Home Bound by Snow

It has been quite a week in the DFW area. On Monday night of last week, we got a tremendous amount of rain followed by plummeting temperatures and snow. The streets have been a slick mess ever since. Day by day, school was cancelled. At this point we have been homebound for five days! I've learned some things in these five days:

1. I do not give my kids nearly enough credit for the wonderful people that they are. They have been so well behaved. They haven't complained about being bored. They've shared the computer. They've played well together.

2. We can survive without a television. We didn't even turn it on the first day. We've watched a little tv in the evenings as a family, but by and large none of us have vegged in front of the tv all day. We've played cards. We've played indoor hide-and-seek. We've played in the snow. We've cuddled by the fire.

3. It is possible to get sore from SITTING too long. After a few days on demand exercise TV and a snow shovel became welcome forms of movement.

4. I am capable of preparing every. single. meal. we eat for 2 solid weeks. We've only been home bound by snow for 1 week, but we haven't eaten out ONCE in two weeks. I don't think the Griffin family has ever , since it's establishment in 1997, gone this long without gracing a restaurant.

5. We can keep the house clean even when we don't leave for days on end. This is perhaps our biggest accomplishment this week. :)

This week has gone better than I ever would have dreamed, but I have said that we ARE GOING OUT TO DINNER tonight! I am DONE with this house.

Practically Bilingual

I was doing laundry tonight when Brenna walks in and confidently announces, "I am practically bilingual!"

I said, "Do you even know what bilingual means?"

"Yes, it means I know two Spanishes."

"Don't you mean two languages?"

"Yes!"

"But, honey, you don't know Spanish."

"Yes I do. See.... somblelo angero!" (with a rolled r and everything!)
 
I just love her confidence in herself, even when she is speaking a nonsensical language that only sounds like Spanish. She makes me laugh every day.

A Girl and Her Dog

Brenna is a HUGE animal lover. We got Polly about a year ago, and she is Brenna's playmate on many of the days that Brenna doesn't have school. Today, Polly played the role of baby.

It's a good thing she's a very patient dog.

Daddy, Daughter Dance

Our church hosted a Daddy, Daughter Dance at the end of October. My parents were already planning on coming that weekend, so Ella called Papa to invite him to come to the dance with Scott and the girls. Everyone was so excited. The girls got to wear pretty dresses, and we curled their hair. Their dates dressed up in their nice ties and dressy clothes. The girls had a wonderful time. Ella spent the evening dancing with Daddy. Brenna spent the evening sitting at the table with Papa gorging herself on all the desserts the church provided. Both girls were happy as a pig in a poke. :)

Here's a picture of everyone dressed up in their finery:

Halloween

I was so excited this Halloween to have a Princess-free costume buying experience. Brenna chose to be Jessie from Toy Story, and Ella chose to be Hannah Montana. Ella really just wanted a wig to wear. :) The girls had a blast Trick-or-Treating and have been gorging themselves on candy every afternoon for a week now.

I made Brenna's Jessie wig from instructions that I found at Family Fun magazine. It was incredibly easy for those of you who might want to do something like that in the future!

My little Hannah Montana even has some sass to those hips. Goodness!

Thank goodness all this candy is almost gone! I guess Brenna was just exhausted by this point. She looks furious to be surrounded by her yummy goodness.

Back Again

I have a wonderful sister-in-law, who along with my brother has created the cutest nephew a girl could ask for. My sister-in-law, Casey, is fantastically creative! And what better for a fantastically creative new mom to do than start her own blog. Which led to an admonishment from a proud Papa! Said admonishment was given to yours truly for not keeping up with my own blogging.


Apparently, all the updated pictures of my adorable nephew have left the grandparents in need of more pictures of their adorable (if I do say so myself) granddaughters. If nothing else, I feel very loved by the fact that my dad specifically asked me to update my blog so he could see pictures of the girls. Thank you, Casey, for giving me a reason to put up a blog post. :) It also gives me a reason to upload the more than THREE HUNDRED (yes that is correct 300+) pictures that have been hanging out on my digital camera for over EIGHT MONTHS. YIKES! Apparently, I've fallen down on more than one computer task.

