Sesame Street Live!

Elmo is in town this weekend and we decided to go as a family for an early birthday gift for Harper. We took a chance and went on opening night to get the discounted seats. We only had to pay $10 each! I was a little nervous about going to a 7:00 show instead of a morning or matinee, but it worked out perfectly! Both girls were super good, the show was not crowded at all, we parked literally 50 feet from the building, and we got great seats for being last minute! We will definitely try to do opening nights from now on. The girls didn't know where we were going until dinner time, so it was a fun surprise.

I love how Harper is leaning on Delaney in this one :)

Giving Elmo a High Five

Waiting for the show to begin!

The atmosphere was so laid back. We walked right up to the stage to get some pics.

Still waiting...

Harper dancing to some of the pre-show music.

Elmo!! Even though our seats were on the side, they were still very close -only 5 rows up.

Sweet girl

She loved it!

Delaney really enjoyed it too, but kept her fingers in her ears for literally the entire show. She wasn't scared at all, it was just too loud for her. She even asked me to scratch her nose and cheek for her :) I guess we need to automatically bring ear plugs anywhere we go.

One of the songs with the whole gang on stage

After intermission, we moved up about five more rows so we could spread out and not have to look over anyone's head. It was even better up here because the girls could dance and move without us worrying that they were bothering people.

Happy 60th Birthday, Boo!

We celebrated my Dad's 60th birthday tonight by eating with Ken and his family at Cracker Barrel - yum!- then heading back to our house to play Kinect. We've gotten a lot of use out of the game so far! I think everyone had a great time competing and laughing at each other.

The Birthday Boy

Delaney and Harper entertained themselves with a game of checkers after dinner.

Look at the determination on Ken's face!

Boo and Harper watching the action

Evil-eyes throwing the javelin

Ken getting ready to do the long jump

The girls

Look at Dad's bowling form!

Here's a little video of Delaney and Jon boxing - she beat him!

Bird Feeders

Delaney watched some show on which they made bird feeders to hang outside. She was on me to go to the store to buy some bird seed. I told her that when I was young Honey always threw out old bread for the birds in our backyard. She wanted to try it so we all stood at the back door and threw some bread pieces as far as we could. Of course, while we were waiting for customers, Harper was very concerned about the "Mess! Mess!" on the patio.

Within minutes, a bird came to taste. The girls were both so excited! Harper was even trying to offer her paci to it, "Gaga, Tweet Tweet! Gaga!" Soon, some friends came to enjoy the feast. I think the most we had at once was 4 birds.

Swingin' in the Snow!

We finally made it outside to play in the super deep snow - it started out as 9 inches the other day, but I think it melted down to about 4 or 5 by today. It was a lot of fun watching the girls try to walk in it and play on their playset. We lasted a lot longer this time since the sun was shining and the wind wasn't bad.

"Kinect"ing with the Joneses

We invited the Joneses to come over tonight after dinner to play Kinect. The adults had so much fun competing against each other while the kids terrorized the playroom. When we were so tired we could hardly stand up, we let the kids have a shot at it. I didn't take any pics of the adults, but I'm sure some of them would have been priceless! The best part was hearing Craig coach Ness while she was sprinting - High knees! High knees!

The cuties - Claire, Luke, Harper, and Delaney

Harper was adorable when she was trying to do boxing.

Claire and Delaney had fun boxing against each other, but when the game was over, they started hitting each other! At least it wasn't in a mean way, they were just excited.

Week In Review

We had a pretty uneventful week. In fact, I only took 15 pictures the whole week and three of them were of carseats to put on Craigslist. Here are a few of them:

Claire came over to play on one of last week's snow days and she and the girls played with the new Play Doh cake maker Delaney got at her birthday party.

They also played Barbies.

Harper chilled on her pink chair.

On a different day, the girls spent some time coloring under the kitchen table. I was glad for the few minutes of peace because they had been bickering all morning. Delaney kept saying, "I am so frustrated with you, Harper!" I actually called Honey to let Delaney come over and play by herself for the afternoon and the next day Mama took her to the library for story time.

Last night we got over 8 inches of snow - another snow day! This is the most snow we've had in a loooong time, maybe since I was a little girl.

We haven't gone out to play in it yet because I think the drifts will be over Harper's head!

This is Delaney's face when she saw how much snow was out there.

More Play Doh time

No more pictures, Mom!

More Snow!

Yay for another snow day! We got enough snow through the night that they called off school! The best part is that it's Tuesday, so Allan was home too. It took at least 20 minutes to get bundled up and we were out for a maximum of 10 minutes :)

Delaney does a snow slide!

Harper's first sled ride.

This snow suit is size 12 months and the boots are a size too small. Oh well, it was just for 10 minutes. We're lucky that she even let us put them on.

Allan swears that this is the first snow angel he's ever made. Really? No snow angels in southern California, Egypt, or Iraq?

Delaney's turn

Mommy and the girls

The de-bundling aftermath

Kinect'd

The Cochran family is now Kinect'd! We bought our first gaming system - the XBOX 360 with the Kinect bundle. We're still getting used to it, but it seems like a lot of fun. It's so weird not to have any sort of controller in your hand. The adults have played track and field (what a workout!)and Delaney likes bowling and her Kinectimal game.

Delaney throwing stuffed pigs to knock the animals off the shelf.

Daddy helps Delaney steer in a racing game.