Actually, it's the snow that never ends around here. I've stopped trying to figure out just how much snow is out there right now. I have totally slacked off on blog writing duties, and I sincerely want to keep this thing updated more often. so let's see.....I think we left off before Thanksgiving:
We went and spent Thanksgiving with the Clark's this year and it was very busy and crowded and just like a holiday is supposed to be. I think both the girls are determined to have Donna bring every conceivable toy out of the attic for them to play with. Thank goodness Donna has a bunch of David and Denise's old toys around not to mention a few new ones that she used while teaching at the latchkey program. Any toys that aren't ours are NEW! and EXCITING! And the girls seemed to latch onto (aka fight over) the little plastic train markers that came with the domino set. What is it about the teeny tiny toys?!?!?! Why are my children fascinated with teeny tiny stuff?
Christmas of course was a whirlwind as usual. I crocheted like a mad woman trying to get certain Christmas presents and stocking stuffers finished. Santa was very generous to the girls this year, although we did have a few moments before Christmas where I was thinking Santa wouldn't be visiting our house at all. Four is a tough age and that mixed with new ideas and behaviors from friends at preschool makes for not so good behavior. Speaking of preschool it was hysterical fun to see how Bug interpreted the Christmas Story. They followed the star all throughout the month of December and talked about different aspects of stuff that goes on around the Holidays. (Personally I would have like to see them cover how some other cultures celebrate during the holiday season as well.....but *shrug* whatever) Anyway, here is Bug's interpretation of the Christmas Story:
First we were told: That the three wisemen were following the star because they were really the Bink Fairy in disguise taking a new Bink to "her." (Yes, Bug believes that Baby Jesus is a girl.... I think it's awesome and I'm not about to correct her :) ) The Bink Fairy had come to visit us somewhat recently when we were told that little gem.
Later in the month we were told: The three wisemen visited Baby Jesus again and were bringing "her" gifts and somehow a frog joined the party and kissed her. o_O (And no we had not seen "The Princess and the Frog" at this point yet....)
Awesome isn't it? :) I think the girls had a nice Christmas. Santa was very good to them and thanks to their Great-grandparents (on all sides!) they received an awesome train set. Mr. Claus found out recently though that he put some of the pieces on upside down! LOL We've decided the train set must be in a suburb of Tokyo because Bitty's new nickname is Godzilla. (or Destructo) She crashes the trains, pulls apart the track and attempts to climb on to the train table. there's a really cool new red barn for all the animals (including the dinosaurs!!) to reside in. It's made by Schleich and is well built. (I love that ocmpany they seem to know and understand that kids are going to be kids and try to destroy things.) There were also bunches of teeniest Tiniest Littlest Pet shop critters and Bitty got one of the nice Pottery barn "rag dolls." there were also clothes and ponies and animals and more animals. It was a fun Christmas. :)
I found the KISS Potato Head dolls for David. :) I was so excited to give him that. I made Ma a big crocheted bag in shades of blue to use for we joy sing stuff or Chloe-dog items. :) and David got me the reproduction "Peaches and Cream" Barbie doll!!!! Squeeeeee!!!! I'm still geeking out over it!! :) Nicole and I had a contest to see who could find the wackiest twilight item to give as a gift. I found some rubber stamps for her and she got me "New Moon" packing tape. Seriously it is packing tape with "new moon" written all over it. (WTF? who comes up with this stuff?) We could have found some even crazier stuff but I think we both knew not to go overboard. (go to etsy.com and search for "twilight" items.....it's scary)
Our Christmas ended on a rather sour note. First, the evening of the 26th David started to not feel well....By 3:00AM the stomach flu had invaded my house. He was down and out for a good two days... I tried to disinfect and keep the girls away but to no avail...a few days later they came down with it. I give major snaps to David because I just can't handle the vomiting, even with my own kids. I tried...I really did but I was soon gagging along with them and it was just better for me to not be there when they were puking, I had other things to do......David treated the patient and I did laundry/disinfecting all night and all day long to clean up the messes....I prayed and prayed and prayed that I wouldn't get it.....Nope I got it New Year's Eve/Day....luckily it didn't seem to hit me as hard as it hit David and the girls. The suckiest part of that bug was that it totally and completely wiped you out. But we survived! :) Bug had a few repercussions we had to deal with but she got over it pretty quick. Still, it was a sucky way for David to have to spend his last week of vacation. :oP Not only that he had to go on-call the day he went back to work... booooooo!!!! >:(
January brought us back to school and Bug's birthday. :) It was a quiet affair, we didn't really do anything this year. Dee Dee came up the night of Bug's birthday to watch Bitty so that David and I could take her to see the "Princess and the Frog." We're still debating as to whether or not that was a good idea. David and I really enjoyed the movie (the music esp.) but, there were a few scenes in there we weren't sure how Bug was going to interpret them. The bad guy has these evil shadows that follow him around and do mean things to the main characters. The last thing we needed was for Bug to be afraid of her own shadow...... and the scene at the end where the bad guy receives his comeuppance was a little...much. But, we lucked out I guess b/c there really hasn't been any mention of it.
