before kids, so it was a little rough (but fun).  The kids thought it was pretty fun to get real skates and to use the support penguins.

 

The kids weren't getting the hang of skating, even with the penguins, so Patti and I broke our backs leaning over and "skating" with the kids - which was basically just holding them up.

But it was a lot of fun.  The kids liked that they'd tried it, no one even fell hard on the ice, and when the Frozen music came on you'd think we were in heaven.

New Year's Eve 2014

We're not big New Year's Eve people.  We don't party, strive to be part of the craziness in NYC, etc.  And Patti worked the night before, so New Year's Eve was just another Dadurday out with the kids for Patrick.  It had been awhile so Patrick took the kids to the National Air & Space Museum in Virginia.

We never take for granted the great things our kids can see and do here - usually for free - at the many museums.  This day was no exception.  Will got to wear a real astronaut's glove for a moment and he learned that the mirror in the palm was so that the astronauts can see the front of their spacesuit (because they can't bend their helmets down to see it).

The girls didn't want anything to do with the "scary" spacesuit but if you look very carefully you can see their pink reflections in the visor.  Will asked the volunteer why the visor is gold and he learned that gold conducts electricity so the visor could be defogged in space.  He also learned that astronauts would velcro a little piece of material inside their helmets to scratch their noses on if they had an itch.

We love "our" Space Shuttle Discovery.  Patrick can't believe it's here and that we can go see it whenever we want (which would be every day if the museum wasn't so far from the house).  It's so space-worn, and utilitarian, and awesome.

Under the tail of the Discovery, a volunteer was reading a space story to kids so we joined in.

Will really wanted us to take this picture for Pop because this is a Sikorsky helicopter.  Cute!

After a nice New Year's Eve dinner out, we tried keeping the kids interested until 2015....and this is us at 9:30.  Will made it until 10:00 and that was that.  Patti and I put them to bed, watched the ball drop later, and were in bed 15 minutes after that.  See you later 2014.

Christmas 2014

Christmas is such a lot of work for all parents, including us.  All of the thought put into gifts, time spent making the house fun and magical for the kids.  Cookies, wrapping presents, sticking to your stories (parents know which ones) without slipping up.  But when the kids get up on Christmas morning and are on their very very best behavior pleading with you to go downstairs and see what Santa brought, and when you see everything through their eyes that morning, it is all worth it.

We let the kids decorate the small fake trees in their rooms, but this one was all for Mommy and Daddy.

Santa brought Will a cement mixer and a TIE fighter, he brought Stella a stroller and young Anna doll, and he brought Maggie a stroller and a young Elsa doll.  Happiness was had by all.

 

After Santa's gifts, we enjoyed one of Patti's delicious breakfasts, and then we opened the gifts we got for our family, as well as those from Grandma, Aunt Jessi, Uncle Chris, and cousins Alicia and Colin.

After some wonderful gifts and very thankful calls to Wisconsin, Pop and Mimi arrived for round three of gifts (and hugs).

We were blessed to enjoy another Christmas day full of family - near and far - laughs, and love.

Action! and cookies

In mid-December, Patti treated the girls to a live children's version of The Nutcracker.  The girls looked forward to the chance to dress up for this for weeks and they were so proud to go off just with Mommy to see the play.

While the Carey ladies were at the play, Will and Patrick went off to see Big Hero 6.  It's a great movie but a little too scary perhaps for a self-appointed 6-year-old "scaredy-cat".

About a week before Christmas, we had the Christmas records on full rotation and it was time for cookies.  Patti cranked out loads of sugar cookies and the kids got a chance to decorate their own.

Maggie, as always, wanted hers to be pretty.

Will and Stella just wanted to get as much of everything on their cookies.

December is just a lead up to Christmas

Patti creates an advent-type calendar every December where every night we open a door and see what fun thing we'll do that night or the following day.  She puts a lot of thought into this and the kids love taking turns opening the doors and finding out what's in store.

Right out of the gate, we went to Zoo Lights at the National Zoo in Washington, DC.  We've done this the past few years and when there was a warmish, misty night we took advantage of it.

Patrick likes to take the kids to see the B&O Museum in Ellicott City, MD.  It's a small museum in a very small town, but it's a nice getaway with the kids and every December a local Lego train club transforms the back room into a unique display with moving Lego trains.

Patti's insistence that we make gingerbread houses paid off this year, big-time.  The kids usually make a HUGE mess (they have their own homes for a reason) and get frustrated, but this year they all hit their stride and really got into it.  They each had their own frosting and a diabetic's playground to choose from for decorations.

November catch-up

In an attempt to catch up on the blog, here's a VERY quick round-up on November...

Patti took the kids to see "The Box Trolls" and they loved it.  They made their own boxes and then put on a performance for Daddy, Pop and Mimi.

Bill and Bonnie treated us to a night without the kids at a Bed & Breakfast near Antietam for Patti's birthday.  It was nice to have a day to ourselves, but it was SO COLD that day.

Will made more fantastic Lego creations.

Maggie and Stella "helped" Daddy rake the yard.

We enjoyed the Silver Spring Thanksgiving parade.  The kids were introduced to the fact that they would get more candy in a short parade than on Halloween.

And Will climbed 200% higher than Daddy ever will at a local rock-climbing gym.  Each time he went up, he got another few feet higher on the wall.  Patrick doesn't want to pass his fear of heights on to Will, but his palms were sweating...