A Map Party

Yesterday I asked B what kind of birthday dessert he'd like. Buddy then asked why kind of party he was going to have... you know, since kid parties have themes. I asked what he thought Daddy would like, he said Homer Simpson. I quickly talked him out of that since I couldn't think of how to decorate for a Homer party with what we had at home, not to mention making a Homer cake (me being frosting impaired and all). So I talked Buddy into a map party since B definitely likes maps and geography. Here's how the theme went:


Globe decoration by Princess Sparkley.


Happy Birthday banner (lettering my me, coloring of "Happy Birth" by Buddy, coloring of "day, Daddy!" and a globe cake by Princess Sparkley, all of this courtesy of a nap by Baby X).


Map banner by Buddy.


Brownie and abstract Earth design by me.


Please ignore the moustache!?!... I try to.

Playing Outside

As we were laying around the house, being lazy on Christmas, B mentioned that growing up we could play outside. I guess that's one of the benefits of being a kid in California at Christmas time... if you get a bike for Christmas, you can actually ride it that day. We were lucky enough to have a warm day after Christmas that melted most of the snow (it's back now) so we let Buddy take his new bike, and Princess Sparkley her new scooter our for some fun. Here's a wimpy video of it:

48 weeks

11 months

Merry Christmas!

Left to Right, Top to Bottom. Row by Row. Sort of. (Click to enlarge.)

PS and her new Webkinz pink poodle that she's named Lavender (since according to her new Fancy Nancy's Fancy Words book, Lavender is a fancy word for light purple... not sure why she decided to name a pink dog that.)
We gave Baby X PS's old "bike" aka Little Tykes ride-on and doll walker push toy. Notice his Bandaid by his eye... big owey.

PS and her new pink scooter.
Baby X.
Aebleskivers.
PS and her new Webkinz cat which she has named Tiara (another fancy thing).
Buddy in his new fleece robe reminding us of Uncle R.
Christmas Day dessert... Peppermint.Candy Cane Ice Cream Pie.
Buddy and a train book.
The stockings here hung by the chimney with care.
PS being fancy... the theme of today.
Aebleskivers cooking in their pan.
Buddy on his new bike.
PS extra fancy... notice how the shoes complete her look.
The kids are the top of the stairs waiting to come down and open presents.

Buddy riding his new bike... he thought I was taking a picture,
not filming, so he stopped riding to smile for the camera.

B's 1000th County

photo by Buddy (age 4 1/2)

I'm sure we've mentioned it before, but just in case we haven't, B keeps track of the counties he's been to. Sort of like what some people do with states. He and Buddy went on a county getting trip last weekend and they got 45 counties and B got is 1000th county. Yea! He's about 1/3 of the way done... or, more specifically:

1042/3132 (33.27%) as of 12/21/8

Noel

As I've been out and about this holiday season with the kids, Buddy has noticed Noel signs and asked me what it means. I haven't really had an answer other than it's Christmas related (turns out, it means Christmas). Today we were listening to Star102, Kansas City's Christmas station (which has been playing Christmas songs since Halloween and in between songs... 20 minutes worth of ads) and the song "The First Noel" came on. I told them to listen up. I explained that I guessed Noel meant Jesus' birth or Christmas. Buddy* said, "Maybe it means no L. Is there an L in Christmas?" No, there isn't. So in our family, Noel now means there is no L in Christmas.

*He has been hilarious lately. He's got this new crack up laugh that I need to capture on film. And he's been making up super silly "jokes." This is my favorite (did I already write this here?): How do you know you're a Clementine? You got peeled!!

47 weeks 1 day

Princess Sparkley Rocks Out

Princess Sparkley: Can I listen to my [Princess Sparkley's] profile . . . (She means playlist.) to hear that song?

Me: What song?

PS: All the Single Ladies.

Me: [Cracking Up.]


B and I saw the Saturday Night Live skit a couple of weeks ago with Beyonce and Justin Timberlake singing and dancing to "All the Single Ladies."

I hunted down the video on YouTube while Princess Sparkley was nearby and if the computer ever starts making noise (music, videos, etc.) the kids come running to see what it is. She loves the song. So I made a Princess Sparkley playlist on Napster and she has her songs from Enchanted and this song by Beyonce. Oh, and also the David Duchovny song by Bree Sharp.

She's just informed me that she'd like this video posted on her blog with the boys dancing funny as well. Oh, she says she likes the boys and she doesn't like the girls.

Smarty Pants

Because Princess Sparkley is smart. And because she knows that I get all of my answers from the internet. And because she doesn't want to do math, she just asked the following:

Can you look up how Santa gets around where it isn't winter?

Snow plow

After driving around in lots of snow on unplowed roads and getting stuck twice (which is one of my worst nightmares) I picked B up from the bus stop and said, "We need to get a car that can never get stuck in the snow. What kind of car is that... a snow plow?" Which got a loud, excited response from Buddy in the backseat who said, "YEAH, a snow plow." This might have been the most exciting idea he's ever heard since he'd spent all morning with our snow shovel pretending to be a snow plow** complete with his own snow plow noises.


**Yesterday he snow shoveled right along with out complex's maintenance guy. It was so funny to watch, especially since he's normally pretty shy around adults he doesn't know. I asked him if the guy talked to him, he said, yes, twice. I asked if he talked to the guy to which he answered, "umm... I don't think so."

Buddy Makes Jokes

Buddy: Mom, why are you a clementine?

Buddy: It's a joke. I made it up. You know how it ends?

Me: No.

Buddy: Because you got peeled.

And he walks

Baby X took a couple of steps on his own accidentally last week (Tuesday and Thursday ish) and since then he's been walking along our walls and letting go and trying to keep walking. Or walking along something and letting go and walking a few steps to get to something else (ie: chair to coffee table, etc.) So at 10 1/2 months, he's "walking." Here are my pathetic attempts at capturing it:


By this point, he was so excited about walking that he was more running and thus just falling down.


*Have I mentioned that Baby X has a third tooth. Top front, his left. It's been around about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks.

Santa's Early Delivery

We woke up this morning to this
,

and this


and it kept snowing all morning and after lunch.


"Santa" couldn't very well send the kids out to play in the snow knowing perfectly well that she (I mean he) had boots for them in her/his closet that they'd asked for on their Christmas lists. So Santa dropped off a special delivery due to the snow that came before Christmas.






We also got B this new yellow snow shovel which he's going to have to fight Buddy for. PS wanted to sled. Buddy wanted to shovel. I can't wait until he's a teenager.

46 weeks

How we sleep at our house

This is normal sleeping, right? His arms are sort of crazy, but this looks normal.


This is how we found PS the other night.

Decorating the Tree

Look how big Baby X has gotten!!!

This is how B contained Baby X from the tree decorations.

Our new friend Allison

Princess Sparkley raided our recycle box and created Allison, her new friend. Unfortunately mom and dad considered Allison to be trash and insisted she be returned to the recycle box immediately upon completion of this picture. (Note: she'd already visited PS's bed.)

B and Buddy sleeping Sunday morning

45 weeks