To Karissa on her 41st Birthday

Two minutes before ending a most fabulous girls' trip, Evynne suggested we say our favorite thing about Karissa. Time did not allow. And thus - with Karissa's permission - I present a belated birthday greeting to the one-and-only Karissa Reed. But first, the backstory:

Officially Karissa and I met in first grade. Kristen, on the right in the middle of us, recently found this gem:

  If you have trouble figuring out who is who, you're not the only one. Two of my mom's friends went up to greet Karissa, thinking she was me, at my own baby shower. 

Karissa's baby shower was also memorable in that it was the first time I left the house by myself with newborn Crosby. It was amateur hour. I couldn't even figure out how to get the car seat out. Thanks again for the assistance MVP Grandma - Karissa's mom, Becky. Once Crosby was awake, I put him in Karissa's arms and we heard a splash. My first thought was, "OMG Karissa's water broke". But then I realized, "oh I guess Crosby's diaper was full." Yeah, should have changed him before the car ride. Full diaper + more pee = wet Karissa. But I digress...

Karissa and I were in most of the same classes for twelve years. We went to Costa Rica with our fifth grade school trip. We invited each other to each other's birthday parties. We got pulled over by the police together while TPing. (to TP = to decorate a house in toilet paper) The reason we got pulled over was my bad idea (a longer story). Anywho, she's gone along with similarly wacky ideas since but smartly puts the guardrails on: 

"Let's bring our floppy newborns on a mommy road-trip to Evynne's baby shower." In collective Reed wisdom, her husband - Aaron - came too.

Generally speaking, we didn't spend a lot of time one-on-one in K-12. Our friendship really took off post-college when we both kept finding ourselves single at our mutual friends' weddings. "Why are we still single?" we asked ourselves. In her case, it was a legitimate question. Karissa is the ultimate catch. Also, she's been consistently attractive. I, on the other hand, have made many a questionable fashion choice. Exhibit A: Costa Rica ten years after the fifth grade trip with a study abroad friend.

Michelle seen here looking fabulous. Paige seen here wearing an Alaskan tourism shirt Evynne bought for her back in middle school.

My life has always been, and continues to be, a different flavor of hot mess. Karissa, on the other hand,  has always been good at life. She makes good decisions whether it be career, love, fashion, decor, etc. Which brings me to my favorite thing about her: Karissa has been simultaneously above my inward or outward drama, while never making me feel like a disaster. 

I think my most recent visit to her house illustrates this beautifully. Karissa is gearing-up for her seventh round of chemo with three kids at home and a husband who just returned from a business trip to Heidelberg. She's packing lunches, coordinating caregivers, making brilliant April fools jokes, etc. I blow in with three bags hanging off me, make her stay up too late, don't even strip the sheets, and manage to leave my eye mask and charger at her house. I'm still a disaster, even at the time when I should be especially on my game, and she continues to keep me around. You will never meet a more faithful friend than Karissa. 

She is also a faithful sister, sister-in-law, colleague, aunt, wife, daughter and mother. She's been a bridesmaid in more weddings than anyone else I know. Needless to say, she's got a lot of people who want to hang with her. Also, she's got lame chemo side effects. In all this, she carved out a couple days for me to spend time with her and two of our oldest friends at the Gorge. And it was magical...

Kristen, Karissa, Evynne, and moi

Happy Birthday Karissa! I am so grateful for your friendship.

Potty Training Party

Potty-training, like most of parenting, is not a one-size-fits-all model. With our first we got really lucky that he let us know his poop cue early - taking a break while nursing.  I promptly bought a throne potty and googled elimination communication. Voila - we only changed a handful of poopy diapers between the ages of six to twelve months.

Did I mentioned he'd go anywhere?

We got him used to sitting on a potty. I'd hand him a book and ten minutes later I'd sometimes come back to find him like this:

But hey, he wasn't grumpy and there was usually something in the potty.

We put him on the potty after changing his diaper and during normal intervals - before leaving the house, when coming home from being out, etc. It was low stress, everyone was happy. A few days before he turned two he told me he needed to go potty, we ditched the diapers, and didn't have any accidents. I very naively thought to myself, "Why do people make such a big deal out of potty training?" 

