We're over the snow.

I'm back at home with my little ones so I can't complain...but (you knew there was a but) it snowed again. Which means that school is cancelled - again. This also wouldn't be a big deal except that Little Bitty got sick as soon as I got home from my work trip and stayed home yesterday - and I was hoping to actually be somewhat productive today. Instead, I have both of them home. Really, if it weren't for this pesky "job" thing - I'd love having them here all day. I do count my blessings though and I am lucky that I don't have to take official time off for something like this.



I had to laugh last night when we looked out the door and saw the snow falling. Little Bitty stomped her little foot and said "I am NOT going out to play in that." Me neither! We live in the south for a reason (and it's not for the meat and three restaurants), right?! So, we made the best of it and I whipped up this awesome fort INSIDE today - I guess I was pretty productive. The picture doesn't do it justice, but this was attempt #83 or so trying to get a good shot with my Blackberry and I had to just go with it. The fort is complete with hanging pirate lights. The kids are both squinting because my little camera on my phone has a surprisingly bright flash. I promise they aren't stoned.





Most importantly, Little Bitty is feeling much better today (strep test negative and blood work normal - yay) and I haven't been puked on for at least 36 hours or so, so I'd say we're on the mend.

It's Fancy

I haven't blogged about any of the recent holidays - not because they weren't great - they were. Even bronchitis, antibiotics, coughs, flu-like symptoms and 12 hour drives are tolerable when it means you get to spend the holidays with your loved ones (btw - I didn't have to put up with being sick - my loved ones did, and for the record, I'd always rather it be me). I think the only reason I haven't blogged about the holiday season is because it was just all so busy starting with selling our house in early November - things didn't slow down until very recently - and now here I am out of town for a week for work.

I always dread leaving on my work trips. I don't have to travel often - just about once every few months and usually just for three or four days. But - the days leading up to it put me in a funk. I miss my husband and kids when I'm gone and I just don't feel completely right. HOWEVER - this time I had a little something to get me excited about my trip. Brother and Little Bitty got me THIS for Christmas:

If ever there has been a fancy suitcase, this is it. They know me - I've always had a thing about not wanting to look "plain". I like earrings and makeup. I like fringe-y boots. I like my new suitcase!

The US Air ticket counter lady even commented on it, something like "Oh! You won't lose this will you?!" I smiled and told her that my 3 and 6 year old had picked it out for me. Her coworker then informed me that he had watched a TV show about a child born without a face. ? Very sad - yes. Relevant at all to my fancy suitcase? No, not so much. So....where was I?

Anyway- so here I am - missing my kids - but doing it in style. I actually found time to run out to the beach (by run I mean ride in my coworkers car) and gather some shells in the wind and cold to bring home for Brother and LB.

And when I do get home, I shall be thankful that I get to see their little faces light up. ;)

SNOW DAY!

Well - no better time than today to start blogging again. Even though my blogs have been on hiatus, we haven't. We've been moving full-steam ahead in all areas. Here is a brief run down on everyone:

Brother

• He's reading and writing a lot. He wrote a story last week called "The Legend of Monkey Mansion". It was about a group of monkeys who go to war and the good guys win, and then they party. In fact, they don't just party - they "PARTAY" (one of my favorite lines). At the end - they decide to sit in a field and meditate instead. It's good, right?
• He's learning to tell time on a clock with hands (as opposed to just reading digital clocks) but he can only do it in Spanish (he goes to a Spanish Immersion school). I love this.
• His hair is still long.
• We just finished a Star Wars room for him. Pictures soon.
• He's got lots of nice friends from school.
• He loves tigers, beanie babies, playing Wii (thank you Grammy and Nonno), imaginative play, Star Wars, and mostly being together as a family.

Little Bitty

• She's been delightful the past few weeks. Agreeable, sweet and consciously works to use her good manners. I mention this because it's weird. ;)
• She did cut her bangs off a couple weeks ago. Off. I mention this because it looks weird. ;)
• She may not grow up to be an engineer - but she'd be great at it. She can work a whole puzzle quicker than her very bright 6 year old brother. She asks great, intuitive questions. And she can work the Wii, TV and DVD player like nobodies business.
• She loves playing with her cousin Audrey (who is now right down the street. Whoohoo.).
• At school - she's more quiet than at home and plays with lots of different kids - not just one special friend as you start seeing at this age - but she does LOVE Walter.
• She eats like a hungry wolf... if a wolf were to eat mainly fruits, eggs and yogurt.

I could list what's going on in Blake and my worlds...but - it's just not nearly as cute nor interesting as the kids. It still involves dissertating and system analyzing - zzzzzzzzz.

