Snowpocalypse 2009

It's snowing!! Dr. Laura met up with us to have some fun in the snow today.

17 inches of snow at our house by 4pm today, and it's still coming down!

The Yurasko Difference outside when there was only (hah!) about 12 inches of snow.

We also met up with William, Will and Erica for some sledding fun.

Alexandra and Will seemed to like the snow. The two Williams having fun on the sledding trail.

Alexandra having fun sledding with Dr. Laura!

"Mommy, this is so much fun!"

This is our AC unit on our patio. 17 inches!! We bet that there will be around 21 or so before it's all done (the weather people say around 3am tonight). It's a good thing that it's the weekend and we weren't trying to go anywhere!!!

18 Months!

Alexandra likes to steal my blackberry and "work" for mommy. I'm in big trouble as soon as she figures out my password to unlock the screen.


I can't believe my little angel is 18 months old today! To mark the occassion, Christopher took Alexandra to see Dr. Lundgren for her 18-month appointment. I was bummed that I couldn't be there (I was at a training class for work), but Christopher managed to hold his own at the appointment and reported all crucial information. Here are Alexandra's 18-month stats:


height - 33 1/2 inches (93rd percentile)
weight - 24lbs 4 oz (50th percentile)
head - 19 inches (90th percentile)

Christopher told Dr. Lundgren that Alexandra knew a couple body parts. To illustrate, Alexandra showed Dr. Lundgren her nose and her daddy's nose - I'm still in shock, since she hasn't liked to show off for anyone lately. I'm so proud of my healthy little girl. We've got to cut down on giving her so much milk (it's keeping her from eating her dinner), but other than that, all is well!

It's that man!

The Yurasko Difference celebrated the Christmas season by going to our complex's Christmas party. Santa came in on a fire truck, and gave all of the kids (most of whom were Alexandra's size) a small gift bag and a fire hat! Alexandra was especially excited about the hat, since she loves wearing a fire hat at daycare.

Alexandra was NOT excited, however, to meet Santa Claus. She would start to cry when he looked at her, and she wouldn't take her present from him (mommy had to get it for her). In fact, I'm surprised that she would be in the above photo. It reminded me of when our neighbor's kids were pretend-scared of Christopher - whenever he would come by, the little girl would hide and he heard her say to her brother, "it's that man!" Except in this case, Alexandra was really scared, not pretend-scared. I don't blame her - it's scary and weird to see a grown man with a crazy white beard and a big red suit, even if he does have a present for you.

So enjoy the photo of Alexandra, Christopher, and some of our neighbors with Santa - it's the only one we'll have for 2009!

Cat, cat!

Alexandra's current favorite word (not counting "no, no!") is "cat." She loves to chase Toby and Socks around the house saying "hi cat! Cat, cat!" Socks is very patient with her, and lets her pet him. Here she is about to "pet" him while he is in his bed. . .Here are Alexandra and Socks hanging out on the couch together. . . .

And here she is giving Socks a hug! Christopher wants to point out that while Alexandra is hugging Socks, Socks is hugging the remote control.

Shakespeare and Snow

Christopher and I went to see my friend from high school, John Behlmann, perform in The Shakespeare Company's production of As You Like It last weekend. This was our first time to go to the theatre since I had Alexandra, so we had a blast! It was also great to see John, and we were very impressed with his performance. I'm so happy that I got to see one of my friends from theatre make it to the big time! William babysat Alexandra while Christopher and I were out. He was brave enough to get her dressed in her snowsuit so that she could have fun outside in the first snow of the season.

Uncle William also let Alexandra try on his shoes.

Not sure what exactly he did to get the look from her in the photo below!

We hope Uncle William wants to hang out with Alexandra again, because she had a great time with him! Maybe the next time I want to see a play? :)

Thanksgiving Holiday Fun

We had a wonderful time hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year. We welcomed Bill, Barbara, William, Erica, Will and our friend Laura to our home for a lot of great food. Christopher and I shared cooking responsibilites, and got a chance to wear our styling aprons (see photos above and below). My awesome sister-in-law, Sandi, gave me the apron that I am wearing in the photo below as a bridesmaid gift.

To help the toddlers get out some post-dinner steam, we introduced Will to the most amazing bubbles in the world. We recently bought this set of bubbles from Gymboree.
Check out the crazy amount of bubbles that you can create! And, because the bubbles are little, they stay in the air for a long time. This drives the cats (especially Socks) nuts! And, we've found bubbles stuck on the walls or furniture up to 24 hours later. So much fun!

Can you see how happy Will was to play with the bubbles?

The day after Thanksgiving, Christopher and I wanted to do something fun with Alexandra. We found that the Alexandria Chinquapin Rec. Center has a cool place called the Soft Playroom. It had all sorts of fun things for Alexandra to try. We hope to go back again really soon!

She loved climbing up and then going down this slide.

She discovered that it can be a lot of fun to stick blocks onto the wall.

And she had so much fun sliding into and then playing in this ball pit! When a toddler throws a tantrum when it's time to leave, that means they had fun, right?

Challenging Virginia’s Unconstitutional Regulation of Yoga Teacher Training

To follow-up on a previous post. . .I've really gotten into yoga the past 8 months or so. I have loved going to Little River Yoga Studio and learning to practice Ashtanga yoga. It's been such a blessing that has touched almost all other areas of my life. Only in the DC area could something so peaceful and tranquil become entangled with the stress of politics and regulation (and this statement coming from a government attorney!).

Yesterday, two teachers from Little River Yoga filed a lawsuit against the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), to stop enforcement of state regulations that purport to regulate yoga teacher-training classes. I've read the brief that the Institute for Justice filed on behalf of the two Little River teachers and another Virginia yoga teacher, and it's crazy - among other requirements, yoga teachers are supposed to submit a "school-plan report" to SCHEV before teaching training classes, create a library for students with prior approval by SCHEV, they would have to maintain records of students applying for admission, a formal process for students to express grievances with the program, instructors must possess a "relevant bachelor's degree in an area related to their area of instruction" or have two years minimum relevant experience (I don't know of a university that offers a BA in yoga), AND, the institution has to pay a $2,500 registration fee with at least $500 every year to maintain their teaching license.

I can see how this type of regulation would be good for large-scale vocational programs, like, say, trade schools. But, seriously, a YOGA program? I guess SCHEV doesn't know that yoga classes are on a much smaller scale than a trade school. For example, I have been in classes with as many as 14 people to as small as JUST ME at Little River Yoga. I can only imagine that the teacher training classes, at least at this studio, are on a similarly small scale.

If you'd like to read more about the case, please visit the Institute for Justice's website at http://www.ij.org. I posted a link to the YouTube video on my Facebook wall, but can't figure out how to post it here. Please take 3 minutes to look at the YouTube video, which you can get to from the Institute for Justice's website (or search "Virginia yoga"), as Little River Yoga would appreciate getting the hits.