Saturday after ice skating lessons, we met our friends Nikki, Noah, Rylan, and Sofia for an afternoon at the Magic House. All the kids had a blast. Chloe was so tired afterwards that I couldn't even wake her up when we went in the grocery store to pick up dinner. She was totally limp as I carried her through the store. She finally woke up when we got home. Thanks to Nikki for being our photographer for the afternoon (I forgot my camera!).
Friday night I took the girls to my grandparent's for my Grandma Marion's birthday. Eric was out of town for his annual January backpacking trip (brrr...) We had a good time and my grandparents had a ball seeing all the kids. My uncle played photographer, and here are a few of his pictures:
Claire started taking group piano lessons one year ago. She wanted me to video tape her playing her end of semester songs from her piano class. Remember that this has been a mostly aural (by ear) class. They just started adding in written notation this semester. The group class has 1 more semester to go, and then she'll graduate to regular one on one piano lessons. We think she's doing great :-)
Claire and Emilie had their 1st ice skating lesson yesterday. They had never been on skates before, and they both loved it. They also did really good. They obviously both took a lot of falls, but were moving around pretty good by the time we left. We had gotten a little tired of the usual swimming and gymnastics routine, so we decided to give this a try as a fun way to get some exercise in the winter. Next winter when Chloe's a little bigger, we're hoping to try skiing. While I've been a little sad off and on about leaving the baby stages behind, it is really fun to get to do some of the "big kid" activities now that the girls are getting older. Anyway, here's some pics (some of them were taken behind the plexiglass boards so they are a little fuzzy):
Eric's getting ready for his annual January backpacking trip. While I don't totally understand the need to go backpacking when its freezing cold, he and the other guys seem to have a good time every year. So he's starting to get out his stuff and make sure he's ready to go in a couple of weeks. Chloe discovered daddy's sleeping bag and had a ball playing in it.
From "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button": For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again. -Benjamin Button in a letter to his daughter Caroline.
