Saturday....in what feels like the Antarctic

Welcome to the Polar Ice Cap!! At least that's how it feels to me.

I don't really love the snow that much, anyway, and I was really hoping winter was winding down. So, I was definitely NOT excited to wake up this morning to about a foot of snow. Ugh.

This is how the kids reacted to the snow:Charlotte decided to play as much island music as she could find, dress as "hula" as possible, and put a "hula dancer flower" in her hair. She made me take a picture of this lovely flower.
Charlotte showing off her hula moves. At least her version of hula dancing, anyway. Cute as ever. She has become quite the fan of anything Hawaiian or island-ish. But, that's not really shocking, does anyone remember when Charlotte was about 2, and decided her name was Surfer Girl?
Savannah and Barrett decided to go out and play in the cold freezing snow while Colby shoveled a bunch of driveways. I had a hard time getting a picture of them, they wouldn't sit still long enough. They were having a blast!

My new favorite...

Honestly, I may never, ever again buy a bag of chips.
I LOVE these croutons.
I am a fan of croutons, in general, but these particular croutons...
ARE. SIMPLY. DIVINE!

Seriously, I have eaten almost one whole bag of these. Just like I would a bag of chips.
Yum.
And, Costco sells these in a huge bag.
I am in heaven.

Poached...

I poured myself a nice, hot, relaxing bath today.

In the 2.5 seconds it took me to get a new bottle of shampoo from the closet,

my dear Barrett had managed to strip off his clothes,

and poach my bath.

Unforgivable...

if he wasn't sooooo flippin' adorable, which he is.

So, I let him steal my bath, and after he was done playing in

the water and making more splashes than Disneyland's Splash Mountain,

I poured another bath for me.

Not as hot.....

not as long and relaxing......

and it still had a few of his toy soldiers in the water.

Good thing, too.

They could protect me from any further bath poachers....

like my cat.

Who, immediately upon hearing the bath water start pouring again,

made his way to the bathtub and tried to drink all the water.

Next time, I'll wait until all the kids are in bed, and Smokey is locked up

before I take a nice, hot, relaxing bath.

But, by then, I'll probably be too tired to wait for the bath to fill up,

and I'll probably fall asleep before I have a chance to relax in the

nice, hot, relaxing bath.

Grrrrr.

Cleaning up....

The soundtrack for today's clean up is...BLONDIE!!!

Charlotte's new favorite. Move over, Lady Gaga, you've been dethroned!
Just in case you were curious...

Charlotte's favorite Blondie song: "The Tide Is High"
Savannah's favorite Blondie song: "Heart of Glass" and "The Tide Is High"
(she couldn't pick between the two...it's a first-place tie.)
Dani's favorite Blondie song: "Atomic."

Come on over next time, you can dance with us while we pretend we're cleaning!!
Well, we usually start out cleaning, but by the end of it, it's more like a disco hall. Straight out of 1978.
Bring your own disco ball!!

14 Years!!!

Even after all these years, I still see fireworks whenever I think of you,

whenever I talk to you,

whenever I see you.

I love you.

I adore you.

Happy Anniversary, Colby!

You're my favorite!

And now...Charlotte's photo session!

Don't you just L-O-V-E powdered doughnuts!!! Charlotte does!

Showing off her "powdered up" hands.

Look at my "powdered up" face!

And how about a close-up of all that yummy doughnut powder!

The rest of these pictures are from Charlotte's own photo session. She picked up my camera, and just went to town.

Her first picture- her yummy cup of milk, because after all, she is, in her own words, a "milkaholic."

Her blankie. Yep, we still have one of those...

Hmmm, Mom's shoes. Wow.

And another picture of milk, but this time, the whole dang gallon! For the record, we buy "blue" milk because it matches Charlotte's blue eyes. At least, that's why we buy it according to Charlotte.

(but seriously, why do I buy "blue" milk? I like "red" milk better. Of course, if I could somehow manage to have a dairy cow in my backyard, that's what I'd want! YUM! Thick and frothy milk. Dang it, now I wish I had some half-and-half to drink. Dratted "blue" milk...)

And a (slightly blurry) picture of Barrett's blankie. He LOVES this thing. It is starting to unravel and come apart from being washed and dragged everywhere for the last 4 years. Thank you, Judy and Shirley for making him this blankie! He is very attached to it!

Barrett's newest favorite toy- a rocket ship. Complete with a green alien, too. Awesome.

The I-pod dock. We were listening to "Girls and Boys" by Blur. Just in case you were curious. Great tune. Pretty much the only one of their's that I like. Charlotte loves it too. Guaranteed to make her (and me) dance around.

Poor Savannah. Charlotte accosted her the instant she came out of the bathroom. Surprise!!

