Kate's Tooth

Oh my, it really happened. Kate's front bottom baby tooth, the one that first made an appearance on March 30, 2004 when Kate was just 6 months old, has fallen out! I am looking at it right now as it rests in a ziploc baggie on my desk, awaiting the arrival of a proper tooth pillow (which has been ordered) all fancy and girly. We noticed it was quite wiggly a week prior to its falling out but Kate was a bit hesitant to pull it herself...I will miss my tooth, she whimpered. On Saturday night, the tooth was barely hanging on; Kate was able to push it completely forward with her tongue...ew! Shawn was afraid she would swallow it while sleeping, so with his persuasive Daddy ways, he convinced her to let him pull it. Oh, and there was blood which I don't think she expected. But the moment was too exciting to let a little "bleed" (as she calls it) get in the way.

Above is the first picture I could find with her little teeth popping through on the bottom; Gracie's are there too. Kate is on the right in this picture. The girls got most of their teeth within days of each other, just another reason that made me think they were most likely identical. It might seem strange to others that I would even question their zygosity, I mean look at them, but I was told they were fraternal and there were definitely subtle physical differences between the two. The order and timing that their teeth came in was not one of them though.

Here she is a couple months later....much better view of those two bottom teeth!



So farewell little baby tooth and thank you. You served your purpose well and have now made way for the permanent one we see popping through.

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo

How about you, you, you?
You can come too, too too.
We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo.

I've been singing this song to my girlies since they were just babes and they have definitely had plenty of opportunities to make the song a reality with our Phoenix zoo membership. We do renew every year but with the girls in preschool 3 days a week, and with my distaste for weekend trips there (don't like crowds) we haven't visited our animal friends in awhile. A trip was in the cards for many reasons such as: a) beautiful spring-like weather, b) a completely cleared schedule...wow...and, c) maintaining mom's sanity...yes I have two 5 year olds who have somehow managed to channel the inner 2-year old within and are thus temporarily unable to entertain themselves at home. Oh yes, a stimulating day, one in which mom didn't have to play Go Fish, or clean up or do dishes afterwards, was oh so needed!

And the day was lovely indeed. Kate saw her favorite zebras. Gracie saw the giraffes, flamingos and elephants, all of which she consistently names as her favorites...I even overheard her listing them as so to the dental hygienist at her last cleaning. I was happy to see baby Kasih, the almost 3-year old orangutan who we've visited since her birth, seem to enjoy the laughter that resulted from her silly behavior. We took the paddle boats around the lake, rode the safari train, and visited the stingray exhibit where Kate got drenched by a sea creature and had to change her clothes.

The important observations I made on this trip though did not involve the actual zoo animals but rather my own little monkeys . My two babies, the ones I used to push around the zoo in a double stroller while having to stop constantly in order to monitor snacks & sippy cups, change diapers, pacify with ba, etc., have become real little people with inquisitive minds and questions for which I don't always have the answers. As I observe the development of these rational minds, I am amazed and hopeful. I hope they will continue to question until they find answers that make sense to them. I hope they will make good choices by balancing this new intelligence with their always present intuition. And most importantly, I hope that with this developing new intelligence they never lose the magic and peace they experienced the first time they visited the zoo and looked at the animals, animals that were not all named and classified in the mind of an 18-month old, but rather experienced in the present... exactly as they were in that moment...exactly as they always will be.

Grandparent Presents

Let me preface this by saying I am not crafty...at all. Now that you know, please be very impressed that I pulled these off! I got the idea from a woman on one of my message boards and thought it was just so cute. Once she explained how she created these gifts, I thought I might be able to make them myself. It took me two trips to Michaels to pick up supplies such as paint pens (never even knew those existed) and synthetic snow. The end product was super cute and I hope the grandparents appreciated the effort because they did take me a lot of work. No laughing...I know some of my crafty friends could have made these look a lot cuter. And in case you haven't figured it out, the snowmen are the girls' handprints. Gracie's snowmen have green scarves and Kate's have red. Below is the poem I attached.

The day before Christmas

Kate decorating cookies

Gracie decorating cookies
LOVE how she sticks out her tongue when concentrating

The girls decorated sugar cookies the day before Christmas. I like giving them complete freedom while decorating in hopes that my budding Martha Stewarts will get better with practice and someday realize that cookies look and taste better when sparsely sprinkled. Here are some of the girls' favorites. Warning, little fingers were licked constantly while decorating. And FYI, these cookies were not delivered to our friends and family. Phew, no one is getting sick.

This one is a reindeer


That's Santa waving up there on the top left...see his cherry nose


My absolute favorite: The Christmas tree with half a jar of sprinkles representing "ornaments"

Gracie's favorite too

Yummo!

Our Nutcracker Tradition

Grandma and Girls
Today

Grandma and Girls
Vegas 2006

Oh I just love going to see The Nutcracker at Christmas. I love hearing the orchestra tune up and watching the people file into the hall. I love seeing all the little girls dressed up in their prettiest Christmas dresses to attend the production that is a tradition for many of them. Today marked the third year in a row of seeing the ballet with my daughters and mother. I saw The Nutcracker several times growing up but I don't think I ever knew the story as well as my girls. Grandma got their schema activated before the first visit (when they were three) by reading them the story and preparing them for what they were to see. I was nervous during that first trip to the ballet; I didn't know if they'd be able to sit through it. They were wonderful though, quite mesmerized. I can remember them carrying their little purses and looking so darling. I remember smiling at people when they asked, Are they twins?

