February weekend wih the girls

I was lucky enough to get a babysitting gig with the girls this weekend. We have had the mildest and most wonderful winter this year....and then Friday afternoon - Mother Nature dumps us with a crazy snowstorm. Grahame and Erin still made it out for their ski weekend. Marilyn and Ron had the girls Friday night into Saturday. Mom took the girls to a reptile birthday party Saturday afternoon (I still say REALLY??? to that one) and then I met up with them after the party.  Jazzie's hair is so cute - it's so thick now. We played for a bit downstairs - giving the girls some downtime from their party. Zoe was full of spunk - at one point getting up and dramatically pointing at each of us to announce "You are stubborn, you are stubborn, you are stubborn and you are stubborn". She left the room saying she would not speak to us for a year and she was never coming back.  10 seconds later she came back in to see what we were doing. Incidentally, the incident that set her off was that we were explaining to her that snakes don't have arms. She makes me laugh - she is so full of emotion! The girls and I headed upstairs after dinner and we had an evening of make believe. It began with the girls emptying the drawers in the guest room to find the perfect outfit. Zoe found a dress, but Jazzie could only find bathing suits. She put one on - and didn't like it. She tried the other one - and she still wasn't happy. She then took the first bathing suit and put it over the 2nd pair. This seemed to do the trick. As I told her, it was a bold and daring choice - but I loved it.  From the bathing suit, the bed was made to be a pool where Jasmine and I were swimming. Zoe was a member of a band who drops by unexpectedly. She hid behind the door and loudly whispered her character name. Jasmine and I would get very excited to see the famous "Tinkerbelle" or "Rosabelle" or "Mary" - whichever character she would be a the moment. She kept leaving and coming back as someone new. At least 80% of her characters were deaf and used sign-language. Where does that come from? By the end of the night, she and I were communicating very well using an odd form of sign language of our making. Too funny. Zoe eventually asked Jasmine if she could borrow one of her suits, and they both began jumping into the pool from the headboard. Only I would let them do that - yes I realize that. But they were having so much fun! And no injuries - not then anyways. It was only during the pillow fight later on that Jazzie fell off the bed. It was off to bed shortly after that - with discussions of a snowball fight for the following day.

Jazzie woke up in the middle of the night with a cry. I put my hand out to let her know I was there. She mumbled sleepily "I miss Grandma" and fell back to sleep. How cute is that. The rest of the night, she slept soundly - but boy she moves a lot. At one point I woke up her head pushed into my neck and her legs jutting off th side of the bed. She was sideways on the bed. Crazy kid! She snuggled with me in the morning - such a cutie - and then we got Zoe and prepared another surprise breakfast. The funniest thing happened that morning. The day before, I was using the word 'cray-cray' everytime Zoe would say something was crazy. "That is totally cray-cray Zoe". She would just look at me and say "why do you keep saying that?". By Sunday morning, she wasn't having any of it. I used it in the kitchen as we prepared and she suddenly said "Auntie Sandra - that's enough. Stop saying that. I don't like it!". Jasmine was sitting at the table - and with a huge grin on her face - she said "Fay it Auntie Fandra - fay it! Fay cray-cray". She was totally egging me on. As she would encourage me, with that mischevious smile on her face, Zoe was standing with hands on hip insisting I never say it again or she would never speak to me again. The two of them were yelling at me and I was in hysterics!! Of course, I didn't say it - promising Zoe I wouldn't. But that Jazzie - she is going to be a shit-disturber. Just like me. I'm so proud. :)

After a rousing morning of playing on my iphone, we headed outside for a walk and a snowball fight. It was fun - but definitely chilly out. Jazzie wasn't over thrilled and lost her mojo about halfway through. She mostly lay on the sled while Mom towed her about. Zoe and I were walking - me with camera in hand - and she looks over and says "Auntie Sandra - you should be in the newspaper". I smiled and said "Because I take so many pictures?". She laughed and said "No - because you're so funny". :) I have no idea what that meant - but I told her thanks and that she should be there too. We were soon back inside and having some gametime before lunch. Zoe likes using the expression 'zip it' to quieten you if you are bothering her. OMG...I was cracking up. She is too funny that girl.

All in all - just a wonderful weekend with my little angels. :)

Christmas 2011

This was one of the most magical Christmases ever...especially for the girls! The whole process of Christmas seemed to be very real for them this year. Christmas Eve was especially beautiful. We all gathered that evening at Erin & Grahame's house to share in our potluck dinner - delicious as always. The Dorcalfe clan was in fine form! The house looked spectacular. After dinner, the girls and Erin put together a plate of cookies and carrots for Santa and the reindeer. Jazzie was especially focused on ensuring there were enough carrots for each reindeer. They put the plate and a glass of milk by the fireplace and then hung their stockings with their Mommy & Daddy.  It was then time for Grahame to read 'Twas the night before Christmas. The girls sat on his lap with Erin at their side. The sight of them, between the fireplace and the Christmas tree, was a Norman Rockwell painting come to life. The girls could not have been more excited! I think the fact that they have all of their loved ones in one room at one time - that just has to special for them.  It certainly is for us! Once the story was over, they said their goodnights to all of us and headed to bed...with dreams of sugarplums dancing in their heads!

Christmas day was wonderful as well. It's nice that we all get to share in the excitement of the day with the girls. The next day the girls were tired - though likely not as tired as I was. I will admit to being punch-drunk tired and giggly. There were two things that I could not stop laughing about - and will admit I still laugh about them today.  The first was the ridiculous outfit that Auntie Sharon dressed the girls in. She bought them sweaters in the U.S. for 74 cents....and I would say she got what she paid for. Sweaters with lace ribbons glued to the front like a brooch. I wasn't a fan - but could have lived with them. But Sharon took it a step further - pairing the sweaters with leggings and brightly multi-coloured socks. Common. Zoe's outfit wasn't nearly as bad as Jazzie's since Zoe's sweater was black as were her leggings. But poor Jazzie had this hideous bright pink sweater, lace and all, with black leggings and then the socks. The crazy colored socks. She honestly looked like an 85 year old woman going to Bingo. I could not stop gigling everytime I looked at her. The 2nd thing that set me off were the dolls that Auntie Brenda sent down. They are antique dolls dressed in very ornate gowns and hats. I'm not sure what their actual names were, but I began referring to them as Steve and Bob. These dolls had very masculine faces...and I was sure one was sporting an Adam's apple. Zoe was not happy that I was laughing at her doll - poor Zoe. I just couldn't help myself - and I did try to backpeddle out of it, but Zoe is far too smart. Dang.

All in all - it was a lovely holiday. :)

Library Time

Coming out of the library after our weekly visit, Zoe clutching her new stash of books to her chest, looks up at me and says, " I just love books, don't you Gramma?"  Thrilled, I replied " I love books too, Zoe. Why do you love them so much?" "Because they are so quiet." she said.  I just stopped and watched as she went on trying to walk and look at her books at the same time. A good day at the library.