Playmobil: A Peek Into the Soul

You can tell a lot about a kid by looking at the scene they create while playing Playmobil. Two very different girls live in our house! Here you have Bennett's scene. This is a group of explorers setting off on an expedition. They have gathered their supplies and animals in sleighs, chariots and the like and they are boldly traveling into the unknown! Bennett = Action, adventure, new vistas

And here we have Ainsley's scene. Babies, toddlers and children sweetly snuggled in their beds while a pan of cherry bars cools on the stove. The bars are most certainly a treat for the children and the grazing unicorns. Ainsley = Love, nurture, and magical creatures!

Just Dance!

What do Bennett and Ainsley do when their cousins come to visit? They dance, and dance, and dance some more!

Q & A

Bennett has been home for five days straigh with the flu. This means she has been asking questions and fact finding for five days straight...when she hasn't been wiping her eyes and nose and coughing. Here is a sampling of the Q & A that's been going on here. And a shout out to Google. What would we do without you when inquiring minds want to know!? Bennett wants to know: Q - Are Gerald Ford and Henry Ford Related? A -No. Q - Who was a better baseball player...Babe Ruth or Jackie Robinson? A - Babe Ruth. Q - How old were Lewis and Clark when they began their expedition? A - 29 and 33. Q - What is the population of our town? A - Around 10,000. Q - What is the animal population of our town? A- I have no idea.
....And the questioning goes on. Bennett has also spent a lot of time informing me about facts already known to her, such as...Fact: Robert Redford played Butch Cassidy on the movie "Outlaw Trail." Fact: About 6% of the people who have ever been born are still alive now. (Is that really a fact? Who knows...let's go with it.) Fact: Bill Clinton plays the saxophone. Fascinating! Having this girl home sick has been an educating experience for me!

Influenza: A Survival Guide

Well, it seems as though everyone and their dog has been hit by this Influenze B bug. Our family is no exception, as Bennett fell ill on Saturday morning and continues to live in a state of off and on misery. How does one survive a bout with influenza? Let me show you the approach we have taken. Read and read some more! This is really not a survival tactic, it is just what Bennett does every day. I am glad that this flu bug has not kept her from being able to read. She has had spells where she was too miserable to do so, which allowed me to do some reading TO her, which I don't often get to do anymore. That was fun!

On Sunday, day 2 of the flu bug, Bennett was fever-free and it was a beautiful day. We cleared her to get fresh air, which is a surviving the flu tactic. She did some scootering and playing in the wet snow. Was this a wise tactic? I don't know, really. It was great while it lasted!

Flu survival tip: pretend it is summer and do some grilling! Burgers and brats, grilled asparagus and potato salad lifted our sick spirits.

Flu surival tip: play with Legos! The girls received their very first Legos as a Valentine's Day gift from Grandpa and Grandma and they have been a HUGE hit! I will most definitely need to douse them with a major spray of Lysol though.

Flu survival tip: BEG your grandparents to stop and visit. Both sets of grandparents stopped by with Valentine's Day goodies. We were all so thrilled to see their healthy, smiling faces!

Flu survival tip: Eat a completely inappropriate, yet delicious breakfast. This is Ainsley's breakfast from this morning, Day 4 of Bennett's flu bug. Bacon and chocolate covered strawberries, oh yeah! Bennett had the same breakfast, but did not end up having any appetite to eat it. Not even the bacon, her FAVORITE food on earth! The child is clearly ill!

And this is the face of the flu on Day 4. Misery. She actually looks worse now than she did when this all began. From what I'm hearing, the misery may continue for several more days, and I am running out of survival tips! Send help...and Kleenex!

Family Reading Night!

Ainsley is just growin' right on up! She loves, loves, loves school and would like to go seven days a week if she could. This is a stark contrast to Bennett, the home body, who would stay home seven days a week if she could! We are so excited that Ainsley is excited about learning. She was super excited to attend her class' Family Reading Night last night! Ainsley asked Dad to please stay home with Bennett. Family Reading Night was HER deal, not her sister's! That was cool. I took her and we got to hang out with Cousin M. and Aunt C. Here are the girls listening to Aunt C. read a book.

