Snow Much Fun!

We got all the kids outside a couple of times while in North Dakota. The snow was piled high and temps were pretty good. The kids were warm & cozy in all their winter gear. Great fun was had by all!

Christmas in North Dakota

We spent the majority of our Christmas holiday in North Dakota this year. It's a long drive for us, but well worth it! All of Mom & Dad's kids & grandkids were home this year and so it made it so special. I will admit that I got a bit lazy about taking pictures because Natalie has such a nice camera, but the following are some of the ones off of my camera. We got a really nice family picture (with all 10 of us!) with Natalie's camera and she also got some of the kids in their Christmas outfits. Most of mine are when the kids were in their pajamas!

Natalie & Eleanor made this cute pancake Santa. In the end, Eleanor didn't want to eat it...kids - what are you going to do??

Our adorable (& very happy!) cousin/nephew Seth. His first Christmas!!

I love this picture! Our girls are really starting to play with each other (sort of!).

This is another favorite picture. The cousins really got along well and Seth just brought a smile to all of our faces - he's truly such a happy baby. I have some more pictures from North Dakota when we took all the kids outside in the snow. I'll get those posted soon. A special thanks to my Mom & Dad for making the holiday so special - we have lots of great memories. Also, my apologies to the St. Cloud crew. Due to bad weather, we only got to spend about 24 hours there after we left Bismarck and I didn't get a single picture!! I'm now slapping myself on the wrist and vow to have better picture-taking capabilities next time! :)

December 2010

OK...so, I'm just really behind on blogging - but, here it goes. I'm posting some pictures from December. It seemed to go by in a blur, but now here we are in January and it seems like winter is going to last forever! At the beginning of December, Eleanor and I made these stars to hang in our window. I learned how to do it at work by a friend of mine (thanks, Sheila!) and they were really fun to make. They look complicated, but are really simple.

The weekend of Michael's CAE concerts we had a HUGE blizzard. Aunt Sue got here on that Friday night (December 10th) to beat the storm. Well, beat it she did - but she got "stuck" here until Monday! We had over 16 inches dumped on us and it was truly insane. Michael had to cancel the Saturday night concert which I think was a first for Choral Arts. We finally got ourselves dug out by Sunday in the early afternoon (oh..yeah...in the meantime our snowblower decided to die). Anyway, Saturday was a perfect day to make some Christmas treats!

Check out all that snow! Eleanor had so much fun...

Trying to catch some snowflakes on her tongue...

Here are just a couple of pictures I took (I was lazy at making sure to get better pictures!) of our family Christmas as home on December 17th. We had pizza and let the girls open all their presents from us. Oh...and my tree is a work in progress. With a 20-month-old it just wasn't going to be beautiful this year. ;) You can see all the ornaments were all moved to the top half!

Eleanor's "big" present this year was the start of her Calico Critters collection. She received the starter house from us and then went on to get a rabbit family from Grandma Karma & a bedroom set & bunk beds from Grandma Mari Lee. Mari Lee also had a beautiful kid-sized table & chairs made for Eleanor's room. She has her Calico Critters collection (among some other playthings) on her table in her room. Miriam's "big" gift was the Little People Happy Sounds Home. It is so darn cute and makes many noises including the toilet flushing and the door bell ringing. The door bell really gets to Dolly and she immediately thinks someone is at the door!

I have more pictures to post from our holiday travels and I'll get them on the blog soon...

Glad Tidings concert

Amy took this picture of Gloria, Violet & Eleanor at the Glad Tidings Honors Choirs concert on December 5th. Eleanor was in her Christmas best!! Gloria is in her first year with Honors Choirs and Eleanor has really enjoyed seeing someone she knows up on stage. She's already asking me when she can sing in Amy's choir (the Honors Choirs Children's Choir). Sorry, kid, you have to wait until 3rd grade!

Meeting Santa

I'm late in getting this posted, but over the Thanksgiving weekend we did quite a few fun things with the girls. Of course, we also hosted Thanksgiving at our house with Mari Lee and Matt & Melissa. Unfortunately, I was so busy running around making sure my dishes were ready that I didn't get any pictures! The hit of the day? Some red Jello that I made with applesauce & 7-up (Amy's recipe). Seriously...it was so good.