I thought that we would fall back into a regular routine but noooooooo Mother Nature decided we needed all this freakin' snow. For the most part I really enjoy all the snow. It's beautiful and the world seems so quiet when it snows. But it can get tedious and stir-crazy when you have two kids shut up in the house with you. Not only that but we've all been sick for the past two or three weeks. First Bitty decided to get a double ear infection, then Bug decided to get one, then the girls came down with a nasty head cold. Then David and I came down with it. Then the girls decided to get a weird viral rash. And, as recently as yesterday we braved the snow storm to go see the Dr. b/c Bitty's cold really hadn't let up and he found she had ANOTHER double ear infection. (NO we aren't doing tubes. I don't WANT to do tubes and will avoid it at all costs.) He thinks it was caused by this nasty cold that the girls have had and not b/c we didn't get rid of it the first time. In fact I had no idea that Bitty had any ear issues. Usually we know she has an ear infection b/c I get to stay up all night with a miserable child. She didn't do that. She has one more tooth to come in and then we'll be done with all this ear infection nonsense for a good while. I sincerely believe that teething and ear infections go hand in hand. So once that tooth pops we should be good to go. (It should honestly happen within the next few days....I can honestly say I can see it just under the surface.)
It also didn't help that this time of year is when David's work does their big migration thingy (I still think the guy that schedules it has no social/love life and lives in his mom's basement....it's ALWAYS scheduled on freakin' Valentine's Day!) so, David wasn't around that much. Poor guy literally spent an entire two weeks down in the basement getting ready for the project and then doing the project. We hardly saw him except to say "Good Morning" or "Good night" So it was the girls and I for two weeks and we were all sick......Can you imagine just how fun that was? Add the estrogen and you have a pretty bitchy household. At least David got to "escape" downstairs.
It didn't help either that Bug has gone into this phase of whining and crying and throwing literal temper tantrums about EVERYthing lately. It's unbelievably annoying. My newest tactic has been to send her to her room until she's done flailing and ready to act like a human being instead of a monster. I refuse to even deal with her when she decides to behave that way. We of course discuss her behavior (over and over and over again) when she decides to return to being a human. I'm too busy trying to pry my godzilla/king kong child off of whatever it is she's decided to climb on next. The climbing thing is driving me nuts. If it looks like it can be climbed.....she climbs it and regardless if she gets in trouble or not she goes right back to climbing it again. The girls have also taken to trying to do each other in. I don't even want to mention how many times I've had to tell Bug that smothering her sister with a pillow is NOT an option!! And how many times I have to chase Bitty down because she's decided to steal something else of Bug's. Or prying them apart when they fight over something. Now, I don't care who starts it anymore. If they fight over it I keep it until I decide to give it back. It's tiring just thinking about it.