Now at 5 years old, they are familiar with all the characters and can re-tell the story. Kate was looking forward to seeing Mother Ginger today and Gracie wanted to see the Mouse King. Both girls want to be Clara someday. Dream big, my little ballerinas. How wonderful it is to believe anything is possible. I can remember feeling the same.

Mom and Girls before today's performance

Disneyland

Disneyland, oh Disneyland. How should I even journal about our trip. Perhaps I should start by being honest. It was horrid. Absolutely dreadful. The worst Disney trip ever. Okay okay, it wasn't that bad, but it was pretty bad. Instead of strolling around the park, taking in the lovely Christmas decorations and snacking on Christmas goodies (I had printed out 4 pages or information as to where one might purchase items like gingerbread Mickey cookies, cranberry bread, and peppermint mochas, etc.), I spent my time lying on the couch in our hotel room watching episode after episode of Cash Cab. And since you're wondering why I chose Cash Cab over Mickey, let me back up a bit and explain how this came to be.

I wasn't in my hotel room the whole time. The first day at Disney we arrived before the gates opened, not due to my great time management skills but because I couldn't figure out what time it actually was. Yes I'm laughing as I'm writing this...long story about the hotel clock and the time change. Anyway, we were there early. The girls were squealing and jumping up and down like they do when they are super excited. Everyone in line was looking at them like they were a little odd but Shawn and I just smiled and said, they're really excited. We got in the park and headed right for Small World since it's Kate's favorite ride and it had been closed for repairs during our last trip. We were anxious to finally get there and see it all decked out for Christmas. And it certainly exceeded our expectations! You have to hand it to Disney for all the detail work. Even the mermaids in Small World were singing Jingle Shells and we noticed there were stockings for Ariel's sisters.

I can't remember the order of rides after this, I was actually feeling pretty icky and had taken some DayQuil, something I don't normally take but knew I needed to survive the day due to a wicked head cold. Anyway, some highlights from the first day include the following:

The girls' visit to the new Pixie Hollow where they got to meet Rosetta, the sweetest little garden fairy, who spoke to them in a Southern accent, and Tinkerbell, who was just darling and very generous with the time she gave to Gracie and Kate.




































A visit to Santa's Reindeer Round-Up where they got to see the real Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, etc., and take their picture with reindeer Pluto.












































The awesome Christmas parade complete with dancing gingerbread cookies, snowmen, Mrs. Claus and Santa. Of course the princesses were there too...decked out in holiday attire of course.



Other highlights from the first day include the girls' first ride on Big Thunder Railroad, a spectacular fireworks show and a lovely snowfall on Main Street.

My memory starts to get a little fuzzy at this point (must have been the developing fever) but I did make it back that second day after purchasing more DayQuil from the convenience store. We headed straight to Critter Country because Gracie wanted to go on Winnie the Pooh. And we did purchase a Gingerbread Mickey (so cute) at the store in the area. After eating our cookie, Gracie told me she would go on The Haunted Mansion and I was just thrilled because it had been given a whole Nightmare Before Christmas twist that I really wanted to see, but we had to turn back after 5 seconds of entering the mansion. Gracie just couldn't take it. And I'm glad we turned back, honestly, because it would have truly scared her. I did manage to ride it once by myself and enjoyed the Christmas/Halloween makeover. But at this point I wasn't feeling so great and I just got worse and worse. Long story short, I walked back to the hotel to rest while Shawn and the girls went to the California.

The last day is when the stomach flu kicked in for me and maybe I should just leave it at that...don't really need to bring back that memory in great detail. Shawn and the girls spent the day in Disneyland and had a nice time. Ideally I would have been with them but with such a curveball thrown, I had no other choice than to accept my fate of spending the day on the hotel room couch. I guess I took one for the team this time. It's unfortunate that I didn't get to experience Disney as I had anticipated but I am so very thankful no one else got sick! I hope they remember a happy trip despite Mom's sorry condition. Here are some images from It's a Small World (Christmas style) to keep the memory happy. Peace out.

Happy Birthday Dear Daddy

This will be a quick little entry since it is the eve before our big trip! I felt it was important to journal about Shawn's special day. His actual birthday is tomorrow, the day we leave for Disneyland, but we celebrated this evening at Mama and Papa's house with a proper family party. Kate was a little bit concerned about the number of people attending. Where are all the guests? she wanted to know. She doesn't quite understand that unfortunately (or maybe not) as we age, we don't get to throw huge themed parties and invite everyone we know .

But despite the low number of attendees, we had a nice time wishing Daddy a happy 37th! My mom, knowing that I had much to do today to prepare for the trip, was so kind to order an ice cream cake (Shawn's favorite) from Baskin Robbins. The cake had two little ice cream cones on top, one for each girl. And in case you're wondering, the cones were thoroughly enjoyed. After dinner and cake, we played a few rounds of crazy Morgan games and concluded with balancing spoons on our noses. Oh yes, Gracie was in full slap-happy mode.
And to think, I met Shawn about ten years ago. He was 27 when we first started dating. Happy Birthday, honey. And yes, you can honestly say, I'm going to Disneyland, when they ask how you will celebrate your birthday. Cheers to 37 years! I'm so thankful for your birth!