Said this morning after Tom throws the dogs outside in frustration:
“Dad, we just need to return them to the grocery store and get some new dogs.”
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Return and exchange policy
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Sunday morning bath
When your children wake up at 6:30am on a Sunday morning, you find yourself in desperate need of activities. After eating leftover blueberry compote, we decided that both kids probably needed a bath. What a fabulous way to kill time! Neko was in there for almost an hour.
We also discovered that the bathroom at 8am has amazing natural light, and if we ever open a photo studio, it will have to be in the loo.
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Advent calendar
This year we’ve been doing a Playmobil Advent Calendar with Neko. This year’s theme…”Christmas in the Park”. I swear, this might be the best $15 I ever spent. If they had an advent calendar that went 365 days a year, I would be so in. Every morning Neko bounces out of bed demanding to open the next box.
This morning we opened a little brown dog. Together we surveyed the contents of the box.
“Look, that dog has a coat!” I said.
“And a penis,” she replied.
And so he does. Kinda gives a whole new meaning to the term “weiner dog”.
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Gingerbread
Neko is sorely in need of one-on-one time these days. On an unexpected snow day, my parents took Shep for a few hours and we made gingerbread people. (She has been a little obsessed with all things Christmas since introducing her to one of my childhood favorites, “The Sweet Smell of Christmas.”)
Okay, I made gingerbread people while Neko rolled her dough out over and over and over in between eating big pieces of it.
In between, we went outside in our coats and pajamas and checked out our first snowfall of the year. It is SO COLD out there. Winter has arrived with a resounding thud.
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Sock snowmen
I’m really trying to add some structure to the day. Until we make a decision about preschool or new activities, we’ve got three days a week that are wiiiide open with no plans. So I’m trying to plan activities. Kate introduced me to the Family Fun website, so I scoured the site for a good activity. Neko is totally into the holidays, so I decided snowmen would be a hit.
However, I can’t seem to do things exactly like they want me to…I just want to improve things here and there. So based on the Sock Snowfolk instructions (with a few modifications), we made our snowmen. They’re super-cute, and I’m still thinking of a few little improvements, but I give this activity a thumbs up for the three and over set. (Shep just wanted to eat the rice.)
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Oooo, pretty!
Finally documented. All our ornaments (other than the new Xmas balls) were kidnapped by Neko and crammed onto her three-foot tall artificial tree.
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Junior architect
This afternoon Neko demanded that we build Disneyland out of blocks. I helped her by building the foundation with about six blocks, but then she quickly jumped in and took over.
I have to admit, I’m pretty impressed with her composition and symmetry.
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Grouchy
I’m having one of those days that if one more child whines or cries at me, I’m putting them both out on the curb and hoping that someone nicer than me picks them up.
Or even better, someone really grouchy who doesn’t think of fun projects and make delicious organic lunches that they will appreciate someday when they don’t have heart failure at the age of 32. And maybe that person will serve them lunch on moldy dishes and make them dress in stinky clothes, because heaven forbid they give me five seconds to clean and do laundry.
And while I’m at it, I hope you kids have pulled together one helluva Xmas bonus for me, because frankly, I HAVE EARNED IT.
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Decorating
I was going to get all these amazing shots of the family decorating the Christmas tree. But honestly, in between Shep undecorating the tree almost faster than we could decorate and Neko trying to sneak off with candy canes, there wasn’t too much of a chance. Sometimes kids are just way too wiggly.
So, my children, when you ask where all the picturesque tree-trimming photos are, you only have yourselves to blame. Now please stop lobbing ornaments at one another.
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O, Christmas Tree
Neko is beyond excited about Christmas this year. Seriously, she’s been talking about it since July. So when she realized it was actually getting a bit closer, thanks to the decorations in every store, she began to get ansty. When were we getting a tree? When would we see Santa? When would there be snow? I have no control over the weather, and I think we’re going to hold out on visiting the big guy until I need an ace up my sleeve…but a tree? That we can do.
We ceremoniously waited until the day after Thanksgiving, and then visited a great tree farm where we found the perfect tree. (We also picked up one for my parents, in case you notice two trees on top of the car.) The hardest part of the day was explaning to Neko that mad-scientist dad insists on soaking the tree for 24 hours in some fire-proofing solution, so we’d have to decorate tomorrow.
Plied with candy canes, we got her to agree. And Shep was just excited to throw the ball ornaments across the room for hours on end.