S-T-A-R... that's what you are!

One rainy Saturday back in September, the girlies got to attend a cheer/dance workshop.  Nuala WAS excited, despite her expression... She's mentioned once or twice... or seven or eight times... that she wants to be a cheerleader, and I've been, of course, dragging my feet on that (not outwardly! just trying to redirect!), so this was a good way for her to get a bit of a cheering (more of a dance) fix. It was from 9am until 3pm, and was probably slightly long for the littlest tykes, but they had fun. So did Bran and I.  Z was out of town, so Muffin Man and I got some one-on-one time.  

We went to watch the girlies (and the boys. I told B he could totally do it, but he didn't want to. Weird.) perform at the end of the day.  Here we have: Fiona, Sena, and Maeve. The 3-5 year olds were in a group together, so these lil' ones got to stick together. Fiona is 4, and Sena had juuuust turned 5. They also had another friend, Lizzy, there, but she was not nearby when I took this pic. Their little group was called the "Pink Panthers." Yay! Pink.

Nuala was a Purple Leopard. Oh, Nuala. I fear she is a recipient of her mother's rhythm. But at least she has fun! That's just gotta be your mantra, when doing anything... well, just anything! ;)

Yep. She'll at least have fun!

M getting ready to perform. Looks kinda done, huh?

Or very done. And her shirt reminds me of a time in 4th grade when I wore my HUGE school spirit shirt to class (go Degan Eagles! And later that year the Treasure Hills Elem. Pirates!), and my teacher whispered as we were walking down the hall, "oh, good! I just saw your shorts peek out. I was about to ask if you were wearing any!" Ahem. Of COURSE I was.

Mustering up some energy during their performance... "S... T... A... R... that's what you are!" They still sing it.  And see? Boys!

Post-performance... Japanese Two! (which is what Maeve calls holding up the peace sign for pics... very Japanese.)

Maeve on the left, as you know, and Fiona on the right.

She was sooooo interested in what the lady was saying.

Please... be over...

And... your lucky day! A video! At the beginning... Nuala! hehehee... She's awesome. She really reminds me of the older sister in Dirty Dancing, dancing in the talent show at the end of the movie. Then Maeve. Then a little of Nuala... then Maeve sitting around, and being kinda cute at the end... anyway... 

DanceCamp from Fiona Rollins on Vimeo.

"the very best one..." (and pretty sure about it, too)

Maeve EenieMeenieMineyMoe from Fiona Rollins on Vimeo.

Maeve's take on Eenie Meenie Miney Moe... she has learned well from her big bro and sis, to not pick herself for the one who is "not it."  She's so funny. Doesn't take any guff.

After this whole debacle, Bran matter-of-factly announced: "In real life, Jesus is the best, and we are the second best!" He's a rascal, but a sweet one.

Also, I have been behind on posting (again) because we got a new laptop, and I have to learn the ins and outs of a different photo system. Which, admittedly, is not really all that complicated, I'm sure... but hey! I'm 33! Not (as young) a pup, anymore! (Makes some of y'all reallllly old, huh? ;)

Maeve says cute stuff. Here's proof.

*Note: If you get bored of quotes-that-her-parents-love, skip to the end for a fun and adorable video. That is a totally unbiased description*

This chatty little lass now merits inclusion in the "things they say" posts. She is super cute and funny. I know, I know... two things that no other parents of 2-year olds EVER think about their children. Here are some Maeve quotes, going back to October. Obviously the October quotes are not as complex and witty (though still, of course, brilliant) as the later ones, but it was just after she really started bustin' out the sentences, so we jotted some of her stuff down. Officially, her first 3+ word sentence, with everything in the right form/place, was at 19-months and it was: "I found a book!" And yeah, she now says "My" usually instead of "I". Go figure. But I like it :)

October

Baby watchin' a show! Watchin' Duck Tales! (About her baby doll, Blue Baby)

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Mama! Baby suckin' thumb! (From her bed one night, also about Blue Baby)

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I get more shots in little while...

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Me: Maeve, can you please go upstairs and get Bran his tse-tse (blankie)?

Maeve: I can't! It too heavy!

{A makeup session with Nuala and Mama.}

I drink it! ...can I? (She's been really sweet about asking permission to do things. When it suits her, of course. And then if you say "no" she's not so sweet.)