So, without further ado...the girls

Proud Moment

Ella had a friend over today,and they were making chocolate milk. I told them to not use too much chocolate syrup. Ella's friend said, "My mom always says the same thing! But then, when she's not looking I'm like..." And she pantomimed squirting the bottle really hard and for a long time.

Ella responded, "Oh, we're not allowed to do that. If we get caught doing something my mom has already told us not to do, then we get in even bigger trouble because I already KNOW it is wrong." I think a little sun beam shone down on her head at that moment. She does listen and choose to obey...at least some of the time. I've always known she wasn't a kid who hides things, but to hear her articulate her understanding of how sneaky behavior gets you in bigger trouble made me really proud of her. It's good to know that at least one of the lessons we are trying to teach her is sticking.

Jingle Bells Brenna Style

Jingle bells,
jingle bells,
jingle all the way.
Go muh fun it is to ride,
go yourself and play.
HEY!

Let it SNOW!

WOW! It's been almost a year since I've posted. That's really quite sad, because Brenna has had a year of cuteness as she grows up and learns to express herself. Ella has had quite a year of accomplishment in her schooling.

We had snow today! The girls were so excited. I hate that it will be gone before Ella gets home from school. Ella wore her rain boots to school, and got to play in the snow for a bit while she was waiting for the bus.

Brenna also went outside to play. She wore her coat, hat, rain boots and "puppets" (mittens) so she wouldn't get too cold. She made a Christmas tree out of snow, and she was so pleased with herself. It's basically a big blob that is shaped something like a triangle--emphasis on the "something like." She told me she wanted to play with the snow "before it all winds away."

Su-MET-i-mus

I have really enjoyed watching the process of Ella learning to read. Ella was reading to Scott before bed the other night, and she was trying to sound out a word she was unfamiliar with. Su-MET-i-mus known to the rest of us as sometimes. I just think it is precious!

I can't resist the mom brag here either. Ella had a reading assessment done today. We had a conference in October at the end of the first six weeks of school. At that time Ella's teacher wrote, "Goals for Ella: Reading at a level 8-10 by end of year." During her assessment today, Ella passed the level 10 reading assessment. The only reason her teacher didn't test her at an 11 is because she didn't read quite as quickly as she needed to because she takes time to sound out the words. She also doesn't show as much comprehension of details as her teacher would like to see before moving her up a level. She understands the story, but she doesn't remember all the small details because she's concentrating more on figuring out the words. I am SOOOOOO proud of her!

Pudding Face

Couldn't you just eat her up?

SO Proud of Ella

Today at school Ella and a friend were written up during art class for talking and not paying attention. During their evening chat Ella mentioned to Scott that when Mrs. Webster had turned her back the friend had thrown away the write up notice so that her mom wouldn't find out about their behaviour. In contrast to that, Ella walked through the front door, went straight into Scott's office and immediately handed him the note. While we are disappointed that she didn't obey her teacher, we are so proud that she didn't follow the actions of her friend. I told her tonight that I was proud of her for having the courage to make a good decision and for showing a good heart in telling us the truth. She can be a follower, so the fact that she decided to do what was right even when doing the wrong thing was easy really, really impressed me.

Here Baby

I tackled Mt. Washmore today...well almost. I've been doing laundry all day long with only two loads to go. When Ella got home from school we decided to have some friends over to play. It's a great excuse to take a break from laundry! LOL

Brenna spent time with my friend's baby taking her paci in and out of her mouth. Thank goodness the baby was VERY easy going about the whole thing.

Mt. Washmore

It never ceases to amaze me how much work it is to prepare for going on vacation. Can someone please explain to me how the laundry manages to breed while we are gone? Tonight is the beginning and tomorrow is the true excursion. Mt. Washmore will be conquered.

Pig Tails and Dog Ears

Ella asked me to braid her hair before bed tonight. So of course, Brenna had to get in on the fun. You know that for every pretty picture that is taken that has to be at least one (or 10) bad ones taken. Tonight's little picture taking excursion included the beginnings of a fist fight...ahhhh kids.

