Snomageddon pictures at last

Between storms one and two. I believe I have taken more hideous photos, but not many.

The snow was so strong it kept getting in the flash. The kids on the snow tunnel Mark built.

Seriously, could they get any more adorable? We may have to take up skiing just to take this picture more often.

Two year check-up

Meg had her two year well-visit yesterday and it's again offiicial that she is growing and developing perfectly. She weighed in at a solid 31 pounds and is 35 1/2 inches tall. If you follow the old wives tale of doubling their height at age two that makes her 5'11". If you take away and inch or two because she's a girl (some have you add an inch or two for a boy) she is at least 5'9". No one is more thrilled than Bjorn who is planning her basketball and volleyball career.

No shots at this visit, thankfully, but they did a finger prick for a blood test. Nurse Sylvia hates that part of her job but Meg was unfazed. We were all surprised.

I asked again about the fat deposit/umbilical hernia. She said that she thinks it's a fat deposit since it doesn't push in like a hernia but there isn't really a way to tell without doing something invasive and neither of us want that yet. She did say to keep an eye on it since hernias can become impacted and turn purple and painful. She said she had never seen an umbilical hernia ever become impacted in her practice so that was good to hear.

In other news I finally got my old Dell desktop working with a wireless card. Funny how a 2001 desktop can run better than. 2009 laptop. Not that I'm not still totally bitter about my Acer laptop breaking or anything. But that means I am finally able to upload pictures again so be prepared for some total awesomeness and adorableness soon.

Test

Mobile uploads

Any experts on using the Blogger mobile uploads out there? I followed the instructions and e-mailed myself several posts with pictures. The text came through fine, but the photos, well, not so much. Any advice from you out there?

It's been been a long week in the house and we are finally getting out tomorrow. Andy's school sent an e-mail for the kids to bring snow clothes because they're going to play on the playground in the snow. He is thrilled. And I am thrilled that he'll get to visit with his friends. I think he's bored with us. And let's be realistic, the feeling is somewhat mutual. All things considered, I'd say we all held up quite well what with six people in a four bedroom house and three feet of snow swirling around outside.

Meg has her two year old appointment tomorrow. If I remember correctly there aren't any shots at this visit (fingers crossed, but I'll bring the Tylenol just in case). Her language is good, way better than Andy's at this age, she's very dexterous and beyond adorable. My main question is about this umbilical hernia/fat deposit on her belly above her belly button. I want to know what we do about it and if/when it could/will be a problem.

I have about a thousand pictures of the snowstorms to upload eventually. My Acer laptop has imploded and I'm quite annoyed with customer service at both Best Buy who refuses to acknowledge they sold it to me and Acer which conveniently dates its year warranty from the date is ships from the manufacturing plant rather than the date of sale, therefore shortening the warranty by a quarter. Not impressed. I've ordered a wireless card for my old desktop and assuming UPS ever makes it back to my non-plowed Fairfax neighborhood, I might get some pictures uploaded.

Snoverkill

After seven days of snow, my house, cupboard and brain are starting to look like this. As you can see all that is left is the stuff I have been putting off eating like non-dairy creamer. I have made chili, stew, cookies and pancakes while Bjorn has made bacon, sugar cookies, mac and cheese and everything in between. If I can get out we are getting take out tonight.

Five-year check-up

Andy had his five-year check-up today. I'd been dreading it because I had heard from one of the nurses there would be FIVE shots so he could be ready for kindergarten. I had decided to only really mention he might be getting a shot in passing so it wasn't a total surprise, but I didn't make it painfully obvious yet either. So I was relieved to hear there would only be three shots. Andy had no idea what could have been, but I felt better.

He got a blood test (cholesterol is a good 119). He also had his eyes and ears checked for seeing and hearing. He's not color blind nor lacking depth perception, which is good, but he does seem to be slightly nearsighted so she recommended I get him to an optometrist. She didn't think his prescription would be much and might not even really have to wear glasses at this age, but she felt it warranted taking him to get him for a real test. I can see why, I think they used the same equipment at Bradfield in 1977. His hearing test was also good, which was nice since it turns out he has a mild ear infection.

