Christmas

Christmas came and went in the blink of an eye this year!  We came home from Hawaii on Christmas eve morning and missed most of our usual Christmas activities.  It was actually kind of nice to miss out on all the events for one year, but I wouldn't want to do it every year :)

I bought fancy dresses for the girls... sad to say this is the best picture I have of the two of them together wearing them.  Izzy only managed to keep it on for about 15 minutes, good thing it only cost 18 bucks.

We spent Christmas eve with my parents at their house and then stayed the night there... because among other things we didn't have a tree for presents to go under.  Santa got the message and delivered as promised.  Evie left him a nice note and a slice of cheesecake and milk.  (Santa enjoyed the cheesecake but will need to go for an extra run to work it off I am sure) 

Santa brought Evie a few fairy houses and Izzy a stacking topple-thing.   Izzy enjoyed all of her presents, particularly the red sparkle squeaky shoes, which squeak when she walks.  (Although I accidentally bought them too big so they are like clown shoes on her right now).

The big present of Christmas morning though came from Mina and Papa.  A new mini-cooper sized just for two Lacroix girls, that just happens to exactly match Mina and Papa's mini.  Technically its a present for Evie but Izzy is obsessed with it as well, she particularly likes to get in and out of it and to put her stuffed animals in it.  Izzy is trying to learn to share the care with Evie... we have, with much work, gotten her to let Eve sit in it at the same time as her (and not just scream and push Evie out)

 Then after all the presents we headed up to Phoenix for the larger Rimsza clan gathering, which is always fun and filled with good food and wine.  Of course Izzy and Evie received even more goodies then, including a style-it yourself barbie head that she has had her eye on for quite some time.  Had I known it would encourage her to brush her own hair more I would have bought it months ago!

So much to report!

Whew!  Almost a month and no blog...  but it is for good reason and there is much to report.  On December 10th I took my oral exam for my PhD and passed!  Now "all" I have to do is write a dissertation and I will be Dr. Mott Lacroix :)  (The best part though is from here on out it is all about my own research, no more classes or exams... ever... unless I want to....)  Then on December 13th we left for Kauai, Hawaii for a 10 day vacation to celebrate a tough fall (for both Patrick and I... lots of work for us both) and to just relax the 4 of us.  And relax we did!  Thanks to Patrick's sister we had a fabulous rate at a swanky one bedroom villa in Princeville on Kauai and spent a lot of time at the pool and beach.  It rained a fair amount but it was warm and the sun always came out for a bit each day, which was glorious.  I think Izzy's favorite new words pretty much sum it up: mango, beach, pool, towel, chicken, tortuga and (my favorite) happy.  Here are a few pictures from the trip to provide the highlights.

Going down the slide... both girls went down this slide more times than I can count

Exploring the ocean (looking for turtles... which we never found... but the journey was great!)

Christmas hula concert...  totally awesome, Evie was all about hula for the rest of the trip

One advantage of all the rain was a gorgeous rainbow every single day...  we once even drove though the end of one (no pot of gold though)

Taking a hula lesson (jingle bells)

We managed one picture of all of us...  Izzy doesn't seem happy here but I promise she enjoyed the trip!

Exploring a little cave

Waimea canyon.. absolutely stunning!!

Dramatic hula pose...

Evie's Expo!

Evie had a fabulous expo this past Thursday!  This past session she learned about art and artists and worked on her math skills.  We'll let her show you herself:

Horsey, TI-83 and wings

Both Genevieve and Isadora have been full of zingers (each in their own way of course) these past few days.  When asked how she would feel going to a 1st grade that was nothing but English Genevieve informed us this week that "Speaking English all day is like a big weight on my back.  When I get to speak French though that weight is gone and it is like I have wings, it is like I can fly."  Hmmm so our option is to "chain" our child down or let her fly eh?  No pressure :) 

Izzy on the other hand has been working on securing her spot as family comedian-engineer (bet you didn't know that was a title that existed).  She lives to figure out ways to make all of us laugh and for ways to figure out the way things work.  Her most recent comedic relief is her obsession with the horse toy, which although twice her size she has managed to "ride" around pretty much non-stop this weekend.  She keeps trying to bring it with her into the car, which is a bit awkward, but hilarious.  Her other favorite toy this weekend has been my TI-83, aka graphing calculator, which is even more coveted than my phone for some unknown reason.  On Friday she was so into it that she insisted on taking it to bed as her lovey....  could possibly be the strangest lovey ever (not to mention expensive... even at the pricey toy stores I doubt the stuff animals top $80... or at least I hope they don't!)  She has been a fitful sleeper these days though so I didn't dare risk waking her up to capture the calculator cuddle on camera.....