Swing Sweet Nice 'n Gayle, Swing Sweet Nice 'n Gayle

If you've watched the movie Cinderella, you've seen the scene where she is wearing a kerchief on her head and singing, "Sing sweet nightingale, Sing sweet nightingale." Brenna put this wash cloth one her head and told us it was her "Swing sweet nice 'n gayle" cloth. She proceeded to sing the song with those same lyrics.

Pajama Day

There are some really cool blogs out there where people have made a New Year's Resolution to post a picture every single day and blog about it. So here goes my attempt.

[No, you are not allowed to yell at me, tut-tut at me, or even secretly roll your eyes when I fail to follow through with this!]

We spent New Year's at Wheezer and Popper's house. Wheezer declared New Year's Day as Pajama Day. We spent the day lazing around in our pajamas just hanging out together. I love days like that, but boy does it feel nice to get up and dressed and around the next day. Here are the girl's lounging together in Wheezer's bed. You can see that Ella gave up on Pajama Day and decided to get dressed anyway.

Toilet Water

I ate with Ella at school today. She gets a treat every Thursday when I'm at school if she has gotten stickers for the week for her behavior. Today she chose Cheetos.

After lunch she and her friend went to the bathroom so Ella could wash her hands. Ella came up to me afterwards and in a very indignant tone declared, "MOM! My friend took toilet paper and dipped it in the toilet water and then WIPED MY MOUTH with it to get the Cheetos off my mouth!"

I think my eyes bugged straight out of my head! I said, "WHY didn't you run away? Ohmygosh! Come with me right now." I took her into the bathroom and lathered my hands up really good and scrubbed her face clean. Then we went and found her friend and had a chat about how gross it was to a) stick her hands in the toilet and b) clean someone's face with toilet water. I sent her to wash her hands.

It just bamboozles me why the perfectly good (and surely more sanitary) sink wouldn't have worked as a source of water. Kids are just gross! It took a lot of will power to kiss the poor kid on the mouth today.

Election Overload

You know you have listened to too much election coverage when your two-year-old says, "That Obama on the radio. What that Obama do now?"

Puppets and Smashmallows

I just love the creativity of a two-year-old. This morning it was in the 40's when we walked Ella to school, so I put mittens on Brenna's hands. She stuck her hands in and said, "Mommy, are these my puppets?" She then proceeded to have her hands "talk" to one another. When we got home she asked me to take her puppets off her hands.

Another Brennaism is to eat smashmallows--known to the rest of the world as marshmallows. She does, in fact, love to smash them before she eats them, so the name is fitting.

Ella the Little Mommy

I was taking a shower this afternoon while the girls were outside playing. Ella came in while I was in the shower and got Brenna's 'ket out of my bed. A few minutes later she came back into the bathroom and said, "OK. Brenna is down for her nap."

Wha'aat?

Brenna was acting tired, so Ella got her out of her swing and brought her inside the house. Ella took Brenna to her bed, found Brenna a doll and her 'ket, and tucked her in for her nap. Brenna got out of bed once and Ella said to her, "Brenna, get back into bed. It's your naptime." Astonishingly, Brenna went back to bed. By the time I got out of the shower, Brenna was snoozing peacefully.

I don't know if I should be worried that Ella was so easily in charge or proud that she was sweet to Brenna and responsible towards her at the same time. Honestly, I am most astonished that Brenna did what Ella said. She must have been REALLY TIRED!

Brenna is a Big Girl!

Brenna was in a diaper all day on Saturday while we were out and about, and she only had one accident all day long. She asked to go the bathroom every other time she needed to go. She has been in panties every day since then! It was such an easy transition for her. I am so proud! She's still in diapers at nap and nighttime, but when she's awake she is in panties full time. Big Girl!!!!

The Beginning of Potty Training?

I tried to potty train Brenna few months ago, but she would not go in the potty. She could complete every step of the process with no assistance whatsoever, but she wouldn't actually GO. I put it on hold figuring we would try again at Christmas when she was out of school for several weeks.

She loves to wear this specific diaper that has Blue (from Blue's Clues) holding a toy airplane. Yesterday, Brenna's eyes suddenly got really big and she said, "UH-OH! I goin' in my airpane!" Then she proceeded to pull down her pants, rip of her diaper and declare, "See! It's all wet."

The closest thing was a pull-up, so I put her in a dry pull-up. There was absolutely no thought process to this action at all. It was most convenient.

