Happy New Year!

La is still in Florida. STILL! ... and meeting famous celebrities nonetheless!

I'm doing okay, but I just really want her to come back. It's such a strange thing, having her away for so long. It's like a piece of myself has gone missing. 

But, she comes back in a mere six days. Only six days to go! 

Six looooooooong days.

It seems she's having the time of her life with her dad, Grandma Dale and Aunt Ashley. 

I can't help but wonder what was taking place in the above photo. It must have been something absolutely appalling. Like, maybe La's dad got up to sing Karaoke. 

She looks like such a grown-up in these pictures.

I fear that she will come back and look totally different than the little girl I took to the airport two weeks ago. But, her dad deals with this very thing every time he sees her.

So for now, I have to buck up and deal with her absence in the only acceptable way.

Cheers!

Happy New Year.

And our reality show would be titled: One Moore at a Time

... Because one Moore is about all anyone can handle at once. 

Please observe:

Yes, you saw and heard correctly. Twenty-five people who all talk EXACTLY LIKE A CERTAIN ALASKAN (and who don't ever stop talking, me included), smashed into a room, opening presents. This footage of the gift exchange on my mom's side of the family is a pretty tame representation of the madness, considering the Christmases of yore. 

THIS YEAR, we decided to bring one gift each. The gift was to be around $30 and was to correspond to the gender of the gift-giver. If you're a girl, you bring a girl gift. If you're a boy, you bring a boy gift. 

I ended up with a beautiful black scarf/shawl. 

I was one of the lucky ones.

I won't go into great detail about the various dramas that ensued (besides, presents are not what Christmas is all about. It's about family! Loving each other! Getting along! And drinking wine! So that we get along!). But I will say this:

Golf grips? REALLY?

Merry Christmas!

Today I'm up in Wisconsin with my family, gazing out the window at two feet of glistening snow, while La basks in the heat and All Things Princess at Disney World with her Dad, Grandma Dale and Aunt Ashley.

AND I'M NOT JEALOUS AT ALL!

Nope. Not one bit.

I love the snow! More snow please!

... I thought I would take this opportunity to embarrass her by posting a couple of photos from her very first Christmas:



What a cute little Santababy!



Merry Christmas to all!

... Especially to my little La. I miss you.

I have no idea where her headstrong nature comes from.

She looks so sweet and innocent ...

But in reality, she's a hard-headed, irrational pistol on skis.

My family and I took La skiing at Bruce Mound in Neillsville, Wisconsin on Saturday.

I must say that she was a much better skier than last year, when she refused to use her own legs to support herself as she glided down the hill. 

This year, she refused ANY HELP that anyone wanted to give her. The second time I took her down the hill, she shoved me aside with her mittened hand and announced, "I can do it MYSELF!" 

So I just smiled knowingly and let her go.

And she crashed into a snowboarder.

One would think that she would have learned from the crash, but each time we approached the top of the hill on the T-bar, she would start batting at me with her mittens and shouting, "Get me off this thing!" ... and then she would dive-bomb the hill as I followed behind her shouting orders to remain in the "plow" position. 

Which she blatantly ignored.

... And then, as you can see, every time she went down the hill, she would end up on the opposite side of the hill from the lift. And each time, I would ask her why she ended up on the wrong side of the hill. She would respond with a different excuse every time (Mommy, my skis just go this way! I have to listen to my skis!) And then my dad or I would have to CARRY her over to the lift while waddling on our skis.

It was great fun. 

But, I'll be happy to pass the driving instruction duties on to her father when she turns 16.

A Dairyland Adventure

On Thursday afternoon, My mom, Aunt M, La and I drove up to Neillsville, Wisconsin to celebrate Christmas with my dad's side of the family. My boss graciously allowed me leave work early to narrowly escape a "record setting storm." (that didn't hit until almost 12 hours later)

After a 5-and-a-half hour drive that felt like 12 (thanks to a certain backseat driver), we were warmly greeted by Grandma Fern, Grandpa Cal, Uncle Aaron and Grandpa Dave.

Yes, Grandma Fern really does have a pink streak in her hair. She promised us she would at Christmastime, and we all forgot until we got there. I think it's just the right touch, don't you?

We conducted our immediate family's Christmas exchange, and it went exceedingly well ...

... Until I gave photography privileges to Uncle Aaron.

Then, yesterday, we set out on our yearly journey to Nasonville. To visit the dairy.

... To buy some cheese curds.

Here's a blurry shot of where the cheese curds come from. Straight out of a giant trough.

Yum!

Even La can't get enough of them.

Driving Through a Winter Wonderland

We're supposed to be going up to Neillsville, Wisconsin this evening. The plan was to leave at 5:30 tonight and get up there late this evening. 

But, then I read this on weather.com this morning:

This monster record setting storm will move slowly across the Southwestern States through today with heavy snow for the Mountains from Utah to Arizona to Colorado and New Mexico. These locations also are looking at 1 to 2 feet of snow, especially Arizona to southern Utah to Colorado.

This storm will catch a ride on the jet stream and cross into the Midwest on later today into tonight and combine with moisture from the Gulf of Mexico to add another chapter of a MAJOR ICE STORM AND SNOWSTORM to its history.

Significant freezing rain and ice will develop from I-70 northward to I-80 in the central U.S. into tonight. Cities from Topeka, Kansas, to Kansas City, Missouri to St. Louis, Missouri to Indianapolis, Indiana and then from Chicago, Illinois to Peoria to Davenport, Iowa. Be ready for power outages and horrible travel in this region into tonight.

Not sure if this will be a pleasant drive through God's Country. But, TO GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE WE MUST GO! 

