Double Happiness--adventures with Lily and Elsa

October? November?

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:55:00 +0000

Just wanted to quickly post before November escapes. Sorry we haven't been blogging as much. We've been really busy with the new house. Since September we've painted the livingroom, diningroom, girls' room and guest room, replaced some lighting and built shelves next to the fireplace. And the girls had their first season of soccer. And Charlie had his first round of obedience classes. And of course, the usual two jobs plus the girls' school. Phew. Also, we've also managed to squeeze in some great visits with houseguests: Grandma and Grandpa A, Aunt Chris and Uncle Pat, my brother Erik and my friend Erin. It has been a crazy, but fun couple of months.

Here's a random assortment of pictures

Elsa and Lily at one of their soccer games. The girls had a great first season. At this age, soccer is mainly instructional and they don't keep score. But, the girls had a lot of fun and made some new friends. They are going to play another season in the Spring. (E,L)

Silly pumpkin patch family picture.

My parents came for Halloween for a fun visit. My poor girls picked out fleece costumes and the weather was a record high near 90F. Still getting used to the Floridian weather. Thankfully, the weather finally cooled after that and has been great since.

My friend Erin came down for Thanksgiving. Our puppy Charlie was in love with her dog Sashai. Sadly, the love was unrequited. Erin and Mark went to the big Florida vs Florida State game over the weekend. It was pretty exciting.

Here's a picture of my brother Erik who was also here for Thanksgiving. This is the girls' first game of Yahtzee. You can see Elsa thought it was really fun. Hopefully, we'll get to see more of Erik when he drives back North from Miami.

Finally a picture of Charlie "Horselegs Panning" trying to put the moves on his girlfriend. Charlie is getting huge at last count 42lbs and growing and he's all legs. He was towering over Sashai who is actually a small lab.

So, that's the latest update. Hopefully, I'll get on a more regular posting schedule. Enjoy the holidays!

Happy 5th Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:16:00 +0000

Happy Birthday my darling girls! The girls had a marvelous day. Pretty party dresses from Great Grandma and Grandpa, sweet crowns from Ms Eveyln and Ms Virginia, sharing cupcakes with friends at school, afternoon with the family playing games, opening lots of cards and presents, bowling, dinner at their favorite restaurant and cake in their pjamas. Turning 5 is pretty good. Little album of pictures here.

All about Me

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:20:00 +0000

as interviewed by mom for a getting to know you assignment for school.

My name is
Lillian Ruth Panning
Elsa Claire Panning

I like to be called
Lillian
Elsa

My favorite food is
Tacos L
Strawberries E

My favorite color is
Blue L
Green E

My favorite sport is
Soccer (L&E)
*the girls are joining a team this fall

My favorite book is
The Three Little Pigs L
The Midnight Fairies E

My favorite movie is
Shawn the Sheep L
Curious George E

My favorite TV show is
The Wiggles L
Curious George E

My favorite Musical Instrument is
The Kazoo L
The Maracas E

My Favorite Animal is
The Parrot L
The Monkey E
*Note nobody said dog!

My Favorite Subject in school is
Chapel L&E
The really enjoy all school chapel on Weds mornings

First Day of School '09

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:06:00 +0000

On their way to their first day of VPK at Open Arms child development center at First Lutheran Church.
Pssst. Lily wants to be called "Lillian" this year at school.

(E,L)

So much news....

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:51:00 +0000

To get caught up: shortly after our trip to Siesta Key, we packed up house and moved. With the help of Grandma and Grandpa Panning, we managed to turn in the keys to our rental within 5 days of closing on our new house. Then having spent less than a week in our new place, we hopped in the car for a 3000 mile round trip odyssey to Michigan for the Angyus family reunion. (vacation pix link) And then we spent more time visiting in Indiana and Chicago. (adding: the girls told me it was their "best vacation ever!" They had a great time seeing everyone). We came back to Florida at the beginning of the month to settle into our new house.

