4 Kisses

"Mom, I always get my 4 kisses. Even when I wipe them off,  I can feel them."

Little Chief requests 4 kisses, which we all know is way better than the 3 kisses Tadpole requests.

Parent Teacher Check-In

I stopped by the kid's elementary school to check in with their teachers. All of the teachers are in love with the Toads in their class. Little Chief is killing it in kindergarten. Abizella's 5th Grade Reign is legendary. And Tadpole continues to provide his teachers with plenty of material to chuckle over in the teacher's lounge.

Mrs. K related this story: Mr. Decker, the adjustment councilor, visited the classroom to speak about bullying. Tadpole piped up and said that kids know better than to bully him because he has a very short temper and he freaks out at anyone who tries to tease him. Mr. Decker explained that this might actually make Tadpole a target because some bullies enjoy seeing kids freak out. Tadpole very thoughtfully shook his head in agreement and said, "Touche, Mr. Decker. Touche." Mr. Decker nearly split his sides laughing. He had never had a 3rd grader concede in French before (or at all).

Year of the Monkey

I kicked off Chinese New Year by pulling my silk dress out of the moth balls. I bought it nearly 19 years ago in Yonshua. I kinda wish I had the patience to have a dress tailor make a gorgeous black silk dress with red dragons- but I was more interested in hiking the limestone hills and swimming in cave ponds with the bats. The blue dress was a nice compromise. Not as exotic, but full of memories.

It was our good fortune that Chinese New Year fell on a SNOW DAY! 

So we had plenty of time to play Chinese games- like dominoes!

Then we opened the sweat shop and put our minor to work finishing last year's snow day project...

Her bathrobe!

What a goof-ball!

Pops dug us out so he could brave the streets for Chinese take out.

Abizella set the perfect Chinese table- we even pulled out the tea set I bought in Panyu.

The kids were happy with the fortune they found in their lucky red envelopes!

LC asked, "Is this how you drink tea in China?" as he properly sipped his apple juice.

Pops played a round of Rumikub with the kiddos...

While Jaws, determined to wreak havoc, did he best monkey impersonation.

Happy New Year!

Happy 3rd Birthday Jaws!

When it's your birthday- you've got one thing on your mind. Presents. We've had a heap of them stacked in our bedroom for about a week.Whenever Jaws asked about them we explained that he could open them on his birthday. His birthday happened to be on a Sunday so the poor kid had to wait until after church- and then even after dinner to open them. Pops and I were sitting at the dinner table finishing up a few last bites. Thinking I'd gather the kids back together,  I said, "Well, I guess we should open up some presents." Jaws was off like a shot, the present-opening was finally "green-lighted". We heard the quick rip of paper from our bedroom and a shriek of joy, "It's my new Daniel Tiger!" Jaws came tearing into the dining room where his lazy parents were still contemplating standing up. He clutched a half open box and jumped up and down in excitement.

Finally! Present time!

Grandma Sandi and Grandpa Bob outfitted him with his own fine steed and cowboy hat.

Little Chief was quick to jump in on the birthday fun too.

Jaws allowed me the great privilege of playing "coconut horses" with him.

Even the the most ardent Daniel Tiger Neighborhood adversaries enjoyed a joy lap in the trolley Aunt Jenny sent...

Then it was cake time (again)...

Time to make a wish!

"Hmmm... better make it a good one..."

"I already have everything a kid could ever want!"

"I know, I want a piece of chocolate peanut butter ice cream cake!"

We love our little cowboy!

He loves his ponies.

Here are three things I love about my little Cowboy:
1. This kid loves a good story book. There is no stack of books big enough to satiate this kid's desire to be read to.
2. He loves to cook. As soon as he hears footsteps in the kitchen he races in and starts dragging a chair over to stand on so he can help. He loves to make cookies most- but he helps with everything. Especially the counting. Jaws loves to count eggs and scoops of ingredients.
3. When I tuck him in at night he says, "Give me a big hug and kiss." Then he lays down and says, "Goodnight Mom. Sweet Dreams! And don't let the pigeon drive the bus!" Then he rolls over on his side, squeezes his blanket, inserts his sucky fingers in his mouth and sighs contently.

I love you little partner! Ye-haw! Ride 'em cowboy!

Birthday Warm-Ups

We have a birthday coming up tomorrow! This little kid has been talking about his birthday for months now, including singing the birthday song and listing presents that Santa can bring him (evidently that's where presents come from).

We got the birthday planning committee on the celebration plans a few weeks back. This year Little Chief was party chair and Abizella was scribe.

There were some many good meals and super ideas the fun had to be spread across 2 days. First up- birthday waffles with candles. Jaws wasn't so sure at first, but after a nudge he was convinced of the fun.

And just then a birthday package arrived from Aunt Jenny and Uncle Brian! Hooray!!! He knew immediately it must be for him!

The most important request was for BALLOONS!

BALLOONS! Something the whole family can enjoy! 

Jaws was nice enough to share the joy.

Jaws wanted a horse cake, of course! 

Abizella knew exactly how to fit the bill.

Jaws was impressed!

One of Jaw's favorite people was here to kick off the celebrations with us- Abizella's best friend!

Make a wish!

All this partying wears a kid out. 

Tomorrow is a big day- 3 years old. 

It's happening!

Winter Wonderland

After last year- this winter seems like a walk in the park. Sometimes we are even caught off guard. On Thursday it was over 50 degrees! Imagine our surprise to wake up Friday morning to a snow day! Pops went in early, before the snow got serious, because he had court. School was cancelled, and by the time I had to drive into town to pick Pops up and go to work the roads were impassable. I elected to work from home. The kids did too. Their first project was a snow man!

This was Jaw's first one! 

He insisted that his snow man needed a carrot, 

fortunately we had one left!

Ta-da!

That was so much fun, they decided to bury the car too!

Superkid joined in for some sledding.

Because it was so warm the day before, the snow was WET and HEAVY. We lost tons of BIG branches, including the one that fell on the car. 

We are going to have a good time this Spring burning!

And of course there were the obligatory snow day oatmeal raisin cookies!