Ice, Ice Baby

Why have the last two posts had cheesy song titles with a cold weather theme?  I think it's because we are surrounded by several feet of snow that seem to keep accumulating almost daily!  Sienna has been thrilled to miss three or four days of school so far on account of snowstorms.  I tried to explain to her that she will need to make up these snow days later in the year, but I'm not sure she grasps that fact.  Anyway, the "ice" in today's title refers to a birthday party I took Sienna to last weekend where she went ice skating for the first time (and I went for the first time since before she was born!)  After we had her laced up and ready to go, we walked over to the entrance to the rink where she saw some of her friends sliding around (and falling) while holding onto the wall for dear life.  Surprisingly, this did not give her a lot of confidence to get out there and skate and she asked me sweetly if I could please go with her.  So after warning her that I would probably not be very helpful, I got myself some skates and headed into the rink with her.  It was a lot more difficult than I remember!  We had one fall together but managed to stay upright the rest of the time - at least, I did, Sienna had a fair share of falls but was a good sport about it and did not want to stop once she got the hang of it! So let's get to the good stuff, some photos:

I loved having some "girl time" as Sienna calls it.  We need to take every opportunity for it living in a house with three boys!  About halfway through the party, however, I got off the ice and girl time was promptly over.  Sienna spent the rest of the party skating around with a little boy (J) she sits next to at school.  It was really cute, they helped each other along and a couple of times when he saw Sienna struggling a bit, J reached out his hand to help her up and they skated hand in hand.  

I sneaked a little shot of them skating hand in hand.

I took a little video of her skating - which was really more like walking in ice skates.  :)  

Fun fact (ok, maybe it's not so fun, so it's really just a fact  :p) : The last time I went ice skating, Sienna did go in a way, because I was pregnant with her!  Some friends of ours came to visit from England before any of the kids were born (Chris and Nicola, who now have a gorgeous little girl named Holly!)  Chris and David's families have always been close so they grew up together.  Anyway, they came to America and stayed with us while I was really early on in my pregnancy with Sienna.  We had  not told anyone yet, not even my parents who we were living with at the time - we were a month away from closing on our house but our apartment lease was up.  While Chris and Nicola were here, we went into the city (New York City...obviously! hehe) and walked around Bryant Park.  It was late fall/early winter, and the park was decorated for Christmas.  If you live near NYC and have never been to Bryant Park at Christmas, I highly recommend it.  It's enchanting.  They set up a little ice skating rink as well, so the four of us went out.  You would think that being pregnant (and rather queasy) I would need David's support on the ice, but actually it was the other way around!  Although my husband has a plethora of talents, balancing on two very thin metal blades on a slippery surface is most definitely not one of them.  Let's just say there were some flailing arms involved and it still makes me giggle to think about it!  Unfortunately, this was before I got my first digital camera, so I don't have any photos to show you from this day.  I do have a couple more from this week though!  Charlie and I built a "death star" out of lego the other day. We each took turns putting the pieces on, but he told me where all my pieces should go.

It was the perfect spot for Darth Vader to hang out "in his office," as Charlie put it.

Unfortunately, we had a few ninja casualties.

And one last shot to close out this post -- Henry's little "stinky face."  It is always accompanied by a lot of dog-like sniffing.  I can't help but laugh when he does this!