Shorts and knee socks

I can't believe it's February and we are (1) having outside soccer practices and (2) wearing shorts!

People are already starting to talk about the NEGATIVES of having had such a mild winter. The bugs this summer will be terrible! The drought, oh, the drought! We're gonna be in for it in July. As for me, though, this mild winter has been well worth it. I am sure by NEXT winter, we will be ready for snow. Well, maybe.

Babies

True fact: all almost-2-year-olds like to play babies.

Sadly, it is only the boys with big sisters who seem to get to do it.

Big Piles

One of Truck's favorite activities is to make "big piles" of books.

Sometimes he reads them too. But the important thing is making the BIG PILES.

Five years ago

I took this sweet girl on her first plane ride to meet her great-grandmother in L.A.:

The first of many "girls trips" we have taken!

And the best part was that it was free!

I recently went to the Johnson County Museum with Truck and a friend and her 2-year-old. We had a blast and could not believe it had taken us this many years to take the kids, especially because it is FREE.

They had a room set up for the kiddos to make valentines. We spent about 20 minutes in there, gluing and coloring, and I even let Truck use his beloved (and usually off-limits) scissors. He made a really cool valentine with lots of tissue paper glued on it, then I cut it in half and VOILA - a Valentine for big brother, and another one for big sis. I should have taken a picture!

They also had a doctor room (30+ minutes spent playing with babies, mostly applying lotion), a bookstore room (like a library, but no worries about putting books back on the shelf in order, so Truck was free to make as many "big piles" as he wanted), a farm slash store slash factory room, a golf room (complete with Wii for big brothers) and a train/truck room. We enjoyed all of those. They also had two rooms that we were a little young for, but that I know Noodle would adore -- a bead room where you can make bracelets to take home and a theater room with real movie theater seats and a stage (it was crowded full of little girls). Super cool museum (and did I mention FREE?)

The other half of the museum is for adults. It is a museum about suburbs. No lie. I really really need to take my San Francisco based cousin there. Not just so she can mock us either. Finally, there was an exhibit on immigration that we didn't really check out, but did appear to have a chicken coop for the kids to play in. I need to explore that further.

This is the way we wash our hands

I got to go to Truck's school last week for their Valentine party and he dazzled me after they ate their treats by (1) clearing his plate of goodies to the trash, and (2) washing his hands all by himself:

I love preschool!

Friday Night in the Big Town

It was truly a wild and crazy night around here. I left work early to attend the Valentine Party at school with this munchkin:

Big brother had baseball tonight, so I took Truck and Noodle to IHOP for dinner. We had the world's worst waitress (seriously? Who does not give EXTRA attention to mom with 2 kids by herself? NO drink refills for me the whole time? UNACCEPTABLE). Then we went to Target and strolled around. Bliss. I got all sorts of things I did not need. Came home, bedtimes, and now a nice glass of wine for me. Shabbat Shalom!

Dinosaur Train

Have you heard of the Dinosaur Train? It combines dinosaurs and trains, an almost-2-year-old boy's two favorite things! It is the first show Truck will moderately show interest in. He still won't sit and watch an actual episode, but he will watch the theme song OVER AND OVER AND OVER... It was nice out last weekend, so I took 4 boxes (destined for recycling) and a roll of masking tape into the driveway and made him his own personal DINOSAUR TRAIN!

I had thought about printing out some dino pictures to put on the train, but guess what? Not necessary. This was one dynamo dinosaur train!

January Has Drained My Creative Juices

I have no creative juices at all. So....
A to Z. You hate it? Ignore. You like it? Do your own and leave a link.
A. Age: 35 (for a couple more days!)
B. Bed size: Queen.
C. Chore that you hate: Putting away laundry.
D. Dogs: I am surrounded by them on our street, don't mind them, but have a Noodle who quivers at the idea of them. So no dog.
E. Essential start to your day: Coffee.
F. Favorite color: Pink.
G. Gold or silver: Gold.
H. Height: 5'4"
I. Instruments that you play: the clarinet! (in 1988).
J. Job title: Lawyer.
K. Kids: Three - Squash (8.5); Noodle (5); and Truck (almost 2).
L. Live: Kansas.
M. Mother's name: Linda. Like all my friends!
N. Nicknames: Jethro, according to my sister.
O. Overnight hospital stays: in 2003, 2006 and 2010 for babies. Also twice for preterm labor in 2010 with the Truck.
P. Pet peeves: Grammatical errors. Fake people.
Q. Quote from a movie: "Did I catch a NINER in there? Were you calling on a walkie talkie? It was cordless." from Tommy Boy.
R: Right or left handed: Right
S: Siblings: My younger sis.
T. MISSING!
U. Underwear: Clean!
V. Vegetable(s) you hate: The green pepper when cooked. YUCK.
W. What makes you run late: Slow moving children.
X. X-rays you've had: My teeth?
Y. Yummy food that you make: Mac and cheese from scratch.
Z. Zoo animal: HIPPO.
TA DA! Your turn.