He weighed in at 40 pounds even and 42 inches making and all around a perfectly healthy boy. He cried when he had to get his finger pricked (I can't say I blame him) and then really cried when he got three shots, two on the left and one on the right. All in all, I thought he was pretty strong about the whole thing. He didn't try to run or hide, he knew what was coming and took it. Pretty big stuff really. Bjorn had gotten him a Pez dispenser so we put the candy in it in between shots. They also gave him a goody bag for being such a big boy. I was very proud.

I brought Meggy too, despite my not wanting to have her running around while he had a two hour appointment, because I had to get her sinus infection looked at before the snowpocalpse 2.0 hit. Indeed her sinus infection is not better and has spread to an ear infection. Fortunately, we could get some antibiotics (Suprax for both) before getting 20 to 30 inches of snow over three days.

Lost?

Okay, so I know my focus here is mostly on my kids, but who here watches Lost? I am all about confused after last night's season premiere. Even reading the recap on Television Without Pity didn't help much. Someone in my office begged not to be spoiled by any talk, but I assured her that I couldn't spoil it since I couldn't explain it and out of context, it would mean nothing. Oh sure, I'll still watch and all, but damn that's some confusing stuff.

On the television front, I have two new favorites from this season -- Modern Family and Cougartown. Well done, ABC. Well done.

I have just gotten back from a work trip and have more work to tackle than I can keep my head around. At least I don't have to worry about being bored, that's for sure. I'm also learning a lot, which is always a good thing. Next week I get to prepare someone for a congressional hearing. Well, I get to hire someone to do that dirty work. Before we can get to next week though, we have to get through the weekend. They have issued a winter storm "watch" for the weekend calling for a foot to two FEET of snow. Seriously? That's heaven for me.

I pledge allegiance, to the Elmo

I am back from a four day work trip. Bjorn was gone for 36 hours of it so the big kids were in charge of the little kids. I must say, I am quite impressed with how they held up. Meg was still getting over a sinus infection and had a bad cough that made her vomit occasionally while Andy managed to contract diarrhea just for sport. The meeting itself was so busy that I didn't have too much time to worry about everyone. Fortunately, Mark and Jennifer did a great job.

We did manage to swing through this cool Muir Woods natural forest on our way to Napa. Look at me holding up that big tree! I am very cool. In part due to Facebook, I have reconnected with a ton of friends who live in the San Francisco area. Unfortunately, I only got to see Bjorn's brother and his family. For all of an hour. On my way to the airport.

Bjorn picked me up at nearly 1 a.m. last night. It was so great to be in my own bed and see the kids. In tucking Andy in, I noticed he had used a dry erase marker to create an enormous mural all over his wall under his loft bed and all over his bed. Good times. Fortunately Miss Ayesha gave me a magic eraser and it really did work. On the wood. The walls are still a mess. Nail polish worked a little and I hear rubbing alcohol works a little better.

Andy missed me altough his main interest was what I brought him. Fortunately I picked up a frog night light from Muir Woods on our way out of the city so I had something other than a shower cap and mints to give him. Meg just cared that Elmo existed. Practically every sixth word is Elmo and if Elmo is on anything or even on her mind, it drives her wild and she's all distracted. If Elmo is her his boyfriend, I am totally screwed when she turns 12 and is actually interested in boys.

Adorable precious angel...and a black eye

Today is Margaret's second birthday. It's hard to believe what started this small has now turned this (sorry for the lack of today's pictures, but my damn computer is still a mess. Back to the office it goes tomorrow to beg for more help. Grrrr.)

We celebrated with a family party on Sunday complete with cupcakes (and a special Dalahest cupcake for the birthday girl). We made waffles for everyone, cheered the birthday girl, opened some of the most adorable clothes, including an Elmo shirt from Fafa and a bathing suit from Grandmother. It was pretty great.

Then the New York Times went and wrote an article making my work life incredibly busy and I went to indoor soccer and managed to get a black eye. Hey, at least the morning was perfect!

