One More Year

One more year until Tess is old enough to actually enter the Google Doodle contest.  

Next year is all hers!

Snowquester 2013

We finally got a snow day this year.  They were predicting a big storm, and we have memories of Snowmageddon 2010.  Schools and federal government shut down, so we were bunkered in together ready to ride out the snow.



It fell heavily for a few hours, but then it quit.  We probably got about 3 inches--short of the 8-12 inches predicted.

It was very windy and the snow was heavy and very wet.  We don't have boots for the kids, so they lasted all of 10 minutes outside.  Tessie wasted no time chucking snowballs.  Drew is not a snow bunny like Tess.  He does not like the white stuff.

A couple trips down the hill was enough for Tess.

Ryan coerced an unhappy Drew down the hill.

 

We were ready to go inside when Tess insisted on a snowman.  We should've know we weren't getting off that easily.  Ryan quickly slapped some snow together and Tess pulled together the accessories.

Drew immediately fell asleep after we came in and then threw up his bottle everywhere.  

Not sure why--he's been fine today.

We're hoping sequestration is as big a bust as Snowquester 2013: 

"A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

February 2013 Tidbits

Drew's means of objection: "No likey, no likey!"

Drew has started downing chicken nuggets. And in the shock of a lifetime, he actually an entire half of a turkey and cheese sandwich.

Yesterday Drew climbed up on my lap, licked my cheek and said, "Meow!"

Tess taught Drew his new favorite phrase: "Feliz Navidad!"

Tess thinks it's funny that everyone in the scriptures talks like a pirate.

Tess told Ryan that she walked down the stairs this morning with her eyes closed because she was still finishing her dream. She said she finished it on the couch. She must be having some really good dreams lately.

Tess has been offering up confessions lately, for some unknown reason. She told me that she snuck one of my chocolates and ate it up in my bathroom so I wouldn't see. She told me she likes to sneak licks of butter when I'm not looking. She also confessed to licking the cinnamon Air Wick freshener when I wasn't paying attention. Considering we're together pretty much 24/7, I'm not sure how she gets away with this stuff.

Tess (asked to name Dad's talents): "Reading...and I can't think of anything else."

Tess: "Daddy, I woke up kinda late this morning 'cause I had to finish my dream."

Tess was excited to show Ryan two "lucky" coins she found. "Wow!" he said, "Where did you find them?" "In your closet."

Tess asked what are Mom's talents? I asked her what she thought. "Hmmm. You are good at reading. And sleeping."

Drew was asking for pretzels, so Ryan gave him a cup with a handful of pretzels. Then Drew went over to the kitchen drawer, pulled out another cup, poured the pretzels in and gave it to Tess. He brought the cup back to Ryan and said, "More pretzels." Drew really loves pretzels, so that tells you how much he must love his Tessie.

Tess (sitting at the dinner table): "Mommy, can you get me some water? I feel lazy."

Drew: "Where marker go?"

Tess: "Uhh! Annoying brother!" (The first of thousands of times that Tess will say this.)

Tess: "Daddy, I drew this picture of a mushroom when I was four or three. I was a pretty smart kid back then."

Drew threw his sister's school library book in the toilet tonight. That's going to be a mortifying conversation with her teacher.

We were headed home for an appointment while Tess was in school, but we still had about 40 mins before we had to pick her up. I asked Drew if he wanted to go home and play outside for a while. "Uh uh!" WHAT? Drew DOESN'T want to play outside? "Drew, don't you want to play outside and ride bikes?" "UH UH!" There must be something seriously wrong with him. "Why? Why don't you want to play outside and ride bikes?" "A-Tessie! A-Tessie!" Aww, he knew it about time to pick her up. Looking out for his big sis.

Tess told me she wanted to include a line on her blog about going to change the air filter at our house because she thought everyone would think it was really funny. "You know why? Because when kids say adult things, adults sometimes think it's really funny."

Tess proudly told me she said "hi!" Miss Danika today two times!! She's the teacher helper in the other class who makes Tess nervous because she has some differences. Tess was so proud of her self, and I'm so proud of her too!

Drew has a new request whenever we get home from picking Tess up from school: "Bottle, Curious George, couch."

Drew has found his pockets and like to stick little treasures in to carry around--usually a marble or a car. The other day he was trying to put a popsicle stick in his pocket and missed. Instead he stuck the popsicle stick in his fly and was walking around like that until it slipped down his pant leg, causing great frustration. Umm, no Drew. That's not a pocket.

The kids love going to the playplace at the mall these days. Weird, since it's always super crowded and it's not all that exciting--just a few climb-on toys. But they love it and we can spend over two hours playing there. I think Tess likes it because there aren't usually big kids there. Tess always scopes the place out and finds a friend or two or three or four. Yesterday she had a group of girls playing "mermaid." They would do a "spell" to get a mermaid tail and run around until the tail turned "old and brown" and they had to repeat the spell to get a new one. Drew runs around like a madman climbing and jumping off of everything. Yesterday he spent a good bit of time standing on the end of the "pirate ship" climb on (it's actually a Jamestown ship), waving his hands in the air and singing at the top of his lungs. He had all the other parents laughing out loud. I just pretended to not know who he was.

Out, Out, Damned Strawberry Juice!

So I haven't been too "picture happy" lately, but Tess has.  Sometimes Tess asks for suggestions of what to draw, but she always rejects my lame ideas.  Not sure why I didn't think of the "strawberry-juice-as-an-owie"scenario myself.

In other news, both of our cars have been in the shop, we're bracing for sequestration, and Tess had a good second appointment with her brave teacher (if you overlook the fact that she majorly wet her pants during the session--isn't there something the therapist can do about that too?).  The therapist wants two more sessions with Tess before she meets with me.  Progress is slow.

 A girl and her mommy grocery shopping.  The girl has a little cart like the ones at Harris Teeter; the mommy is sporting breasts; and in an amazing stroke of luck, the little girl happens to have $5 to buy a doctor kit just like the one at Tess' school.

This very sad little girl is bemoaning an owie she just found on her leg while picking strawberries.  Little does she know that it's not really an owie; it's really strawberry juice!  Hate it when that happens!

 This scene shows a mother bird bringing a reluctant worm to feed her babies, which are about to hatch.  The calendar in the background is counting down the days to summer.  There is an owl in the tree, who is sad because he is nocturnal and can't sleep.

Summer beach scene.  The crab is my favorite, but the lighthouse is pretty spiffy too.   Ryan taught Tess how to sign her artwork with her initials.

And a holiday scene, complete with a snowman outside the window; an angel on top of the tree; and more mommy breasts.  Tess is striving for greater realism in her drawings.

This last one is a "special game" that Tess planned for FHE.  Tess' new primary teachers have introduced her class to the classic game of hangman.  Tess says she's very good at the game, which may have something to do with the fact that not many kids in her class can actually read.  

She chose the phrase, "I love God."  Her hangman is on the right.