And now we are completely distracted by d.o.g. (aka Charlie sometimes Charles originally named Cecil by his foster family. We loved the name but thought it might be awkward calling him Cecil when our next door neighbor's name is Cecile). Anyway, Charlie joined our family last week. I haven't taken a lot of pictures of our new house yet because I'm so busy taking pictures of our new doggie love. So, here's the scoop. We've been planning on getting a dog for years and years. But, our constant moving and living in rentals made this a challenge. Now, that we have finally bought our own place which is near the park and has a lovely fenced in yard, I've been on the lookout. We figured that it would be a good year to train a dog because my hours are still part-time and the girls are at a good age. We had a strong preference for a rescue dog, with the caveat that it be young and trainable to be around kids. Such dogs are hard to find. The young ones seem to always be Pitt mixes which make me nervous and the older ones are usually untested around children). And then, I stumbled across a litter online at the Gainesville Pet Rescue. We went with the intention of just looking, but you know how that goes! (I'm sure Mark would have preferred to unpack all our boxes before bringing home a new baby). But, the Rescue Center was awesome. We got to meet all the puppies, play with them in a special room and even take them outside for walks. Charlie won us(me!) over because he was obviously a big people pleaser, smart and not as hyper as his littermates. He made a lot of eye contact and seemed tuned in to us. And he was obviously very loving with lots of kisses.

We had a long session with our adoption counselor. She made the adoption a big family affair talking to the girls directly about their new responsibilities and how to treat the dog. They took the whole thing very seriously and even got to sign his paperwork.

So far, the girls have been great with him. They want to be involved with all aspects of his care. But they are very respectful, too. And they live in fear of him eating their toys. So for the first time ever, they've been invested in keeping their things picked up (at least out of the common areas).

As for his stats: his description is male tri-color hound mix. But, everyone who meets him thinks Beagle. He was born approx. June 19th, 2009 making him a little over 8 weeks old. Mom is a 40lb hound-looking dog. She wandered into someone's property delivering a large litter of puppies which were surrendered to the Rescue. Dad is unknown. So far, he looks a lot like a Beagle (much more so than his littermates) but with longer legs and big paws. He currently weighs 12.5lbs. The vet estimates that he'll probably be at least 30lbs and maybe closer to 40lbs. He's doing pretty well with his crate training. He's able to go 4 hour stretches at night which is good for a dog his age. He seems to get the concept of going outside with just a few accidents. He's really smart and can retrieve tennis balls and bring them back. So far, he hasn't been exceptionally vocal. *knock on wood* That is apparently an issue with Beagles.

The cat seems to be adjusting. She's a resilient creature having survived 4 moves, newborn twins and now a puppy!) She hid under our bed for the first couple days. But, she's starting to feel a little more confident now. We set up a little suite for her, gating off our bedroom with her box and food in the master bath. So, she can get away from him if necessary. So far, he doesn't seem very interested in her. I'm not sure if he's even aware she lives here. They haven't had too many encounters yet.

And that's the news for now. The girls and I go back to school/work next week. And it will be good to get into a normal routine again. It has been a very eventful summer.

Siesta Key

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:28:00 +0000

Back from a sweet getaway to Siesta Key near Sarasota. Mark arranged the trip to celebrate my 31st. It was really beautiful, fun and relaxing.

Girls ready to the beach. (L,E)

Beautiful sunset over the Gulf of Mexico.

Kids in Florida make sand angels. (L) The beach we visited is famous for its fluffy white sand.

Click here for more pictures.

Summer so far...

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:01:00 +0000

The girls have been keeping busy as usual. Summer is in full gear with the temps in the 90s everyday. We've discovered the secret to enjoying summer in Florida is to spend every day at the pool. We've been taking advantage of our season passes and the girls have been progressing in their lessons.

At the beginning of the month, the girls got to visit their preschool for Daddy's geology presentation to the summercamp kids. He brought in rock samples and a seismograph. The kids could make earthquakes by jumping up and down. The girls were very proud of their dad.

