Snow & Sledding

Vance was running a fever yesterday morning, but by today he said he was feeling better, and there was snow! I waited until the afternoon to make sure his fever did not come back. I was sooooo glad he was feeling better and not running a fever so we could enjoy a rare snow day!

We started out playing in the yard

Vance and i made snow angels. QQ could not quiet make herself lay on her back, but she seemed to enjoy looking at the angels after Vance and I made them

Vance Angel

Mommy Angel

QQ has been a gourmet snow & ice taster for her third winter now. She used to do this when she was barely walking, and I thought she would just grow out of it!

We found this great place to sled in a park that is just a few blocks from our house. I did not even think about sledding until we drove past the park while we were out running errands. Doh!

Kid Catastrophe kept falling up the hill because she's a clumsy little toddler. Danger Boy kept falling because he was wearing cowboy boots because we have no snow boots for him. Cowboy boots keep out the wetness, but they have about zero traction!

After an hour playing outside, and then an hour sledding, the kids were tired out. We had fun, and we did not really get cold. We went through about three pairs of mittens and gloves for each kid, since they kept getting wet.

Note for Tired Mom for next time--sledding is thirsty work! Bring drinks!

Baby Jaguar Phase

Kid Catastrophe is going through a really cute Baby Jaguar phase. She also says "to the rescue!" and "go diego go diego go diego GO!" all the time. How did anything so cute come from me?

Water Torture

I forgot to blog about Danger Boy and Kid Catastrophe's bathroom flooding incident. This actually happened before the lipstick incident.

I was sitting downstairs on the computer and I was listening to the kids playing on the monitor. Suddenly, I realize that I had been hearing water trickling down the drain pipe (from the upstairs bathroom). I run upstairs, because I know water and kids=bad bad bad. They were playing in my bathroom sink,and just letting the water run, and run and run right over the edge of this tiny pedestal sink I have up there (that drains very very slow!).

They had created a two to three foot circle of water soaked carpet around the sink by the time I got there. I get them out of the bathroom and swat their bottoms. I send them downstairs, and start pulling shelves and baskets away from the wet carpeted area around the sink. By the time I get downstairs I hear Vance say "Momma it's raining in the backroom!" I don't want to look, I don't want to clean it up, I want to go back to bed (some random thoughts as I walk back to the playroom that is under my upstairs bathroom). QQ is saying "rain rain rain!" as she dances under the drips.

The ceiling was dripping water from three places, so I had to get buckets and say a little prayer that the ceiling does not collapse or start molting. Vance got out his umbrella, since he and QQ had gotten wet "playing in the rain". They were both soaking wet by the time all was said and done, so I had to go back upstairs and get them clothes.

And, I did not get any pictures. Sorry! Only visible damage is some yellowish blotches on the play room ceiling and some discoloration of my upstairs bathroom carpet.

Quiet kids= bad kids!

I was just thinking last night as my wife and I watched TV on the ground floor and the kids were playing in Vance's room that the kids were becoming more independent and less in need of supervision. They were snookering me.
Tonight, the wife was out to dinner for her ma's b-day. I was on the computer and kids were ostensibly playing in my son's room. Then, it got real quiet. (I was going upstairs anyway 'cause the boy was using the facilities earlier and might need some clean up.) Poor, poor Paranoid Dad.
My children had found one of my wife's lipsticks and gotten it everywhere in the bathroom. Toilet seat, bath tub, cabinet, sink... AGGGHHH! I let them know how angry I was and then near threw them in the bath tub. Then I got them dressed, made them look at the mess again, explained how bad of a choice it was (Vance's lingo from school), had a prayer and then put 'em to bed.
Geesh! I don't want to lock 'em up or watch 'em constantly. :P

Tired Mom Tired of Well Meaning People

I hate hate hate it when seemingly nice well meaning people try to tell me what to do with my kids. There was an older woman who was picking her cat up from the Spay Clinic at the same time I was picking up Nutmeg (a few days ago), and I had Danger Boy and Kid Catastrophe with me. The nurse (vet assistant?) was explaining that Nutmeg needed to stay away from other pets, stay inside, and to not be handled too much for 5-7 days while he was recovering. The older woman said "but especially stay away from the children!", as though the children were such a danger compared to the other animals she had at home (which she said she did) that she was supposed to keep her cat away from.

