Winter Holidays

We've had a really snowy and exciting winter so far this year.
Before Christmas Zoe got to meet Santa Claus. She wasn't scared this year like all the previous years but she got really-really shy on his lap: she wouldn't say a word to him- she just smiled from ear to ear and nodded her head to his questions.

For Christmas, among other things Zoe got lots of new board games that she loves playing and a whole kitchen to cook in. Here she is Christmas morning discovering her new kitchen:
And finding cookie crumbs and left over chocolate milk that Santa left behind :)
And here's one of her favorite board-games now:

We had a good laugh Christmas morning:
The last "present" that Zoe found under the Christmas tree turned out to be a clay Menora that Tripp found in Zoe's box at school a few days before Christmas. Since it was wrapped in a nice paper Tripp figured it must be another present from one of her classmates and put it under our Christmas tree. Zoe was very excited to find it and proudly told us she made it herself. Later,when we asked Zoe which of the presents she got was her favorite this Christmas, without any hesitation Zoe said "Menora!"
Here she is finding her Menora "present"

Another big event this Christmas was getting another family member: a cat! now named 'Fantik' (kids' word for 'candy wrapper' in Russian). Needless to say Zoe was thrilled, but she was very patient and gentle with the new kitty as he was scared to come out of his little house for the first couple of days:
Now, the cat has gotten very comfortable in our house. He patiently lets Zoe carry him around and gets along with Meeshka just fine:
Can you tell which of the two is the boss in the house?

Zoe had lots of fun hanging out with Best Friend Amelie over the Holidays- and when I say "Best friend" I really mean these two are joined at the hip. They are exactly the same size and they sometimes even talk so that it's hard to tell them apart without having to look, it's so funny!
Here are Zoe and Amelie at the Christmas Day "party" at our house. Instead of arguing over whose turn it is to swing, the girls invented a double-decker swing!
A few other exciting things for Zoe have been up to since the last post:

-going Rock Climbing in a kid's gym (at her little friend's Birthday Party). Zoe did great and loved ringing the bell when she got all the way to the ceiling!
-roasting marsh mallows in the fireplace at home;
She also did lots of ice-skating and sledding down the snowy hills in our local parks but unfortunately those pictures were lost with one of our cameras which was lost during the last sledding event. So we hope to get some fresh snow soon again so we can go take some new pictures!

*here's a little video Tripp took with his phone of Zoe and her little neighbor Ellie sledding - the girls had a blast even with a 'rough' landing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF6UKXZ9ALI

Christmas Card 2009

See you later!