E made this and we think it is really terrific.
We especially love the attention to detail… hair styles and eye colors that are true to life. It was only a few short months ago that E started drawing people at all.
It is also important to note the placement of people…. it really is true that the girls have become a unit, sometimes across the dividing line from the parents. They are much more interested in impressing each other these days than in impressing us. We knew that would happen eventually, but didn’t expect it at ages 5 and 3!!
In other news… it snowed today, contrary to the forecast. lt has stayed below freezing since our storm on the 8th and 9th so we still have almost all that we received then.
Steve and Jacqueline were in town Friday night to Saturday morning since Steve was teaching a class in Des Moines on Friday evening. Michael took the girls and B out sledding yesterday and they had a great time. He and the girls are out again today on the small hill behind our house. They love it.
We had a big snow storm on the 8th and 9th. I shoveled the driveway 2x on the 8th, only to have the high winds fill the driveway in with 1-2′ of snow by morning. Above is a picture of us playing in the driveway. It was really cold. This gave the girls a chance to go warm up. The snow didn’t pack very well because it was so cold. We tried to put the snow on a tent to make a snow fort but the tent just collapsed. We had hot cocoa and popcorn to warm up afterwards.
Everyone knew a big storm was coming. Before it started I left work and got a few sleds from the store. Above is a picture from the day after the storm. The high winds and cold made it hard to trudge through the snow and slide down a hill. We bundled up the girls and I pulled them around the neighborhood. The streets were full of snow. The schools were closed on Thursday too. I guess they were worried about the busses. Liz and I split the day at home. The girls got to watch a lot of PBS Kids while mom and dad were on phone meetings. By Friday, everything was mostly back to normal.
Here is a random picture from the weekend before Thanksgiving. I had the bright idea to go to the mall in the evening and let the girls play. I thought we would have the playground all to ourselves. Liz and I could sit and talk in a calm place. Instead it was packed. I had to stand up and constantly scan for the girls. They had fun, but it wasn’t much of a rest.
J and I still go to Menard’s to get project supplies on the weekend. She has all of her play places picked out. We go to the door/window displays first. She pretends that it is her house. I have to knock and ask to come in. Later we go by the Christmas trees. Above is J finding all the yard and window decorations. It’s pretty repetitive. She asks for something and daddy replies that he doesn’t have enough storage space.
The week after Thanksgiving went fast. Between work and the girls’ activities, I can’t remember what happens during the week anymore. E now goes to Daisy Girl Scouts. Tuesdays she has homework writing sentences. I don’t remember reading or writing in kindergarten. I remember sharing wooden firetrucks and taking naps. Sure someone read a book every day, but I didn’t actually have to touch the book myself. J has started skipping naps at school and continues to get up between 4:30 and 5:30. When she does, the evenings are a real challenge. It is hard for people to imagine the amount of drama that comes from not putting ice cubes in a sippy cup. I mean fall down on the floor full-out wailing. You cannot win. If you remember the ice, you may have picked the wrong color cup. The short story is that J needs her sleep. On that first Friday night in December, we went and bought the tree. The girls wanted a 12-ft tall tree. It took some convincing to choose one that would actually fit in the house. Saturday morning we decorated it. Then we were off to the North Pole.
Once we got to Mount Pleasant, we met Steve, Jacqueline and B for the Polar Express. Above, E is giving the conductor her ticket.
It was a bit cold, but everyone was pretty excited. Here B has gotten his ticket stamped and is ready to see Santa.
J was a little nervous around Santa. Still … she knew that there was a job to be done. She did not want to sit in Santa’s lap. She stayed just close enough to tell Santa what she wanted…. a Super Why Computer. She understood that this was required to get what you want from Santa.
E had a much easier time with Santa. She asked for a Barbie… again. Similar to last year, Santa said that he would make a deal with E. He would get her a Barbie as long as she promised that she would not think she had to look like her.
We drove up to Iowa City after returning from the North Pole to stay the night at Steve and Jacqueline’s After the kids went to sleep we had a nice time talking. In the morning the kids were running all over. Above, they took some time playing with the piano.
We headed back earlier to have time to put up the Christmas lights outside. Good timing. Within a couple hours of finishing, it started to snow pretty hard. E and I were outside putting up the lights when we got a sign of the storm coming. A couple of very large flocks of geese flew over the house. Our neighbor, who is a hunter, said that those geese know something and are in a big hurry to get away from it. It snowed enough the coming week that I seriously considered getting a snow blower. 