Then Aunt Chris came to visit while Mark was away at a conference. We spent the week doing fun things like swimming, going to the movies and our favorite the Florida Museum.

The girls are still little art fanatics. They are painting and drawing daily. I'm especially impressed with their painting ability. Here's a picture of Mickey that Lily painted entirely freehand with no help from me. They like to pose their stuffed animals and paint them.

And one of Elsa's self-portraits. I like how she includes lots of small details like all the fingers, toes and eyebrows.

And Super Elsa. This summer is all about imagination games. The girls are constantly pretending, wearing costumes and getting into characters. Sometimes they are super heroes, sometimes they are Santa Claus. They have so much fun together.

edited to add a video from when I was testing my camera. the girls are always talking (and often singing).

At the butterfly rainforest

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:06:00 +0000

Visiting the butterflies at the UF museum.

Lily's looking serious because she's trying to get a butterfly to land on her. The curator told her that only happens if she holds REALLY still.

Sister love. E,L

Watching the release of the new butterflies.

Beautiful. This museum is one of our favorite places to visit in Gainesville.

We have lots going on as usual. Grandma and Grandpa A came for Memorial Day which was really fun. They need to send me some pictures to post on the website! The girls and I just wrapped up another school year. Looking forward to a fun summer!

In other good news, Mark's department is safe for the foreseable future! One of the reasons I haven't been blogging much is because we've been under an enormous amount of stress with Mark's job. After relocating cross country (for the 2nd time since the girls' birth), we found out that Mark's department was on a potential termination list due to the state of the economy. The Geology Department spent the past few months on a crusade to make people realize the important work they do. In Florida with sinkholes, coastal erosion, mining etc...you'd think this would be a no brainer. Thankfully, university administration realized the mistake they were making and took the department off the list.

With this good news, Mark and I are feeling more comfortable and happy about our new town. We're in contract to buy our first house and finally get settled! So please send some good thoughts our way that the purchase goes smoothly. (i feel like I'm jinxing things by even writing them down!)

Still planning on joining the Angyus family reunion in Michigan and doing some visiting in Indiana the first week of August!

XO
E

Mother's Day Interview 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Sat, 09 May 2009 14:38:00 +0000

As interviewed by their preschool teachers, here's what the girls think of me at 4.5 years old.

My mom's name is . . .
Emily (E,L)

She is special because . . .
She is good at doing my hair. Elsa
She teaches at my school and is my mom. Lily

I like it when Mom . . .
takes me to the park and my grandparents house. Elsa
reads me stories. Lily

My mom can do many things! I think she is best at . . .
making art. Elsa
Giving kisses. Lily

My mom has a pretty smile! I like to make her smile by . .
listening and cleaning my room. Elsa
Giving her kisses. Lily

My mom is as pretty as . . .
a ladybug. Elsa
the ocean. Lily

My mom is smart! She even knows . . .
my whole family. Elsa
kissing is nice. Lily

I'd like to tell my Mom . . .
I have a lot of friends. Elsa
I love her. Lily

Happy Mother's Day!

Still here....

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:16:00 +0000

So much to post, so little time. We never get comments, so I figured everybody had stopped reading. But, I've had a few requests. So, here are some pictures to share. Since we last blogged...
(Click on the underlined links to see our photo sets of flickr).

We went to Charleston.

Grandma Angyus came to visit.

Met baby Kurtis.

Went on a camping trip with Aunt Cathy.

Enjoy! Click on the underlined links to see our photo sets of flickr.

Random pictures....

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:18:00 +0000

A post of random pictures from our camera, phones, etc...

Silly hair from dress up week at school. (Lily, Elsa)

Elsa and Lily have enjoyed helping Daddy test drive his demonstrations for his intro to geology course that he is teaching. Here's Elsa making a volcano.

The girls (L,E) still enjoy making art in our "studio."

