Snowed in days.

There wasn't a whole lot to do in Seattle during the snow days. Most of the malls closed early, adding to a rather miserable christmas season for the retailers, and we were quite fortunate to have rented a 4 wheel drive so we could get out a little bit. It was even too cold to play outside, with the high being somewhere in the low 20s during the day, and feet of snow outside. Sophia didn't even ask!

In the meantime, there was lots of lazy mornings around the house, and great light.

All there is, is snow, snow, snow

The snow was beautiful & amazingly frustrating. We had many activities planned over the time at home, and most of them had to be postponed or cancelled all together because of the snow removal policy of the City of Seattle. Poor Troy was stuck in the house most of the time, and took himself down to the local pub with wifi in order to get some work done.
I'm so sorry to all the people we were unable to see or talk to. For some reason the days of the snow were very lazy, and it was so very cold...
Just thought I would share a few photos of the neighborhood.

(I think the snowman was playing second base for the snow ball game)

The cross country skiiers were in heaven. I think there was about a foot of snow, and because it was so cold, it was powder, and lovely to get thru.

Santa's visit

The classic first photo with Santa, Alexandra had just woken up (3 days post arrival in Seattle), and was not thrilled.

Sean with Santa, showing he is an old pro.

You will notice there is no photo of Sophia, she wouldn't go anywhere near him. However, the next day we went for family Santa photos at the village, and she had a great conversation with Santa, and agreed to pose for a photo.

On someone's camera we also have a photo of all the family. However Sophia refused to be in it, and everyone looks great, but it feels funny without her!

Caroling Party

Although the snow was falling thick & fast, we still had a great turnout to the caroling party, including Sophia's buddy MacKenzie!!

(Dancing thru the 12 days of Christmas!)

Sophia likes to move it

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Alexandra's latest tricks...

She can now eat her books and serve herself cheerios!



Alexandra eats up her books from Moya Z on Vimeo.



Alexandra pinches Cheerios! from Moya Z on Vimeo.

a 7 month comparison

It is always fun to go back & look at photos of Sophia from the same age that Alexandra is now & see just how much they look alike. Although their coloring is a bit different, Troy & I are both stunned at how similar the hair is, and the huge eyes!

Can you tell who is who?

Family Time

Its been a while since we have shown daily life in our family. It is a bit crazy at times, but we usually don't allow Sophia to play keep-away with Alexandra's toys. Actually I think Sophia was singing a song, and using the rattle to dance.

More play in the hallway, it seems to be the best place to get a little crazy. Good dance space as well.

More after dark reading from our sleepy girl. She was so tired she couldn't even hold up the book & had used some of her doudous (including Koukala) to prop it up in the right position. It makes me smile every night...

Sophia & her friend Niamh (Neev ~ she has an Irish friend!! ) playing dress up during Thanksgiving dinner.

Watching Sleeping Beauty on the couch with Daddy. (on a side note, Disney films are usually dark, but this is unusually so. I think that the Princess is only in less than half of the film, obviously the marketing guys weren't on their toes with this one...)

Alexandra at 7 months...

So we have a little drooler on our hands... Alexandra turned 7 months this week (I'm a few days late, blame it on Thanksgiving!) and is just the most amazing personality! Her eyes continue to get bigger (and those of you who know me know what a miracle this is!), and are staying blue as far as we can see. The hair is a bit sparse at this point, but very much like Sophia's at a similar age.

Her new trick is to lean forward from a sitting position & put her weight on her hands. Sometimes she does quite well and manages to balance in an "in between position" for a few seconds before going back to sitting.

Sometimes she is able to scoot right to the edge of the carpet in this way (notice the nice extended drool of concentration), and then she likes to play with the hardwood floor.

Through it all she smiles & invites all of us to play with her on the ground. It is hard to just let her play, knowing that sometimes there is a big crash**

**notice the big red blotch on the side of her forehead.

Through it all her great personality is shining through, and she is really loving the interaction with people right now. Older ladies are the most fun for her, for there is no fear and they smile, and it has been great practice for my German by interacting with them.

She still saves lots of laughter for Sophia, and is quite content in the car every day as I tell her we are going to pick up Sophia, and she gets to play with all of Sophia's friends at the school. The older girls (8-12 year olds), LOVE playing with her, and we often hang out around the school yard for 30 min after school gets out so they get lots of practice with entertaining a 7 month old (it is not that hard!). Alexandra loves the big girls...

Home with Daddy

Troy got home from his mammoth traveling schedule last Saturday, and we finally will see him over the next couple of months, as there is another travel ban in place for the region. This is becoming quite the norm in the area as all kinds of companies are cutting back. Rumor has it the BMW factory shut down for 6 weeks.

Anyway, Troy is home and the girls are thrilled, as am I...