New Year

This will be our fifth New Year's Day in Kansas since moving here in 2005. A little retrospective...


On January 1, 2006, we took our little Squash (then 2.5) on a hike at Shawnee Mission Park. Weather was fantastic:



January 1, 2007, we had a three-week-old baby Noodle, so we stayed in and watched the Eagles game:




We actually rang in January 1, 2008, on a shuttle bus at the airport. Our flight home from California arrived reeeeally late on December 31, and I remember listening to the countdown, exhausted, while lugging the two kids and all our stuff back to the car. The next day is a little bit of a blur, but I took this picture of Squash (4.5) and Noodle (1) in the basement on 1-1-08:



And last year, January 1, 2009, we let our little chefs (5.5 and 2) make their own pizzas for a special New Year's lunch, after Squash stayed up for the first time the night before until midnight (actually, 12:37, but who's counting?). We were one sleepy crew that day:




This year...?? Pictures to come. This much we know - it will be our last New Year's as a family of four!

I love snow days

Here is why. This:

Followed by, this:

Our "Christmas Blizzard" snow is still sticking around (since it is never above freezing during the day) but the roads are fine and today, it was back to work.

But this afternoon, I saw a forecast that it might snow again tomorrow night. Not sure I am quite ready for that yet, but ready or not, here it comes! I think we are in for a snowy snowy winter.

White Christmas

We dreamt of it...and got it. Our first white Christmas in Kansas. It is perfect. It started snowing late on the 24th, snowed all night, and mid-day on the 25th, this is the scene out my bedroom window (I'm not going out in it to take a picture; do I look crazy? Wind chill is below zero!). It's been a blissfully peaceful day so far.

Here are my happy, happy kids this morning:

Noodle got "a sweeper and diapers for her baby." Just like she told Santa she wanted. Last night, she tried to convince us that she had also told him that she wanted a pink dinosaur. A sneaky one, that Noodle. Alas, the sleigh was already packed.

Squash's favorite present was the 2008 Stratomatic Baseball game. It replaces his vintage 1988 version that Dad had been letting him play. He has the Phillies World Champion team now, and is so excited to memorize all their stats.

Merry Christmas to all, from snowy, snowy Kansas.

Snow Day!!

It SNOWED!!! On Noodle's birthday!!! Only a couple inches, and now we are paying for it in the form of single-digit temperatures, but still! It SNOWED!!!

The kids went sledding down the driveway for about 10 minutes, which was all their tender little faces could take, then came in and had cocoa. Perfect way to kick off winter here in Kansas. Here's hoping for many more snow days...with nice warm ones mixed in so that I don't have to drive on icy roads.

Handsome + His Sis

We went to see Santa this weekend. This is the smile that seeing Santa and telling him the exact model Nerf gun that you really really really really want will put on your face:

Sis wasn't quite as crazy about Santa, but at least she didn't cry. She did, however, refuse to sit on his lap. She sent her message as to what she wants (a sweeper, aka a broom) with her brother.

She is a few hours away from being three. Her birthday party was a great success, and tomorrow, she gets to bring treats to preschool (rice krispy treats and fruit snacks). Today was her annual checkup. She was a champ for 99% of a visit (the H1N1 booster was not her favorite part), chatting it up with the doctor and asking to go potty after her was in the exam room with us for about 5 minutes. He was very agreeable, and waited patiently for her highness to return. She is now 31 lbs. and 35 inches tall, which puts her in the 60th percentile for weight and the (ahem) 20th percentile for height. She is still just a little bitty thing. Hard to believe it was three years ago that I was going into labor...and now she's almost a big sister!

Update from Kansas!

I just noticed that I had not posted anything since October. Oh well. It is because November was the busiest month on record and it zoomed by. I had to go out of town twice for work, which always throws a wrench into everything.


The most exciting day of the month was November 24 - we went for my ultrasound of Baby #3. He (!) was very active and very cooperative. Almost as soon as she saw him, the ultrasound technician could tell that we would be adding a new baby brother to our family. He also showed off his waving and kicking skills, and the highlight was when, in profile, he scratched his nose. It was a wonderful day!