Overheard

"I need my own phone so I can listen to my Phineas and Ferb music wherever I go," Andy said.

My mom gave Andy the Phineas and Ferb CD for his birthday and we are all loving it. Seriously great music, especially for kids' music. Catchy, clever with a good beat and short. Plus, it's a great chance to work in phrases like "I have squirrels in my pants."

My computer is still on the fritz. So far, Acer has not been impressive. Fortunately, the folks are work kindly installed a new hard drive over the weekend, but it still is acting weird, which is partly why I haven't uploaded any birthday pictures. Soon. I hope.

Meg's second birthday is next week. How did that happen? I keep calling her my baby and it's clear she's anything but that right now.

Anybody smoke?

We had Andy's birthday party yesterday and it all went swimmingly except that I forgot the matches. And in this day and age, no one smokes so there were no candles lit to blow out. I think I was most disappointed.

We did it at the gymnastics place where he takes lessons. We invited the boys from his class and a few other boys he knows outside of school, making it an all sausage fest. There were 12 kids total. It's so hard trying to keep the numbers for these somewhat manageable. Between 20 kids in his class and all his (well, my friends' kids), I easily could have invited 50 kids. As it was, we kept it to just boys and then just boys aged four to six. If I'd gone any younger, they wouldn't have gotten to do all the fun stuff.

Overall it went well. They did gymnastics stuff for an hour on the trampoline, on an obstacle course and in the pit. They even let them do a little on the rings. Andy got to the the line leader for the whole party. I think that may have been just as thrilling. He actually loved it. He can get a little shy in these situations, but not this time. He was even pretty gracious, well, except where he lorded his line-leader status to the other kids. Otherwise, he was a great sport.

The whole thing lasted about and hour and a half. Pretty good. To remember for next year 1) parents always show up early to these things. Even though we got there about 10 minutes early (they had said no more than 15), two sets of parents were pulling up as we were unloading, 2) bring matches.

A cool side note, he got several sets of legos. I personally love legos. I played with them as a kid and I'm thrilled Andy's old enough for the real ones. The downside? Damnit if it doesn't take 45 minutes to put together a car what with 200 pieces, 100 of which are the size of an earring back.

On thin ice

It's amazing how 45 degrees can feel like 85 after a month of 20 degrees with 50 mile an hour winds. Today was nearly 50 and sunny so I took the kids down to the park and we all relished being outside. Andy wanted to go look at the lake since it had a pretty layer of ice on it. The lake is in desperate need of being dredged right now. Fairfax County is pretty broke at the moment though so I don't think it will happen soon. In the meantime, Royal Lake is about two feet deep in most areas. That made it pretty easy for it to freeze seemingly solid.

Andy was fascinated and we walked around the edges and talked about it. At the edge, I ran into a lady from church and we were talking about six feet from the edge. Meg decided that would be a grand time to step on the ice. I ran over to her and reach out, but the sly little vixen just smiled and walked in her Stride Rite sneakers about 15 feet from the edge. I kept calling her name and she just looked at me and kept moving. I knew it wasn't deep, but I also knew there was no way the ice was thick enough, especially in the warmer weather, to hold me. In desperation, I called out, "Meggie, come back. Let's go home and get some candy." Yup, that did the trick. She calmly walked back to the edge and we went home.

My computer is mostly better now, after a new $85 hard drive, 10 days without it and all my pictures and documents gone from my hard drive. I am very disappointed with Best Buy and Acer. It's a scam that they say the warranty on the computer starts when Acer ships it to the store. So even though I bought it in February 2009, Acer shipped it to Best Buy in December so the warranty expired last month even though I actually only owned it a year. Bastards.

Ugh, part 2

My computer is still broken. The latest word is that my hard drive is corrupt and I might need a new one. I am very displeased with my Acer. I bought it less than a year ago. Now I have to get into Best Buy and see if it's under warranty.

Good news, however, is that I can post the link to the pictures we took at the Picture People last week. So adorable! They were super nice. I can't believe I haven't done this like 100 times already.

