Cinderella Duties

Esme still loves to help with the laundry.

Only now she wants to try everything on before she puts it in the washer.  Even bibs - which she normally hates to put on any other time.  She played with this vest for quite awhile before I could convinced her to put it into the washer.  Finally, she agreed to give it up.  

And yes, she is, in fact, wearing snow boots. :)  She's also wearing the Gopher sweatshirt that I bought her at the game.  She's got her own style, that's for sure!

Gopher Hockey

Last night I went to a Gopher Hockey game with my friend Kim.  She and her husband have front row season tickets and they thought he would be out of town so she invited me to go with her.  It turns out he was not out of town, but I still got to go.  It was SO much fun!

We were sitting on the side of the rink where the Gophers were on offense for 2 of the 3 periods.  It was crazy to be that close when they checked each other right in front of us.  I took a lot of pictures.  I tried to get some good ones of the checks that were by us, but that was pretty much impossible to catch.  Kim's husband Ken texted her and told her that he could see me taking pictures from on the TV. :)  

Goldie was there of course.

There was a HUGE fight too.  Two Michigan Tech players and one Gopher player were ejected.

The Gophers won and scored 5 goals which means if we take our tickets to Culvers we can get free ice cream!!  And we got to see the stick solute which only happens when the Gophers win both games of the series.

We had such a great time!  Thanks Kim for inviting me!

Oreo Mess!

No need to really explain a lot on this one...

Books

In case you were wondering: Yes, I have still been reading away.  Let's catch up.

Little Bee by Chris Cleave was ok.  I can see why a lot of people like this book, but I can't say that I loved it.  I did finish it in a short amount of time, it was easy enough to read, but I wouldn't read it again and it will probably go in my garage sale pile.

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick was only ok also.  Again, I can see why people like it but there was so much about it that was beyond far fetched.  Some interesting turns and twists.

The next book I read I LOVED!!!  The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.  It was so good, I wanted it to keep going and going.  I want to know more about the characters lives; past, present and future.  I was sad this book was over and I would say that it's probably one of my top five books of all time.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert was not a book that I planned on putting on this list.  I was in Hawaii and done with the books that I had brought with me and I needed something to read.  We went to Barnes and Noble and I looked around for a bit and couldn't really come up with anything better so I decided to read this one.  I actually liked the first 2/3 of it.  At the end I still liked it, but I just had had enough of her.  Like one of us had overstayed our welcome at the other's house.  Overall though, I'm glad that I read it.  I have the movie sitting on my counter because my mother in law got it from Netflix and passed it on to me.  I'm not sure I'm ready to spend a couple of more hours with her, but then again why not?

Molly from work left the next book on my desk at work after she heard about my resolution.  It's called Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years.  This was such an interesting book.  These are two women who were beyond their time.  I was amazed at how they were able to stay true to who they were raised to be in times of so much change and instability.

Finally I just finished reading The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister.  I really like to cook and bake and have been frequenting a number of food blogs lately.  This fell right in with those pastimes.  It makes me want to sign up for a cooking class sooner than later.

And that's where I am so far.  Nine books down and thirty one to go.  On second thought, I may not have time for a cooking class...

Playdate

This morning we braved the snow storm to go play with Emily and Ty.  Emily is 6 days older than Esme and Ty is her baby brother.  He's 3 months old.

It was kind of funny to watch these two girls.  Esme is not very good at sharing because for the most part she doesn't have to.  And while Emily does go to daycare sometimes, she doesn't often have to share HER toys at HER house.  What was interesting is that they have many of the same toys because they're the same age.  And Esme thought many of them were hers!

Both girls really like Elmo.  And Esme loved Emily's slippers.

You'll notice that there is a small green man in Esme's hair.  I have no idea why, but she found him and kept putting him in her hair.  If I took him out, she put him back in.  Thankfully, Emily's mom Kim said Esme could take him home.

The two girls finally did sit together on the bench and play but not for too long.

Kim and I decided that we definitely need to keep getting together and having play dates.  The girls will get to practice sharing and we will get to hang out!  Looking forward to it!

Nice hair-do!

This morning I ran some errands and Esme and Daddy hung out at home.  Aaron was cutting his hair in the bathroom and Esme was entertaining herself by playing in my side of the vanity.  Evidently she found my headbands and thought that she needed to work on her hair as well.  Actually, Aaron helped her out a little bit.

She even has one on as a necklace!  Believe it or not, they stayed in her hair for quite a long time before she got sick of them!  Crazy girl! 

Esme calls shotgun!

Esme has a jeep.  It's a yellow jeep that she got from our neighbors Nathah and Zac.  They wanted her to have it and she l-o-v-e's this jeep and drives pushes it all around the house.  Diego is the handsome guy in the jeep.  From what I understand he is friends with Dora the Explorer.  We've never seen Dora at our house.  Not for any particular reason, just haven't found it.  We tend to watch PBS and Disney for cartoons and she must be on another channel.

Anyway, one day Esme was playing with the jeep.  She kept pointing to the empty seat next to Diego like she wanted someone to sit by him.  So I went and got a little Smurf and put her in the jeep.

This did nothing to improve Esme's disposition.  She just kept pointing to the empty seat and was getting more and more mad.  Well, I couldn't really think of anything else to do to make her happy so I just sat back and watched.  Finally, she made her point.

Apparently SHE wanted to be the one to ride in the jeep with Diego.  Yeah, that's not going to work even a little bit!  But it sure made me laugh! :)

More winter fun

Yesterday morning it was so nice out, we decided to go for a walk.  It's been a long cold winter with a LOT of snow and a lot of below freezing (even below zero) days.  But it was sunny and (relatively) warm so we walked to the park and back.

After awhile Esme gets tired of sitting in the stroller, so our walking slows down considerably. :)

Hopefully we keep having nice warm days like this!

Sledding Party!

For Aaron's birthday celebration Annika requested a sledding party.  With all the snow that we've had and the fabulous hill in our back yard, how would we not?

Here are a few highlights.  Everyone seemed to catch a little air.

Annika

Laurel

Steve

Tanya

Jodie

Aaron

Barb

Eric

Aaron, Esme and Cricket

 Afterward Eric, Steve, Annika and Aaron built a snowman.  I think he looks pretty great!

And then Annika buried Esme in the snow.

Soon it was time for birthday cake and hot chocolate.  Aaron requested a lime coconut cake that he saw in a magazine and we had homemade hot chocolate the way my mom makes it.  So yummy!

Happy Birthday Aaron!

Flower Child

Esme was channeling Janice Joplin tonight.

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Charlie and Esme sitting in a tree!

After we moved away from Gleason Farms, it seemed that Esme's boyfriend Charlie forgot about her for some older girl next door.  However, now that he's almost three it appears that he's coming back to his senses.  He even shared his Woody (toy - you know from Toy Story - the cowboy!  Stop it!) with her.  If that isn't something...

Hanging out with Mamoo and Papa

Esme got to spend a lot of time with Mamoo and Papa on this trip.  I think they all enjoyed it. :)

wearing Papa's hat