Snowy Valentines Day

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This year it has been much snowier than usual, and I absolutely LOVE it. I'm not sure I can ever truly get tired of the snow, though even as I say that I also know how much I appreciate other warmer weather too. I'm sure that's why I love Colorado so much - each season is so distinct.

But snow... 2011 marks the tenth year that I truly love the snow. Before that I always appreciated it and thought it was beautiful, but it just didn't compare to the love I have for it now. Snow will always have a special place in my heart, followed by the Eiffel Tower, Aspen Leaves, Cherry Blossoms, Daffodils, Sunflowers and Pumpkins. Oh - and let's not forget about Christmas!

Back to the point, Niffer! SNOW! I love it and I'll tell you why... because of the moment he spoke of in this letter:

Dear Jennifer,

I wanted to take a moment of time to let you know what you mean to me. I know you can't possibly hear this as much as you deserve.

One afternoon we were sitting in the Engineering Center lobby, and you were looking out at the snow falling. You turned to me and asked, "What do you think people take for granted? I think they don't appreciate the snow." I always thought you were attractive, but in my eyes, that moment made you beautiful. Never since have I ever watched the snow fall, and not thought of you, and really appreciated it.

I can honestly say that you have brought so much light into my life, that I am a better person for having known you. I just thought you should know.

So, have a happy Valentine's Day, and if you would excuse me, I am going to go watch the snow fall.

Always,
Michael

Written in 2002, that letter was the beginning of my Happily Ever After. Thank you, Michael, for being my Happily Ever After. Happy Valentine's Day! I love you more than ever!


* Photo found at this site.

Ellie's Art IV

Aside from the assigned craft projects, most of Ellie's art from school entails swirls and colors filling an entire page. It can't usually be called a "drawing" per-se. But every now and then she shows me a gem like this one. It's Brynn and Ellie, of course. Too cute. Notice the lines across the top of their heads? Those are foreheads (more on that concept below).

It made me realize that it's been a while since Ellie has done any drawings, so when we went to a restaurant with some friends, I was thrilled when Ellie (on her own accord) drew a picture of Addie and Ellie holding hands and a picture of Mommy and Daddy making funny faces. Much to my absolute dismay, we left the drawings at the restaurant. Ellie told me that it was ok because she drew them for me to throw them away. Little did she know their worth to me. So after a minor melt-down on my part (yes I was upset enough to cry), Ellie was nice enough to draw me some more pictures:
Here is Mommy and Daddy making funny faces, Take II. They're not as silly looking as the originals. In fact these ones look a little scary, but Ellie insists the Mommy is sticking out her curled tongue and daddy is doing something funny with his lips. This time, they're holding hands too. Take note of the foreheads. I think it's funny that Ellie isn't drawing the top of people's heads unless she specifically says they need foreheads (in this case, Mommy has a forehead but Daddy does not). Also notice the eyeballs... instead of being a single circle she has started to draw pupils. Interesting. Her fingers need work, as they resemble old fashioned TV antennas more than anything else, but I think they're fantastic.
Here is Ellie and Addie, Take II. I LOVE it!!! Maybe even more so than the original. I love how they're smiling with their teeth, even though their smiles go beyond their teeth. Notice they don't have foreheads. I'm not sure why that is, but she did remember the most important part - the two sisters are holding hands!

After duplicating the two lost drawings and making Mommy much happier, Ellie wanted to draw some more. So together, she and Daddy drew peacocks...

... and cheetahs...

... and finally snakes.

Then it was Mommy's turn. We drew puppies...

... and owls...

... and finally sea turtles. She insisted on coloring in the ocean around the turtles. I think she was particularly proud of this one. It's displayed prominently on our fridge as we speak.

Gniffer's Gnomes have a gnew home

The gnomes have gotten a bit out of hand. Really. I think they're going to take over the world. At the very least, they have threatened to take over this blog. Thank goodness I was able to move them before they completely got out of control! I figured that most people reading my blog wouldn't really want to read a bunch of gnomish stories too, right? You guys come here for the adorable stories about my children, right? Right.

And so the gnomes have their own home. If you feel like you want to read adorable stories about different Gnomish adventures (each written with a specific person in mind), feel free to subscribe to my new blog:
Gniffer's Gnomes

I suppose now is as good of a time as any to also introduce you to my new Etsy shop. Yes, I've decided to give it a try. Soon I'm bound to run out of friends to pawn off my little gnomes to. I'll need some sort of outlet! Not to mention funding! I'm a little nervous about owning an Etsy shop so I currently only have three listings (and I chose the price based off of what my favorite shop is selling her gnomes for). If I end up not liking the selling thing, I might bail to give me more time to make my needle felted village! :-)

Wordless Wednesday

Introducing Princess Addie

Brynn's little sister is obsessed with shoes. Give her a pair of Brynn's shoes and Lilah is able to entertain herself for over an hour! Addie, on the other hand, I think is obsessed with Ellie's dresses. She always points to Ellie's princess dresses in her closet and gets upset when I tell her they're too big for her. We once sent Addie to school wearing one of Ellie's peasant dresses on top of her clothes. It looked more like a pillowcase than a dress, but she was a happy camper. That didn't compare to how happy it made Addie when I put Ellie's poofy pink skirt on her. I think we have ourselves a new princess in the making.

Big Sister Quote of the Day

Not quite a quote, but cute none-the-less.

