Santa

I took the girls to visit Santa yesterday. It was quite a trip. We went to the Valley Mall, I had been told the lines were the shortest there. The line was much shorter than the line at North Town on Saturday, but it was still a long wait. Both girls had a snack, but after 45 minutes Elizabeth was tired of waiting in line. I gave her my iPhone to entertain her. She waited the next 15 minutes watching Super Why, but then it we got to Santa, and she was still more interested in the cool hand held TV than in Santa. It was the first time I had ever let her watch the TV on my phone, so she was really enjoying it. If you look closely you can see the phone in the picture. Taking it away caused a screaming fit, so I chose the picture with out a screaming baby.
Catherine was happy to see Santa, but in her excitement she forgot what she wanted for Christmas. Catherine wanted to look very nice for Santa, so she wanted to get her hair cut before we saw Santa. I told her no, we were just going to see Santa, but then we got to Santa, and he was on a Lunch break, and he was going to be gone for an hour. There was a hair cutting place right next to Santa, and Catherine did need a hair cut, so she got her way. She was so excited she asked the hair stylist to make her hair really curly because "when mom styles my hair it is straight, and I miss my curls." The hair stylist taught me how to keep the curls so Catherine wont be in tears when I "style" her hair. Catherine listened intently too, because when we got home she helped me tell Paul how to do it. When did she become a teenager? What happened to pony tails and hair ribbons?

Snowed in

Like many people in the Pacific Northwest the girls and I are snowed in. Paul has been taking our big truck and heading off to work. I hope to get the van out of the garage today. I want to get to Spokane and do some Christmas shopping. The biggest challenge will be getting out of the garage, up the side street and on to main street. If I can accomplish that, I will be able to make it the rest of the way.

As we enjoy these extra days in our house the girls have begun to create what Catherine refers to as "interesting projects" I think it is an opportunity for both girls to figure out exactly how much of a mess they can make before I go crazy. Elizabeth has taken to finding a tissue box, pulling out several tissues, tearing them in to small fluffy pieces, and then bringing some of these pieces to me, saying "Dank you" as she hands me each piece. We end up with little pieces of fluff allover the house. I have tried putting the boxes out of her reach, but I am quickly learning how well she climbs. She has discovered there are lots of new things worth exploring on tables and counters. When ever she is left alone for a second or two she finds something to climb. I find myself spending a lot of time following her around the house and pulling her off of her latest climbing challenge.

Catherine is older, but after several days in the house she too needs constant supervision. We have gone through many of the craft projects I had in the house. Yesterday Catherine and I made play dough the plan was that she and I would play together while Elizabeth took a nap. I left the newly made play dough on the counter to cool and took Elizabeth upstairs so I could put her down for a nap. Due to the climbing she is now in a big girl bed, so nap time and bed time involve putting her back in to bed several times (I miss a crib). She was asleep about 10 minutes later. As I was about to head downstairs, I met Catherine at the top of the stairs. She had black hands. Apparently she decided to color the play dough herself. She had gotten the food coloring out, but in her attempt to color the play dough she managed to "spill" every bottle of food coloring on the kitchen floor, her hands, and the play dough. It is a good thing food coloring cleans up easily. Catherine wasn't able to play with the play dough, instead the nap time activity became cleaning the kitchen and taking a bath. By the time that Elizabeth woke up the only evidence of Catherine's project was on our unfinished wooden stool. Now it is a colorful stool.