Turns out people make a big deal of potty training because they've got S%it to do. It takes a lot of time and/or planning to potty train a kid. I am so grateful I got to have the one easy kid with very flexible part-time work scenario. But most folks have other kids at home, work, and in the case of one of my besties who inspired this blog - chemo to endure. And thus I present to you, my lessons learned from potty training kids on a time crunch. Most of the tips are from Jackie Glowacki's' Oh Crap! Potty Training. 

I potty trained at 20 months because I wanted to send the littles to Kita without diapers. Generally speaking, I think it's hard to coordinate a team of people in potty training. Thus, I sent them to preschool without diapers and they came home without them.

I think a very verbal little kid could manage at 20 months. However, I think potty training for my littles would have been much easier at 24 months. The key is to start before the little person wants to fight you which is likely why Glowacki ends the window at 30 months. This is the best quick and dirty book summary I found. Take a moment and read that summary then come back for the lessons learned below: 

1. You need to be determined 

Haters are going to hate (or maybe just be jealous that you're ditching diapers earlier than the new cultural norm). Glowacki does a really great pep talk. My favorite mantra is that you are giving your child self confidence in learning a new skill. I am happy to provide any flavor of pep talk via phone to any involved caregivers. 

2. Have a potty on-hand at all times

The beauty of potty training "early" is that it's more culturally acceptable to bring the potty around. I mostly got smiles and approving looks of "yeah that makes sense, that kid is so little you probably need to have a potty on hand." I should be an amazon affiliate for my carry potty.

3. Plug on the potty 

Carmen didn't like going pee at Kita. The trick was she'd tell a teacher she'd need to go and the teacher would give her the pacifier. She was allowed to have her pacifier on the potty. Then she'd give it back to the teacher after she went. 

4. Bonus points if you can potty train with a friend

Dudu and I straight crushed it with early potty training on our first round when we lived in the same city.  (Lots of self restraint not putting the tandem potty photos of our firsts which dominate my photos from 2015.)  However, our subsequent children included lots of epic accidents. Being able to text him, "Kid hasn't pooped in five days, how is this a thing?" was sanity saving. 

5. Bless you if you have a poop holder

The longest chapter in the Oh Crap! book is on pooping. I referred to it many times but in the end the thing that helped the most was just getting in the rhythm of always coming home and heading to the bathroom first thing after Kita. That is the special time Paul or I spend one-on-one with our poop holder. The child can unwind from a big day at Kita. Sometimes we read, play a game, or just chat. We found screens are too distracting for the task at hand. 

Pooping while traveling is still an issue this far down the potty-training road. We typically slip tasteless restorolax powder once a day into a glass of water on vacation. It isn't a laxative so it doesn't cause an Oh Crap! panic.   

This is where I off roaded from Oh Crap! a bit:

6. Rewards are ok

Glowacki doesn't think kids should be rewarded for going potty. But, a piece of candy went a long way in the poop battle. It was nice for all of us to eat something sweet to celebrate a win. Sweets for everyone were also nice because older kids were also helpful in reminding the littles that they should listen to their bodies.

7. Warm-water play trick

It's not realistic to not leave the house for seven days with a toddler. My work-around was having Carmen play with her beloved stackies and warm water. Does warm water actually make you pee? I don't know. I'd have a window when I needed to pick up the boys from Kita. I'd put her on the potty to play and then jump on the bike when she went.

8. Note when the child last used the potty

Glowacki is all about letting the child lead and not going on a set time. However, I feel like having a kid sit on the potty for 5 minutes every hour makes sense. One of the few advantages of potty training while pregnant is I had to go every hour, so it was pretty easy to just go together. If you're lucky enough to have a boy - the option of a "nature pee" or peeing outside is sometimes good if the little man doesn't want to sit.

9. It's ok to have the potties around before you commit to the plan

We've had potties around our house for the last almost ten years. As we well know, we're not winning any interior design awards around here. However, I think it was fine that we had some sitting sessions before we totally committed to working the plan. Glowacki is more dogmatic about just ditching the diapers and not screwing around. 

10. Don't worry about night time dry

Setting a time to wake up at 2 am to have a little kid potty in the middle of the night is crazy. But, putting him on the potty right before you go to bed is doable. That being said, if he doesn't go back to sleep easily than forget it. He'll be dry when he's big enough. Nap diapers are NBD.

With that...have fun! OMG could you be more annoying? Yes. I think the mindset of "we're going to spend quality time together" is helpful. Working a potty training plan is intense and maddening. But, the hard work is no small victory. And we could all use some wins around here.