And here is Ainsley NOT listening to Aunt C. read a book. Don't get me wrong, Ainsley is loving to learn, but she is mostly loving the social aspects of school. Books are okay, but friends are better. Also, she was quite fond of the popcorn and juice served at the reading event.

There was a clown who put on a little show at the reading night. Ainsley was completely tickled with her performance. She laughed her head off and when offered an opportunity to help the clown, she was more than willing.

More fun with the clown, who did a great job entertaining our group! When we left the school Ainsley told me, "AHHHH, THAT WAS SO, SO, SO FUN!" It was fun to watch her having such fun. The fun ended when we got home and the other car was gone because Dad and Bennett had gone for a visit to Grandpa and Grandma's in our absence. Then Ainsley was SO, SO, SO MAD!!! I guess Family Reading Night, as fun as it was, cannot compete with fun at Grandpa and Grandma's house...I think that's an okay thing!

Randoms

Here are some randoms from our week... A friend did some closet cleaning and Bennett and Ainsley inherited some WONDERFUL books! We are beyond thrilled to now have books 1-29 of the Boxcar Children, as well as many other great titles. I need another bookshelf now!

Last night I went into Bennett's room to check on her, and I found her sleeping like this. She had two wolf dogs staring at her. This seems a bit unsettling!

And this morning, we got to put her 2010 Halloween costume to good use. It is biography week at school and Bennett chose to research and write about Amelia Earhart. Today she was to dress as her subject and give her research report to the class. Lookin' good, Amelia, lookin' good!

Sledding At Knicky-Knack!

This past Saturday was a beautiful winter day! Thirty-two degrees, snowy, and sunny with no wind...perfect for some serious sledding! Look who's ready to hit the hill?! A tiny kid in ski goggles is quite cute and funny.
Here they are ready to take on Knicky-Knack Hill (we named it that ourselves) on our bargain toboggan. Dad found this puppy at a garage sale a couple of summers ago. He wheeled and dealed and purchased it for $7! As if I didn't have enough reasons to love this man, we can add avid bargain shopper to the list. SO AWESOME! This 8 ft. toboggan is F-A-S-T and so smoothe. We love to sled with this thing, and on a sidenote, the boy you see in the picture is a friend of Bennett's that we took sledding with us. I think he had fun, as I heard him exclaim, "THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!" while we were sledding.

Hmmm. This picture is sideways and I have no idea why. Oh well, just tilt your head a bit. Here is the toboggan team in action!

When we got home from sledding, the girls played outside for a bit. To our amazement, the elusive "Fluffy Tail," our neighbor's cat who NEVER comes near people, waltzed right on over to Ainsley. Nothing short of amazing.

Right after "Fluffy Tail" left, along came another neighborhood cat, Sylvia. What is up with this!? Two stand-offish cats approach our child within a matter of minutes! Ainsley must have become some sort of cat whisperer. Craziness.

A (Snow) Day In the Life

Snow days are awesome. We are in the midst of snow day number three and the girls remain so pleasant! What a blessing! Here are some highlights from yesterday, snow day #2! Here was our drift upon waking. It is even more impressive against the outside of the house, and it's definitely the tallest drift we've had here. Sidenote as I look at Bennett's expression: How much longer will this child have the one-tooth, hillbilly look? Not much! After a year of waiting, her second top tooth is beginning to come in! Okay, back to the snow...

How does one occupy their time when snowed in? First off, you perform a concert for your Webkinz. It was a great show!

Second, you ask your mom to pull the couch away from the wall so you can look for "treasures" in the cold air return. Gross, yes? Here is Ainsley with her flashlight and ice tongs, ready to excavate.

And look what she found in the cold air return! Treasures indeed! Bud Light bottle caps...what the!? Given that beer does not exist in this house, my guess is that these are part of Bennett's bottle cap collection. BL bottle caps are pretty easy to come by as a collector. I'm guessing it is not surprising to anyone that Bennett collects bottle caps. What doesn't she collect!

