Christmas.

On December 24th, we spent the day skiing...it was a perfect ski day! Sunny, blue sky, great snow and we even saw Santa on the slopes...can't think of a better way to spend that day!

It was Sam's second time skiing ever and I seriously can't believe how well she is already skiing. She starts ski lessons this Sunday and she is pretty excited about that.

We are lucky to be living less that 5 min from one of the best ski resorts in the country.

For Christmas eve, we went to Jeff's sister's house for a special night. Santa even stopped by to bring the kids presents.

Anaïs was terrified of Santa so she opened her present in a different room, as far away from him as she could!

Then we came home and when we got home Santa had already dropped the girls' presents...they loved everything they got!

It was a great Christmas!

On Christmas day we flew to California to go to Disneyland. It was fun but let me just say this: I am glad we went but will NOT go again for the holidays...way too crowded!

Can't believe Christmas is over...such a bitter/sweet feeling every year to know that next year my babies will be one year older!

First time skiing for Sam!

Today we took Sam skiing. It was her very first time on skis and I must say she did really good! It snowed pretty hard all day long which made the skiing conditions a little rougher than what I would have liked for her first time but she didn't seem to care. With all the snow falling it wasn't very practical for me to stop and pull out my camera so I didn't take a lot of pictures. Didn't even get a picture of her standing on her skis...lol

She also enjoyed laying in the snow.

Jeff helped her the whole time. We are going to sign her up for lessons though so she can learn in a more structured setting.

Ready to go skiing!

Today we went and got our ski season passes and can't wait to go skiing tomorrow. It will be Sam's very first time skiing so she's pretty excited. We had to go get her skis and also upgraded Jeff's skis since his were pretty old.
Sam trying to walk with her ski boots on: Helmet, goggles...she's ready to go!

Today was such a pretty winter night, it definitely feels like Christmas up here!

One really cool thing tonight was that Santa was coming on Main Street and we saw his sleigh arrive, Sam was beyond excited and Anaïs couldn't care less! lol

Anaïs cried when it was time to take a picture with Santa... maybe next year! ;)

It's a tough world out there...

It is a tough world out there and that notion is hard for a sweet kid like Sam to understand.
I know every mom says the same thing about her kids, but Sam has such a good heart! I sometimes hear girls her age make fun of others, be mean to each other, pick on each other etc...that is not how Sam is. She is nice to everyone in her school, accepts everybody the way they are, doesn't care about superficial things and really treats others well.
I guess today at school they had to write a holiday wish list and here is what she wrote: Now, when I saw this my first reaction was to be really surprised because Sam doesn't care that her sister is different. She knows a lot of little people and truly doesn't care about the fact that they look different than her. She actually is proud of her sister's difference, just like we are.
So I asked her what made her write that and she said that it hurts her feelings when she hears people making comments about Anaïs or making fun of her. Yes, we sometimes hear kids (or grown ups) comment on how Anaïs has a big head, or how her legs are so short, or that she looks funny etc...
We as parents learn how to deal with these things and even if it still hurts every time, we just put on our strong face and keep going. But we have to remember that this is hard on our children, they have such a pure heart that it hurts them so much when they are confronted with the harshness of our society. This was a good opportunity to talk to Sam about her sister and to tell her why people might make fun of her. Not everybody is lucky enough to know someone "different", someone who is so special that they change you forever for the better. We are the lucky ones and those people who make fun just don't know any better and how much they are missing out. We are the ones with a fuller life, a life filled with amazing people. A life filled with love and compassion and not hatred.
So please, if you read this take the time to talk to your children about the fact that people come in different sizes, shapes and colors and that it is the very thing that makes this world a better place.

Bowling!

Tonight we decided to go bowling with the girls. It was actually Anaïs' first time and she really had fun!

Sam did really good and thought it was so cool to be out past her bedtime.

Now for those of you out there was also have achon kids, the fact that Anaïs was on her stomach to push the ball won't surprise you...lol

It was a fun evening and a nice break from the weekly routine.

12 days!

Christmas is 12 days away! Every year, Jeff's mom gives the girls presents for the 12 days of Christmas. This is a tradition we do not do in France so it's still new to me, even if I've lived in the States for over 11 years now...Wow, time just flies!
Anyway, Sam has been counting down the days and this morning she knew! lol
When Anaïs woke up I asked her "do you want to go get a present?" and she yelled "yeah yeah yeah!".

Sam showed Anaïs how to open her present:

Two very excited little girls:

The countdown begins!