About an hour later Brenna screamed, "I have to go tee-tee in the potty." She ran to the bathroom, climbed up on the stool, pulled down her pants and what do you know? She did it! WOO-HOO!!! Potty dance! I gave her a sucker for a reward. We sang the "You went tee-tee on the potty," celebration song.

About 45 minutes later, she did it all again. I put her in panties at that point just to see how she would do. Lo and behold, she stayed dry all morning. I put her in a pull-up for nap, but she did not want to sleep in it. When she woke up, I put her back in her panties. She didn't do quite so well. She had two accidents, but each time she stopped herself and finished in the potty.

This morning Scott tried to put her in panties for school, but she flat-out refused. She did however, go in the potty three times at school today. She had two accidents, and finished in the potty.

She's in panties at home again this afternoon. I'm cautiously optimistic. We might be saying good-bye, adios, ta-ta to diapers. That will mean that sippie cups are the last vestige of babyhood in my house. YEE HAW!

Every. Single. Saturday.

Monday through Friday, Ella's alarm clock wakes the girls up at 6:30 AM. Monday through Friday, Brenna comes into my room and says in a mildly irritated tone, "That awarm cah-lock woke up dis morning." Every Friday night I go to sleep with the blissful notion that tomorrow is Saturday and the girls (and by default Scott and I) are going to be able to sleep late. But, every single Saturday Brenna wakes up at 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning! She came into my room this morning bawling at the top of her lungs. What is that? The one morning that nothing beeps to wake her up she wakes up earlier and crankier than any other morning of the week. It always takes several minutes to get her settled back into her bed with the notion of going back to sleep. The strangest part is, I go to bed every Friday night with that same blissful notion of uninterrupted sleep.

Play Room Reorganization

Our playroom has been a disaster pretty much since the day we had mobile children. Having moved to a neighborhood where there are regularly anywhere between two to five visiting children, it has gone from disaster to state of emergency! As you can see from the pictures, it was time for a drastic reorganization.







Thanks to a bunch of different sized storage bins and a new policy of playing with the contents of one bin at a time the toy room is much improved. Ella has gotten so good at cleaning up after herself, that it took me less than two minutes to clean up a few random items that missed a bin before taking the "after" pictures.

Consumer Debt? Already?

Brenna just got a toy credit card out of a toy purse and said, "Wook, Mommy. Here's your money!"

I think we need to cut up her "cards" now! Think it's too early for a two-year-old to understand the Dave Ramsey "FREEDOM!!!!" scream?

A Splash in Reality

I took a dip in a stream today. It was totally unplanned, and I was totally unprepared. Scott and I took the kids to Dinosaur Valley State Park today. I packed extra clothes for the kids. Ella insisted that she wanted to take her rain boots instead of her crocs. Then she begged and begged and begged to get in the stream. Being practical minded adults, we kept telling her no because the water would come over the top of her boots. Finally, I relented and said I would help her across a shallow part. Well, it got deeper than her boots. I picked her up to help her across the deep part and as you can imagine DOWN we went! I was very irritated. I was irritated with myself for not having clothes for me. I was irritated with Ella for insisting she needed to wear her boots. Then I was again irritated with myself for not insisting she bring her crocs. I was irritated at Scott that he had gone ahead with Brenna, and he wasn't there to help. We got to the car and reality came crashing down on my heart.

I was so busy being a practical minded adult, that I forgot to let my kids simply be kids. I forgot to laugh at the fact that we were soaking wet in a stream in front of an entire cub scout troop. I forgot that since we were already wet, it was the perfect chance to splash around and get even wetter.

I burst into tears when I got to the car at how badly I had handled such a simple situation. After a heartfelt talk, Scott and I have decided that we are going to take outings and focus on FUN. We started out our day with the wrong focus. The focus was simply to fill our day--not to have fun. We are going to try to do a better job of embracing the childhood that our children should have. We are going to join our children in their fun. We are going to be parents that they remember fondly because we have fun with them. Sometimes, I guess it takes a splash of reality to point out the weaknesses in your life.