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Tank you! (Not really an interesting quote by itself, but she went for about a month or two of thanking me after she finished nursing. Quite adorable.)

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It weally hot? It weally warm? (She would always ask that about mugs of wassail she wanted to try.)

M: Mama, kitty fall down on noggin!

Me: Oh, no!

M: Yeah! My see him!

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Why bonk-a my head? (Asked whenever she, or someone else would bonk her(self) on the head. Always in a very accusatory and hurt voice.)

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Mommy, Bran look-a my window! Bran! Not look-a my window!! (While driving. She picks up sooo quickly from her big sis and bro...)

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I whack-a Ivy! Ivy cwy! (I'll note that this didn't happen, as far as I know, but she used to say it quite often. If it did happen, I am SO sorry, Ivy.)

{During her UTI days... I thought Z was up late in there, reading, but it was Maeve.}

My hode-joo! (This is how she asked to be held. As in "my hold you". Or "Daddy hode-joo"meant "Daddy, hold me" or "Bran hode-joo" meant "Bran, hold me"... you get the picture.)

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Mommy, need HEP me! (Um...when she needed help.)

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M, while coloring: Look, Nuala, a' my elephant!

N: Oh, yes, Maeve! It's really... colorful!

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M: All done, Mama!

Me: Oh, you're all done?

M: Yeah. My tummy hurtin'.

{Morning fruit! I always have to give her strawberries after she eats her other fruit. If I give them all at once, she just eats the strawberries and doesn't want the others.}

While picking who they wanted in their story...

Bran: I pick Launchpad!

Nuala: I pick Webigail!

Me: Okay...

Maeve: Mama, I pick a baby?

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Me, as Maeve comes over sniffling and wiping her face on my leg: Oh, do you have snot?

Maeve: No, wipe it on Mama's pants!

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M, quite out of breath: Gamma Buttons chased me!

Me: Oh, did she catch you?

M: Yeah!

Me: What did she do?

M: Eated my BAINS! (yeah, "brains." We have many a zombie chase in our house.)

Me: Oh, no!

M: Yeah! All up!

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M: Mama, I go play wif Ivy soon?

Me: Soon?

M: Yeah. 'Morra (tommorow).

December

MOMMY!! Get OUT of here! (wanting up from a nap)

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Mama! My making a egg! ... a apple! (while making little ball-like shapes with salt dough)

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These next two... poor girl probably was wondering what sort of an eejit she got landed with for a mother, stuck on repeat so much... I was just trying to get her to expound on what she was asking for. The swimsuit one was actually very "grown-up" sounding, and she was just so matter-of-fact and all... I was in a slight state of shock.

M: Mama, I color?

Me: You want to color?

M: I color?

Me: You want to color?

M: Mama, paper?

Me: You want to color?

M: MAMA! Say, "yeah!" (I could almost hear a sigh of exasperation here at the end)

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M: Where is my swimsuit?

Me: Where is your swimsuit?

M: In the bafwoom?

I want to DON'T like it! (This was in response to me saying, "you like this!" about something I was feeding her... I can't remember what it was... After that, she began saying it for anything she didn't like. She even busted out "I want to don't want to!" along with "I want to don't like it!" about things she didn't want to do, instead of just saying, "I don't want to.")

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Leave it! (This was a trademark Maeve phrase for a month or two. Whenever anyone was doing something she didn't like, she would holler "leave it!!" at them.)

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Me: Yuck!

M: What?

Me: Somebody got something yucky on the wall... probably Daddy...

M: Daddy poopin' on the window? (Something obviously got lost in translation there...)

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Bran: Maeve, why can't I sit here? (on Pooh car)

Maeve: Make Bran cwy!

Me: Why?
Maeve: Because fall DOWN!

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Mommy, please hep me my down.

{A birthday dress from Grandma Buttons. She didn't want to take it off.}

January

Mommy! A Christmas tree! For Santa! (This was about the shape of the contents of her poopy diaper. Don't worry, Santa. We didn't send it your way, nor save it for you.)

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Maeve: When my big?

Me: When will you be big? Why do you want to be big?

Maeve: My paragliding up high, with Mommy!

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Mommy, I want to watch Scooby Doo with Mommy meemees. ("Meemees" = boobies... nursing.)

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My coat is weally, weally awesome.