Driving along in the car, just Ellie and me. Addie was elsewhere and not with us...

Ellie: (looking over towards Addie's seat) Hey, Addie! Watch this! (proceeds to make a raspberry sound with her lips). Addie? Why aren't you laughing?
Mommy: Because she's not there.
Ellie: (grinning sheepishly). Hehehe. I stought dat my baby was sitting in her seat but she's not there. Dat's funny!

Abs of Flab

I recently finally came to the conclusion that I needed to start working out. I had to finally admit that breastfeeding the second time around did NOT do the same magic as it did the first time around. By the time I had finished breastfeeding Ellie I weighed 10 pounds LESS than I did before getting pregnant. I stopped breastfeeding Addie about a month ago and I now weigh almost 30 pounds more than what I did when I stopped with Ellie almost 2.5 years ago. Now I'm not saying I feel like I NEED to lose weight. I don't like how tight my jeans are, but surprisingly I don't look at myself in the mirror and think "Dang! You're fat, Niffer!" (And if my husband disagrees, he's been kind enough to keep his mouth shut).

No, I finally decided that I need to work out because Ellie asked me if I could do a sit up. And apparently the answer to that question is NO I CAN NOT. Not a single one. She seemed confused. "No, Mommy... don't use your hands. Do it like dis!" Ha!

So yes I'd like to lose weight, but more importantly I'd like to be able to do a sit up. I'd like to be able to not worry so much about throwing out my back. I'd like to be able to wear my clothes without them feeling tight. I have no impossible expectations, such as ever being the size 4 or 6 I once was, but I don't think it's unreasonable to make my goal to fit into a size 8 comfortably.

So I joined the gym at work (GASP!) and I have participated in every class they offer for nearly 2 weeks now. Mostly they're core-building classes and let me tell you... My core is now rebelling! Did you know you use your core muscles for EVERYTHING? It hurts to sit. It hurts to stand up. It hurts to yawn. It hurts to breathe. I was even sick last week - being sick requires core muscles!!! Who knew?

I'm guessing my core doesn't approve of this new plan. No, we like our Abs of Flab just fine, thank you very much.

Big Sister Quote of the Day

Ellie: Mommy. I have someping to tell you.
Mommy: What's that?
Ellie: When Addie gets bigger, when she grows up, she will not get married.
Mommy: She won't? Why not?
Ellie: She will not haf to get married because she does not need a prince.
Mommy: Oh?
Ellie: Yeah. I will be her prince! And we will live happily ever after!
Mommy: Oh, that's sweet of you.
Ellie: She doesn't need to get married. She just needs me because I'm her big sister.

Wordless Wednesday

Just what the doctor ordered

We've had a couple rough months in the Niffer household. It hasn't been anything in particular, but it seems that a lot of things have contributed to the fact that Michael and I are exhausted. And so when I got a call from school saying that my Ellie was sick, I have to admit that I was not looking forward to spending the entire day with Ellie. I know that sounds harsh, but I've long ago decided that I am a much better Mommy when I don't spend the entire day with my children.

That's besides the point. Let me get on with my story.

As it turns out, Ellie wasn't feeling very sick the following day. Surprise surprise. So I tired to fill the day with activities to keep us occupied. We went to the muffin place and had a special "Mommy and Ellie" date. We sat there and talked about her school and her friends and what our plans were for the day.

We went to the store where Ellie proceeded to show me all the toys she wants for her birthday, and yet she was ok with the fact that we couldn't buy them now. I loved watching her look at the pictures of the box and get excited about the chance to play with the items. I loved to see how one toy would catch her eye while another equally impressive toy would just get a "ho-hum" reaction from her. It was a very enjoyable hour for me, and the fact that she didn't break down when I kept telling her we couldn't buy the toys, made it all the better.

We came home and watched a quick video because that's what Ellie really wanted to do before lunch. And unlike her usual, she didn't argue when the video was done. Instead we went to lunch. She ate all her meal. We talked girly stuff like unicorns and princesses.

Then we came home for a nap. She went down easily and slept for 3 hours, which I know she needed. She was sick, after all.

Finally, after the nap we went sledding. I confess, I did not want to go. I have memories of hating sledding. I never liked the hike back up the hill just for a 20 second run down. I was the child who stayed at the bottom, laying in the snow, just enjoying the crisp cold air. But not enjoying the sledding. I knew, though, that I needed to get over that. My daughter wanted to go and if it didn't happen with me, it wouldn't happen until the next snow fall (that's the thing about CO... lots of snow but it melts quickly).

I'm so glad we went! I had a lot of fun and the hill wasn't nearly as hard to climb as I remember the hills of my childhood. Though I excpected to just go down a couple times before Ellie got too cold and wanted to go home, it turned out she had a lot of fun. After going down the hill with me twice, she wanted to go alone. And boy did she step up to the plate! She wanted to go down on her tummy, head first, backwards, laying face up... you name it. She wanted to try it. I was impressed by her courage.

When it started getting dark outside, we started walking towards the car to go home. She made snow angels along the way and we wrote her name next to them so that people would know who made them.

So our day together was exactly what I needed. And chances are it was exactly what Ellie needed too. She's really a beautiful little girl and one that brings so much joy to my life. It was nice to be reminded of that. Thank you Ellie. Even Niffers occasionally need reminding.