Princess Experience...

Last weekend we had our first Princess experience at Disney on Ice Princesses! We went with the Sevins, they are the best and found half price tickets!... and here are the princesses who went!

There were so many little girls there, and many of them dressed up in their princess costumes even though it was most likely below zero that night! Some day that will be Cora and Charlotte.

That is not to say that only girls enjoyed the show because the princes in the house, Caden and Cole were fully entranced the entire show. And Cole still tells everyone he sees about the princess show. Perhaps because they got a yummy snow cone in Mickey cup... I stand corrected "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" as anything Mickey is referred to by Cole... thank you Disney channel.

The show began at 7pm.. just a 1/2 hour before bedtime for the Rogers kids.. so Cora fell asleep after being a wiggle worm for most of it. In the beginning I thought it was going to be cake keeping her entertained, as the first skaters entered the ice she would just point and say what I interpret to be "what's that"? but that soon ended and she was squirming to get down, then yelling to get up and so on and forth, but it wasn't too bad.

Cole sat on the edge of his seat he liked it so much!

I only brought my little point and shoot for fear they wouldn't let me bring in my dSLR.. when we went to Nemo on Ice they weren't letting people in with detachable lenses.. and in that weather there was no way I was going to run back to the car to drop it off. I probably haven't mentioned here yet.. I can't wait for spring! I'm really not a lover of being cold!

Look Mom... No Hands!!

Cora's been standing on her own for awhile now, but this is the first time I've been able to capture it on camera! She's two-timing her skills.. standing and drinking!

Not only is she standing... Cora took her first steps this past weekend! 3 steps! She's taken up to 5 so far, but she isn't all that interested in practicing she is much more interested in just crawling around.

And look who else is standing... on the ice! Caden joined Cole S. for a skating lesson. Last year Cole S. and Caden skated with the help of Rob and Mr. Brendan. Caden doesn't learn from us very well we've learned.. granted it has been a whole year since the last time he's skated, but he could barely let go of Rob... now he's walking on the ice like the rest of them! We'll work on the gliding part.

In fact Monday about 3 hours before a skating session started Rob found a rink in Hudson that has lessons on Mondays since Sunday is hard for us to make all the lessons .. so Monday nights Caden will learn to skate.. if all goes well perhaps him and Cole S. can take hockey lessons next year! except it is Mondays and Saturdays.. what a commitment! am I going to be a rink Mom? Ugh the stinky pads! I was watching the little boys in their hockey uniforms while Caden was skating, working on their drills.. it was adorable! Caden talks about the guys in the big shirts (hockey shirts) and claims he wants to be able to skate like them some day. We'll see, right now he's shuffling around on the ice but one of the parents says after about 3 weeks they'll be skating... I'm not sure about that! but only time will tell. Caden was a bit skittish because during the first lesson he fell and hurt himself so this past time he didn't want to follow directions and "stomp" on the ice because he didn't want to fall.. We've been talking a lot about how when we fall we get better because we teach ourselves how to do things better in order not to fall. Really these kids were all wiping out all over the place.. I cringed many times, it looked like it hurt! But it was quite comical to watch.. aside from the cringe-factor of course.

Here they are at Caden's first lesson...

Concentrate!

Cole watched from the stands...

... and then decided to make himself at home...

... ahhh much better! Next year Cole can start skating.. that should be interesting to watch!

Kids are funny....

... sometimes the littlest think they are the biggest, although if you ask Cole he tells us "I am FIVE", Caden says "Hey, that's not fair I am bigger" We say "No Cole, you are two right?" "Yeah, I am TWO" until the next time....



... perhaps Cora will be the football player in the family! TACKLE!

... Cole is reaching the stage where he doesn't always think he needs a nap, and refuses to sleep no matter what we say or try. This particular afternoon I went up to check on him and found him in our room... I ran to get my camera and got this picture as he slinked guiltily off of our bed (while our room is messy the piles of clothes were clothes to give to goodwill, I swear!) ....

... the funniest part is he had no idea that the chapstick he had smeared all over his face and neck was tinted so he had no idea why I was taking a picture of him while he was supposed to be sleeping...

... and we certainly don't wonder why he can't make it through story time without falling asleep.. in fact yesterday when he didn't think that he needed a nap during the day, he fell asleep on the couch at 6:40... and kids think they know everything!

... and Cora will sit in the tub for hours.. as long as she has a facecloth to suck on! The boys never did this, but she would suck all the water from the tub through the facecloth if we let her... and the gross part? I remember doing the same thing when I was little.. weird!

... just can't get enough!

Snow Fun!

Before the big freeze set in we were able to enjoy the great outdoors! We suited Cora up...

... and I took her for a snowshoe jaunt around the yard...

... while the boys in the family made a snow fort...

... With tunnels!

... Daddy was the enemy, fought off with snowballs

Tasty, tasty snowball!

These boys love the snow...

... I love how Cole is looking at Caden... he sure does look up to his big brother!

... And then we took a walk...

... They are too heavy to pull up the hill! So the boys used teamwork to get the wagon up the hill...

... then they needed some help...

... then Cole took over until Caden wanted a turn...

... they travelled along the snowbanks on the way home...

... and then enjoyed some hot chocolate to warm our bones!