Lily bowling with her dad. (although they visited the bowling alley many times as infants back in California, this was their first time actually bowling.

We made a pilgrimage to find "Tim Treebow."

Cute picture of the girls (L,E) at the Ren. Faire.

The Chubby Little Snowman

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:01:00 +0000

I present the 1st and 2nd Snowmen of the First Lutheran Church Preschool Winter Pageant.

Lily and Elsa

The girls were beyond excited for their first theatrical performance. The girls put on shows at home all the time. So, imagine their joy at having a real audience and being up on an actual stage. Each class did a little song and the whole preschool presented a Bible Verse on the fruits of the spirit. As a consequence, the girls and I will have forever memorized this silly little song about the fruits of the spirit "Oh an Apple ain't a fruit of the spirit. If you want to be an apple, you might as well hear it....you can't be a fruit of the spirit because the fruits are: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control." (repeat to infinity using the entire fruit bowl). Apparently, this is something that Lutherans memorize? I don't remember it from Catholic school.

I thought it was nuts on stage helping my little 2 year old class do their "Dance Little Snowflake" song. But, Mark informs me the real action was in the audience where the parents were pushing and shoving each other in order to photograph. It was apparently pandemonium. We have a 20 minute video of the entire show. (but it is mostly of the backside of the lady who kept jumping in the aisle in order to crowd everybody out). But, we did manage to get the girls doing their final practice just before the show:

When it came to actual show time, the girls got a little bit quiet and less theatrical. But, it was still great fun for all.

We are the champions

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:44:00 +0000

Today we went to The Swamp to watch the Gator football team receive their trophy from the National championship. We got to practice the Chomp, say a few cheers and hear Coach Meyer and Tim Tebow. It was pretty fun. Apparently, we picked a good time to move down here.

Gator Girl Elsa

A sea of orange and blue

Lily refused to wear the team colors, but she did bring her alligator necklace.

Fun with Daddy.

Elsa and Mommy

Robot Project

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:58:00 +0000

E,L

The girls have robots on the brain. They are obsessed with the movie Wall-E and have been really into playing with the little tin mechanical wind-up robots we got them for Christmas. So, this week we decided to make our own. It was a fun project to use up all the cardboard boxes that arrived over the holidays. It turned out to be taller than the girls.

May I present "No Arms" the robot. According to the girls, the red dials are his weather predictors. The shiny cd is his music maker. And we made his eyes light up with left over LED candles from their Halloween pumpkins.

I think he's really cute.

Happy New Years '09

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:10:00 +0000

Greetings from the Panning family! We had a wonderful holiday visit with Grandma and Grandpa Panning. I have lots of pictures to upload. But, here's a few from New Years Eve.

Chocolate fondue with Grandma and Grandpa. (L,E) When you are four, sweets on sticks that you dip in chocolate is just pure joy.

And then we discovered that Elsa had been dipping the SAME marshmallow all evening. She was just licking the chocolate off and dipping it back in . . . yum.

A little confetti, a little sparkling grape juice and everything is good. (L)

Cheers! (L)

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2009.
XO

Yay for friends

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:07:00 +0000

Christmas came a little early to our house this year.

The Jeffrey family came all the way from New Jersey for a quick visit. Lucky for us, they have lots of relatives in Central Florida. And they drove 3 hours from their grandparents house to pay us a quick visit. They arrived late last night after our girls had gone to sleep. And it was so fun to listen to kids greet each other excitedly this morning. The girls were SO happy to see Noah and Marian. And we were thrilled to see Chris and Jessica. We haven't seen them since July.

The visit was too brief. But, we were able to show them a little of Gainesville before they left this afternoon.

We took them to the girls favorite playground, a hike on a nature trail where we stopped to hunt sharks teeth and they treated us to our favorite restaurant.

