Take Note:

Four year-olds DO listen to EVERY word! On the way to preschool this morning, I was all excited about starting my new volunteer position at the Community Care Center. So, I started talking to Jack about it. I said "today, Mommy is going to work at a doctor's office while you are at school!". Evidently, all Jack heard was the word "work". In our house, Daddy is the only one who "works". God only knows what really went on his head, but the result was not pretty. He firmly stated that I could not "work" today and that he was not going to school. He wanted to be with me. I then collected my brain cells and explained that I was not really going to work, rather that I would just be helping at the doctor's office and would be back to pick him up just like always. No explanation in the world was going to satisfy him. Poor Ms. Donna had to PULL him out of the car. I had to pry his fingers off the headrest so she could carry him screaming into school.

I know I sound like the world's worst mommy (for so many different reasons), but I knew in my heart that he was in good hands and would be just fine when he got to his room. I called the preschool as soon as I got to CCC to check on him. Ms. Donna said that he was fine. His teacher had heard him screaming in the hallway and ran to get him. She said that he seemed more mad than anything and kept asking for Mommy. He also just wanted to be held for a few minutes. When he had calmed down, he jumped off of her lap and went to play with his friends.

Needless to say, I picked him up a little early and we had a long talk. A big lesson was learned today. This time, it was ME who learned the lesson. Don't use the phrase "going to work" lightly. For children who stay at home with their mommies, those are bad and scary words. I also learned that children listen to EVERYTHING! They may not acknowledge what is said, but they DO hear EVERYTHING.

Finally!

After MONTHS of wiggling around a loose tooth, Emma finally used fishing line and pulled out her other front tooth. Seriously, that girl has been wiggling it since before Christmas. We thought she'd be singing the famous, "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" song. But no. I even scared her by telling her she might swallow it at night (this really did make her cry), or loose it while eating and then swallow it. Nothing could get that tooth out!

But, tonight was the night and it came out! Hooray for Emma! She even did it herself!

Go Bucks!

Trying to do a little catching up while we are stuck inside with yet ANOTHER snow day (this is day 4)......

Back in January, we hosted a Rose Bowl party and invited a few of our neighbors. As luck would have it, one family is also from NW Ohio and Buckeye fans. We really got into the spirit and pulled out all of our Buckeye gear and had the monster-big OSU flag flying. Mary Jo had sent the kids OSU tats and eye thingies, so we pulled those out and decorated ourselves.

It was a great time and of course, our Buckeyes won!

Annual Daddy/Daughter Dance

Allan and Emma attended the Third Annual Daddy/Daughter dance a couple of weekends ago. Emma's excitement could hardly be contained! It was a night full of soda (this is the only day of the year that she is allowed to drink the poison), dancing (both Daddy and Emma complained of sore feet from dancing all night) and total Daddy attention(what more can a girl ask for?).

Miss Emma was chattering a mile a minute when she got home. I'm sure it was in part because of the soda, but seriously, that girl LOVES to dance and time alone with Daddy is rare and cherished. They also made a few crafts and Emma won a bag of lip gloss. It just doesn't get any better!

More Snow Fun!

Unfortunately, another snow storm hit NC this past weekend. We received about 6 inches Friday night while we slept and woke to another winter wonderland on Saturday morning. Saturday brought a little freezing rain and a little more snow.

Will was thrilled. The boy played outside by himself and with a friend for hours. For being a Mississippi boy, he sure does prefer the cold.

Emma was disgusted. She refused to go out and play even when her friend came to the door asking her to come out. The wasn't a total bust for her though because she ended up at the friend's house, pretending to survive a tornado and making caramel apples.

Jack was in the middle. He played outside with the other boys for about an hour (which is quite respectable considering it was 11 degrees). Otherwise, he spent the day getting his valentines ready for school.

I feel like I spent the day on the phone. Saturday was Allan's 41st birthday and I had planned a surprise dinner with neighbor friends. It was questionable whether the restaurant would be open because of the snow/ice and then one of our friends was sick and another couldn't get out of work. All's well that ends well though. Being the brave Northerners that we are, we hit the roads and had a fabulous dinner at a Japanese restaurant. We ended the night with my homemade cheesecake and lots of good laughs.

I am also happy to report that we even got up and made it to 9:15 mass. Our church was one of the only churches in the Triad area to actually be open. After mass and a movie, we hit the hills of a local (closed) church to do some sledding. It was a fun weekend! Happy Birthday Allan! We love you!!

Christmas 2009

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

My Christmas cracker crown and prize

Nana and the birds

Our 3 little birds on Christmas Eve

Christmas this year was absolutely wonderful. We had snow and cold weather to put us in the mood and keep us all snuggly inside. We had Nana here. And we were all together - happy, healthy and having fun.

Will and Emma sang in the children's church choir on Christmas Eve. As always, it was a beautiful mass and as always, I just couldn't hold back the tears. I don't know what it is, but I get tears every year during the traditional Christmas songs. Christmas songs and "Party of Five". Tears every time.

After mass, we went to a party at the home of friends from church. This woman can cook, so it goes without say that everyone enjoyed themselves. Will even got a little extra attention from some girls at the party. Of course, he played it cool and acted as though he wasn't affected by the fact that girls were asking him into their room and leaving him notes. I have a whole other post for that subject!

As always, the kids left reindeer food out on the lawn and cookies and milk for Santa. Christmas morning came early, but later than usual (6:30-ish). Everyone was happy with Santa's choices: a bike for Will, camera for Emma and Hotwheels for Jack. The rest of the day was spent playing, lounging, playing, putting toys together, more playing and finally dinner. As has been our custom, we had English crackers to start the feast and all wore our crowns during the meal. We were so full from all of the food that we didn't even have Jesus' birthday cake until the next day! Even so, it was a yummy chocolate Italian creme cake and we all enjoyed it.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

NC Snow

Allan and Wicked Wanda try to pull Emma in the snow

Our little snow bunny

We're covered in snow!

The kids' last day of school before Christmas was December 19th. That night we had several inches of snow. The actual amount is debatable, but I can say that the grass was more than covered. We woke up on Saturday morning to a winter wonderland! It was absolutely gorgeous and it was perfectly timed to get us in the Christmas spirit. The kids actually ate breakfast before begging for their snow gear. I had to scramble on that one! We haven't purchased winter coats or gear since we lived in Indiana! Lucky for Jack, we had a bibs, jacket, mittens and boots from when Will was 3. Emma got boots from a neighbor, bibs that Will outgrew and one of her old coats that wasn't super warm, but worked well enough. Will had me to thank. He wore an old pair of my bibs, a pair of my boots from Indiana-times, and a coat handed down by his cousin, Matthew. All in all, we managed pretty well!

The kids flew outside and marveled at the unfamiliar white stuff. Allan and I were close behind with grand plans of snow ball fights and a snow man. Unfortunately, we had some freezing rain after the snow, so it was difficult to make balls. The kids tried sledding down the road, jumping on the trampoline full of snow, made tracks everywhere, and threw ice chunks at each other. Allan got Wanda out and tried using her to pull the kids on their sleds, but the tires had no traction. Emma had a good time trying this though! We then decided to make a snowman, which turned out pretty good. The girls named "her" Arnetta and the boys named "him" Arnold. Everyone is full aware of gender in this household!

We ended the day with hot chocolate and working in the basement.