I've been trying to take some pictures of the snow and I need to upload them onto the computer. I was planning on doing that this afternoon while the girls are napping so I'll get them posted within the next day or two. :)
We went and spent Thanksgiving with the Clark's this year and it was very busy and crowded and just like a holiday is supposed to be. I think both the girls are determined to have Donna bring every conceivable toy out of the attic for them to play with. Thank goodness Donna has a bunch of David and Denise's old toys around not to mention a few new ones that she used while teaching at the latchkey program. Any toys that aren't ours are NEW! and EXCITING! And the girls seemed to latch onto (aka fight over) the little plastic train markers that came with the domino set. What is it about the teeny tiny toys?!?!?! Why are my children fascinated with teeny tiny stuff?
Christmas of course was a whirlwind as usual. I crocheted like a mad woman trying to get certain Christmas presents and stocking stuffers finished. Santa was very generous to the girls this year, although we did have a few moments before Christmas where I was thinking Santa wouldn't be visiting our house at all. Four is a tough age and that mixed with new ideas and behaviors from friends at preschool makes for not so good behavior. Speaking of preschool it was hysterical fun to see how Bug interpreted the Christmas Story. They followed the star all throughout the month of December and talked about different aspects of stuff that goes on around the Holidays. (Personally I would have like to see them cover how some other cultures celebrate during the holiday season as well.....but *shrug* whatever) Anyway, here is Bug's interpretation of the Christmas Story:
First we were told: That the three wisemen were following the star because they were really the Bink Fairy in disguise taking a new Bink to "her." (Yes, Bug believes that Baby Jesus is a girl.... I think it's awesome and I'm not about to correct her :) ) The Bink Fairy had come to visit us somewhat recently when we were told that little gem.
Later in the month we were told: The three wisemen visited Baby Jesus again and were bringing "her" gifts and somehow a frog joined the party and kissed her. o_O (And no we had not seen "The Princess and the Frog" at this point yet....)
Awesome isn't it? :) I think the girls had a nice Christmas. Santa was very good to them and thanks to their Great-grandparents (on all sides!) they received an awesome train set. Mr. Claus found out recently though that he put some of the pieces on upside down! LOL We've decided the train set must be in a suburb of Tokyo because Bitty's new nickname is Godzilla. (or Destructo) She crashes the trains, pulls apart the track and attempts to climb on to the train table. there's a really cool new red barn for all the animals (including the dinosaurs!!) to reside in. It's made by Schleich and is well built. (I love that ocmpany they seem to know and understand that kids are going to be kids and try to destroy things.) There were also bunches of teeniest Tiniest Littlest Pet shop critters and Bitty got one of the nice Pottery barn "rag dolls." there were also clothes and ponies and animals and more animals. It was a fun Christmas. :)
I found the KISS Potato Head dolls for David. :) I was so excited to give him that. I made Ma a big crocheted bag in shades of blue to use for we joy sing stuff or Chloe-dog items. :) and David got me the reproduction "Peaches and Cream" Barbie doll!!!! Squeeeeee!!!! I'm still geeking out over it!! :) Nicole and I had a contest to see who could find the wackiest twilight item to give as a gift. I found some rubber stamps for her and she got me "New Moon" packing tape. Seriously it is packing tape with "new moon" written all over it. (WTF? who comes up with this stuff?) We could have found some even crazier stuff but I think we both knew not to go overboard. (go to etsy.com and search for "twilight" items.....it's scary)
Our Christmas ended on a rather sour note. First, the evening of the 26th David started to not feel well....By 3:00AM the stomach flu had invaded my house. He was down and out for a good two days... I tried to disinfect and keep the girls away but to no avail...a few days later they came down with it. I give major snaps to David because I just can't handle the vomiting, even with my own kids. I tried...I really did but I was soon gagging along with them and it was just better for me to not be there when they were puking, I had other things to do......David treated the patient and I did laundry/disinfecting all night and all day long to clean up the messes....I prayed and prayed and prayed that I wouldn't get it.....Nope I got it New Year's Eve/Day....luckily it didn't seem to hit me as hard as it hit David and the girls. The suckiest part of that bug was that it totally and completely wiped you out. But we survived! :) Bug had a few repercussions we had to deal with but she got over it pretty quick. Still, it was a sucky way for David to have to spend his last week of vacation. :oP Not only that he had to go on-call the day he went back to work... booooooo!!!! >:(
January brought us back to school and Bug's birthday. :) It was a quiet affair, we didn't really do anything this year. Dee Dee came up the night of Bug's birthday to watch Bitty so that David and I could take her to see the "Princess and the Frog." We're still debating as to whether or not that was a good idea. David and I really enjoyed the movie (the music esp.) but, there were a few scenes in there we weren't sure how Bug was going to interpret them. The bad guy has these evil shadows that follow him around and do mean things to the main characters. The last thing we needed was for Bug to be afraid of her own shadow...... and the scene at the end where the bad guy receives his comeuppance was a little...much. But, we lucked out I guess b/c there really hasn't been any mention of it.