Trying to update via iPhone

So my computer imploded last week. I
don't think I realized how much I used it both for this and other fun things like Facebook but also for important stuff like bill pay. I even bounced a check last week which I haven't done since, oh, never. I had money but in a different account and wasn't checking the way I normally do. Ugh. A colleague has been trying to fix it and it seems she going to have to reformat my hard drive and eat some pictures that I had not backed up. Bugger.

This is also bad timing since I am trying to plan a birthday party for 15 four and five year old boys. I invited all the boys in his class. Irritatingly only one family has Rsvped. Fortunately it's his school bff Leonard.

Old pictures

he kids were both off school last week. With the cold weather, we've been inside organizing a lot, like rearranging rooms for the kids, moving a lot of stuff up into my new attic (thanks, Bjorn!) and throwing away a lot of stuff. I've also rediscovered my scanner and have been posting a lot of old Y.O. Ranch camp pictures on Facebook. It's been a blast reconnecting with a lot of old campers and counselors.

Meanwhile, here are some of my favorite family photos from when I was a kid.

I'm on the right with my sisters and Elizabeth's friend Catherine (far left). I love the yellow tile that practically matches my yellow hair. Like my soap goatee?

Here's one of my favorite soccer pictures, with my friends Susan and Sara and our coach. I played soccer with these girls all through high school and still keep in touch. How cool is that? The name of our team is the Armadillos. I feel like I'm in second or third grade here.

This is at my baptism at Highland Park Presbyterian. I graduated high school with the two other baby girls in the picture. I think it's really cool that we were in the same place and neighborhood all growing up. We lived in a big city, but in many ways, our neighborhood was a small town where you really knew everyone your age.

This was at Mrs. Felder's house across the street from ours growing up. She had these beautiful pink flowers, but really didn't like kids. Her green Mustang isn't in the driveway. Mary looks about one or two which makes me five and Elizabeth eight. The girl in a t-shirt on the left lived up the street. I think she made it into several of our family pictures.

This is one of my camp pictures. I think I'm like 18 or 19. I remember my cousin Kathy wanted to take her son (who is now in college) to see the animals so we took a tour around the exotic pastures. The giraffes were always my favorite. So big and unique, but relatively friendly and graceful. With the other animals like the ostriches, you never knew what they were going to do which made them interesting and scary as hell.

This is at Enchanted Rock. I'm on the far left. Now that I'm an adult with kids in school, I see this picture of 10 counselors with 10 campers and it's easy to see why the camp went out of business. The other is one of the portraits we took. I think I'm around four here.

At least she comes by it honestly

The above picture is from last month. Meg climbed up to start attacking the gingerbread house/hovel the kids put together. The second is a picture of me on November 8, 1974, my older sister's birthday. Elizabeth must have received a barbie, some shampoo/lotion and I return, I sat on the kitchen table enjoying her loot. The expressions are not the same, but I certainly recognize her expessions in this old(er?) picture of myself.

Today was a big day. We moved Andy into Mark's room, Meg into Andy's and Mark into Meg's. Mark actually has far less stuff and spends a lot less time in his room so it made sense to make the move. I always intended to do this year, just not necessarily now. But with Mark coming home, it made sense to make the switch before he started back here full-time. Meg is still in her crib. I intend to move her into a crib in the somewhat near future, but now that her crib is happily assembled in her new room, I am not in such a huge hurry.

Here's to a Pull-up free 2010

Andy's now gone two nights without a Pull-up or an accident. He might get a pony for this. I have been going in before I go to bed walk him to the bathroom to pee. It's sort of hilarious walking his sleep-drunk self to the toilet to perform.

Last night was New Year's and we went to celebrate with friends who have kids the same age. We talked about putting the kids to bed in their house, celebrating until midnight and then going home, but we decided instead to have dinner, wine and celebrate early and then each put our kids to bed in their own beds. I did make it to midnight though. That alone in a bit of a miracle.

Someday I would like to go to Times Square to celebrate -- but later when we're older and can get a good spot without having to stand outside from noon to midnight. In the meantime, I'm content not to be hungover on New Year's Day. I can't say I miss that.

