A Snowy Day

It's a gale out there here in the Great White North, Fans. A heavy, wet snow has been falling since around noon with up to nine inches of accumulation promised. Ted was already home when Julie arrived with the bambini who wanted to head right back out in their snow gear. Ted went out with them.  Berenice was in the back yard.

Julie realized she was in the house all by herself.  It was so quiet.  And you know how the world seems that much quieter when snow is falling on it? So she sat herself down in one of the chairs in the front room with her book to read.

But she glanced up now and then at the scene framed in the window: Ted was busy, with Birdie's assistance, building a snow family, complete with a snow Berenice. Julie also noticed Joe, off to the side, lounging in the snow (eating it--eating snow is big these days). Well it all made her smile, Fans.

Because there are some days where she's a little early to pick up Clara. There is no such thing for Joe but for Birdie, who loves the end-of-the-day storytime in pre-K, it is entirely possible to be too early. On such days, Julie will pick Joe up from school and take him home. They make the short ride in companionable silence--not even the radio on--and then orbit about the house in the same until eventually, Joe--it's usually Joe--will gently break it with some pronouncement about his day like, "We did chicken wings in gym." (Chicken wings are bounce passes in basketball when you are in kindergarten.) They are, as Aunt Kate recently noted, two peas in a pod--happy peas, in a quiet pod. So it made Julie's heart to observe her son outside tuck into his own pocket of quiet, while  inside, Julie snuggled into her own.

While Clara flittered about in her own happy hum of activity and Ted built a snow family up, not unlike--forgive us some sappiness, Fans--he does his real family.  The snow people do not yet have eyes and such.  Later, over a dessert of Oreos, Birdie said, "Never ever put Oreos there [for your snow people's eyes] or birds will eat them. . .Or a monster."

And it was all so good, on a snowy day.

Birdie Makes Like Bob Costas

Birdie Brigade, Birdie was diagnosed with pink eye this morning.  It came on fast--it wasn't there when we were all leaving the house, and then it was when Ted was dropping her off--or not--at the KinderCare.  Ted texted that he would "just deal with it," and so he did after going to Starfoxes for donuts with the bambini which Julie said is exactly what she would have done.  Thus fortified, Joe was dropped at school and Ted and Birdie headed to the doctor's for the official diagnosis.  Then they of course trooped off to Target for the eye drops.  Birdie scored some fashions to match her eyes.  Spending the day with Daddy got top billing in her daily doings report, but the acquisition of the pink sun hat, tiara, wand, and princess gloves was not far behind.  It's worth noting that she also got to go sledding (in temperatures over 35 degrees!) with Joe and Ted.  That's no pink sun hat though.

Birdie's Latest Conference

Typical weekend get-up.  Berenice would like to know when she can order the same ensemble.
You can't see it, but there's a pink be-hearted tulle petticoat underneath what you do see.
(Grandma Connie may recognize Clara's topmost dress as a lovely silk shell from Talbot's that she got for Julie seven or eight years ago.)  

This past week brought us Clara's "spring" parent-teacher conference with her teacher Mr. Joe. We learned that she's on track to move up to pre-K (!!!!!) at summer's end when the current pre-Kers head off the kindergarten.  We saw how vastly Clara's writing has improved--smaller and more controlled letters; how many more letters she recognizes--the lowercase g continues to be troublesome and X because how often do you meet an X?; and how many more numbers she recognizes--things fall apart after 13. We also learned that she is a rule follower and the chief rule enforcer in the room after Mr. Joe and Ms. Lindsay. Remarkably, she is still loved by her classmates. When Julie asked what Clara's favorite thing to do was, he said--and we quote--"Ohhh, we looove home living." Home living is the area where you'll find the dress-up clothes and whatever other unit-related accoutrements there might be with which to construct various imagined scenarios. Of course Birdie loves the home living area! Birdie Brigade, the girl is in and out of all her princess gear and what all as often as is practicable--and, frankly, impracticable. She also loves story time. At the end of the day, if Julie or Ted arrives to pick her up in the midst of the end-of-day story time, she will announce--not ask, mind you--that she's going to stay until the book is finished. So Our Birdie continues to unfold. We can't wait see what happens next.

Strap on your goggles, Brigade, and don't leave home without your tulle.

President's Day 2014

Little boy, big snow.

Just after Valentine's Day, when you think February can't get much better, President's Day rolls around.  Ted reports that Friday evening found Our Hero blabbing on about Barak Obama's birthday on Monday. When you are five-and-a-half, your birthday is the biggest day of the year after Christmas, so you can see how such a mind might assume that President's Day was just an extra special way of saying the President's birthday. Especially when you don't have school.