Blue Birthday

One of my pet peeves is doing things that are perceived as "fun" while really not enjoying them. It's one reason I am thankful that Paul likes playing board games with our kids.

Glitter Unicorn Board Game Rule 45: All players must wear glitter sunglasses

That's my segue to the topic of bummer birthdays or as a nod to Elvis' Blue Christmas - Blue Birthday. They are not a bummer because you're a year older, less shiny, none of that 'traditional' nonsense. They are sad because you reflect on the last birthday and feel how much you've lost. As my mom died exactly a week after my birthday, I had a foretaste on my 32nd birthday and then the full-meal-deal on my 33rd. 

It's logistically challenging for me to arrange my last free room service Blue Birthday experience for my Aunt KK's upcoming birthday. Waking up on your birthday next to your loopy first-born is a treat. This birthday dedication blog post is plan B - a kind of solidarity in grief or misery loves company? 

I'm thinking a lot about my Uncle Karl this week as Crosby prepares for his final piano recital. Karl told me that my cousin's piano teacher's advice was to, "Never make him practice." I never took this advice, instead opting for the 'play for 20 minutes and then you can play video games for 20 minutes' approach. Crosby never really liked piano but I kept him going because he loves to perform. Specifically he likes to make people laugh but because comedy is an art that takes years to perfect, piano seemed like a good path in the meantime.

Crosby's last piano recital was a couple days before my uncle died. There were a lot of funny moments during the concert that I wish I could have shared. The classic, adorable, nerdy girl wearing socks and sandals who played the accordion. The cooler-than-me 11 year-old who played her fender guitar and belted out "We broke up when...." while her duet fly girls accompanied her on the piano. Finally, when the MC asked if anyone else wanted to play more, Crosby's hand shot up. His piano teacher and I exchanged happily, surprised glances as he went up and played an encore.  

Crosby ramped up his protests this year from "I don't want to play" to "piano is ruining my life". I was hoping that he would play piano until at least middle school. But the teen years came early to Casa Biggs and we're valuing family harmony over piano. He is interested in trying the drums. Of course he wants to, I mean look where he first played: 

Prince of the Basement

I remarked to Paul this week that I know that I can't keep carrying around all these painful associations with Karl and everyday life - music, food, etc. My therapist told me months ago that I need to turn from grief to gratitude. I am grateful for the years that we had with Karl. But, I'll still likely be ugly crying at Cros' piano recital on Wednesday just like I was stifling sobs in the back of church this morning. It's just sad.

If my writing wasn't a gift then I'll fall back on one of my old stand-byes: adorable photos of my kids sleeping in uncomfortable positions:

'Post Field Trip' Nap

'Now I Know Why It's So Quiet Behind Me' Nap

'Beanie Doubles as a Sleep Blinder' Nap

'Pin down Daddy' Nap

'Sleeping off Norovirus so Daddy Could Easily Sneak Away' Nap

"That's So Sweet She's Giving Me A Hug, Oh Wait She's Falling Asleep' Nap followed by the 

'Warm Seat as Pillow' Nap

'Fell Asleep in the Popcorn Bowl' Nap - a close cousin of the

Throwback: 'Fell Asleep on my Pizza' Nap

Happy Birthday KK! We love you. 

An open letter to my liver on International Women's Day

I was planning on writing a blog on International Women's Day declaring victory for surviving two years of near constant illness.  We started out International Women's Day 2022 with a stomach flu and then moved on to - in no particular order - flu flu, a couple rounds of covid, grief masked in depression, grief in all its glory, asthma masked as coughs, asthma, broken elbow on the growth plate, food poisoning, parasites, fevers, more stomach bugs - no common colds though. There are no such thing as colds anymore - all post Covid colds come with fevers and/or lead to secondary infections. 

OMG Paige - we get it, you've been sick. Yes, but considering I just wrapped up a round of antibiotics for aforementioned secondary infection, the illness suffering is still fresh for me. I think the antibiotics did their job in my sinuses but TBD if they cleared my lungs completely. I spent International Women's Day giving my liver this pep talk:

"I'm sorry to put you through so much these last couple weeks with the constant alternating of Ib profin, Tylenol (parecetemol), Aleve (naproxen), DayQuil, Nyquil, and Sinopret. But, in our 40 years I have fed you more green smoothies than alcoholic beverages, so you can do this."

These last two years have taken its toll in addition to normal #momlife which is why I felt validated when I recently came across this article. Flashback to ten years ago to when I had similar glorious fashion malfunctions as mentioned in the beach article above.

