I was so excited to write about Sienna’s birthday party that I almost forgot to write about her actual birthday, which was Friday, of course. We didn’t get her too much since we were throwing her a party and plus she’s been getting miscellaneous gifts here and there (Yves got her a ‘car’ a couple of weeks ago, like the one she was riding in while in Jamaica.) We gave her a wooden doll with magnetic clothes (actually a leftover from Christmas) and the Robots movie. My parents came over later on to go to dim sum and have cake afterwards. They gave her red envelopes for her birthday. They did buy her 3 movies that they gave to her last week sans wrapping. I don’t know why they can’t bother to wrap them as gifts and give them to her on her actual birthday. My parents are strange (more likely it’s my mother’s idea!)

Teaching her how to use the chopsticks

She did it!

Anxiously waiting…

It’s coming!

It’s here!

Blow!

Who needs to cut the cake?

The cake - the y got swiped by Sienna LOL (last year’s cake)

And here is Sienna pictured with her new Rasta frog that her grandparents from Jamaica sent her. That smile of hers is all Yves’!

Yves officially became a citizen today!! He took his test last month in Garden City and passed (with flying colors!) and his swearing in was today at Cadman Plaza. We had to be there at 8:30 in the morning. We left the house at 7 because of the transferring we have to do on the train (the Manhattan bound side is closed for construction) plus things always take a bit longer to do with a toddler in tow! Well, it was a good time to leave because we got there around 8 ish. Yves had to go into a room with the other people being sworn in to fill out some forms. Sienna and I went upstairs to the cafeteria to wait. There was a TV in there showing the room that Yves was waiting in. After they fill out their forms, they are allowed to come up to the cafeteria to hang out with us until the judge comes. We all had to go back to the room at 10. Sienna was relatively good considering her lack of freedom. She kept asking where Daddy was and wanted to go find him. The wait wasn’t too bad. The judge came in at 10:30, made a speech and Yves got his certificate by 10:50. Yay! We let Sienna run around in the park across the street and then went in search for some lunch. Yves wanted Indian but the restaurant wasn’t open yet so we just went to a diner called Grand Canyon on Montague Street. Typical diner fare and nothing spectacular but we were hungry. We were back home by 1. What an exciting morning!

The happy citizen!

Switching to the USA hat!

Yay! Sienna gets to run!

That’s not our train!

We made our usual stop at Economy Candy and I was in the mood for a cakey treat so we went to Sugar Sweet Sunshine where I brought home some cupcakes for everyone. I got 2 pistachios (by far their best cupcake!), a spicy pumpkin and oooooohhhh a peppermint chocolate!!! When I got home, which one does Sienna pick? MY peppermint chocolate one! Of course I am happy to share with her and gave her less than half of it. She ate all the frosting and about half of the cake. We usually don’t give her something that sweet so late in the day (it was about 4:30 maybe?) and yeah, we paid for that later. She was jumping off the wall that night!

I think Yves was explaining that he had the superior cupcake!

All cupcaked out!

I took this shot of me and Carter. I cracked up when I saw the look on his face.

Ethan showing Starr his tool set

Toys

I love Phoenix’s dancing style!

Sylvie is the next Picasso?

Yan Ling and Carter

The kid’s table

Computer time!

So indeed the weather people were right again and we got hit with about 14 inches of snow last Friday. Actually, the snow started Thursday night but it was slushy snow so it was quite a mess. Then it turned into real snow. They were calling it a snowacane because of the high winds but it didn’t seem that bad. We woke up and it was still snowing. This is how it looked at 7 am!

That’s the snow hanging over from the roof! 7 am folks!

Unfortunately, Yves had to go into work so it was just me, Sienna and my dad to play in the snow. We got our butts in gear and headed out at 9:30.

This time I put on like 5 layers of pants on Sienna. She lasted a lot longer in the snow than last time.

Sienna making a half a snow angel!

sittin’

I think this was Sienna’s best snow angel to date!

Sienna wants to help shovel the snow too.

The overhang from the outside!

Snowacane 2010 from Lisa on Vimeo.

So that big mega snowstorm they were predicting a couple of weeks ago (the 10th) actually did happen! It actually started Tuesday night around 10 pm and didn’t really stop until about midnight Wednesday (there were a few times it actually did stop snowing but then it started up again.) I think we might have gotten about 13 inches? Yves was excited to finally be able to use the snowblower. Most everyone got off of work and Yves almost had to go in later that night for a special event that eventually got canceled. Yay! The day before the snowstorm, me and Sienna rushed around trying to find a snowsuit. No luck. I tried BRU, Target and S&D kids. As a last resort I bought what I thought were kind of waterproof spring pants that I figured I’d layer on top of pants and leggings on Sienna.The snow soaked right through. Oh well. I felt so bad. My dad spent the night from Tuesday through to Thursday and my mother stayed home. Well, what a delightful time we had with my dad. So nice and relaxing without the tension of my mother’s presence. After about 10-15 minutes in the snow, Sienna was ready to go in and have hot cocoa. After everyone finished shoveling snow, I made popcorn (big thanks to Geneva for showing me about making popcorn on the stove top. I’m never buying microwave popcorn again!) and we all watched 101 Dalmations.

Did I tell you that Sienna likes making snow angels?


Grandpa showing Sienna how to properly shovel snow

Sienna loves to help!

She was pouting a little bit. I didn’t make her go inside, she wanted to and I think she was pouting because even though she didn’t want to go inside, she was cold and wet and knew it was best to go inside.

Skippy seemed to enjoy the snow, except for the salty bits