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Pweeting = Sleeping. It just sounds so funny. Especially because she's really got pretty good diction, otherwise. Oh, and poop sounds more like "pyoop." You totally wanted to know that.

February (she turned 2 on the 6th)

NOT cousin Gracie two today... BABY Gracie! (Never mind that Gracie is one day older than her... apparently I've called her "Baby Gracie" a bit often...)

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Mama, will you wrap my bed? (This is so dang cute, how she asks me to make her bed. I love how toddlers think.)

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Mama, BIG your bum! (Just what I love to hear while kneeling down praying. EVERYONE'S bum looks bigger when you stick it out like that! Just for the record.)

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Thank you for my panties, thank you for Nuala's panties, thank you for Bran's panties, thank you for Mommy's panties... (in her bedtime prayer, after we busted out some panties for her. In Bran's defense, he does not, actually, wear panties.)

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Look at my panties! (making a little Superman action figure talk, in a little deep Superman voice. I can't in good faith defend HIM, because it does look like he's wearing panties. Sorry, dude.)

{With her little friend, Ivy. Eating strawberries. They are really, really cute.}

Mama... YOU have a pocket! And ME don't have a pocket... (while looking for a place to stash her coin. It went in my pocket.)

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Can you please run over, go get water?

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While "talking" on the phone to cousin Tressa:

Hi, Tressa! Whatcha doin'? Feeding Nora? Haha! By yourself? Haha! Bye, Tressa! (She thought it was so funny, pretending T was feeding N all by herself)

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Again, "talking" on the phone:

Hi, Nora! ........hahahaha! Ooooh, boy!! Bye, Tressa or Nora!

{Trying to zip Ivy into her coat.}

M: My want to see my blood!

Me: So you want to cut your arm and see all the blood pouring out of your owie?

M (after a pause): My want to see DADDY'S blood!

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Bran, can you please button it? (asking Bran to lock the little gate for the stairs)

March

Zac: I like your haircut!

Maeve: Thank you! Mommy cut it! And it's not too much owie!

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Zac, while getting ready to give me a shot in my stomach: Maeve really wishes we could use this BIG needle and it would go faster!

Me: Ugh, no! It would go right into my guts!

Maeve: No, it would go into your noodles! (What we had just eaten for dinner)

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Maeve: Bran, you wanna sit by me?

Bran: (silence)

Maeve: BRAN! You wanna sit by me?!

Bran: (silence)

Maeve: BRAN!! Say, "yeah, I wanna sit by me!"

{Cleaning up her pee. That little wipee didn't do much, but she sure was cheery about it!}

And the super adorable video. Hideouts, panties, sharks... Two-year olds are awesome.

Family skiing 2012

Nuala and Bran did really well this year skiing. We started out practicing in our backyard as the great European freeze began dropping wave after wave of nice fluffy powder on us. Then they learned how to ride the euro rope tow and started making it down the hill without wiping out or hitting anyone else. We spent a lot of time at a little ski lift on the back side of our mountain called Matchirski. Maeve even joined in this year, though not on her own ski's yet. Here are some clips of them having fun...

Zermatt

Beginning the climb up to Gornergrat on the Gornergrat bahn, looking at Zermatt town and the Matterhorn above

My wonderful wife allowed me to meet my friend Mike (who flew in much farther then me, all the way from Seattle) in Zermatt, Switzerland for a long weekend of skiing in February. Zermatt is just amazing... size, terrain, food etc. it's a skiing experience that once you've had, you can't help but measure against every ski trip thereafter. I had wanted to ski Zermatt since I was a kid. I always had one of those seemingly unrealistic plans for a ski trip to Zermatt... two years ago I finally went for the first time with my brother inlaw Rob. However, one time was just not enough...

Mike and Z looking at the Matterhorn from Hohtalli

Z coming down from Gornergrat

If it says off limits in Switzerland it usually means you will die, all other off piste is otherwise encouraged

Z coming out of the trees and boulder field into a nice powder run

Mike on one of the airbag's

Klein Matterhorn and the Matterhorn in the distance

Here is a little video of Mike and I made with the helmet cam Fiona got me for Christmas:

birthday number TWO.

The littlest rascal turned two on Monday. TWO! She is crazy, and sweet, and cute.