I thought that we would fall back into a regular routine but noooooooo Mother Nature decided we needed all this freakin' snow. For the most part I really enjoy all the snow. It's beautiful and the world seems so quiet when it snows. But it can get tedious and stir-crazy when you have two kids shut up in the house with you. Not only that but we've all been sick for the past two or three weeks. First Bitty decided to get a double ear infection, then Bug decided to get one, then the girls came down with a nasty head cold. Then David and I came down with it. Then the girls decided to get a weird viral rash. And, as recently as yesterday we braved the snow storm to go see the Dr. b/c Bitty's cold really hadn't let up and he found she had ANOTHER double ear infection. (NO we aren't doing tubes. I don't WANT to do tubes and will avoid it at all costs.) He thinks it was caused by this nasty cold that the girls have had and not b/c we didn't get rid of it the first time. In fact I had no idea that Bitty had any ear issues. Usually we know she has an ear infection b/c I get to stay up all night with a miserable child. She didn't do that. She has one more tooth to come in and then we'll be done with all this ear infection nonsense for a good while. I sincerely believe that teething and ear infections go hand in hand. So once that tooth pops we should be good to go. (It should honestly happen within the next few days....I can honestly say I can see it just under the surface.)
It also didn't help that this time of year is when David's work does their big migration thingy (I still think the guy that schedules it has no social/love life and lives in his mom's basement....it's ALWAYS scheduled on freakin' Valentine's Day!) so, David wasn't around that much. Poor guy literally spent an entire two weeks down in the basement getting ready for the project and then doing the project. We hardly saw him except to say "Good Morning" or "Good night" So it was the girls and I for two weeks and we were all sick......Can you imagine just how fun that was? Add the estrogen and you have a pretty bitchy household. At least David got to "escape" downstairs.
It didn't help either that Bug has gone into this phase of whining and crying and throwing literal temper tantrums about EVERYthing lately. It's unbelievably annoying. My newest tactic has been to send her to her room until she's done flailing and ready to act like a human being instead of a monster. I refuse to even deal with her when she decides to behave that way. We of course discuss her behavior (over and over and over again) when she decides to return to being a human. I'm too busy trying to pry my godzilla/king kong child off of whatever it is she's decided to climb on next. The climbing thing is driving me nuts. If it looks like it can be climbed.....she climbs it and regardless if she gets in trouble or not she goes right back to climbing it again. The girls have also taken to trying to do each other in. I don't even want to mention how many times I've had to tell Bug that smothering her sister with a pillow is NOT an option!! And how many times I have to chase Bitty down because she's decided to steal something else of Bug's. Or prying them apart when they fight over something. Now, I don't care who starts it anymore. If they fight over it I keep it until I decide to give it back. It's tiring just thinking about it.
I've been trying to take some pictures of the snow and I need to upload them onto the computer. I was planning on doing that this afternoon while the girls are napping so I'll get them posted within the next day or two. :)
P.S. Thse of you who are waiting for a certain picture..... I HAVE BEEN TRYING!!!! If you can get her to sit still for more than 30 sec then you get the prize. So unless you want a blurry picture or one of her not facing the camera you'll have to keep being patient.