The Friday after Thanksgiving we went to Festival of Trees. It's a great place to see Santa because there isn't much of a line. Eleanor was shy and didn't want to sit on his lap (no problem, kid) but she did manage to tell him what she wanted. Her list? An Olivia dress up set, Nina Princess ballerina (a Melissa & Doug wooden paper doll set) and a Tinkerbell clock. I'm sure Santa was able to get all that!

Another fun thing we did over the Thanksgiving weekend was that I took Eleanor on a sleigh ride at Ironwood Springs. There was a group of friends that all took their kids. So, it only cost about $7 per person. There was no snow (it would have been beautiful now because we've gotten so much snow!) but it was still fun. Of course, there were real horses and we went over the river and through the woods!

We had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend. A special thanks to Mari Lee who made the turkey, stuffing & gravy. That's a big job & it was fantastic!

Miriam "Mim" at 18 Months

I thought I should get an update post done on Miriam since the holidays are fast approaching and I just might not feel like I have time to blog. She is growing quickly and developing more & more every day and so I wanted to be sure I wrote some things down! Miriam (or Mim as I've taken to calling her often) is definitely a typical toddler. She's silly, cuddly, loving, "chatty," demanding, & easily frustrated. She's less contented than Eleanor ever was, but I think she's more typical for her age group. I remember hearing a friend complain about the 15 - 18 month stage and I guess I just never went through that with Eleanor. But, Mim is different! She lets us know immediately if there is something she doesn't like or she can't accomplish her goal (like unzipping the diaper bag for her baby doll). I describe her as "feisty" a lot.

With that said, when she is in a good mood she is hilarious! She loves to run around the dining room table screaming and pretending to be scared when Daddy is playing "Piggy & Wolf" (an old game my Dad used to play with us kids - it's essentially the "wolf" lying on the floor and trying to catch "piggies"). Miriam and Eleanor get along pretty well, but we're already starting to see the battle of the toys/activities begin. Mim often gets interested in something Eleanor has just picked up. I do expect a lot from Eleanor, but I also have to realize that she's 4 and should be allowed to play with something she just picked up vs. just giving it to her sister. So, it's a constant decision-making process for us as to what is "fair".

They can now sit (Mim usually doesn't sit for long) and watch some cartoons in the mornings - so cute! Miriam's biggest issue lately was her sleeping. She's always been a very unpredictable sleeper. Eleanor has always slept like a rock and rarely wakes. But, Miriam often wakes and sometimes doesn't want to go back to bed. It got really bad about a month ago and she was wanting to be up for 2 - 3 hours at night. We often had to let her cry it out. At 18 months this was disturbing to say the least. We did take her in to our family practice doc and he went over some tips for us, but ultimately did prescribe Zantac as he suspected she has reflux. Since getting the medicine she's only had one night of being up for hours. She still likes to get up too early for my taste, but she's been more consistent with sleeping through the night. Thank God!!

Miriam has also been slower to start talking, but has now begun to say more & more words on a daily basis. She can say many words, but isn't always quick to use them. A word will come out randomly and then she won't say it again for awhile. So, we have to pay close attention to her "jabbering." Some of her favorite things are: playing with her baby dolls, "talking" on phones, playing with her sister (sort of!), dancing, & playing with Daddy on the floor. She is a delight (most of the time!) and our family feels so complete with her in it!

When Eleanor saw me taking pictures of Miriam, she wanted in on the action. She's taken to cocking her head like this for most pictures these days. Not sure what that is about! She's a fabulous big sister and so mature for her age. We love her too!!

Miriam singing

Miriam singing (sort of) from Brynn Culloton on Vimeo.

Ballet Show

Ballet Show from Brynn Culloton on Vimeo.

I'm really behind on blogging and will have some more pictures & video to share, but here is a little clip of the girls putting on a show for us. Eleanor likes to say that she has a ballet show and we have to watch her. Miriam wanted to dance too. Toward the end of the video watch for Miriam up against the wall. She saw me with the camera and thought I was taking a picture and so she kind of posed. So cute!! As always, Michael is the accompianist!

Flashback

Eleanor at almost 14 months

Miriam at 18 months