We enjoyed our first snowfall of 2012 a couple weeks ago and it was so much fun– the first time both girls have been excited to play in the snow and able to enjoy it with us.  And the fact that it was an inch that was melted a day later? Perfect!!

Given that Rob just purchased a snow blower and new sleds, we expect this will be the last snowfall of the year.

A bear I chose for Ally, and a bear Ally chose for herself.  In 500 words or less, compare and contrast.

Chocolate frosted cupcakes.

Take 1: Ally.

Entire cupcake eaten.  Frosting covering mouth, nose, hands, chair.  Crumbs all over floor.

Take 2: Mandy.

One neat bite of cupcake taken.  Fingers wiped carefully on napkin afterwards. Then, cupcake ignored in favor of cars toys.

Each time we buy new car seats, I say, this might be the last time we buy car seats… but with current recommendations encouraging car seat usage up to 100 pounds and a height of 4 feet, 9 inches, it’s only a matter of time before I need a car seat of my own!  Snark aside, Ally is super excited to have at last a booster seat rather than a traditional harnessed car seat. We’re making her use the back attachment, but now she uses the car’s seat belt, which she deigns very cool.

Mandy now gets to transition to Ally’s old car seat, so she now has cup holders and lots of space for her collection of cars.  Doesn’t that seat look huge for her?

Dear Mandy,

Today we celebrated your third birthday, and your smiles win over more followers each day.  You began hugging strangers’ legs again at a restaurant today, and I do mean again.  Because, Mandy? You’re a charmer. You love people.  You wave and talk and grin and everyone smiles back at you, no one more than your smitten Mommy.  You sing and dance and twirl, buoyed by an unedited joy that is infectious and uncompromising.

You are now 36 inches tall– though your hair may add a little–and around 26 pounds, still a peanut with skinny legs and a round tummy crowned with a ball of auburn ringlets that seem only to tighten as your hair grows.  Your palate has improved this past year so that you happily eat a variety of, well, meats and pasta.  You like applesauce, bananas, and baked goods of any sort.  You love scrambled eggs.  You are a very neat eater and carefully dip things into ketchup so they have a perfect spot on the tip and wipe your hands and face when they get messy.  Generally you never eat enough for us, as I think we’re still in a mode we adopted when you were a string bean of a one-year-old; we push food at you and you take dainty, careful bites that seem appropriately sized for a ladybug’s mouth.

You have surprised us this past year with a love for cars, trucks, and airplanes.  You like to wrap a blanket around your shoulders and zoom around like a “bad guy.”  You even have asked me to wrap string around your wrists, I’m guessing to approximate a pair of handcuffs.  This was both charming and disarming.

At Christmas and on your birthday your gifts led to a collection of cars that seem to inspire in you the affection and creativity Ally feels for her animals and dolls.

As snuggly and charming as you are, you are no pushover.  You are not afraid to say no to us or to your sister.  There are things you do not like (peas) and things you do not want to do (be buckled into your car seat) and you can throw a fit like any toddler… a fit that is ear piercing and dramatic.  Trips with you to stores are becoming more challenging as you learn to assert your will.

This next year will be a big one for you, I think.  We’re hoping to have some potty training success one of these days, and as much as you love your crib (and believe me, you love that crib) it’s going to be time to move on.  And those pacifiers? Well.  Regardless, though, Mandy, my sweet Mandy, it will just be more of you to love.

That’s chocolate ice cream under there… in case you couldn’t tell.

Ally went roller skating for the first time with her 8-year-old cousins on New Year’s Eve.  It was sort of nerve wracking, hilarious, and incredibly fun at the same time.  I love skating so I found it very fun to lace up my skates after retiring them to the basement a few years ago. Ally was quite confident when she first put on her skates because she was on carpet, but when we rolled onto the slippery rink her legs gained a mind of their own! She was sliding and slipping and each leg was independent of the other… she maintained a grip on my and my sister’s hands that turned them white!

My nieces are becoming quite proficient and really helped Ally stay positive after a series of falls.  By the end of our time, she was gaining some control over her legs and could skate while holding just one hand rather than two.  I’m really looking forward to going again!

Ally’s kindergarten class has a class bear named Freddy. Freddy the Teddy, of course. We’ve been hearing about Freddy for months now, and in the past few weeks Ally had grown a bit frantic because her turn to take Freddy home had not come.  On the last day of school before winter break, I joined Ally’s class for their holiday party, which began with an announcement by Ally’s teacher.  ”This person is a girl,” she said. And the classroom began to buzz, I suppose because they know this is how the game of Freddy’s assignment begins.  Ally’s eyes lit up.  ”And she sits at the…. green table.”  This narrowed the possibilities to two, including Ally, and she began to bounce and shake. “And her name begins with an…. A.”  And she was off! Ally jumped from her chair like someone had yelled “Free American girl dolls!”, ran for the bear and held him with the tightest grip you can imagine.  Not only was Freddy visiting us at last, but he was visiting for nearly two weeks. Oh my heavens.

The next day, we sewed a Christmas stocking for Freddy with a craft kit.

He joined us on Christmas morning to open presents and received his very own chocolate Santa.

He traveled with us to Gram and Grandad’s house, played Monster Mini Golf, went roller skating (more on that trip later!) and had sleepovers with Ally’s very special cousins.

At the end of break we had the, um,  pleasure of documenting all of these adventures in his travel journal and he returned to kindergarten.

I think a lot of Moms adopt the role of family historian.  We take the pictures, maintain the photo albums, document family life for over five years in a blog and annual book (ahem)… Unfortunately that means there are very few pictures of me except when my own Mom visits! Then she adopts the role of historian and follows me around to snap pictures.  She specializes in “action shots,” like this one when I was pulling dinner together on Christmas.

and taking pictures of everyone else

And here’s a picture I took of my Mom– see the similarity?

Have you had a lemon stick? Rob and I both remember the treat from fairs when we were children: a lemon, either cored or cut in half, with a peppermint stick used to slurp the juice.  He had the idea to try to find the special peppermint sticks so we could make them at home and introduce them to the girls, and after some searching found some that arrived by UPS just a few days later.  Score!  We shared them with my sister’s family and they were a big hit.

The taste really took me back since my Mom ran the lemon stick booth at my elementary school’s spring fair.  I remember gorging on lemon sticks until my lips burned!