Ohhhh the Evil Wind

The wind is back. Blowing amuck. Making it miserable to even go to the car. When will it ever stop?

Andrew and Emma

Emma came today and Andrew spent the first 30 minutes floating around the house on cloud nine. Emma has come over before and, given the gender difference, it always takes them a bit to get busy playing together. Emma LOVES baby dolls and everything that goes along with them. Andrew? Well, he's a sword wielding, monster slaying, bug/reptile collector. The two of them could not be more different with the exception of one common link. They are both avid animal lovers. The majority of the time they spend together is playing some sort of imaginary dog game and, as is customary in every man's life, Andrew is usually the dog. Crawling on hands and knees after Emma all over the house. It has truly given me a glimpse into his future with women.

As the afternoon wore on I thought it might be fun for the two of them to give the dog a bath.

Enter Butkus:

Butkus is a 12 year old Maltese that, up until the end of the summer, lived with my sister-in-law, Jennifer, and her mother in Champaign. Jennifer went off to college, her mother moved into an apartment, and so....Butkus came to live here. I have to be perfectly honest. I am not a small dog person. I am especially not a small dog who needs to be groomed regularly person. On the other hand, I have a heart and could not bear the thought of him going to a shelter for the last remaining years of his life. The kids love him. And so does our very strange cat.

Bath time was really very cute.

The kids were happy. Butkus....not so much.

And, of course, no dog bath would be complete without the help of the very strange cat.

In the end the dog was clean and fluffy and the kids resumed their imaginary dog play. Emma walking away, Andrew dropping to has hands and knees and running after her.

Getting Ready...

The kids are out of school again today. I say again through clenched teeth. Some kind of teacher's work day. I did the math this morning, since December 22nd they have had 18 days of no school. 18 DAYS!

Sydney has a friend coming over today and she will spend the night. "Sydney always has friends over!" says Andrew. "That's just how girls are." I tell him. No sooner did we finish that conversation then my cell phone rang. My friend Jackie asks if Emma can come over for a couple of hours this afternoon. It seems her two older girls have a swim meet in Champaign and Jackie is working. You see.... Emma...... is Andrew's friend. She is in his preschool class. Andrew has two, self proclaimed, girlfriends. Emma is one of them.

He willingly takes a shower, gets dressed. I clip his nails and tell him to brush his teeth.

When he is through with his teeth he breaks out the hair brush, a very rare occurrence. Being a boy and having a relatively short hair cut, it usually looks the same brushed or unbrushed. BUT NOT TODAY! Today he was careful to get every strand brushed down and forward.

When he finished he says, "There! Now I look nice and handsome for when Emma comes."

Oh my!

The Snowman Kit

So the day we built our "Elusive Snowman" I set up my tripod and took a family picture. At that very moment the editor for the local newspaper happened to be driving by. She emailed me that evening asking for a copy of that picture so she could print it in that week's paper. I have to admit I was a tad embarrassed but mostly thrilled at the thought of some stranger enjoying our snowman as much as I enjoyed it. The rest of my family was thoroughly embarrassed.

The day the article was printed we had a staff lunch at the preschool where I work. Everyone commented on the article and congratulated me on such a great snowman. It seems everyone's children had made snowmen that weekend and so the lunch topic became: What Household Items Did Your Children Use To Decorate Their Snowmen?

Mrs. Sue commented that her children had used vanilla wafers for eyes, a carrot for the nose and raisins for the mouth. Mrs. Polly's children used Oreo cookies for eyes and various rocks they dug out of the plant beds around the yard. Pastor noted that, coming from a family of ten children, they were forbidden to use food items and, instead, used checker pawns or charcoal for eyes and marbles for the mouth. Everyone agreed that each one's children used their own clothing items for hats and scarves.

I listened intently all the while thinking "vanilla wafers? Oreo cookies? checker pawns?" Suddenly the question was tossed my way. "What did you use Melanie?" "Ummm...." I was trying to think of unique items that we may or may not have used and I was trying to think of them quickly. "Well? What DID you use?" they prodded. "I have a kit" I squeaked out. A resounding "WHAT?" echoed from just about everyone at the table. "I HAVE A SNOWMAN KIT! There, I said it!" Knee slapping laughter erupted from most....., no wait, .....EVERYONE at the table. After about 5 minutes of my co-workers (I call these people my friends) laughing in hysteria I was bombarded with questions and comments: "What is a snowman kit? I've never heard of such a thing! It never occurred to you to use household items? Where is your creativity? Your poor children! You really are from Florida!" It was at that point that I realized my life around here would never be the same.

Now, let me just say that I LOVE my snowman kit and when I saw it on page 37 of the Lillian Vernon catalog I figured it was a must have for moving to the snowy mid-west. And the best thing about it is that there are enough decorations for a family of four.

Behold the snowman kit:

The box is hand painted and was personalized with our name (least anyone else mistake it for their snowman kit).

It comes with four hats, four scarves, various sized carrot noses, eyes and buttons.

Oh, and I almost forgot about the pipe. It's not corncob like Frosty's but it works just fine.

So now when it snows I get the, "Hey Mrs. Melanie, you bust'n out the snowman kit this weekend?" followed by knee slapping laughter.

I'm just thankful I never told them about the snowball and block maker I bought too.