My boss was kind enough to let me leave early today, so hopefully we will miss the blizzard.

At least we can bet that Bruce Mound will have a nice coating of thick powder to run our skis through on Saturday.

Just looking at that beast of a mountain gives me chills of excitement. 

And here's something for you to look forward to ... Photos of La's second year skiing! Hopefully this year, she'll user HER OWN LEGS to support herself.

Rock n Roll Weekend

La, Aunt M and I drove up to Wisconsin on Saturday for a couple of reasons. 1) To meet our cousins and their kiddos for some gift exchanging (since La will not be in the Great North Woods for Christmas this year and will miss out on our family shindig). We met at this screwy "restaurant" whose name is not in any way indicative of the atrocity that it embodies. Said "restaurant" goes by the name of Stone Fire Pizza Company, but a more appropriate title would be "Chuck E. Cheese On LSD."

Needless to say, La and her cousins (Lydia, Vada and Dakota) had the time of their lives and never ever wanted to leave.

Luckily, I brought an extra shirt for La, because she messed her first shirt up (by using it as a napkin for her chocolate-covered fingers) within minutes of us arriving. But unluckily, the very same minute that I put the clean shirt on her, she spilled again.

Then we drove up to Aunt Kathleen's and Uncle Joe's to rest up ... Because Sunday, we were taking La to her very first rock concert.

Awww yeah.

But first, we drove past something you'll only see in Wisconsin. A car with a Christmas tree strapped to the top ... right along side a real live dead dear.

I say it again ... Awww yeah.

Sunday, we set off for the Bradley Center to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

La was less than thrilled at first.

But, when the concert was over, and we finally pulled into Dodge at the ripe hour of 10:00pm that night, La did not want to go to sleep. Nope. She wanted to watch more TSO on YouTube. 

So we did.

The over-stimulating weekend was a success. La has snapped right into her "routine" quite nicely, making sure to brag to all of her friends about the rock concert.

I, however, am still recovering from it all.

Purely for Your Annoyment

What riding in the car with La can be like:

La will tell you that was not her voice singing. It was the dog's.

This footage was shot when we were in Cleveland over Thanksgiving and my mom had just purchased La a stuffed puppy that happens to bark when you squeeze it (La insists on sleeping with this thing, and sometimes rolls over it in the middle of the night, thereby activating its bark, causing such a to-do that I can scarcely begin to describe it in printed word. Thanks mom.)

So, the barking dog is annoying enough in-and-of itself. Couple it with La thinking that EVERY DOG has a voice 326 octaves higher than what is acceptable to the human ear, and needing to replicate the "doggy voice" over and over and over ... and you'll find yourself clawing at your own eyeballs. (this may shed some light onto why Brody is no longer with us)

I would just nip it in the bud, but somehow (maybe because she's SO STINKING CUTE) I can't bring myself to tell La to PLEASE KINDLY SHUT YOUR MOUTH THANK YOU. 

I must secretly enjoy being tortured.

Tights

La got to wear "snowmans" on her legs this morning. All she was missing was the reindeer sweater.

Christkindlmarket

Yesterday, La and I bundled up (we even sported the long underwear) and headed out into the frozen day for another mother-daughter outing.

We went out of our way to catch the train just for the experience (the bus is much closer to where we live). It took us down to the Loop, where the Christkindlmarket awaited us in all its shiny, meaty glory. (Christkindlmarket is the largest traditional German holiday market outside of Germany itself. There are real Germans working the shops with real German food and real German ornaments and wood crafts. Everyone is happy there. It's delightful, really.) 

When we first arrived, we headed straight for the line leading to Santa's hut. I thought this year, things would be different. That La wouldn't freak the heck out and clam up and not say a word to Santa. That she would just sit on his lap and tell him all about what she wants for Christmas.

I was wrong.

This was the face she gave me the entire time we stood in line:

Our conversation went something like this:

Me: La, why don't you want to see Santa? He's so wonderful!

La: Because he's weird.

Me: Well, how will he know what you want for Christmas?

La: He just will. He knows. I don't even need to tell him. We will put our stockings out and he will fill them.

Me: Oh.

La: Let's go get some MEAT!

So we did.

And bought a couple of ornaments for our tree ...

And then we stopped over at Molly and Kate's place, where pants are not required THANK GOODNESS.

... and we ate Bricks Pizza with them, which is always fun.

It was a perfectly wonderful day.

The Return of the Purple People Eater

Nearly everyone who laid eyes on my little Oompa-Loompa had a smile on his or her face.

I took La ice skating at Millennium Park last night. We were only on the ice for 35 minutes or so, but it might as well have been a lifetime. 

For some reason, I really thought that she would be better this year. We ran into one of the Ice Skating Patrolmen, who remembered us from last year. He said he thought La had gotten a little better. Clearly, he was just being nice.

Even though La spent most of her time wiping out and fiercely trying to get back up so that she could promptly wipe out again — it was still a great time.

She already asked me if we could go ice skating again today. I don't think my back or my patience is ready for that task.

Maybe next weekend.

Bleak and miserable would be describing it too kindly.

Oh goodness. This weather. And it's only December 1st.

I took this photo of the park outside of the zoo on October 5th, 2008.

Memories. Stunningly beautiful, if you ask me.

------------------------------------------

I took this photo (of the EXACT SAME PATCH OF LAND — just facing the opposite direction), on November 15th, 2008.

So I ask you, how? How can this be? How can the same acre of green earth go from shimmeringly glorious to PITIFUL in just about 40 days?

My mom would tell me to ask Noah that same question and see what his answer would be.