You’re welcome, Paul. 

This photo is actually fitting for International Women's Day. When we first moved into our new apartment my neighbor was working for Bild newspaper. He said it is the "Fox news of Germany". I said, "Isn't that the publication with the full color inserts of women with big fake boobs in the middle pages?" My neighbor said "No, we stopped printing those photos for International Women's Day a couple years ago." Here on my blog, big boobs will continue to be celebrated - and their passing mourned - for International Women's Days to come.   

The Things We Do for Love: Passo del Tonale

As my devoted blog reader - hi Dudu - has surmised - it's been a bit of of a $&it show around here. As travel just adds to the chaos, I planned on sitting out this winter break. The boys would go skiing in Italy with friends and Carmen and I would hold down the fort in Berlin. Unfortunately our ski buddies couldn't join. In a moment of great selflessness, I told Paul I'd come on the trip to keep him company.

I, blissfully, didn't have anything to do with the planning of this trip. Passo del Tonale is rather isolated. But, it's also the most sure place for snow in Italy. Generally speaking, skiing is cheaper in Europe than it is in the US. Also, vacation time is much more generous. As such, taking two travel days on an end of six ski days is doable.

This was the first time we stayed at a hotel on the mountain. It is so worth it to have a magic carpet outside the door for:

Snow biking

Snow napping

Most hotels and ski schools are set-up for guests to stay Saturday to Saturday. This is especially helpful as it takes a couple days to figure out where and how to get the kids where they need to be. On the first day, the ski school did a little test for all the kids to place them in the ski class they would be the rest of the week. After the ski school test, Crosby said he wasn't feeling well. I talked about altitude and how I have a little bit of a headache, yada yada, but if you read my last post - you know we got a stomach bug for the forth ski trip in a row.  

Unfortunately Crosby missed most of his ski lessons. But, we found out that private ski lessons in Italy are half the price of Germany/Austria - 43 Euros/$50 an hour. We did one hour for Carmen and Crosby to try and catch them up to the rest of their classes. 

The ski school also offered a couple add ons like trying snowboarding. Cros was too sick to go so I joined Hugo and four other little kids for a lesson.

No pictures please, I'm busy being awesome.

I remembered at the last minute that both Hugo and I are goofy. It was too late to change up the bindings. I think he might have found snowboarding more interesting if he had the right set-up. That's one way to keep him on skis. 

The next day the ski school offered a sunset ski party for kids to chase the mascot around the hill. 

Cros was just coming out of feeling awful for this.

Carmen's mascot chase was on the bunny hill.

We also embraced the European ski culture of not skiing until we dropped every day. Honestly, we need to do a lot more than get 10,000 steps a day to be able to ski eight hours. By the forth day, we got to ski together for a couple hours while two kids were in lessons and one was recovering in the hotel room. 

It was at this point in the trip that I declared that my general travel goals are for a) no one to sustain permanent injury and b) for everyone to like each other at the end of the trip. Or to copy my friend Amy's March Madness turned life motto "Survive and Advance". These trips are hopefully an investment in future ski trips. It was icing on the cake that Carmen found a love for skiing. 

Our pro-move this trip was renting a sled for our gear:

I mean the sled is for the rental gear, because for our bags we'd need a snow cat:

Two large 20K/45 pound bags, three cabin 10K/20 pound bags, one travel stroller, and five backpacks. 

Would we go back to Passo del Tonale? Maybe in a couple years. The 7:30 pm dinner start-time was hard. We had one or more kids go to bed before dinner on half the nights. The upside of skiing in Italy is the Apres Ski music is much better than Schlagger (German hits).  Our little ski dancer cannot resist a good beat.

Real Talk: Tummy Troubles

I wish this post was about some English translations I've seen that don't work. Like the name of the pet food store around the corner from our house:

Dogs go "barf" in German. 

This was my favorite in Italy:

Thinking about licking a mustache is a good segue into the actual top of this blog - vomiting. 

It was a source of pride that I went almost twenty years without barfing with two notable exceptions. I, the lone sober Beckley, was the only one barfing on Christmas Eve 2010. I did get to have the experience of Connor holding my hair back. Thanks again for that bro. The other was my fault but an accident. 