The kids did not notice, because they were too busy looking to see how Nutmeg was doing in his cat carrier, but I noticed. I felt like giving her the finger (you know, my pinky finger up her nose!) and then telling her off, but I'm a nice person (sometimes) so I just smiled politely.

Why do people feel the need to stick their noses in how you run your house and watch your kids (around a sick animal in this case). Do I have "MORON" written on my forehead in a special ink that only old women with good intentions (but big mouths) can see? Older men seem to know when to keep their mouths shut, they just shoot me dirty looks when QQ throws a fit in public. Annoying, but easily ignored. And, more importantly, will I turn into these old women when I've raised my kids? What makes people do this? How do I avoid it? GAAAAAAHHHH!

Super Funny

Ahlanna came over to visit the other day and Vance happened to be in the tub at the time. Ahlanna was trying to help Vance put toys away while Vance was still in the bath and I guess she got over enthusiastic about it because we heard Vance say, "Ahlanna stop throwing toys at my bottom!"

I put up Vance's tent in his room a few weeks ago and he said "Good job Mama! I'm so proud of you!"

Quisqueya likes to try to exercise with me when I exercise. She especially seems to like the stretching exercises. QQ was doing the stretches with me at the end of a Turbo Kick class I took at the church the other day. At my house, Alisha was showing me a yoga position the other day, and both Ahlanna & QQ were trying to do a yoga pose. It was funny.

This is a picture of QQ doing a horse stance (like Daddy!)

It's the little things...

The other day we had to do all of the kids bedding. Vance really wanted his "polar bear" blanket. In the morning, I brought the basket upstairs, found the blanket and gave it to him with his morning cup of milk. His smile was worth a million.

When I give him his cup, I always tell him to sleep some more before school. Sometime he does, most times no. When he doesn't, I usually get a treat. I go out to my car, get in and look up. One of his windows faces the back where my car is and he will look out. I wave, he waves back and smiles the whole time. That helps my day.



Possibly the night before the "polar bear" blanket incident, Quisqueya needed a different blanket for bed. I gave her one of my serape and called it a "Daddy blanket." She was thrilled. (It helps that it has yarn ends that tickle her nose.)

Most of the time, when I get home from work, my daughter will run up and give me a hug. The only prompting is Mommy noting that I am home.

It's the little things that make kids great.

...Paranoid Dad

Cat Land---Where Super Heroes Live

I'm not sure I should count Nutmeg as an actual cat since he acts more like a dog. Today, Vance was throwing his cat toy at him and Nutmeg was "fetching" it back. He fetches, he's good with kids, he follows Tired Mom around like a dog, and he begs for food. Should we even let him live in Cat Land? Will he weaken the other cat's super powers?

Like, will Demon Cat (Slinkerton Spycat) still have her glowing eyes and insanity?

And will Perwinkle Dustbunny (barely visible in the picture here) still be invisible to most people?

Awww, but he's so cute! I guess we should let him live in Cat Land (but he will definitely have to be "itted"!!!)

Bad Kitty!

Kid Catastrophe and Nutty Kitty are still at odds with each other. In addition to screaming whenever Nutmeg gets near her on the couch, or while she's eating, QQ has taken to yelling at Nutty for ever little infraction.

She yells "Bad Kitty Nutmeg" and tries to kick the cat's furry orange bottom with her little socked foot. Good thing Nutmeg is fast, and QQ can't really kick anyway since she's a tiny girl. She did that about 5 times today. It was "bad kitty Nutmeg get out of my room!" and "bad kitty nutmeg get off the chair!" and then "bad kitty nutmeg" (when he was just trying to play with a piece of paper). I kept telling her we like Nutty and he's our friend, but she continued her kitty reign of terror all day.

The sad thing is that Nutmeg still tries to get her to like him, and he wants to be around her like he wants to be around Danger Boy. And Danger Boy still tortures the cat, so I still haven't figured out why Nutmeg follows him around.

Poor Nutty Kitty!

She looks so sweet & innocent doesn't she?

Sometimes, I Miss Little Vance