New Year Eve 2009

hmmm...it would be nice if my new year's eve was a bit more exciting, but with kids, i'm far too tired to party into the wee hours of the morning. instead, we went to a friend's house and had the countdown in Rio de Janeiro time (it was midnight there at 8pm Madison time :)). and now that everyone has gone to sleep, i can catch up on my blog.

i've wondered about new year resolutions, but it's hard to come up with goals when i know life is going to go into full chaos once this third baby arrives. but i am going to try my best to chillax a little more and try my best to roll with the punches. i do still have a list of things to accomplish before the baby arrives, so those are in the immediate future, but other than that, i'm going to try to embrace whatever life has in store for me this year.

here are some pix from yesterday when we drove up north to my sister-in-law Megan's parents' lake house by Dutch Hollow Lake. the girls had a great time opening up more gifts and having a second Christmas. they went sledding down a great hill and built a snow fort. Skye went for a walk to the frozen lake with Phil and Uncle Mike.

Christmas activities

so i thought our Christmas would be sort of low-key this year. we had some friends over for dinner Christmas eve and then it was just our family for Christmas day. the girls had a great time opening gifts and spent some time outside with the sleds. but on Boxing day, we drove to Chicago so Skye and i could attend the Joffrey Ballet's performance of The Nutcracker. Phil took Claire to the children's museum while Skye and i were at the ballet. thanks to my friends at the Joffrey, we got great seats. i was a little nervous about how Skye would do, if she could sit through the entire performance - and she did! she loved it and was mesmerized by the dancing and the music. it was a real treat for me too - it has been so long since i went to an adult ballet performance. don't get me wrong - i love going to my daughter's ballet recitals and watching her dance, but it was so inspiring to watch the Joffrey dancers doing what they are great at. we ate some good Korean food while in Chicago and of course had to give the girls a taste of Chicago pizza. and on Sunday, we drove back home. it was an exhausting weekend, but lots of fun.

the girls open their gift of PJs on Christmas eve


Christmas morning



at The Nutcracker

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! 2009 from slkim on Vimeo.

Before/After 3

i FINALLY finished reupholstering our 2 chairs. during the long process, i wondered why on earth i decided to do this project - it was certainly a challenge! but now that they are finished, i love them! the fabric is so beautiful, it just makes me want to sit in these chairs. i guess that's the whole point, right? :)

Winter challenges

this is now our fourth winter in Wisconsin, and every winter, we are faced with new challenges. last winter, it got so cold, one of our pipes burst. this winter, the roads have turned into ice skating rinks. and since this is just the beginning of the cold, who knows what other challenges are ahead?

when i took Claire to preschool this morning, the roads were slick, but not too bad. i was just mad at the drivers who were driving as if in normal conditions. Skye comes home on the bus at 3pm, but by then, the sun was going down and it was getting really cold. the roads were frozen. when Skye's bus didn't show up by 3:20, i knew something was wrong. i called her school and found out her bus was stuck in the snow about 6 or 7 blocks from our house. i bundled Claire into the car and started driving. not only was the road slick, but by then, there were so many cars on the road, a few minutes drive turned into 15-20 mins. and the strangest sight was of course seeing the big yellow bus on top of a snow pile. i was just thankful the bus hadn't tipped over or anything like that!!

when we asked Skye if she had been scared, she merely said she and her friend wondered if they were going to be on TV. :)

thankfully, we are all home for the night, safe and warm. i hope the bus doesn't get stuck tomorrow!

Snow, and more snow

the snow started falling early Monday, all day, and continued all night and all day today. tomorrow, we're supposed to get temps of around 10 F!! at least today was warm enough for us to get out and enjoy the snow.

Going sledding (Singing in the snow) from slkim on Vimeo.

Our Charlie Brown Christmas tree

this year, i asked Phil to get us a small tree. perhaps i had it in my head a smaller tree would be more manageable with my big belly and perhaps there would be less needles to sweep up. when Phil returned with our tree, the first thought that came to my mind was, that is one tiny tree - a Charlie Brown tree! well, after we put up the decorations, i have to say the little tree has grown on me. and it looks much fuller than when Phil first carried it into the house. our ornaments are crowded on there, but it looks sort of nice like that.

Claire's birthday party

Claire's 3rd birthday party from slkim on Vimeo.

here are some photos from Claire's birthday party. we had a full house and lots of fun!