We so much fresh, fluffy snow, we decided to try our hand at making snow ice cream! Here is our snow.

And here is our finished vanilla ice cream with chocolate topping. It was surprisingly yummy!

By 3:00 it was about 5 degrees out and clearly warm enough to venture outside. The girls loved playing in the mounds of snow made by Grandpa C's snowplow. I got to shovel and visit with the friendly Mormon gents who were out and about in the neighborhood. After about 30 minutes, we decided to head indoors, as to prevent the onset of frostbite. I admit to using scare tactics to get my children back indoors when I'm ready to go in. "Girls, hurry inside before your skin turns black and begins to fall off!" Works every time! The admissions of a terrible mother!

Oh, and a day is not complete without a little origami. I personally have a strong dislike for origami...too many attempted "flapping birds of happiness" that have ended up looking like complete nothingness. Bennett did convince me to attempt a couple of one-star difficulty creations with her...the "ladybug and her babies" as well as the "origami swami turban." It was fairly painless. And as we begin snow day #3, the origami continues...MANY rabbits have been made this morning. Did you know that origami rabbits seem to multiply nearly as fast as real rabbits? It's true!

The Vicious Cycle

The price you pay for staying home with your children is that you live in a house that is never clean for more than 30 seconds. While you are slaving to achieve this.... ...a clean dining room, living room...

...and an orderly playroom,

your kids go upstairs and do this! Bennett, I am appalled!

And they do this! Ainsley, how could you!?!? Ah well, it is a vicious cycle, but some things you have to learn to let go for the sake of the joy they bring in the end. I wouldn't trade a spotless house for one day with these girls! It is precious time, never to be regained. And on a positive note, they get to clean their own rooms! Yay for Mom!

We had a crazy busy weekend, and the state of our house shows it. It sort of looks like the blizzard happened indoors over here. It will take a couple of days for us to dig out from under the mess we've created due to being busy, not picking up after ourselves when busy, and then being trapped indoors with head colds and no motivation. Oh well. Here are some highlights from the weekend and beyond! We headed out of town to visit some great friends from college. The girls packed their "fun bags" to take along for entertainment purposes. Unbeknownst to Dad and I, they also packed a change of clothing....Bennett, pajamas of course. Ainsley, the hideous poinsettia dress from 80's Christmas, complete with matching red tights. Clearly they know how to dress when visiting guests. Weird kids.

We also had a mega craft weekend, as Bennett needed to work on a school project. I love and hate the craft tub at the same time. The creativity that abounds and the way it occupies the girls for long periods is wonderful. But oh, the mess! I despise the mess!

And voila...out of craft time comes the Albino Leprechaun Fish! Bennett had to create an amazing animal for school and write five "facts" about it. Just so you know, the albino leprechaun fish lives in the lakes of Ireland and it preys on smaller fish, paralyzing them with poison when they float by, accidentally bumping into its poisonous green puffballs. Betcha didn't know that! While Bennett made this amazing creature, Ainsley made a nativity scene out of noodles. Go figure.

And as the week began, all eyes turned to the impending snowstorm. We are calling it Snowtorious B.I.G. The girls have been freaking out about the storm for days. I don't know why...maybe because their mom is a weather fanatic and she's been hyping it up. When I told them the snowstorm was coming yesterday, both girls ran upstairs frantically. They returned with this, a cardboard box full of precious items. Ainsley yelled, "Quick! We need to take this stuff to the basement!" I think she is confusing a Blizzard Warning with a Tornado Warning. Hold your horses, Ainsley. It will be tornado season soon enough!

And then the storm hit! And it pummels us as I type. Here is a look at our snowdrift as of 7:45 p.m. It has risen above Bennett's waistline! Shock and awe!

And check this out. The drift is fancy-shmancy this time, with an impression from the panels on the storm door! Blizzards are pretty sweet.