Birdie's school was also closed, and there was a big snow overnight! Julie had taken the day off and ted decided to work from home rather than slog in through the snow.  So the day held all kinds of promise. In addition to the usual running about in pajamas, underwear, princess costumes, capes, and assorted dress up clothes--just the bambini, Fans!--Julie took them to the open art studio space at Kiddywampus.* Sand art was big again (heightened glue supervision required but not always achieved) as was paint mixing to make different colors. She also took them to Starfoxes because the morning hot chocolate run had netted receipt-coupons for $1 pasteries after 2pm. Needless to say, we did some walking about in the snow which was also good times.

Happy President's Day!

*Local Fans may be interested to know that Kiddywampus is moving to a new space in Hopkins across from the Stages theater at the end of March. They will reopen there April 1. The spaces will be bigger apparently. Their current building--as well as the one next door which houses that fab design collective, Guild, and fun home store, Ciel--is being demolished. !!!!! (Must visit Guild and Ciel soon to find out where they are going.) We are sad we won't be able to walk there anymore, and tried to get excited about more parking.

Turns out, they also host MacPhail music classes there! Not on the weekends (maybe in the supposedly enormous new space?); only during the week. We saw Teacher Cheryl! Do you remember her, Fans?! Holy bonkers did she love Our Birdie. Birdie was entranced by the music class going on. She does love to get down.

Touching the top of the stop sign.

As tall as the stop sign.

From Our Hearts to Yours

Valentine's Day! We have been looking forward to it here at the Minnesota White House since December 26. It did not disappoint. The bambini received valentines from all their grandparents and, from Julie, books that were waiting for them on the table by their breakfast places: a Fancy Nancy for Clara and a Bearenstain Bears for Joe. (Well, we love books, too, after all.) Both of their classes had parties. In the midst of discussing them, Julie realized and remarked that there was a Brandon in both Joe's class and Clara's class. That's when Joe said--without missing a beat--"And you know who loves Brandon?!?! Coralee!!!" Doesn't that make your heart smile, Fans? Clara said the boys in her class love everyone, which also makes your heart smile. Go here for more moments to make your heart smile.

Happy Valentine's Day, Fans! We love you!

Watching the Olympics

#Gold

Mind Reading

Ted asked Joe tonight at dinner if he had had Spanish today, and this is what Joe said: "YES. You read my brain!!!"

Super Mitten Sunday

As longtime Fans know, periodically, Joe takes Julie to the theater.  Today, they went to see The Mitten, staged as a 45 minute ballet.  It was sunny, but the temperature was still in the low double digits, so they did not swing through the McDonald's drive-thru for shakes as is their usual custom.  (That's what happens when your first date--or one of them anyway--is when McDonald's in menuing the shamrock shake.)  They did stop at Byerly's where Joe got to select a package of Oreos from all of the arrayed Oreo options.  (We won't leave you hanging, Fans: he chose mint Oreos.)  The Mitten was fun, in part because Julie amused Joe by referring to "the theater" in a British accent, and in part because during the performance, there were children all around familiar with the story whispering things like, "It's a mouse!  A mouse is next!"*

When Julie asked Joe if he liked it, he said, "Good."  This is his standard response if asked if he likes something.  He doesn't say he liked it; instead, he says "It was good," but without the lead in.  It's Joe-nacular.  When Julie asked him which of the animals he liked best, Joe replied, "All of them."  This, too, is typical.  He tends not to play favorites.  When first asked who he was going to root for in the Super Bowl, he said the Broncos and the Seahawks.  In the end, he did root for the Seahawks because that's where buddies Elsa, Anja, Wyatt, and Gavin live.  If he were still up though, he might switch allegiances because one sort of feels bad rooting against the poor Broncos at this point.  Their Bronco might need a mitten to snuggle in tonight.

*For our Fans unfamiliar with the story, a girl looses a mitten into which various woodland creatures cram themselves until one of them sneezes and they all come flying out, whereupon the girl finds her mitten, now terribly stretched out, and is left to wonder what went on.

What Mommies and Daughters Do

It has been another cold week here in the Great White North. It was so cold that Our Hero's school was closed again on Monday and Tuesday. Meanwhile, Birdie has had a cold that has made her cranky  and coughy and her skin that much more  dry. Friday night Julie was cranky because she had discovered that the Aquaphor was MIA. She was making do with some other lotion, rubbing it furiously on to Clara's chapped knuckles, when Birdie said to her, "Mommy, you do a lot." Julie said she supposed she did; that's what mommies do. That's when Clara threw her arms around Julie. Daughters do a lot, too, you know.