Handwriting, Reading, Dinner and Dessert

Ella has been complaining that she doesn't want to go to school because it is boring. The teacher and I met this afternoon to have a conference and try to figure out how to help Ella develop a positive attitude about school. By talking to Ella and talking with each other we've learned three things.

1. Ella loves to read, and she loves anything to do with reading.
2. Ella is a little overwhelmed by her choices with math stations.
3. Ella hates handwriting practice because it is "boring and too hard."

Handwriting usually occurs first thing in the morning, so Ella is reluctant to go to school because she knows she has to start her day with the task she finds least enjoyable. After school, I was talking to her about it and I said, "You know, the good thing about handwriting being in the morning is that you know that as soon as it's over, the rest of your day is filled with stuff that you like to do more."

Ella said, "Kind of like dinner and dessert. I don't always like to eat dinner, but I have to eat a good dinner to eat dessert. So handwriting is like dinner, and reading is like dessert."

I Fick It Myself

This morning Brenna came into Scott, proudly held up her waffle and announced, "Look Daddy! I fick it myself." She ate some more of it and then said, "It's cold." Scott took it from her and sure enough, it was freezing cold.

S: Where did you get this from?
B: I fick it myself. Come on, Daddy, I show you.

She walked into the kitchen, pulled open the freezer drawer, pulled out the wrapper and said, "Wight here." She did, in fact, fix it herself. It was just completely frozen. I guess she didn't like the toasted version that was sitting on her plate ready to be eaten.

The Naked Swinger

Earlier today I found the back door like this:


When I went into the backyard Brenna was swinging without her shirt on:


Or maybe with no clothes on at all!!!!


She's so proud of herself.


You know, they used to call Uncle Lane the Naked Avenger when he was in college (yes, it is a hilarious story). I think we can blame this one on him!

Swinging in the Rain

Swinging in the rain,
Just swinging in the rain,
What a glorious feeling,
I'm happy again!



Brenna cuddling with Daddy after the rain:


Gotta love kiddo giggles:

Kindy Sickies Strike

Apparently, Kindergarten sickies can strike anyone even if they have been in Mother's Day Out for the past four years. Poor little Ella is sick. She has croup. She has an ear infection. She has a throat infection. They didn't even bother to run a strep culture because she had to have an antibiotic for her ear infection anyway. She's on three different medications and can't return to school until Wednesday at the earliest.

At least she's been peaceful to deal with:

Riding the Bus

Ella sprang it on me this morning that she wants to ride the bus home from school. YIKES! I'm so not ready for this independence. However, I found her bus number and sent her to school with a note to let the teacher know she'd be riding the bus.

Here comes the bus!



Here she is this afternoon getting off.



She loved riding the bus, but I really missed picking her up after school. She told me that she's going to ride the bus every day and the mornings too. I vetoed the morning idea. She has to be ready quite a bit earlier, and I wouldn't get to walk her to school. I'm going to let her ride in the afternoons if she wants, but I hope the novelty wears off soon. I really missed picking her up from school today.

Herding Cats

I volunteered at school yesterday, and I was able to help Ella's teacher get some materials prepared for future lessons. I was in and out of the classroom all day. It is like herding cats to direct a classroom full of 19 kindergartners all day. Mrs. Webster has the patience of a saint and a song about every activity. They have songs about how to sit in circle time, songs about how to walk in the hall, songs about listening.

Even the simple act of walking down the hall is excruciating. Those little children can't walk a strait line to save their lives. They giggle and talk. They twirl in circles. They get out of line to run their hands along the wall. They simply stop, turn around and talk to the person behind them. And all the while, Mrs. Webster is as calm as can be trying to get them to walk down the hall in a simple line. I watched a group of first graders today. At some point the lessons do actually sink in because those kids actually understood the principle of walking quietly down the hall in a line.

Now for an Ella brag, Mrs. Webster told me that she is doing tremendously well with her reading. She said she could tell that I had obviously worked at teaching her to read. I'd love to take credit for that, but the things Ella knows about reading she has pretty much figured out on her own! I was very pleased to hear that she is doing well in that area though. Now, if we can just keep her talking under control. I told her that if she came home with good behaviour reports all week that she could pay for a special dessert treat in the cafeteria each Friday. Apparently, I can even put a restriction of no desserts except on Friday on her account.