When the Cats are Away...

Well OK, it's only Cara (and half the video she's there for), but I figured I would allow the world to see the mayhem that ensues when I am in placed in charge.  You also get to see the new opening to the videos, as I figured Teresa's opening comment was cute...

Beyond that I want to add some information about what's been going on lately.  First, we have been dealing with illness, as Teresa is hacking away as I type but she is now fever free and I think things will get better.  Beyond that, advent has been a wonderful time here at Casa Yost, as Teresa looks forward to lighting the wreath, getting her nightly chocolate and reading a story every night from our Advent calendar.  It is quite a nice little evening ritual we have going on now.

Also a joy to watch is how Teresa and Frances interact.  Teresa will hug and kiss Frances and make sure she says good night, and Frances will go around looking for love from her sister too.  This of course is nothing like the sister relationships I am used to experiencing...  Frances communicates now, but I struggle to figure out what she says (Cara knows well) while Teresa can talk at a hundred miles an hour.   Teresa is also an amazingly active child, and loves singing, dancing and running laps.  She does a great rendition of Rudolph, which hopefully Cara will get on film from her Christmas concert.

Lastly, Teresa has finished her skating lessons and enjoyed them, but struggled a bit.  Swimming though is another matter.  She became a veritable fish this lesson set and dives under water and tries to swim all on her own...  She makes me proud.

Without further ado, a bit of our recent lives.

Decorating Madness

Now that the girls are at an age when they are getting excited for Christmas, everything is more fun. We went as a family to pick out our tree (a $25 black spruce) and the girls were very into the whole process. Having learnt my lesson from last year I put all our kid friendly ornaments in one box so the girls could pick and decorate on their own. Teresa had the quote of the night. As she picked up each ornament she would declare "This is my favourite ornament!" After fifteen of her favourite ornaments I realized that she is either not very discriminating, or she has a lot of love in her heart. So far the tree has gone unmolested, but I have been too wary of Frances to put any wrapped gifts under the tree yet, that may be a Christmas Eve event this year.

 These stars were a favourite of Frances'

 She also loved the apples, except she thought they were tomatoes and kept referring to them as "Bob"

 Teresa got to put the angel on top of the tree this year, and although she doesn't look it, she was very excited.

Letter to Santa

Last week Teresa and I sat down to write a letter to santa. I offered to write part of it for her, but she insisted on writing the whole thing herself.  All she wants for Christmas is a sleeping beauty barbie, and thanks to the lovely folks at Toys R Us, santa will be able to fulfill her request. I can't wait to see her face on Christmas morning....this is going to be awesome!

Olderish Pictures From November

So Cara has promised she would post about Teresa's letter to Santa (she wrote it all herself and it is awesome to behold), but in the absence of her choosing to not blog about knitting and food, I present to you: PICTURES!

She may be blurry, but man is she cute...

What is this ice for mommy?

Dog park shenanigans...

Look at the muddy paws, and the girls complete lack of fear...

Now that's some good tree climbing!

Yes, the park is now covered in snow...

'Driving'

de more

Now this is just too damn cute not to post!

The headlock of love...