The three happiest girls in Florida (Elsa, Lily and Marian)

Hunting for sharks teeth in Hogtown Creek (Marian, Lily and Noah)

Today we found a fossil and a bunch of little sharks teeth. (60 miles from the ocean!) They are from a prehistoric time when Florida was still a part of the ocean. Really cool!

A sweet picture of Marian and Elsa walking together. Now that we are having regular frosts at night, the Fall colors have finally arrived. Not bad for December!

Thanks for such a great visit guys! Can't wait to see you again. More pictures here.

Not our Christmas Picture

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 18:12:00 +0000

E,L
Life with four year olds isn't all wine and roses.
But, they're cute even when they're grumpy.

Thanksgiving recap in pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:15:00 +0000

Lily and Elsa in downtown St Augustine

Visit with Uncle Pat and Aunt Chris (E,L)

Elsa on the beach

Icecream! Elsa and Daddy

Mark on top of the lighthouse. (the farthest person to the right)

Xmas tree farm (E,L)

Comedians

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:58:00 +0000

First Lily then Elsa share their nonsensical knock-knock jokes. Preschool humor.

Fancy dresses

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:42:00 +0000

Look at the cool new dresses Grandpa A sent to Lily and Elsa from his trip to China. The girls opened the package today and proclaimed "oooh fancy!" Thanks so much! Just perfect for today's weather, sunny and 80 degrees. Got to love Florida where we can be barefoot in November.

Did you notice the girls' hairstyles are different now? Lily told me she was done with pigtails and ponytails, so she chose a shorter bob. She's also growing out her bangs. Very sassy. Elsa decided to just get a trim because she likes to her hair in all kinds of different ways. They both look gorgeous and were so good at the hairdresser's. Their teacher is pleased because it makes them a lot easier to tell apart at school.

A little squirrely

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:26:00 +0000

A Halloween preview for Grandma A and Uncle J who made these costumes for the girls.

Sister Love (Elsa and Lily)

Can you find Lily Squirrel?

Up a Tree! Elsa and Lily

Thanks so much for the cool costumes!!

Fall fun

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 20:14:00 +0000

Today we took the girls' to our local parents' club Halloween Party. They had such a fun time with their little friends. And we found out that their antics at our last club get-together were chronicled online. One of the Dads is a blogger for the Gainesville Sun Newspaper. Read about their mischief-making in "Girl Gangs of Gainesville." Pretty funny! We're going to have a playdate with their little accomplice later this week.

Elsa and Lily riding the little barrel train.

Elsa in her "Super Elsa" cape.

We went on a hayride through a cow pasture. The driver stopped the tractor and we got to feed the cows hay.

The girls picked out a pumpkin for the "Pumpkin Roll" contest. L,E

Elsa was very fast at rolling her pumpkin.

And finally, we did the corn maze. Or should I say "corn" maze. It looked like corn from a distance. But, up close, I'm pretty sure it was bamboo. Made us both a little nostalgic for Indiana where they grow "real" corn. But, it was still lots of fun.

Off to see the wizard...

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:46:00 +0000

This weekend the girls went to see their first musical The Wizard of OZ at the fancy auditorium on campus. It was so exciting to take the girls. I've been looking forward to taking them to the theater for a long time. But, I wasn't sure if they were ready. Preschoolers aren't known for their great attention spans. In fact, we almost didn't go to this show since the tickets were $50/each. But, my wonderful husband knew how much I wanted to take them and waited in line for last minute tickets that were only $15/each.

I'm so glad we went. The girls LOVED it. The musical was based on the 1939 movie with all the familiar songs and characters. There were cool pyrotechnics and special effects. The girls were enthralled. They were such well-behaved little ladies. Not every four year old can sit through a 3 hour show.

Lily especially loved the show. She had a giant smile plastered on her face for most of the afternoon.

Such a happy Lily. Mark and I won't be surprised if she has a career on the stage. Mark always jokes that living with Lily is like being in a musical. She sings a lot, even normal conversations like "please pass the milk." And she has a great flair for the dramatic. Lily doesn't feel her emotions only half way.

