Winter Wonder

The girls began fighting back today in their daily evening wrestling matches with Daddy. Usually it's Daddy tackling, lifting, and tossing one after the other, over and over, onto the futon mattress on the floor, as the girls laugh in flight and rush back at him for more. But the girls tonight not only fought back, they teamed up. Meanwhile, they have started building with blocks rather than just smashing them apart or destroying with a huge smile whatever Momma and Daddy erect. Words are more readily tried too, and standing atop anything within climbing height has become a favorite hobby. As for their diets, it is staggering to us how much they consume, and Momma's healthy treats keep coming, including her latest, homemade Lara bars of figs and nuts that the girls just love.

The little ladies are growing fast.

To mark the end of 2010, we escaped together for six days in the Poconos, and the location proved ideal: a dead-end street, where the newly fallen snow had been pressed flat by the recent plowing, and tall evergreens on either side of the road not only kept the wind away but lay a beautiful peace around us. So it was the perfect place for the girls to break out one of their two big Christmas gifts from Santa, the first being push-along tricycles (with handles to rescue their parents' backs) and the second being...sleds!

As these pictures show, the girls dressed warmly, bundled up like little marshmallows, and loved the sledding so much, by the end of the trip they had decided to pull the sleds themselves. Did we mention they're growing fast?