Sushi with Sake + Beer + Altitude = life lesson. This was maybe my last beer and definitely my last alcoholic beverage at altitude. It was also the last time Colleen and I got hit on by an uncle/nephew combination but I digress…

My iron stomach and ability to sleep deeply were thrown out the window when Crosby Ralph took up residence in my womb. Was I tempting fate by picking the middle name Ralph? 

Either way, the inspiration for this blog post came to me at 2 am while deciding I should get up and start sipping some bambino Imodium ahead of our five hour bus ride followed by two hour return flight to Berlin. It was convenient that I was writing in the bathroom office so I could rub Hugo's back 15 minutes later when he came in to ralph. As the trip home to Berlin was not a repeat of the 2003 Belize bus trip that forged Laurel’s and my friendship, I think I got a better deal getting sick at the end of this trip. 

The purpose of this blog is to share some hard won tips and tricks in these "longest shortest" parenting years. 

Tip 1: If possible, abort mission 

If your kid starts barfing in-transit, just turn around and go home. It’s not car sickness, it’s the start of Tip 2 - Putting your kid in a full body rain suit so it’s easier to hose him off when the next round of barf comes. I learned this lesson the hard way with Colleen on the world’s saddest road trip. Unfortunately, we managed to infected every adult - including ourselves - along the way. 

Tip 3: Quarantine if you can't cancel the trip

If it happens in Berlin - lots of options. 

Tip 4: Briefs over Boxers

Once your kids are out of diapers, don't give them all away. A tummy bug is likely around the corner. If you are traveling and don't have any diapers - a maxi pad jammed in briefs might save you a couple extra trips to the laundry mat. My favorite quote from my son wearing the maxi pad, "how are you supposed to move in this?" Turns out the maxi pad trip is also an empathy teaching tool.

Tip 5: Bring your medicine cabinet with you

Everyone will get sick on a holiday or day everything is closed. My complete packing list is here. Generally speaking - skip liquids and stick to chewables and suppositories. As soon as your kids can take the adult version - go that route. Sometimes the kid flavors are even too gross for them. 

Tip 6: Avoid sugar

We'd been avoiding the gallon pump Nutella at breakfast but I figured sipping lemon soda was fine. Turns out sugar doesn't help the bad belly. 

Tip 7: Travel with your own travel sized disinfecting spray

This last trip we had one bathroom for the five of us. I wonder if we'd been able to spray everything down after every use if that would have kept this bug from spreading. If nothing else, the disinfecting spray can double as an air freshener.

Tip 8: Have Ziplock plastic bags in every bag or in your hand at all times

I have large Ikea resealable bags in every suitcase outer pocket in case something leaks. A classier option is to steal them from the plane - as seen discretely here in my right hand during this five hour bus trip. 

Tip 9: Empty Pitcher on the Table

This can be at home or at a restaurant that serves water in a pitcher. Keep the pitcher empty on the table in case anyone can't hold it in. Thankfully I've only had to do this at home. I remember my poor mom having to employ this trick at her office when I was Crosby's age. #Americanworkethic

Tip 10: Have your tummy trouble essentials at the ready at home

On our "luckier" trips, the barfies didn't hit until we got home. I have a bin always stocked with the following items:

• Instant Chicken Noodle Soup
• Electrolytes
• Apple juice
• Rice Crackers
• Apple Sauce
• Glow sticks (to put in the barf bucket so the kids can aim in the dark.)

More tips are always welcome. Please comment or commiserate below.

Book Report: The Orchid and the Dandelion

I have a lot of thoughts about this book:

So many in-fact that I left the kids with Paul for two nights to wrap my brain around the concepts. Val is in Tenerife for two months, so I'm back to the tranquility of her kid-free apartment. I think she made a real interior decorating mistake when she opted to de-Ikea-fy but you be the judge.

vs

Anywho, I stumbled upon this book - depending on your world view - from an answer to prayer or an Amazon that knows me better than I know myself. The basic premise of this book is that 80% of children are dandelions. These are the kids that can survive pretty much anywhere. The other roughly 20% are orchids. Orchids need exactly the right temperature, humidity, nutrients, etc to thrive. When orchids are planted in the "right soil" they are even more successful and healthy than their dandelion counterparts. However, an orchid under the "wrong conditions" wilts. 

The book outlined research findings of different animal studies in captivity - rats and monkeys - as well as controlled laboratory studies with feral animals - pre-schoolers and kindergarteners. I do think that animal studies give a level of credibility in weeding out bias. However, the studies did make the book longer than potentially necessary. He also weaves in some antidotal stories of working as a bush doctor. While interesting, those vignettes could also be skimmed.