Fairfax County considering going back to half-day kindergarten

There is some controversy going on here in the Fairfax County. Due to budget a shortfall, they are considering going back to half-day kindergarten again as a way to save $13 million dollars. I am not so good with numbers, but for a school system with an annual budget of $2.2 billion (yes, that's billion with a B), $13 million doesn't seem like a lot. A lot of folks, myself included particularly with a kid expected to enter full day kindergarten in nine months, are encouraging the county to consider other options.

There is an interesting debate. My friends who stay home and whose kids go to preschool a couple of mornings a week, complain that full day kindergarten is too long and it's too hard on the kids. My friends who work think half-day kindergarten is a joke because by the time they get to school, get settled, do an activity and have a snack, it's time to go home -- in many ways a far less academic setting then our kids have been receiving at full-day daycare/preschool. Also, it's a pain in the neck for working parents because you don't find out until August before school starts in the first of September if you will have morning or afternoon kindergarten and you have to make arrangements.

If you support keeping full-day kindergarten, please sign the petition - http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Save-Full-Day-Kindergarten.

For the record

* Andy's gone nine days with a dry pull-up/underpants at night. Certainly a record.
* I am bitter at Toys R Us in Fair Lakes. I returned Andy's defective Razor Carvr scooter. They were out and not only refused to sell me the store model, but wouldn't call other stores to see if they had it in stock. "You can order it online," isn't a fair response for a Christmas present for a four year old.
* Bjorn found it at the one in Manassas.
* The kids and I trucked out to find it, for $20 less than what I'd returned. That that Toys R Us.
* Mark is home from college and isn't going back.
* This house has gotten very crowded, very fast. We've gone from four people to six people in two months, including four adults.
* The non-BCS bowl games are a joke. Who cares about the EagleBank bowl with Temple and UCLA? It's just an exhibition game really.
* We are three months away from March Madness. By then, hopefully the adults in my house have some kind of plan.
* Seriously, Blogger? No spell check in the new editor?

Going commando

I'm proud to report that Andy had seven straight days of waking up with a dry pull-up (including Christmas, which is sort of remarkable considering how tired he was!) To celebrate, he could pick his treat. He wanrted his personal manna -- soda. And maybe some candy. I suggested a Slurpee, which I tried to explain is a combination of soda AND candy only icy and you can drink it through a straw. He thought that idea was just crazy.

He also convinced me that he wants to sleep without a pull-up tonight, which I allowed, mostly because I was trying not to laugh after he put on a pair of his sister's Christmas pajamas that are probably 3T. He's showing his belly and the legs are mid-calf.

In other milestones, he's *this* much closer to be able to reliable wipe his own butt after going to the bathroom. Parenthood really does make you cheer for some strange things.

Babies and their guns

Meg loves her baby dolls. I find it so fascinating that she's so into them. We certainly didn't have any laying around from when Andy was littler (Jennifer's doll days are certainly far behind). But sure enough, she gravitated to one at her babysitter's house and wouldn't put it down. This all started over the summer when my parents were visiting. We had just checked out the National Rifle Association's joke of a museum in Fairfax (although the museum itself was puny and not well done or designed, the gift shop was fantastic and resulted in some excellent NRA gifts and t-shirts). My mother decided Meg's first baby should be named Daisy, after the Daisy bb-gun, which was the first commercial air gun (for children, naturally.)

Naming all her subsequent dolls after guns was a really fun inside joke for the family. So we now have:

Callie (short for calibre)
Remy (short for Remington)
Winnie (for Winchester)
Spider (well, that's not a weapon, Andy was just fascinated by spiders around Halloween and it stuck)

And now that she's amassing quite a collection of dolls, I've run out of ideas for names. We've thought about Glock, but that just seems to obvious (and frankly not that fun to say), Bullet, 30-06, Rifle, Bolt -- but really, nothing clever is coming to mind. I need help! Suggest your favorite weapon-related baby doll name. (Come on, it's not that subversive.)