We also drove ourselves to Virginia - our longest family road trip ever. 34 hours round trip for a 48 hour Thanksgiving visit, but it was worth it. We got to see lots of friends and family, spend time in my favorite town in America (Staunton), and made our fill of happy memories. Oh, and the kids got to add four new states to their repertoire: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia (they had already been to Kansas, Missouri and Virginia!). Here is a picture of the kids with their grandparents at Gypsy Hill Park. We crammed in a lot of fun.



December is proving busy as well. We have had contractors here all week working on painting the three kids' rooms (everyone moved). It has been a ton of work for us too, clearing out rooms and attempting to relocate our former office into various nooks and crannies of the house. It is finally taking shape though - we have Noodle's perfect pink room all done and Squash's blue Star Wars theme room. Baby's room will be painted on Monday, and he is getting a nice classic blue. I am reusing the bedding we used with Squash - Malawi. It has lots of cute animals and a green and blue plaid.


Noodle, impossibly, turns three next week. Her birthday party is Sunday. We are expecting 15 of her closest preschool buddies, plus her brother and a friend. We are not crazy enough to do this at our house; it will be at My Gym. She had her party there last year and loved it; she watches the video of her party ALL THE TIME. Last year, it was Dora themed. This year, princess. Time marches on.

Roar

Look at my little bear! I wish you could hear her

roooooooaaaaaaar.

Communities

In Squash's first grade class, they have been learning about "communities." In case you didn't know, there are three categories of communities: urban, suburban, and rural. Everywhere we go, he wants to discuss it:

"Is this urban or suburban? There are no tall buildings, but that Wal-Mart makes it look urban."

"What is this, rural?" "No, I think it's suburban." "No way. Look at that field over there."

I came into the office this morning, and discovered this illustration, which I believe constitutes, RURAL:

Is he going to love going to Virginia for Turkey Day or what!?!?

One Small Perk

One of the (small) perks of being sick is lots of time in bed that you can spend reading!

I really don't like to watch T.V. when I am sick. I don't know why. It just annoys me, makes my head hurt (more), etc. So I read *a lot* when sick. There is not a publication in this house that I have not devoured. After my last illness, I even signed up for a subscription to Good Housekeeping after buying a copy at the drugstore. My first issue arrived on Friday, and I of course read it cover to cover. It was not bad. I also got my (sniff) last issue of Cookie on Friday. I read that Cookie is kaput. Sad, it was always good for 45 minutes of downtime.

Anyway, I had a book on my bedside table that a friend had loaned me a year or so ago. The title is dumb, so I had avoided reading it. But yesterday, I picked it up around 10 AM and hardly put it down until 10 PM when I finished it! It was that good! I highly recommend The Way Men Act (see, I told you, dumb title) by Elinor Lipman. This was the first book I ever read by Ms. Lipman and I plan to read my way though her full library now. It was very funny, quirky, light-hearted, and had great characters. I felt like I was watching an episode of Gilmore Girls. But not watching T.V.

Swiney

I am wrapping up Day #4 of the swine flu and my advice to all is to GET THE SHOT. You do not want to get this bug. It has been four of the least fun days I can recall. OK, back to bed.

Good Things

Things that are good today:

1. Noodle woke up after 6 A.M.
2. Fall leaves are out in full effect - red, orange, gold, yellow - and I can see them all out my window.
3. Clouds on the way to work this morning were spectacular - bluish yellowish purple.
4. NEW windshield wipers!!!
5. Meeting a friend for won ton soup for lunch.
6. Squash's exuberance last night that book orders came in (what to read first!?!).
7. Sun is shining!
8. Football practice tonight that will not require long underwear.
9. The smell of carving pumpkins.
10. My decaf pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks. Off to a great start!

Apple Time

We are up to our ears in apples. It is a happy place to be. I think I have made applesauce every night this week (and not just because it makes the house smell fantastic). Any good apple recipes would be appreciated! I am planning on making Mom's (Rowe's) apple cake this weekend to take to a barn party...

Dinner?

I am in love with the idea of this recipe...

