DohertyWeb

So Todd and I took Lindsey skiing today for her first time. She was soooooo excited last night and could hardly fall asleep. :) As we got near the lodge and she put her skiis on for the first time IN THE SNOW, she got a little nervous! But Todd was a wonderful teacher and immediately put her at ease. She would have the most serious look on her face while actually skiing and then it would turn into an enormous smile as soon as she finished the run.

We stayed on the bunny slope and were only there for about 2 hours total. She’s ski down the little hill and then ride up using the rope tow or the nifty little “magic carpet” flat escalator thing. They didn’t have those the last time I went skiing!!! Those are neat! And the new rope tows have little hanging handles so you don’t shred your gloves anymore. Very cool! I was embarrassed when I looked at the ski tag on my snowsuit last night. 2001! It’s been that long since I’ve gone skiing!

Anyway, Lindsey did fantastic. I was worried she’d get up there and be cold or miserable… First-time skiing isn’t always a pleasant experience! But hers was! She balanced very well and was soooooo proud of herself when she started doing it by herself. I didn’t bring my skiis since I spent the entire time taking a zillion photos, but I did help some! I’d stand there and take photos as she zoomed towards me, then quickly lower the camera to catch her in my arms. :) Then I’d point her towards Todd and send her the rest of the way down the hill.

She’s taking a wonderful nap now since we’re going to a New Year’s Eve party tonight. Enjoy the photos!

Well, we had a wonderful Christmas this year! There are tons of photos in the photo album so make sure to look! For the past two years, we’ve started having “our” Christmas on Christmas Eve. I know that sounds like cheating, but it’s working well for us. Having both of our families so nearby makes Christmas day really hectic. Opening them a day early gives us time to relax and gives the girls a chance to play with their new stuff. Then on Christmas morning, we spend the morning with my family and the afternoon/evening with Todd’s family. Anyway, I have photos posted from all three events (for lack of a better word!).

This photo is by far one of my favorites of the whole day. Lately Anna has been so hard to photograph! She scrunches her entire face up so tight that you can’t see her eyes. I have no idea how Todd got this shot, but it’s just adorable!

Lindsey got lots of new books that she happily read for everyone. She’s way into Disney Princesses so I could barely pry those books out of her hands! She carries them around everywhere and even reads them in bed when she’s supposed to be sleeping! She also got tons of Dr. Seuss books and her own Hello Kitty digital camera.

Anna got two new sleeping bags! Melissa and Nana both got her one so now she needs to choose between Hello Kitty or Disney Princesses. Her favorite toy was a little mini “pocket” Cinderella doll that she had with her constantly. Lindsey already has a “mini” Belle doll (which they fought over often) so Anna was THRILLED to have a little one too. Now they just bicker over which doll gets to wear which dress. *eye roll*

Well, I got lots of fun stuff too. Tons of kitchen items, new comfy VS pajamas, some clothes and a portable GPS navigation device! I’m not a big fan of the in-car navigation systems (IMO, boat anchors!) so a little portable device is awesome! I’m so excited because I get lost easily! :) This is a real conversation I had with Todd one day while I was lost in downtown Seattle…

Todd: Can you see any street signs?
Me: No, there are buildings in the way.
Todd: So what direction are you facing?
Me: No clue. How would I know that?
Todd: Um… (sounding as if this is a hopeless conversation) Where’s the sun?
Me: Directly above me…
Todd: Which direction is the water (referring to the Puget Sound)?
Me: I can’t see the water…

Sad, I know… Soooooooo happy to have GPS! With the push of ONE button, it tells me how to get home no matter where I am! Woo hoo! :)

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas!!

Lately, Lindsey’s reading has just taken off. After doing sight reading with her forever, we decided she really needed some phonics. Sight reading should work all by itself, in theory… and does for some kids, but it didn’t for Lindsey. Since about 2 years old, she could read a ton of individual words, but couldn’t just pick up any commercial book and read it. So we instroduced a Phonics Program and she is blowing through the lessons. I think a combo of the sight reading and the phonics together were perfect.

She’s really doing well. She has started picking up commercial books and reading them – if she comes acorss words or sounds she doesn’t know, she spells them out for me and I help her through it. This is wonderful in the car!

Anyway, her latest thing is EMAIL. I setup an email address for her when she was born because I sent her birth announcements out from that account. Now is the first time she’s really ready to USE IT though. Please send her some simple emails that she can read. She comes in, switches Outlook from my profile to hers and checks for incoming messages. If none come in, she sits here and re-reads the messages currently in her inbox… over and over and over and over… It’s sooooo cute!

So please email her! She can read a full page of text (like 10-15 sentence stories), but I’d keep the emails to 5 sentences or less so it’s fun. Maybe ask her what she wants for Christmas or what she’s gotten Anna for Christmas. Make the font a little bigger than normal, but not huge. 24 point is good in any font you prefer. I won’t post her email address here because I don’t want it picked up by web crawlers for spamming. If you know Todd and I’s personal email addresses, it’s really easy to “guess” what hers is.

To give you an idea of her reading level, here’s the story she read easily from her last lesson.

Hunting for a deer.

An old man got his gun. He said, “I will go hunting for a deer.” The girl said, “You can not see, so you can not hunt for deer.” He said, “I will hunt for deer.”

Then a deer came to the man and said, “Are you hunting for deer?” The old man said, “Have you seen a deer?” The deer said, “I am a deer.”

The old man said, “I can not see you, so I will not take a shot at you. We will go for a walk.” So the old man and the deer went to the old man’s home.

The end.

Thank you!!!

-Jennifer

Lindsey and I ran in the Annual Jingle Bell Race this year! It’s a 5K (just over 3 miles) run and everyone wears little jingle bells on their shoes and clothing. Soooo much fun! And I know this is going to be a huge shock to many of you… Blue Dog and Pink Dog were with her in her backpack for the whole race. She was insistent they come with her. Aaaaaaawh!

Lindsey ran the entire thing with me. TEN THOUSAND people were there for the race in downtown Seattle. Many were in costumes too. I am so proud of Lindsey because she did an amazing job. She really had fun and the 3 miles went by so fast because there was SOOO much to look at! :)

We finished the race in about 45 minutes. :) Lots of photos in the Photo Album! Yay Lindsey!!!!!