Ice Skating

We went ice skating today. We heard about an outdoor rink at the Belmar mall. So we drove up there. It was a warm day, but VERY windy. The ice rink was in a wind tunnel and it was shady and small. So we drove back home and went to our local indoor rink.

Jenelle has never been ice skating before. Her little ice skates looked so cute on her. She could barely hobble out to the rink. We tried skating with her, but we were doing all the work...holding her up and pulling her around. We noticed the other kids had these little ice walkers so we got one for Jenelle. Check out the video below.


Jenelle started out ice walking. She walked all around the rink a few times. Then we taught her to glide. She would walk, walk, glide. Walk, walk, glide. At the end of the day Jenelle was going really fast and turning. She had a great time. We were going to go out to lunch, but Jenelle didn't want to leave the rink. I think we found our winter sport!

The best present ever!

This present has come as quite a surprise to me. Jenelle has had a dry pull-up for four nights this week! Jenelle has had a tough time staying dry for a 2 hour nap. Two weeks ago Jenelle had a nap on the last night of Awana and she stayed dry. She told EVERYONE at Awana about her dry pull-up. Everyone praised her and told her how great it was. Of course, praise coming from someone else must make more of an impression than praise from mom. That's ok! Hopefully, this is a new trend and I can stop buying pull-ups. She is going to have a sleep over with Eme this week. She asked why. I said she could have sleep overs now because we don't have to worry about her peeing on her friend in the middle of the night.

Buyer's Remorse

Jenelle has been asking for Pixos for over a year now. It's a craft thing with a million little colored balls that stick together when wet. A little over a year ago when there were all those recalls for lead paint, Pixos was one of them. Apparently, Pixos is now out in the lead free version. Jenelle has been asking for them again. I spent way too much on Pixo and bought the starter set.

Today Jenelle woke up with a dry pull-up. She made it all the way through the night without going pee! Usually the pull-up weighs 3lbs in the morning. This is a very big deal so I gave her the Pixo as a reward.

The Pixo box says for ages 4+. It should read 8+. I was so frustrated with the thing! I thought it would be a craft that would require very little parental help I was SO wrong. She needed help loading the pen. She needed help holding the pen. She needed help switching to a different color on the pen. She needed help dispensing the balls out of the pen. She needed help getting the balls to land in the right spot once dispensed. She needed help spraying the water to make the Pixos stick. It took over an hour to make one little dog. The finished product isn't even that sturdy. I know it will break soon.

I wish I never bought Pixos. If you have one wrapped underneath your tree, take it back to the store! There are much better crafts out there.

Pixo update: She is doing much better. She even made her own Christmas tree.

The Nutcracker

I haven't blogged in a while! We've been busy this December. We went to see The Nutcracker a few weeks ago. We went downtown and had lunch on the16th Street Mall. We did a little window shopping. Jenelle got to ride on Daddy's shoulders and then we we off to the Ellie Caukins Opera House to see the Nutcracker. Jenelle has had a few years of ballet lessons and she loves to dance so I thought it would be a fun thing to do. I've never even seen the Nutcracker.

We had seats in the first row of the 4th balcony. When we were walking down to our seats, Jenelle got a little vertigo. I was even a little dizzy. We were WAY up there. Jenelle sat on my lap for the entire performance. My favorite dance was the snow fairies. It was so beautiful to see the ballerinas dance while snow floated down upon them. Jenelle was fascinated by the whole thing. I think she even picked up some new ballet moves!

Am I old or am I young?

I went to the ARC thrift store today. Jenelle is going to be an angel in the school Christmas play and I needed a white shirt for her. Well Tuesday is senior citizen day at ARC. So as I was checking out the cashier asked if I was a senior. I said, "what?" "Are you a senior citizen?" I think (I HOPE) the guy was just asking everybody. I might have some gray hair, but I'm not going to qualify for the senior discount anywhere. I won't be going to ARC on senior's day anytime soon. :)

We went to the mall after ARC. They have a bunch of skin care kiosks in the mall. You can't get around them. They seem to all be staffed with good looking young men and women with European accents. So some guy asked if I wanted a free lotion sample. "No thanks." Then he says to me, "How do you take care of your skin? You have great skin. Tell me what products you use." He goes on to lavish me with more compliments and questions. I said, "I eat green leafy vegetables." He said, "Let me guess your age." At that point I walked away. He wasn't being sincere. He was just trying to rope me into his product line. After being insulted by the ARC guy it was nice to be complimented by the lotion guy.

Visit to Santa

Jenelle and I went to the mall to visit Santa today. This was Jenelle's first official visit to Santa. I think we took her when she was one year old, but that doesn't count. Jenelle has been too scared to return to Santa's lap. One year we went to the second floor of the mall and waved to Santa down below. One year, she walked with her eyes closed past Santa's village only to run smack into the wall. (I was too busy waving to Santa to notice her veering off course.) When she said she wanted to see Santa this year, I was pleasantly surprised.

Thankfully, there was no line. Jenelle wrote a list of all the toys she wanted. She sat on Santa's lap and he read her list. One of the things on the list was a water gun. Santa asked who she was going to squirt. She said "mommy". She giggled and laughed. Santa pulled out a coloring book for her. She said in a loud surprised voice, "How did you know I like to color?" Santa was very sweet. He put her list into his belt and wished her a Merry Christmas.

I got suckered into buying one of the ridiculously priced photos. How could I not commemorate the momentous occasion though?

Jenelle is very into Santa this year. But don't think we are neglecting Jesus. Jesus is the reason for the season! Jenelle set up her nativity scene. We acted out the Christmas story. Jenelle has been giving birth to Jesus a lot (she pretends she is Mary and she puts a doll up her shirt).

If the hustle and bustle of Christmas is getting you down...spend some time remembering the miracle of Christmas.

Funny things Jenelle says...

Can tumble weeds eat me?
I don't know who to marry. Sammy, Zachery or Aiden.
When I'm a teenager, I'm going to get a haircut like yours and die my hair rainbow.
Did you know that music can cheer you up?
Why does a clock have 12 hours? Why not a hundred?
I want to be a princess mom when I grow up.
Don't I look Pinkalicious?
I'm going to sleep with my window open so I can hear Santa.

Pizzelles

One of the foods that I miss from Christmas are pizzelles. We always seemed to have these around for all the holidays on my dad's side of the family. Here are some interesting pizzelle facts:

Pizzelles are Italian waffle-like cookies made from flour, sugar, eggs, and butter and typically flavored with anise or vanilla. The name pizzelle comes from the Italian pizze, meaning "flat" or "round."

Believed to be the oldest cookie in Italy, pizzelles have a unique history. According to legend, in 700 BCE, snakes had infested Abruzzo, in south central Italy, and after they were banished, the townspeople celebrated by eating pizzelle. To this day, pizzelles are eaten to celebrate the Festival of the Snakes, now known as the Feast Day of San Domenico.

I bought a pizzelle iron years and years ago. I never managed to finish one batch of pizzelles. They kept sticking to my iron and it was a complete mess. I even asked for tips at the Italian deli where I bought the iron. But no luck.

This year, I decided to try it again. The first cookies completely stuck to the iron. The batter was stuck in every nook and cranny of the iron. I scraped it all out. Curt said it might take a few tries. I put too much batter in and the cookie smooshed all over the iron, but at least they stopped sticking. I didn't know pizzelle making was such an art. I have a great appreciation of the cookie now and the effort that goes into making it. I'm hoping to pass down the tradition to Jenelle. The cookies turned our really yummy!!!!!