In more exciting news - we got our first REAL snow in the years that we've been here in middle TN. Yeehaw. Our kids aren't really accustomed to this - but we did get them out there this morning to enjoy it for awhile. I came in to load a couple pictures and decided I'd finally update here. We're without a camera... (Again. How many cameras does a normal family go through in a year? I'm not sure if we're irresponsible or just cheap.) ...so these are from my phone. Enjoy and I hope this is the beginning of a good blog run for 2010!

Excuses, excuses

Yikes. I think I'm having blogging anxiety. It's been so long that now I feel like I have to have something really interesting to write about - because what else could have kept me from posting anything for almost a month? The more I think about it the longer I wait to post. So - I'll just write something.

We are moved...and mostly settled. There is a budget redo of our kitchen coming on - and some work on the bedrooms that needs to be done, but all in all our little home is looking quite homey. We're LOVING the location. Like never-want-to-move love. Although, if past predicts future - I'll get an itch and think moving sounds fun again at some point.

Brother is doing great in kindergarten. The school is pretty awesome. There is parental support and family participation to a point that is almost annoying time consuming, but adds to the value of the school. He seems to have very nice friends and his progress reports have been great. He's developing a love of writing (taking after his Daddy) and it is very cool to see him get excited about knowing how to read and write. He also has a special interest in one little girl in the class - and the other girls all seem to do silly awkward things when they see him to get his attention. I'm afraid it may be another way he takes after his daddy.

Little Bitty is living up to the reputation that is given to three year old girls. Oh. My. Goodness. I am thankful for the Internet because I know from reading other mother's of three year olds blogs and Facebook posts that I'm not alone in having a little tyrant of a daughter but...Oh. My. Goodness. The crying, whining, insistence on everything being her way, and the bossiness can only be outdone by her suddenly loving and sweet, beautiful nature. She's a snuggle lovey like her brother and cracks us up every day. That is when we're not hiding in the corner scared of what she'll do next. Lately one of our biggest struggles has been getting her out the door to "school" each day. Brother used to complain that he didn't want to go at this age too - but Little Bitty has taken it to a new level with excuses every morning and night of why we should "keep her home". Some recent ones off the top of my head;

• My throat is feeling silly.
• I'm freezing cold and need to just stay home with a Popsicle.
• Only one leg can go to school today. The other leg is too tired.
• I think I have a lily pad in my throat. There was a frog and it moved down to my belly.
• My pinkie finger is not feeling good.
• I washed my hands and now my sleeve is soaking wet. You better call the school - I can't go today.

I'm not kidding with those. It's funny - yet exhausting. Last week she actually had a rough night coughing etc. and woke up with a fever and CHEERED when I read the thermometer. Then she took a look at my sleep deprived self and said, "I think you need to keep your hair at home too! It looks funny." My sweet angel.

On the move...

Things are busy in our neck of the woods. I find that the bad part about blogging is that I start worrying if I haven't posted for awhile... which is silly because I do this for myself and my family but I still feel weird if weeks go by and I don't update. So, here's an update.

Brother had another field trip - this time to a pumpkin farm. Daddy went along on that one and they had a blast. I love this picture of him because he is so stinkin' cute - even though it is right before a much need hair trim.

Brother also went with Daddy on a guys camping trip. They went with another father/son team and had a blast. Here are the two five year old fire starters. Many of you probably recognize Brother's friend.

In other news; we've sold our house (fingers crossed, closing in a couple weeks) and are moving to a little rental house closer to the kids' schools ("kids" being Brother, Little Bitty and my husband). This will free up some time because we spend a lot of that on the road - and will also be one less thing we have to stress over when my super-smart-PhD-getting husband finishes school and we most likely move.

One of the most exciting parts of moving to this new-to-us house is that one of my sisters and her family are moving from 5 hours away - to a house right down the street! It is a weird coincidence and we are all very excited.

Her daughter is about the same age as Little Bitty - so that part will be awesome. And her son is an adorable 4 month old that I want to just eat up every time I see him (see the picture? Little Bitty loves to hold and help care for him). That part will be awesome too. The strong possibility that right as we get used to this new life together down the street from each other we will have to move to a different state? Not quite so awesome. But, we'll enjoy it now and pretend like we're on a nine month vacation together.

And - Mighty Boy will get to have a fenced in back yard. Whhoooohooo Mighty Boooo!

He looks like he'll enjoy it, no?

