Daddy Daughter

Tonight was the daddy-daughter dance. It was all I had hoped it would be. You know, except for the part where Amelia immediately ran away with her friends, left me standing there, and basically only returned when she needed a drink.

Dancing Shoes

We are now only one day from our first ever Daddy-Daughter dance. Despite the facts that I've been on crutches most of the week and she will have to leave an awesome birthday party a little early, she is still committed to going.  That said, she has asked me multiple times if there is going to be cupcakes and lemonade. So, I'm pretty sure I know her motives and they have little to do with daddy or dancing.

Million

Ev got a new Minion (or as he calls them, Millions) hat the other day. As you know, my man likes a good hat. He's tried to sleep in this one two nights in a row....

Snow

Kids don't care if you get 1 centimeter or 1 foot of snow. They just want to play in it.

This is Amelia pretending she isn't about to throw a snowball at me....

6

At this time six years ago, Meg and I had spent the last 14 hours trying to coax our tiny baby to join us in this big world. It would take another hour or so of convincing, but at 10:10 pm, she decided to make her arrival. In my wildest hopes, I never could have imagined how smart, beautiful, and talented Amelia would become.  She fills my days with pride and my heart with love. I can't believe it has already been six years, but at the same time, I can't remember my life without her in it.

Fun Weekend

My mom, brother, and two nieces came up to surprise Amelia for her birthday. They weren't here long, but we made the most of it. Here is what this morning looked like in my house...

Driver

I'm not sure if he can parallel park, but this guy was the cuddliest looking driver I saw today...

Long Day

Staying at home for days on end with bad weather can take a toll on people. This is especially true when these people are 5 years old.

The day started of decent with the cancellation of school do to the icy weather...

But somewhere along the way, the day took a turn when Amelia decided everyone was being mean to her, so she was leaving. She went to her room, packed her bag with pajamas, a stuffed animal, and a blanket and set out for the great wilderness. She even got all the way to the front porch before she realized she didn't have anywhere to go.....

Bouncing Around

With Meggan gone and a pile of work I had to get done, I had to bring out the big guns.  I let the kids jump in the bounce house inside our living room. Naturally, this means there was a bit of jumping and a lot of wrestling. 

the static did a number on Amelia's hair.... 

 The wrestling did a number on Everett's lip. It adds nicely to his scratched up cheek...

Single Dad

Well, Meggan left for her conference today.  That means the kids and I are on our own.  I promised they would be in at least as good of a condition as they were when she left. Luckily, this will be pretty easy after Everett faceplanted off the slide into the mulch yesterday.  There's nothing like picking mulch pieces out of your son's cheek to lower the bar on child safety expectations...

Valentine's Day

While Meg and I don't do much for Valentine's day (and by "don't do much" I mean we don't acknowledge it in any way), Amelia was lucky enough to get a gift from a friend today. He was coming to our house for a play date and decided to bring Amelia his heart.  So, there you have it.  She's 5 years-old and already stealing boys' hearts....

Well, That's One Way To Stop

Everett is squarely in the middle of potty training. He has his good days and his bad days. Lately, he has been wearing big boy underpants and no pull up. This only works out one of two ways - either you're really proud of him or you're throwing away a pair of underwear.  The good news is he has not had any accidents in almost 3 days. The bad news is he has also not gone #2 in almost 3 days. While I did ask him to stop pooping in his pants. I didn't mean for him to stop pooping altogether.  Meggan leaves for her trip Sunday. If he hasn't either gone to the bathroom or exploded by then, I'm packing him in her luggage and sending him with her.

Boys

This is approximately Everett's 20th bruised eye/cheekbone.  How did he get today's shiner, you ask? Well, naturally he landed face first while jumping over a friend. I just wish he'd find a better way pad his landing than using his squishy chipmunk cheeks.

At Least He's Honest

We say prayers before bed every night. Everett always goes first to lead us in prayer.  He usually sticks to the same few things "Pure Jesus (which he thinks is Dear Jesus), "Thank you for my Ninja Turtle cake", "Let us have good dreams", etc. I don't really care what he prays about. For me, it is just important that he is beginning to build a foundation with God.  However, tonight may have been his most honest moment yet ...

"Pure Jesus, I don't know what's going on here. In Jesus name we pray. Amen" 

Party On

We have come upon the part of the year where our kids are starting to get invited to birthday parties on a regular basis. Today, however, was the first time both kids had parties on the same day at the same place.  Since the parties weren't at the same time,  Meggan and I were able to split them so neither of us had to spend 4 hours.  I had the pleasure of partying with Amelia today.


We powered up with some milkshakes beforehand...

Amelia took in the action on a roller coaster simulator...

Informative

When your son's teacher asks you if you bought a goat, you know he is old enough to tell people stories, but still too young to know that he shouldn't just make up all of them.

Clowns

I was going back through our circus pictures and came across one Amelia took with a clown during the pre-show activities. I see this clown decided to stray from the traditional happy or sad clown face and go for more of the "I'm bored. Hurry up and take the damn picture" look ....

Confusing Times

When your 3 year-old is still struggling with potty training, it can be really hard to explain to him 1) why we can't use the potty in the middle of the store and 2) why while the potty in the middle of the store has an instruction manual in it, we don't shove books down our potty at home...

Circus

We took the kids to the circus today.  I'm pretty sure I never made it to the circus as a kid, but it feels like a rite of passage type event.  As expected, we all had a good time (although, we'd all have been okay with a shorter show).  Everett loved the elephants and tigers. Amelia loved the cotton candy.  I love how predictable my kids are.

Seriously, I thought my arms were going to fall off, but it was the only way they could see the elephants before the show...

Ev borrowed Jamiroquai's hat for the show...

Amelia got out in front of a huge crowd and jumped rope with clowns...