Lily and Elsa together. Elsa loved the show, too. She brought her little Dorothy and Wicked Witch dolls with her to the show. She was really interested in all the details. What are they doing, Mom? Why, Mom? Who is that, Mom? Elsa wants to know everything.

Picture from our seats....we were way up in the nosebleeds (second balcony). But, the girls could still see pretty well. We got little pillows from the usher because they don't weigh enough to hold down the theater seats. They kept flipping up!

The three girls. I'm so happy the girls' first theater experience was so positive. I think it has given them ample fodder for their pretend games. The girls are constantly putting on "shows" at home, too. They like to make a stage in front of our fireplace. Their stuffed animals are usually the performers. Being Elsa and Lily's parents is so much fun! They bring so much enthusiasm to everything.

And the party continues...

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:53:00 +0000

The girls continued their birthday extravaganza with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa A. They helped us get ready for Lily and Elsa's first kid party. 4 of their little friends from school came over with their parents for a bug themed party. The kids hunted for plastic bugs in a rubber swimming pool and then decorated bug jars for their finds. The girls had a great time.

Elsa's ready to party.

Blowing out their birthday candles with Mom and Dad.

Craft time! At first we were disappointed that more of their class were not able to attend. But, 4 +2 turned out to be a great number for doing a project together.

It started raining, so we did the pinata in the livingroom. Here's Grandpa holding it up with a broom handle for Elsa.

On Sunday, we went to the Gulf Side for the first time. Gainesville is pretty much equidistant from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. We ended up hiring a boat for the afternoon that took us from the town of Cedar Key to the surrounding islands. Here's Elsa guiding the boat to shore. The girls had a great science lesson. We saw sharks, rays, dolphins and lots of sea birds. We also learned that the islands in that area are full of poisonous snakes (rattlesnakes and cottonmouths). The island we visited was actually named "Snake Key." We were careful to stay on the beach rather than venture into the woods. It is an amazing ecosystem.

Had to believe this only an hours drive from home! Definitely a bit of paradise. In other news, we are getting acclimated to the Florida weather. This week the temperature has dipped down to the low 80's and we're all freezing. Just like when the weather would get into the 70's in the Bay Area and we'd all be hot. We're becoming weather weaklings again.!

Two special somebodies turned 4!

noreply@blogger.com (Emily) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:53:00 +0000

The fantastically 4, Lily and Elsa, celebrated their birthday by riding their brand new bicycles from Mom and Dad. Do they ever love their new wheels! They've been begging us for bikes for months. And they were so excited to go shopping on Saturday to finally pick them out. The same little girls who took several months to figure out tricycles were riding their bikes with no help within one afternoon. (training wheels of course!) Mom and Dad are going to get lots of extra exercise running around the block chasing after them!

Lily takes bike riding very seriously.

And here comes Miss Elsa!

Exciting times.

The celebrations will continue all week. Yesterday, we brought birthday cakes to a Geology Dept BBQ at Ginnie Springs. And wouldn't you know, two of Mark's colleagues also have 4 year old girls. Lily and Elsa were in heaven. This morning, the girls shared cupcakes with their schoolmates and everyone sang happy birthday. Then, Grandma and Grandpa A arrive on Thursday followed by a small birthday party with a couple friends on Saturday. Phew. Lots going on... Meanwhile, mail delivery has been very exciting as presents have arrived from all over the country. Thank you everybody!

Just wanted to share a quick picture of Lily and I tubing at Ginnie Springs. The limestone springs of N Florida remind me very much of the hot springs out West. But, instead of boiling water, it is a stable 72 degrees all year. Feels great in this weather. Isn't the water amazingly crystal blue? It is also very pure, bubbling up from an aquifer deep below the surface. The overflow goes to the Santa Fe River. There are huge limestone caves under the water and lots of SCUBA divers exploring. The girls had so much fun.