 Meg pushing one of her new Christmas dollies in the stroller she got from Santa (who goes by Grandmother).

Yes, I really do know how to use my oven

I would like the record to reflect that I made homemade cookies this Christmas. The kids helped by making it more of a mess than it would have been already as well as casually throwing some sprinkles and icing on the cookies. They also managed to use the cookie cutters a little while working to eat as much cookie dough as possible. We did cookies a few weeks ago and clearly the novelty has worn off. We did make a lot of them though and we (I) put them into treat bags to give to our neighbors as holiday presents. Mark was kind enough to drop them off, much appreciated since the sidewalks were still pretty narrow and icy.

The nice thing about baking with kids is I can play off my own baking imperfections on them. "Isn't the messy icing and sprinkles a hoot! Meg helped!" I find I do that with other things, too, like if we get out somewhere and I realize an outfit is totally the wrong colors or the pants are on backwards, "Isn't that cute? He dressed himself!" Certainly there are plenty of times when they do insist on wearing shorts over sweatpants, but when it's my fault, I'm more than happy to blame them. If that's not stellar parenting, I'm not sure what is.

Christmas!

Wow, we must have been good this year because the Jul Tompte and Santa were both very good to us all. The kids all have more toys than they possibly need, which is fantastic. Meg got an assortment of babies and their accoutrements and spent much of the morning taking them from the stroller to the baby pack and play to the baby swing and back again. Sometimes you could even tell what she was saying. She also got a lot of clothes, which is great for me, including some adorable winter type outfits and shoes. Exactly what she needed. Andy also got clothes and is to an age where he even knows to mutter, "Aw, more clothes," just like every other kid under the age of 18 in America. Those of us over 18 got a lot of clothes, but those were considered very good things. The only casualty thus far is the Razor scooter Bjorn got Andy from Toys 'R Us. It's got some problem with the spring so Bjorn couldn't open it and ended up jabbing himself in the cuticle with a screwdriver. Indeed, suboptimal. Both kids also got a lot of books that I look forward to reading with them. Bjorn also got a lot of books that I intend to read. Perhaps in return I'll even let him eat some of the bread I will make with my bread maker that my mom got me that I'm totally jazzed to try out. I had one right after college that I used for years until it finally broke. My biggest present is an attic ladder that Bjorn's having installed tomorrow. Yes, kids, that's what happens when you get old. You want home improvements instead of toys, but I am personally thrilled about it.

It was great this year having all four kids in the same house over Christmas -- no waiting for someone to drive over, no competition for another Christmas. Just us at our house. I really love it. Course, I'm not sure how it would be with all six of us living here permanently, but for a few weeks it's pretty great.

Edited to add: Sorry the pictures are all out order. This new Blogger photo editor is a lot more flexible, but it's so flexible it was moving pictures around in a way I wasn't sure how to get them back without deleting them all.

Snowpocalypse, part 4

Meanwhile, I would like to personally commend the Washington Post delivery folks. Despite blinding snow on Saturday, two feet on the ground Sunday and ice on Monday, our paper arrived each day. On Sunday, we looked for it and didn't see it initially, but a little later as I continued to dig the trough out to the curb, there it was, an orange plastic beacon waiting for me amidst the white. Well done, my friends, well done.

And to guarantee we've seen our last snow of the season, today I went to the supremely awesome Unique Thrift Store and bought an Oshkosh snowsuit for Meg for less than $10.

I have also now gone to the updated Blogger format which mysteriously has taken away my spell check feature. Sure, it's easier to insert bullets, as if I'd need that, but spell check? That's for sissies.

Snowpocalypse, part 3

It turns out three straight days in the house with no where to go and no one to look at except ourselves is the limit. On Saturday, we were all set. I had crafts, we had cookies to bake. On Sunday, we did some digging out, some sledding, some cleaning with good cooperation by all. By today, I'm ready to smother everyone and send all the presents back to where they came from.