Her day started quite well, when Bran and Nuala rushed in to yell "Happy Birthday, Maeve!" to her. Then Nuala got Daddy to help her get Maeve's "special breakfast" ready. Strawberries! Yum. Well, she would have gotten those anyway in her fruit course (the first course) of breakfast, but Nuala brought them upstairs for her. Very special. They love their baby sis.

Later that morning, we went out to play in the snow. It doesn't look exceptionally deep here, I guess, but we've got a LOT of snow. A lot. And it's freezing cold here, too. M insisted on wearing her coat over her snowsuit, because, and I quote: "My coat is weally, weally awesome!"

We went sledding on the driveway/hill down our street. It was so powdery. I just plunked Maeve almost chest-deep in the snow and then we set to work getting our run flattened out again for a few goes. It was fun, and then we went back home.

While Maeve napped, Bran and Nuala and I decorated for her birthday. And made her a wacky cake. Nuala drew a princess on this balloon on M's chair, and Bran drew Mickey Mouse. If you look closely at Mickey, you'll notice the poor fellow is wall-eyed. So are all the Ewoks Bran draws. It's cute. Slightly sad for them (I'm sure I'd get a headache), but cute.

Then Maeve woke up and we busted out some bubbles. I was hoping she'd be content to pop Bran's and Nuala's bubbles, but after about 90 seconds, she started petitioning for her own. Darn it! I did give her a container. Then Nuala -- NUALA -- spilled almost her entire bottle (which is why she's crying in the video).

Then Maeve started trying to get her presents down. The step-stool was not as helpful as she was hoping it would be.

Then she tried to hold up two fingers. It's pretty difficult.

Success! Yay! Little clown... about a week and a half before her birthday, I started asking her "how old are you going to be?" She picked up on "two" pretty quickly, but after a couple of days of rehearsing that, she got a little glint in her eye and started saying, "fwee..." Or "one," but usually "fwee"... Now she will NEVER answer "two." She thinks she's quite hilarious. And she's pretty right.

Then everyone helped frost/decorate the cake.

Then, FINALLY, Daddy came home! We ate dinner, and then it was present time!

Her Scooby Dooby board books were a favorite.

She kinda couldn't care less about her Scooby doll. And she got more books. And a Care Bears t-shirt.

And a Rody horse! She loves this guy. Her friend, Emily, has one, and the scuffles that ensue over it when we're at her house have tipped me off to how much she loves it.

Cake time!

In between the presents and the cake, Bran jumped off the kitchen counter and landed on Maeve's little push-toy kitty cat and snapped its head off. One of her absolute favorite toys... maybe even THE favorite. She seriously plays with it so much. Probably more than any other toy. Bran was pretty sad when it happened. Z and I were pretty annoyed, poor fella, so that added to his sadness. Maeve, on the other hand, was the sweetest and most forgiving little thing. She saw her beloved kitty lying headless on the kitchen floor, but just said, "that okay, Bran!". Then, as you can see above, she put her little arm around her sad brother when we forced him to come be in the cake pictures. She is so sweet. Not always, not always. But this was just one of those moments.

Here's Kitty, from earlier in the day. Hmmm.. I guess right before he was fatefully parked underneath the counter there...

See? Little sweetheart. Though, she did, for example, scream bloody murder at him for trying to touch her Rody horse today. She has her good moments and her not-so-good ones. Like all of us.

Singing to herself.

Yummm....

Then it was time for bed, and the big, strong 2-year old insisted that her horsie come upstairs, too. It's almost as big as she is. I helped her out.

It's super fun to bounce on as fast as you can, but almost more fun is making yourself fall off. (Until you bounce too close to the edge of the carpet and smack your noggin on the hard floor. Then it's not so fun.)

Yippeeeee for two! Maeve, we love you!

And here's a video, with some clips of the Maevsters on her big day...

In case you need help understanding, she says: ~ I don't know, and my open presents! And show (?) my birthday! ~ Mama, is this Bran's? ~ Bran draw. ~ Nuala cwyin'! ~ Blow the candles. ~ Mama, say that's okay, Nuala... ~ Nuala, STOP IT! ~ Mama, can I get my presents? ~ Brushin' Bran's hair. ~ Bran, one more time! ~ Nuala, let me try! ~ Me! ~ Daddy, I need a push! ~ (???) and she also get hurt, right here, and my legs right here, and my fall over! ~ Scooby want to ride with me, Scooby want to ride with me! ~ Mama, can you help me put beside me right here?