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/10/wednesday-night-dinner-spaghetti-with-artichoke-hearts-and-tomatoes/

Chill in the Air

Bundled up in four layers apiece, we headed out to the high school football game tonight. The cold did not seem to bother the kiddos.



Only my poor frozen toes.

Brother and Sis

Fall is awesome. Can't you tell?



Also, we love pinatas. This picture was taken right after the pinata was destroyed at our friend's birthday party (by a one-year-old, no less) and the kids got to scavenge for candy. It looked like the Noodle (other than the one-year-old, the youngest one there) was going to come away with one smushed Tootsie Roll, until I looked over and saw her brother shove a big handful of candy into her bag. So nice. Big brothers are occasionally good for something.

Rewind

Here's a look at the bear suit last time around (back in October 2004). Man, I have two cute little bears.

Halloween

Our Halloween costumes are squared away. After weeks of deliberating over which Star Wars character to be, Mr. Squash finally settled on....the same one as last year: Anakin. But last year, he was regular Anakin and this year he wants to be Clone Wars Anakin -- so clearly, a new costume is in order. I don't really mind since I know the Star Wars costume will get lots of use beyond Halloween. I even bought him a new light saber. He will be as happy as a pig in slop.

Noodle, the little angel that she is, decided that she wants to be a bear! And not just a bear, but the very same Oatmeal Bear that her brother was five years ago! She tried on the outfit for the first time last night and was the cutest little bear there ever was.

We even got little bear slippers at Target to go with it back in 2004. She can wear those to her costume party at school (though not trick-or-treating!).

The amazing thing is that her brother wore this costume when he was fifteen months old; she is thirty-three months old (that makes her almost three!). Crazy how much larger he was!

Spirit Wear

Another awesome thing about flag football in Kansas: spirit wear.

I have my own "Jaguars Football" shirt to wear to the games. So does Dad. I ordered one for the Noodle, but apparently, she is still too little for the "kids small." It is sortof a dress on her. The lucky thing is (and I am serious about this), I might be able to find a Jaguars shirt for her at the grocery store. Our GROCERY STORE carries spirit wear for the team.

Recognize.

Tough Guy

Flag football is serious business here in Kansas!

Mr. Squash plays right tackle for the Jaguars. They won their first game today, 12-6. I love going to flag football games almost more than anything.

Also, we learned today that they sell the following items at the snack bar: (1) donuts; (2) funnel cakes; (3) soft pretzels; and (4) flavored nuts. I mean, why go just for your own kid's game? You could spend the day there. Here is Noodle double-fisting a donut and a pretzel. Mmmmm.

Cupcake

OK, I can't resist. This cupcake eating picture of the Noodle is just too cute for words. Blue frosting + 2 year olds = such a bad idea!

Cheerleading

Noodle is taking a cheerleading class. This morning, she and her partner in crime from class showed off their moves for us. It went:

Shake to the left,
Shake to the right.
Stand up!
Sit down!
Fight! Fight! Fight!

Incredibly cute when done by two two-year-olds. Next time, I will catch it on video!

Walking to School

Today was the fourth day of first grade, but the first day it was not raining, so we walked to school! It was great. Squash galloped ahead of Noodle and me (she rode in her stroller), then would wait for us, then would gallop ahead again. For the fourth straight day, he didn't even say good-bye. He already has a posse of boys he meets up with and plays Legos with at before-school care. School is going great.

We're thinking of signing Noodle up for soccer. They do a little kid soccer class at her school. Squash took it when he was 3, and she seems to love watching soccer practice/games and playing in the yard. However, she does not want soccer to interfere with her dance classes. Right now she is taking cheerleading and she loves that. So we will see!

Worrying

In case you hadn't noticed, all posts on this blog were removed a couple weeks ago. A friend posted an article on her Facebook page about a woman whose baby's pictures were stolen from her blog and used as "marketing materials" for selling babies! She posted it with the warning "To all the mommy bloggers out there." I thought about it for, oh, about three seconds, and then deleted all the pictures and posts on my blog. Overreaction? Probably. But I didn't want *my* kids' pictures being used for nefarious purposes. Just wanted to let everyone know - I will probably return at some point and perhaps just not post pictures of the munchkins (only hilarious anecdotes).