The adults are all snippy, passive aggressive and oversensitive. The little kids are whiney and refusing to do any of their regularly scheduled activities, like eating without throwing huge fits or napping/resting at their regularly appointed schedules. I am cranky and irritated. And to think that starting Thursday we have a whole 10 days of break together! No school, no work, just six people in a house together with two feet of snow on all the ground! Yay! For some reason, Little Women is no my mind. Weren't they stuck in the house for months? Back in the day with no television or Internet? Clearly they were better people.

Snowpocalypse 2009, part 2

Today was day three of the worst winter storm in Washington ever TM. It's and really been remarkable. The plows hit the main road, Commonwealth, earlier in the day. By early afternoon, we saw our first plow on Pommeroy. It was just after dark that a plow hit our street. Bjorn and the kids dug out our driveway and the cars. Not that it matters. Turns out the federal government shut down for tomorrow.

That means both Bjorn and I should have our offices closed. The kids' schools will also likely be closed. Fairfax County even announced it's shutting down tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday and closing now for winter break. This is all pretty remarkable. The feds close like once every third year. I've never heard of Fairfax County closing for three days in a row in advance with no more precipitation expected. Even more remarkable, we've done a good job eating through the food in the house.

Now don't get me wrong, it's not like we're going to starve or anything crazy, but we've gone through the staples like spaghetti, bagels, cheese, bananas and frozen pizza. There is still macaroni and cheese and some frozen assorted chicken nuggets and fish sticks, but in general, we're working through the cupboard. I suppose that's what happens with four adults, including a college-aged boy, and two pre-schoolers in the house. I do hope to finally get out of the neighborhood tomorrow.

I have really, really loved the snow event and loved the family time, but after three straight days of making three meals a day plus snacks for six, doing dishes, sweeping the floor, digging with the snow shovel and wiping up melted snow off the kitchen floor, it would be nice for a change of scenery. Fortunately, the kids are at such an age where the little ones can play together a little. It's sure nice to be the only source of entertainment for them. Well, me and Noggin.

This is from yesterday afternoon at the height of the storm. Check out how bad the visibility is. Good thing all the airports were closed.

Snowpocalypse 2009

As you have probably heard, the East Coast got a serious snow storm this weekend. They keep throwing things around like "storm of the century" and "worst snow in December ever" on the local news, which have abandoned their regular programming to show us pictures of the snow all day. I, for one, have loved it. This is early in the day, like 11 a.m. after it started snowing last night about 9 p.m. There is a lot of snow here, maybe 6-7 inches at this point.

Here we are starting to dig out. See the trough we're digging and the snow on the roof line.

Andy with his shovel that my dad got him last time he was here. Turns out it was a perfect purchase. Thanks, Dad! Note, Andy is wearing his Cowboys hat.



I was ready for a snow day with crafts. I had the kids (including Jennifer) painting Christmas ornaments. Meg was much more interested in dipping the paint brushes into water and then smearing Jennifer's ornaments.

Here are Jennifer's artwork. Meg decided Santa looked better looking like he got in a knife fight in prison. We were thinking maybe Santa and Mr. Gingerbread Man got into an argument.

This is much later in the day, around 4 p.m. By then, there was at least 10 inches, probably more like 12-14. For a town that shuts down on 3-4 inches, this is pretty remarkable.

This is about 5 p.m. Look how deep the trough on the driveway is now.

Look how magical the house looks, with the foot of snow on the roof line, the dusk and the Christmas lights.

Remind me not to do this again

Andy's school had a field trip to Sesame Street Live at the Patriot Center. His teachers sent something home asking for the $10 for his ticket and offering that parents and other children could come along if they wanted to buy tickets as well. It was scheduled for a Friday so I ordered tickets for Andy, me and Meg. I offered to chaperon, but not really chaperon since I would have Meg with me.

Andy was sort of weird about the whole thing, mostly because he doesn't like Sesame Street. So while he liked the idea of going on the field trip, he really wasn't psyched about the show.

We showed up today and it was great. He was proud to show off his little sister and we hung out for an hour or so before leaving to catch the bus for the mile drive from his school to the venue. I followed along in my car since I was illegally parked. Andy wasn't thrilled about that, but he was fine once I met up with him.