Everything is going well. The kids are happy about the move - although we've had to create a new holiday called "Unpackmas" where they will get to unpack all their toys. This helps them not whine too much as their toy selections are slowly dwindling. Little Bitty also asked one day how they would actually move our house. Just when you think they're understanding it all... you realize that they're three.

This is all I can handle as far as updating right now. Cause I have boxes to pack, work to do, leases to sign and a shower to take.

That explains his Spanish accent

Little Bitty just introduced me to Mighty Boy (which she does from time to time... as if we'd forget we have a 15 lb. furry tornado in our house). However, this introduction was a little more detailed.

LB - "Mommy, this is Mighty Boy. He's my dog."

Me - "Hi, Mighty Boy."

LB - "Mommy, do you know where my dog was born?"

Me - "Where?"

LB - "In a doggy Guatemala."

Is that not precious?!

The Field Trip

Soooo - the apple orchard field trip. All in all... a fun morning. This is a self-taken picture of Brother and Me on the way to the apple orchard. How do I know it's on the way there? 1) My hair isn't yet plastered to my face from the rain and humidity and 2) Brother is sitting with me - I have not yet been banished to a seat by myself so that he can sit between two friends and behind a cute girl in the class.

This is "Farmer Nick".

Farmer Nick was our tour guide. Farmer Nick had a script of stuff to say knew a lot about the apple orchard. Enough to bore 40 kindergartners within about 5 minutes. The tour went like this:

Farmer Nick: What do you think this is?

Kids: A TREE!!!!

Farmer Nick: Yeah... but here in the tree? See these things hanging? What are they?

Kids: LEAVES!!! BRANCHES!!! DIRT!! BIRDS NESTS!!!

Farmer Nick: Yeah, but I'm talking about the apples. Do you see the apples?

Kids: CAN WE EAT THEM NOW??!!! OOOOH THEY LOOK GROSS! I HATE APPLES. NOT ME I LOVE THEM. CAN I PICK ONE?! ME TOO!!! I WANT AN APPLE! THAT ONE'S ROTTEN!!

Farmer Nick: Whooaa, wait, no picking yet. Let's move on. Do you see this Bee Hive? What do you think we keep in there?

KIDS: BEEESSSS!!!! AAAAAKKKK! EEEEEKKK! CAN I TOUCH ONE??!!

Farmer Nick: Do you know how many are in one Bee Hive?

KIDS: FIVE... NO! TEN THOUSAND BILLION INFINITY!!

Farmer Nick: Well...actually more like sixty thousand. Isn't that a lot?

KIDS: MY SISTER WAS STUNG BY A BEE! HER FINGER GAINED WEIGHT.

Farmer Nick: Ok, let's move on. Do you know what this is? It's a ladder. What do you think we use it for?

KIDS: CAN I CLIMB IT! NO WAIT MY TURN...FARMER NICK, FARMER NICK - I KNOW!!

Farmer Nick: Yes, you there - thank you for raising your hand. What do we use the ladder for?

KID: MY SISTER WAS STUNG BY A BEE TOO BECAUSE SHE WAS RUNNING FROM IT!!

Farmer Nick: Ok, well, now we're talking about the ladder. What do we use it for? No... wait... no one can climb the ladder. I'm just showing you... ooh, get down, no, we can't climb it. Ok, Let's move on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And so it went. There were many laughs from the parents who, probably like me, wondered who Farmer Nick's usual audience was - because it would seem he wasn't used to kindergartners. He also wasn't used to a teacher speaking to her students in Spanish and at one pointed commented on how she was "speakin' Mexican". Good times, good times.

Here's Brother eyeing me thinking, "Really? Do these kids not know what this ladder is for?It's an apple orchard for G*d's sake!"

Here's Brother smiling when I think Farmer Nick told them we that they would now get to pick an apple. What he didn't tell them was that they would each spend about 2o minutes picking out the perfect apple that didn't have any rotten spots or holes in it and was just high enough that they could barely reach it and they would be so proud and sure theirs was the best... and then they would be instructed to drop it in a bucket on the way into the barn, never to see it again. Ah well. They each got a sip of apple cider and an apple slice in the barn. And all was good.

I realized on this field trip that the point of field trips is to get the kids out and about and perhaps expose them to something new. It doesn't have to be extremely interesting or entertaining. Riding the bus is enough fun to make it worth it to them. Also - I should say that this opinion on field trips is specific to me... so you have to take it with a grain of salt. I also get bored at museums and my legs start falling asleep upon entrance be it the Nature Center at Edwin Warner Park or The Louvre in Paris. I know some people love this stuff. ;) But I DO love my little dude and I hope I get to go on ten thousand billion infinity more of these field trips with him.