Blog Space

Well, we have run into a little problem here at Moos. After 1.5 years of almost daily blogging, it seems that we have used up all our available photo storage space. We plan to continue blogging after resolving the storage issue, but we wanted to warn our readers that fairly soon we will probably be removing some of our older blog posts, in order to make room for more. So now is the time to view any of the old stuff, if you're interested!

A Clock for Kate

Now that Kate is no longer confined to her crib, she has started wandering downstairs at all times of the night, asking "Is it morning yet Mom?". This is the same problem that we had with Emily--she cannot tell time yet, so when she wakes up she feels like she should bound out of bed.

So, in hopes of regaining our former full nights of sleep, we are trying the same thing that we tried with Emily - a Tot Clock! Today Kate received hers in the mail.

The Tot Clock is a wonderful invention. The face turns different colors (programmed by the parents) for different times of the day. For our girls, if the clock face is blue that means it's still night time, but if it's yellow then it's okay to get up and come downstairs. We also like that it has an analog face (for when they can actually tell time).

They can come with different faceplates, so of course we got Kate the pink one with the rainbow and castle. She loves it.

She picked a spot in her room and we set it up and programmed it. Now comes the crucial question: Will she obey the Tot Clock? I guess we'll find out tonight!

First Swim Class

Today was the first session of Emily's spring swim class! This is the first time she has gone swimming without her moms in the water with her, so we were all a little nervous. She was pretty excited to wear her new blue fish swim cap though.

The pool has a nice viewing area where all the parents gathered during the class. We were very happily surprised to find lots of parents that we knew from Emily's preschool (and she was thrilled that her classmates were swimming too).She was a little bit nervous at times (notice her worried look in the photo below as she searches for Mama's face), but overall she did great in the class.She waited for her turn nicely, and followed the instructions of the teachers just like we talked about.

She even did a little bit of paddling all by herself--pretty soon she'll really be swimming!

Of course her favorite part was at the end when she got to splash around in the water with her BFF Cole.It looks like swim class is going to be a lot of fun for all of us!

Flashlight Game

The girls are fascinated by flashlights. One of their favorite games is to go into moms' room, arm themselves with flashlights, get in the bed, shut the shades, and turn off the lights.

They like to chase each other's flashlight beam around the walls and ceiling and make funny shadows. Mom loves this game because she gets to just lie in bed while the girls entertain each other, and it's usually good for at least 15 minutes of peace.Sometimes it's the simplest things that are the most fun for our little ones.

Sugarloaf

Chris's brother Seth won two tickets to Sugarloaf in a radio contest, and he graciously invited Chris, who convinced Brenda to take a day off work. That's how we ended up leaving Nana with the girls and heading up to the mountain today.

All three of us have been "serious" snowboarders in the past, but with kids and jobs it had been a few years since we had hit the hill. We were a little bit worried about injuring ourselves, so we planned to take it kind of easy.What a great day to go snowboarding! The past week has brought lots of snow (which was nicely groomed), and today was "Mainer Wednesday", so having a Maine driver's license got Brenda a $30 lift ticket (regular price = $77).Here we are at the top, ready to take our first run. It would have been a nice picture if Brenda had managed to keep her eyes open.We found out that we've all still got it! Here's Chris carving some turns....

...and Seth making it look easy.......while he cuts off this hapless skier (just kidding, the guy was not in his way).

We had some uncomfortable boots, and at least one hard fall (Brenda), but all three of us felt pretty good out there.

What a nice way to spend a Wednesday! Thank you to Seth for inviting us, and to Nana for staying home with the girls.

Crib Milestone

Kate reached a major milestone today: She climbed out of her crib for the first time ever! At almost three years old she is kind of late to be hitting this milestone, but now we are realizing how lucky we have been to be able to confine her to her crib at bedtime, naps, and timeouts.

In the video below she shows how she does it--you can tell by the way she hurts her back sliding down that she's still working out the kinks in her method.

Tonight at bedtime she demonstrated her newfound independence by getting out of her crib and coming downstairs over and over, insisting that she was "not ti-wed." Looks like somebody is just about ready for a big girl bed!

"House Sitting"

Today Mom really wanted to watch the Olympic men's hockey gold medal game (Canada vs. Team USA), but without a TV the options were somewhat limited. Finally we remembered that we are house-sitting (okay, just watering plants) for Grandma and Pop Pop while they are on vacation, and they have a real nice TV...

They also have a great playroom for the girls and (as we happily discovered) two light beers left in the fridge!The game was a great one even though Team USA lost (they still got the silver medal), and we had a good time "house sitting" as well. Thanks for the beer Grandma and Pop Pop, and we hope your vacation is going well!

Sugar Shack

Maple sugaring season has officially begun (okay, it's a little early but the sap is starting to run because of the warm temperatures). Mama has already tapped the trees at Grandpa N.'s house, and plans to tap the ones at Nana's in a week or so.

Today we stopped by Grandpa N.'s to check the buckets and do some collecting.The girls, as always, were a big help. Okay, their "help" consists of staying away from the road and throwing sticks down the hill, but they also cheered Mama on as she did the work. Every little contribution helps, after all.Mama has a new setup for boiling down the sap this year. We moved the lawnmower out of the shed and set up the propane burner in there, in order to keep the operation out of the wind.So far it's working great! We can't wait to taste this year's first batch of delicious maple syrup.

Goodbye to the Snow (Hopefully)

We have had a little warm spell--with lots of rain--and now most of our snow is gone. This is fine with us, since we are more than ready for winter to be over. Today we did some outside work to celebrate the receding snow.

First we did some final splashing in the Rink of Dreams, before dismantling it for the season.

Then we took down the Christmas lights from the little maple tree out front (no, they have not been turned on since the holidays, but they have been impossible to remove because of the snow and ice).

Then the girls celebrated the warm weather by playing some soccer hockey in the driveway!

It's so great to finally see green grass outside!

Gymnastics without Grandma

Grandma and Pop Pop have headed south to spend the month of March in Florida (have a great time guys!), so Mom can no longer drop Kate off with them during Emily's gymnastics class. Today Mom took both girls to class, even though she knew Kate would be jealous at not being allowed to join in.

Kate joyfully took part in the usual pre-class shenanigans......and then she tried to join the line when the kids got ready to start, but Emily was quick to remind her that she's not quite old enough yet.Sometimes it's hard to be the youngest.Kate quickly got bored watching Emily do her thing, which today included the zip line(!)......and the pommel horse.Then things took a turn for the better with Kate--she made friends with this little boy, whose older sister was also in the class.They entertained each other for awhile.......and then coloring books filled up the rest of the time.It's definitely easier to just drop Kate off at Gram's, but we got through it pretty well today. Thankfully, Emily has just one more week of gymnastics!

Bring Your Parents to School Night

Tonight we got a special treat--it was Bring Your Parents to School night at the kids' preschool! The girls were very excited to show their moms around.

It was a potluck, so there was lots of yummy food to choose from.

Emily couldn't settle down enough to eat--the excitement was too much for her. Kate, of course, did not have that problem.

After dinner we got to spend some time in the girls' classrooms, along with the other families. It was kind of funny to see all the adults trying to sit in those tiny little chairs.Kate demonstrated some of her school activities for us, including drawing........"sewing"....

....and this cool pegboard.

We also spent some time in Emily's classroom (the girls are in separate classes).

Emily put together a puzzle (then chastised Mom for not rolling up the mat correctly)........and we spent some time chatting with her teacher Maureen.It was nice to see the kids' friends (and our friends), and to chat with some of the other parents who we don't know so well yet.We had a great time at Parents Night!