Once we got to our seats, Andy started whining that he was hungry. The teachers made it really clear that they don't like the chaperons getting food for just one kid so I said no. He whined some more. He then proceeded to whine about being hungry or thirsty for the entire hour and a hour show (including 15 minute intermission). It was pretty miserable, probably for both of us. Afterwards, he was going to ride back with his class and I was going to leave. Then the real whining and crying started. His teachers (including the adorable college coeds that help out in during field trips) tried to distract him and console him, but he was mad. He wanted to leave with me, he wanted a hot dog, he wanted me to stay. I left and prompted called my older sister asking her to remind me never to do this again.

His teachers told Bjorn in the afternoon that he recovered eventually and had a good day, but that it took him a while, longer than usual. I thought about it and I think Andy is one of those kids that is fine if his parents aren't there or are in the sidelines, but as soon as we're on the field, he freaks. It's like when I coached his soccer team. He was totally hanging on me and whining when I was on the field, but if I wasn't part of the action, he could forget about me and was fine.

In other news, they're calling for 16-20 inches of snow here today. That's extremely unusual for Washington and even more unusual for December. It might be a white Christmas after all.

Story that he will be furious I told later

There are two main kinds of ants you'll run into in Texas. The small ones are fire ants and the big ones are carpenter ants. The little ones are mean and feisty. If they sting you, it hurts almost as bad as getting stung by a bee. Worse, it's easy to step into an ant pile and get stung a dozen times before you figure out what's what. The carpenter ants are big suckers. They are probably an eighth of an inch long. They also travel in big ant piles, but they're fun to watch because they so clearly carry pieces of food and earth that are ten times their size.

Down at the ranch, Dad, Andy and I were down by the Colorado River throwing rocks and such into the water. On our way back, Andy was clearly tired and slow moving. It didn't help that he stepped into a pile of fire ants and we had to spend time picking them off his clothes and socks. Dad picked him up and started carrying him on his shoulders as we walked back to the house.

"Ow, ow! My penis hurts!" Andy shouted.
"What's wrong? It is stuck?" I asked calmly, figuring that his pants had ridden up. Bjorn taught him that it's stuck when he pants given him a wedgie.
"No! Ants! It hurts!" he said. By now my dad has put him on the ground.
"It's okay. We'll fix it," I said. "Let's pull your pants down and readjust."
"No! It hurts! It's biting me!"
So we quickly pull his pants down. Sure enough, there on the tip of his penis is a huge carpenter ant. I must say, that ant did look pretty darn enormous next to the boy parts of a four year old.

He was fairly traumatized by the whole thing, as Bjorn and my dad understood. We did call and get a ride back to the house rather than trying to walk. Fortunately, it was a carpenter ant so it was a bite vs. a real sting. I must say I am proud of the adults for not falling over laughing at the whole thing.

Obsession

Andy has a new obsession -- the Magic School Bus. It's a kids show narrated by Lily Tomlin and the kids go on all these adventures and learn about stuff, like the Earth, molecules, computer processors. It's fairly well done and not as annoying as some shows (although not as clever as our favorite Phineas and Ferb). Andy wakes up and wants to watch the Magic School Bus. He wants to watch it in the car on the DVD player (assuming the library has one he wants to watch), he wants to watch it after bath and he wants to read the books that go with it. When I asked him about what we should write to Santa about, he said he wanted Magic School Bus DVDs. That was all, no bike, no scooter (which I want to get him), not markers, just more Magic School Bus.

Overheard

Overheard at our house yesterday:

Andy: "Mommy, you not letting me watch the Magic School Bus just BROKE MY HEART."

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I knew it would be crappy weather today so we made sugar cookies. We weren't paying attention for a few minutes and came in to find Meg was pouring out the sprinkles on the table.
We got four inches of wet snow today. It was wet, but it snowed all day off and on. The kids loved it.

I talked Bjorn into getting an artificial Christmas tree for the first time. It's really nice so far. I got the kids to pose for me. Why does Meg look like she just stepped out of the 1920s with that hair and expression?