snow days

As promised, follows is a recap of our recent trip to the mountains.
This is a long post because well, we don't really go on vacation so this is a big thing for us.

Katie was enamored by the snow, and perhaps even more so, by icicles which the girls plucked one after another.

On day two the big girls tried skiing.
There weren't any kiddie slopes at this particular mountain (we figured this all out too late of course) so we headed to the most remedial section they had.

After undergoing an extremely brief trial run on the flat surface at the bottom of the slopes, the girls insisted on going on the chair lift.

Papa who hadn't been on skis (only a snowboard) since he was 10-years old was not supportive of the idea, but Katie was adament.

So, up they went.

And, eventually... down they came.

The girls pretty much quit after that.

They did have fun hanging out at the house.

Ray even built our own snowman on the deck.

As you can see our view was gorgeous, this picture only showing a portion of the panoramic view we were treated to.

We all played a little Wii.

There were two sets of double bunk beds in a room where the girls slept.

The kids enjoyed eating, bathing and sleeping together. That is, until they hated each other like the frienemies (friend + enemy) they are.

All the while outside it snowed.

And snowed.

The next morning we awoke to this...

Over a foot of powder.

We headed out with our sleds.

At this point you're probably thinking, "did they bring Maddie?"

Yes.

And, she deplored the snow.

Every time I tried to put her down she cried. So for the most part there are no pictures of her, because I'm generally carrying her while taking these photos.

(me trying to take a picture of the two of us.)

The dads watched the kids one afternoon while Miyo and I headed out to do some skiing which was fun.
On our last day we tried to take the girls tubing in the snow.

But, when we got there they both balked saying it looked too scary.

So, we made snowmen near the entrance instead (hence the fencing and barbed wire in the background).

Our friends, hailing from back east quickly made a respectable snowman.

And us, well... ours looked more like Jabba the Hutt.

Literally ten minutes before we are going to get in the car to head home Maddie starts yelling "doooowww" which means "down."

She scrambles down and begins to play in the snow.

Seriously, girl?!

Being the mamarazzi I am, I quickly snapped a semi-decent shot of the girls in the snow together -- the only one I got the whole trip.

Next time Maddie, next time.

(oh, and thank you Stasia, Kati and everyone we borrowed clothes from!)

year of the tiger

Chinese New Year was on Sunday.

We headed out to dinner that night with some friends to celebrate.

It's traditional to give money to the younger set in little red envelopes.

These envelopes are not readily sold in my neck of the woods. I would have had to order these online in advance -- which means I didn't have any hours before dinner.

So, we made some out of red construction paper.

Tucked some money in them.

Added some festive decorations on the front -- and voila!

in the words of a great rapper

today was a good day.

We drove traffic-free into L.A. this morning to have dim sum with some family.

Then, this afternoon we hit the beach.

It has been a couple of months since we've been and Katie was pretty fired up.

The water was too cold for all of us except Katie.

We played games.

Maddie surfed on Papa taking the term "toes on the nose" to an all too literal level.

Some friends happened to show up.

Malia kindly shared her snacks with Mo.

While Katie and Olivia set to work filling up a hole Papa dug with water.

Over a dinner of baked taquitos and guac Katie proclaimed, "Today was an excellent day."

Agreed.

tooth fairy party

I thought I had it tough when Katie asked for a Minnie & Goofy party, until my friend Carrie's daughter asked for a tooth fairy party.

She's 3. Probably at least 3 years from losing her first tooth.

What moms do for their kids.

There were tooth fairy wand crafts, games where tooth fairy dust was collected and transported in spoons.

There was tooth fairy story time. There was the proverbial pin the tooth on the mouth game.

And, then there was this.
This had "dad" written all over it. There was a ladder at the left of the yard, and one to the right.

In the end it took five dads to operate this grand finale event.

Because the tooth fairy flies, right?

katie vs. skiing =

Papa loses.We just got back from a trip to the snow.

More pictures and stories to come soon.

katie in the snow

spinach latkes

It takes me at least 3-4 minutes to get the kids out of the car and into a store. When it's raining, this translates into all of us being soaking wet by the time we get inside.

Because of this, my pantry and refrigerator tend to get a bit sparse during rainstorms.

Spinach latkes are something that I almost always have the ingredients for.

I love that they are insanely easy to make.

This past rainstorm I made them in the oven instead of frying them in a pan.

I use a latke mix and add an obscene amount of spinach (upwards of 2 cups of frozen spinach). The mix basically barely holds together all the spinach. But I like it that way.

Katie doesn't like them (shocker), but Maddie will eat them which is great, since the girl hardly eats anything these days.

Oh, and man food photography is not easy. I guess that's why we used to always pay someone gobs of money to take it at my old job.

getting ready to spread some love

Thanks to a blogger friend's advice, today we cut up scores of Katie's artwork to make a Valentine's Day garland.

Also featured: today's fort.

The crafty gal who gave me the idea also made a garland which turned out (no surprise) super cute.

Bring on the candy hearts!

loving my new camera

Thank you again for your two cents in regards to cameras. Santa and the husband colluded for one of the best ever Christmas/Birthday gifts -- a new SLR!

While I'm still playing with and learning how to use it, I'm loving being able to take better shots, especially indoors.

Here are some recent pics I snapped of Mo.

a little too much light splotching around, but love this pic of Maddie.

Mads can pretty much do a somersault already.

Clapping for the success of stacking the cups Maddie-style.