I thought this book would mostly be about emotional health, but the bulk of the research used respiratory illnesses as a metric for health. The researchers look at kids' cortisol levels, ie the stress hormone, along with children's external stressors and frequency of respiratory illnesses to draw up conclusions.

This is the point where my beloved blog readers are like, "hey haven't you all been sick with various forms of illnesses since International Women's Day 2022?" Yes. So yes, my orchid is wilting. Also, said orchid lives in close proximity to two dandelions so hence the high illnesses across the board. 

Yikes. So does the book say what to do to reverse course? Not really, because there aren't easy fixes. Just like my enneagram four kid, there is no changing. The goal is not to turn an orchid into a dandelion. I, as the parent, have to change the conditions. This to my dandelion-self sounds like coddling or worse - becoming the lawnmower parent.  

The gardening analogies hit home as my mother and grandmother were both florists. Most of my memories of my mom growing up were in the supermarket, the car, or the garden. She always had all sorts of gardening projects in the works. My entire garden in Portland - which she helped plant - died the summer she died. Likely it was because I was neglecting it with all the visits down to Eugene. In any case, I declared that hence forth I would never garden again.

But, guess what? I have an orchid kid who likes gardening. Specifically this kid is a goat, and no basil plant is safe. This book was telling me, "you don't get to declare what kind of parent you get to be. You will garden. You will have to do hard things to make this work". 

It's clear what I'm doing - throwing this kid into social situations that aren't working - is just withering my orchid. My next clear step is calling around Berlin to get my orchid into "Ergotherapie" which could be most closely translated to occupational therapy. As far as I can understand, this kind of therapy helps kids try new sensory experiences in comfortable social situations. And yes, it's paid for through health insurance.  

Like most of my suggested reading list, this book isn’t for most people in my orbit. Most of you are in my life because you are more compassionate and understanding than I am. You likely already accommodate for the orchids in your life. But me, I need the combination of medical research and personal backstory to move me to change.

This book is ultimately a love letter to the author's orchid sister who experienced many highs and lows before taking her own life at 53. The author essentially devoted his entire life's work to figuring out what went wrong and then wrote the book for people like me. In the wake of my likely orchid uncle's death, I've grappled with many of these same questions. This book was a hopeful reminder that my little orchid's future can be different.  

Girls' Road Trip

Family friends can be tricky. Growing up, I remember not totally jiving with the kids of my parents’ friends with notable exceptions - hi Mimi! As such, when the Biglets click with the kids of our adult friends - we try and make the connections happen. Carmen is obsessed with my friend Amy’s kids. For this reason, when Amy asked if we wanted to do a couple night girls’ trip - we were in.

Amy found two places - an airbnb with an option to milk cows or a family resort with half-board.  As this Onion article confirms, it isn’t a vacation if I have to cook. Amy isn't accustomed to such laziness but as I found on the trip - she and the girls are ready for anything. 

We started the trip during nap time. This detail is totally unnecessary to include but look how cute they are:

One down.

Two down. Cassidy is awake, but my photography skills just keep you guessing.

Our meals looked like this:

Leah stuffing her face while the 'big girls' were varying levels of distracted. 

Our entertainment looked like this:

I actually took the time to "do" Carmen's hair and she "did" Cassidy's hair while Leah went down for a nap.

Lots of hand holding to get around. 

The hotel had my favorite amenity:

I've never seen one of these popcorn machines outside of Germany. It even plays music while you wait for the popcorn to pop.

In addition to an indoor pool, an indoor play structure, and an outdoor swimming lake (only in the summer), there was live music and/or a DJ at night. This hotel being outside Berlin, the music was very unfortunately mostly Schlager. For those unfamiliar with German 'hits', this is the most famous song.  You can likely watch that video without sound to get the Schlager gist without the nausea. I always say dancing to bad music is a good test of your skills. 

I did a little demo of my go-to middle-school break dancing moves. The girls were quick studies.

Carmen and I were planning on having a little stay-cation next week with the boys going skiing in Italy. But with our buddies not joining, Carmen and I are coming along for the ride. I'm hoping my little dancer will continue to do this post ski lessons:

So we can spend our evenings doing this:

Thanks Amy for planning and executing a get-away during an otherwise long Christmas break! It's a special trip for daughters like Carmen and me, who don't have sisters, to get a taste of the sister magic.