My kitchen floor. I have decided I LOVE this picture. It is practically impossible to see just how icky and dirty and badly-in-need-of-a-mop it is. Yeah.

Charlotte's Princess Ballerina book.

Charlotte taking a picture of her own feet. Honestly, she must LOVE her feet. This is only one of SEVENTEEN pictures she took of her feet. In various poses, and with random props. I only included this one. And, no matter how many times I tried, blogger refused to load it with the correct rotation. Sorry.

Charlotte's "school work" magnet.

An extreme close-up of the camera bag. Not sure why. Just because.

A coaster. A christmas coaster.

So, there you have it, Charlotte's first official photo session. She had so much fun, and I just laughed watching her take the pictures.

She is such a riot!

Ralph the Night Hair Dresser Invades...

Or, in related news...

It is actually...

Crazy Hair Day at school today.

Angry Birds

So you know that infuriatingly addicting game Angry Birds? The game where I have been stuck on the same blasted level for days?

DONE!! LEVEL COMPLETED!!!

But let me tell you how-

I let Barrett play.
Yep.
He beat that stupid level on his third try.
In about three minutes flat.
Grrr.

I wish I could....

Figure out how to work the camcorder...

or figure out where I put the blasted camera...

or figure out how to take a picture with my cell phone.

Because Charlotte is seriously about the cutest, funniest thing I have ever seen right now!!!

She is wearing the shoes I wore at my wedding, holding one of Barrett's racecar track pieces and using it as a microphone, and dancing around the room as if she was on stage.

And singing.

Singing her heart out.

This is the song she is singing... Man, why am I so technologically challenged!!!!

Defending my honor...

Savannah came home from school the other day with something to tell me.

Apparently, her teacher, Mr. Gallagher likes "real" music. "Real" as in Led Zeppelin, Ozzy Osbourne, etc. Real guitars, real drums, real bass...real instruments.
Savannah mentioned that her mom really likes a band called Muse, and they have lots of guitars and bass and drums.
Evidently, Mr. Gallagher was NOT impressed, and told her that Muse has keyboards and fake music, and that they're not "real."

Savannah was so irritated.
She was defensive- all on my behalf.
She was defending my honor- musically speaking.

So cute!
Thank you, my dear sweet Savannah!
Although, I am really used to the fact that many people disagree with my opinion of what music is awesome and good and cool and worthwhile.

I love the fact that Savannah was so annoyed, just for me.
Bless her heart, she is such a sweetie!!

Happy New Year

It's a new year.

YES!!!

This year, I did not have any Christmas spirit.
None.
It was torture for me to put up decorations, shop for gifts, hear silly Christmas songs and carols, etc.
Usually I like Christmas. But, honestly, this year, I just didn't feel 'christmasy' at all.
Not even a little bit.

Am I the only one who was actually REALLY, REALLY excited to kiss the year 2010 goodbye?
Bring on 2011, and may it be a whole lot better than its predecessor.

Here's hoping that all your New Year's wishes and dreams come true.

Yay, 2011!!!

Busy, busy, busy...

So, we have been quite busy today...

We have spent almost the whole day watching "ThunderCats" cartoons...

and reading "Garfield" comics.

Don't be jealous.

Oh yeah, and we ran the dishwasher, too!

Saved by...

It is the day after Christmas.
Which means that I am totally, officially, and absolutely
SICK
of hearing holiday songs.
I am usually pretty bored and tired of them around the first week of December, actually.
Because immediately following Halloween, every radio station in the world seems to start playing christmas songs.
Almost two solid months of "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and dozens of others. I just can't take it! Even holiday songs that I like become tiresome after hearing them several times a day, for two months in a row.

So, on the way to work tonight...
Radio Preset 1: Blah (christmas song).
Radio Preset 2: Blah (another christmas song).
Radio Preset 3: Blah (yep, another freakin' christmas song).
and then...
Radio Preset 4: Oh, how wonderful!!!!!
Thank you, oh so much, for playing The Clash. "London Calling" was just what I needed! The Clash is good anytime, but, it was
especially awesome just now.
Saved by The Clash!
Thank you, thank you, thank you, newly resurrected 101.9 The End!!

And So This Is Christmas...

Hope everyone has a wonderful and merry Christmas!

Homework

Today Charlotte had homework to do.
Not unusual, because she gets a new homework packet every Monday.
Today's section of homework?


Kindergarten Physics, I think....

"Place an ice cube in a bowl, and a scoop of ice cream in another bowl. Which melts fastest?"


LOVE IT!


All things considered, I am a big supporter of homework that involves ice cream.
I just hope tomorrow's homework will require doughnuts, cookies, or Twix!