Category: Kids

Shh … be very quiet

It’s 7:20 a.m. and everyone is still asleep. Well, except me. Clearly. I’m awake and live blogging Christmas. I’ve had my coffee, I’ve worked out (yes, I know. I’m crazy like that), and now I’m partaking in a fine, fine vintage of Gatorade.

The kids were ping-ponging off the walls yesterday, Kyra especially. So, you’d think they’d be awake and at their stockings already this morning. Nope. A few days a year it’s nice that neither of my kids is a morning person. I’m hoping to get my shower in before they wake up.

The dog is snoozing and the cat is watching the cursor and the letters appear on the screen as I type. It’s kind of like having someone read over your shoulder. There. She just went for the word “shoulder.” But she didn’t catch it.

So for now the house is quiet and I’m going to enjoy the Christmas tree lights while it’s still dark out and listen to the gurgle of the coffee maker.

More let it snow!

But not the cozy, reading the anthology by John Green Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle. No, this let it snow:

andrewsnowy

It got a little wild out there yesterday. Speaking of which:

snowandleaves

Those are oak leaves. I’m not exactly sure where they came from. It wasn’t just the kids kicking up some random leaf pile from the woods at the side of our yard. (This is where we put our leaves. I don’t know what other people do with their leaves.)  Anyway, while I was driving around yesterday (because I’m crazy like that), I ran into other random oak leaf explosions. It was weird.

A few moments later, they were both tapping at the back deck door, all big eyes behind all that snow.

“We heard a dog bark,” Andrew said.

Yeah. That’s scary. But I guess with all the wind and leaves, it was a little freaky. So they came in and played with PlayDoh and Kyra invented a country called Unicorn Sisters, where only girls live.

It’s been a week

One filled with snowy slow commutes, arriving home at eight at night (or later), eating dinner at eight at night or later. Swim meets, bizarre trips to Jo-Ann fabrics to obtain last minute supplies for Family and Consumer Science class (yes, this is what they call Home Ec. these days).

And so on. Our week can best be summed up by Miss B:

On fighting with her brother:

Andrew knows I have a tender heart. That’s why I had to bite him.

On her ability to see in the dark:

I’m a good looker. I can see in black pitch.

Is it winter break yet?

The secret ingredient revealed

So this weekend-yesterday, actually-I baked banana bread and chocolate chip cookies. From scratch! I know. I’ll wait while the rest of you pick yourself up off the floor.

Actually, I like baking, as long as it’s not too complicated. Meals I’m pretty meh about. I mean, all that work, and it’s gone within thirty minutes, except for the mess. With baking, you can enjoy your efforts for at least twenty four hours or so, give or take.

Also, I cleared the clutter reorganized the kitchen, which makes it nice to bake in these days.

Miss B was all excited to help me bake cookies. Ever since I baked oatmeal raisin cookies with Andrew (a recipe from his Family and Consumer Science class), she wanted to bake her own cookies.

I was telling her something my mom told me about baking chocolate chip cookies-because cookies, along with 80s pop music, is cross-generational. Instead of butter, use shortening for better texture.

Miss B: What’s shortening?
Me: It’s fat.

A bit later, Bob wandered through and Miss B exclaimed:

Daddy! I know the secret to Mommy’s cookies and I’m not telling anyone at school. It’s a secret recipe and it’s FAT!

Now, doesn’t that sound appealing? I suppose I should be relieved she’s not telling her entire school that the secret ingredient is fat.

Here’s my whole point to this baking and cooking thing: why go all Martha Stuart when you can make your offspring ecstatically happy with a bag of Nestlé’s toll house morsels?

And fat. Don’t want to forget the secret ingredient.

Baby, it’s cold outside

The reason: It really is cold outside.

Why this particular version? Because nothing says Christmas like Zooey Deschanel singing in the shower and Will Ferrell in an elf costume?

Actually, it has to do with Andrew. The movie came out in 2003, when he was seven and Miss B was one. In the trailer, a little baby crawls into Santa’s sack, and then is spirited back to the North Pole.

He hated that trailer, hated the idea that the little baby was taken away from its family. He worried that Kyra would wake up on Christmas Eve, crawl into the living room, and the same thing might happen to her.

However, in the movie, the baby is an orphan and ends up being raised as an elf at the North Pole. Andrew enjoys the movie now and it’s pretty cute. Okay, so it’s not It’s a Wonderful Life, I still think casting Ed Asner as Santa is genius.

My (zero) hero

Last weekend, Andrew went with his Boy Scout troop (or at least some of them) on a winter survival camp out. Yes, that’s right. It’s winter. And after building shelters, they slept outside.

Not only that, but it dipped below zero. This is not cause for alarm, but celebration, because now he has his Zero Hero badge.

That’s right. Here in Minnesota, we reward people for sleeping outside in sub-zero temperatures. Not only that, we call it fun.

This, however, is the aftermath:

zerohero

After the camp out.

It should be noted that the cat did not actually exert herself. She took a nap anyway.

And the beat goes on

So, yesterday, Miss B and Bob came back from Home Depot. On the ride home, Kyra discovered a new song on the radio. Bob said, “Tell Mommy what you heard.” And Miss B sang:

Girls just want to have some fun!

That’s right. Cyndi Lauper was playing, specifically, this:

Girls Just Want to Have Fun (link only, I can’t embed it).

Check out the awesome choreography at the 1:30 mark. They dont’ make videos like that anymore. Because she enjoyed that so much, I introduced her to the Go-Go’s:

She really liked this one. Once Bob left the room, we danced around like Belinda Carlisle, which isn’t all that difficult but isn’t something you necessarily want others to see. All that was missing were the off-the-shoulder sweatshirts, leggings, and giant earrings.

Ah, 80s pop music–bridging generations.