Fresh Powder

Helpin' a sister out

Just when the weather really had us down, it gave us a reason to smile.  When Birdie went down for her nap, Ted and Joe headed off to the Metrodome for TwinsFest.  Julie headed upstairs and about two hours later, when she went back downstairs, she was surprised to see a steady, heavy, and beautiful snow falling.  She texted Ted to let him know, and he texted back that he'd promised Joe sledding.  Sledding!  Whee!  By the time the Boys were home, Birdie was up and both Birds were suited up and ready.

We drove over to the sledding hill near the neighborhood park and quickly figured out that Ted is a little too heavy to go far or fast.  Also, Clara is too little to go by herself on the pink sled Santa brought her.  So by the time we'd made a few runs, we'd settled into Clara riding solo in the little red sled, Joe riding solo in the silver sled, Julie riding--solo--in the pink, and Ted coasting down about half way on the snowboard, at which point he'd get up and haul Clara back up.  There were, of course, some moments of consternation.  We were, after all, still sledding with a toddler and a pre-schooler.  The bummer of sledding, of course, is walking back up the hill with the sled.  But most moments of consternation revolved around counting off ready-set-go in just the right way.  When you are four, there is really only one way.  When you are two, you know, maybe it also goes ready-set!  And maybe you go on the set.  Maybe you also count up for your countdown, like "Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, twelve, thirteen."  And then you go.  Really.  What's a four-year-old boy with very exacting sensibilities to do?

Still, there was plenty of fun.  You can catch some of it here, and here.

Radio Silence Reason Revealed

Fans, we have been radio silent because two of us have been sick.  Julie arrived home on Wednesday to find the bambini on the couch tucked up under a blanket watching Cars.  By that time, she was feeling plain awful, so she sank right down between them, and they wordlessly shared their blanket.  It a real, proper sick day moment!  Sitting on the couch, under a blanket, staring mindlessly at the TV.

Clara has also had a cold, and informed Ted that night that her left ear hurt.  So Julie took both bambini to visit Dr. Harrington the following afternoon.  Only Clara got the once over though.  She's an active participant in the examinations now.  She told Dr. Harrington that her left ear hurt, by pointing to that ear.  Clara also noted that yes, her throat hurt, but not her head, and not her tummy.  And, oh o-kay.  Maybe yeah, now that you mention it, her other ear maybe hurt, too.  Turns out, her right ear was infected.  Left, right, this one, that one. . .It was an ear though.

The Birds are on the mend, but neither is at full flapping strength.  It's a drag, Fans!

Our Hero, Our Fish!

As you know, Fans, Joe has been taking swimming lessons again for a few months now.  These are the real deal, meaning that he's in the pool without a parent and it's as much about learning actual skills as it is about comfort in the water.  Ted shot this video this past Saturday.  The main action, as you will see, is his plunge to the bottom of the pool to collect the goggles and rings, but at the end, check out how he swims the short distance back to the wall from the instructor!  With his face in the water and the whole bit!

Gone (Ice) Fishin'

The Christmas before last, Joe asked Santa for a fishing pole.  Before he got his real fishing pole from Aunt Kate and Uncle Scott after that, but before this past Christmas, Santa obliged Joe by bringing him a toy fishing pole with ten different colored fish, all of which fit together in a compact tackle box.  You've seen Our Hero fishing with it in the whale pool in the summer.  These days, ice fishing is the order of that day.  In our ongoing efforts to stave off boredom yesterday, Ted did not build an ice house, but he did fill the bathtub up with water and deck the bambini out in their snow bibs, coats, hats, and gloves or mittens, so they could go ice fishing in the bathroom.  (There may also have been some fishing in a man-made pond in the sink.)

 

Ring Toss

Fans: it's cold!  Holy ka-shoosh, as Our Hero would say.  We stayed in yesterday and attempted to make that seem like more fun than it might otherwise be by anointing it a Pajama Day.  We staved off cabin fever in part the day with the first of our Kiwi Crates which arrived just in the nick of time in Saturday's post.  (One can also stave off cabin fever by going about and attempting to speak like one lives at the turn of the century and call, for example, the mail, the post.  That's not what we did, but it is a possibility.)  A Kiwi Crate is a little green box that arrives monthly, packed with everything you need for a fun project that promises to inspire creativity and learning.  Aunt Kate and Uncle Scott got Joe and Clara a subscription for Christmas.  They are awesome--oh, the Kiwi Crates and Aunt Kate and Uncle Scott.  (Also Ted who heard about them somewhere and knew they would be right up Aunt Kate and Uncle Scott's gift-giving alley.)

Our first Kiwi Crate contained two projects.  We did one and are saving the other for next weekend.  We made our own ring toss!  Sort of like Skee-Ball and we think we can all agree that Skee-Ball rocks.  Joe, for his part, rocked the ring toss.  At least until he got some caught up in the excitement of it all that he was no longer rocking it, lacking the requisite modicum of focus.  But we can say, without a doubt, that the Kiwi Crate delivered all it promised: fun, creativity, and learning.

Our Hero, in action.

Our Hero recording his latest triumph (we were playing to fill the whole card until the excitement overtook Our Hero).

This was where and how Joe liked to stand when it wasn't his turn.  We mentioned that he was really excited, right?

Friends and family box.