First Things First

On Saturday I sent the girls upstairs to clean their room. They came down later with their hair done and costumes on. Their room was mostly cleaned as well, but the costumes were the priority.

Portrait Artist

Phoebe and Topher were enjoying a snack at the table together yesterday afternoon. Phoebe decided to draw Topher. She grabbed a napkin and marker that were handy and went to work. They were eating Jolly Ranchers at the time, so I think she highlighted Topher's blue tongue.

Ready for Adventure

Making Cookies and Words

Topher helped me make oatmeal cookies yesterday. On a whim I decided to use a larger cookie scoop than usual. When Topher saw the finished product he announced, "They're gimungus!"

Hush Little Baby

The baby doll Topher is holding in this picture is very important. Topher has kept his name simple, he is known as Baby. Baby gets snuggled and fed and sung to, at least until Topher trades him out for a different stuffed friend. But, for this post at least, Baby is his favorite.

Topher usually requests two songs before he sleeps: the moon song (I Don't Want to Live on the Moon) and Hush Little Baby. And now, because he hears them so often, he can sing them to Baby.

Sunday Sights

What Else Can She Draw?

After seeing Phoebe's picture of Dolores from Encanto, Sophie decided she wanted to draw one of her own. She informed me it would make a good blog post and even supplied the title, which is a nod to Isabela's song in the movie. I agreed.

She drew sisters Isabela and Mirabel. This is what they look like in the movie:

Photo credit

And this is her rendition:

I think she did a great job.

Writer's Life

Overheard, last night before bed, spoken by Phoebe on the trials of writer's block: "Sometimes, when I'm really far into writing a book..."

Listen

It snowed more yesterday, which means Topher spent more time asking to play outside. Cooper saved the day by taking him out once school work was complete. Sophie joined them for a bit too. While they played, I stayed inside and worked on dinner in a warm kitchen, occasionally taking pictures from the doorway.

Near the end of their time outside, after Sophie had already come in, I was standing at the kitchen sink and had the thought to open the blinds in front of me. I had opened the other blinds and curtains in the kitchen, but this is a small window and I just hadn't thought of it yet. I reached up and twisted the handle to see outside.

Cooper had asked for tools so they could build a snow fort. He was wielding a snow shovel while Topher had a plastic beach shovel. As I watched I saw Cooper intent on digging snow, but Topher didn't have a tool in his hand anymore. In fact, I saw him turn toward the back of our yard and begin walking toward one of our trees.

Our yard is large and lovely, but, as of yet, unfenced. There's a significant swale near the back, then the ground comes back up and the yard ends at a moderately busy street, depending on the time of day. A fence is definitely on our list of things to add to the house, but we haven't gotten there yet. This information is important for what happened next.

As I watched Topher head for the back of the yard, my heartrate sped up. I wanted to race outside, but I held back, waiting to see if Cooper would notice. He didn't. As Topher started walking down into the swale I ran from the window to the backdoor and yelled, "Cooper!!! GRAB HIM!!!"

Cooper's head flew up from where he'd been focused on the shovel and the snow. He turned to see Topher disappearing below the hill of the swale. Cooper ran toward Topher as fast as the snow would allow and caught him as he was heading up the other side, the side that is a few steps from the street.

Today I'm thankful for the small prompting to open the blinds so that I would see Topher as he walked to a place we've told him not to go. I'm thankful for my loud voice to get Cooper's attention. I'm thankful that Cooper didn't stop to question, he simply ran. And I'm thankful that neither boy made it to the street.

Speak Your Feelings

Since snow was falling on Sunday night, I assumed I would be taking pictures on Monday of kids playing in the much anticipated snow. However, the snow was followed by freezing rain. We woke up to heavy, wet, slushy snow. It was not the right kind for playing.

This was hardest on Topher. He loves snow and asked several times if he could go out and play. He had a hard time understanding that it was more slick than fun. As I was putting him down for a nap (or quiet time, as it turned into since he did not nap), I discovered just how unhappy he was. Remember, some of his th-sounds come out as f-sounds. I was tucking him in when he said, "The fing is I'm so frustrated because I wanted to go play in the snow and you kept saying no!"

I agree, that would be frustrating.

Maybe We Should Call Her Elsa?

Today is supposed to be trash day, but based on the snow that was falling when the trash trucks were taken out last night, I'm not sure that's actually going to happen. Also, Bryan was able to clean out the garage enough to fit both cars in! Hence that giant, car-free driveway. Finally, Phoebe loves the cold, did you know?

Yoga: In Motion

 

Framed

I had a major lull in my moving-in energy. It left right about the time we got out our Christmas decorations. Thankfully, since we put Christmas away right before the new year, my drive to continue the unpacking process has slowly been returning. Technically, nearly everything is unpacked, it's just that some of it is sitting in piles and baskets waiting to find a home.

Several of these piles are composed of pictures I've intended to put on the walls. I'm not sure why putting nails in our own walls is more intimidating than hanging pictures in rentals was, but I've been frozen with indecision. I've spent too much time staring at blanks walls, visualizing. Finally, on Sunday morning I asked Phoebe to trace these many frames on pieces of paper (or to tape paper together, depending on the size needed) so I would have templates to tape to the walls. That way I could see what they would look like without knocking unnecessary holes in the walls.

That method worked well. I'm happy to report that we've made good progress on the piles of pictures. There are still some that need to go up, but way fewer than before.

Pizza Chef

Recently Topher has made a habit of coming into the kitchen while I'm making dinner. He quickly asks how he can help and tries to grab his apron from a hook that's too high for him to reach. I want to encourage his sweet helpfulness, so I usually try to give him a task. Sometimes it's clearing the table. On this particular night he asked if he could help make pizza. I saw the potential for a giant mess, but I took a deep breath and said yes anyway. After spreading the sauce, he added the pepperoni and cheese. I reshuffled a bit of the cheese, but otherwise I let him take ownership of one pizza while I worked on the other.

Winter Wonderland

While we played in the snow on Friday, Cooper borrowed my phone to take pictures. These are my favorites.

Snow Much Fun

This is how Topher felt about the snow we woke up to on Friday morning. He was ready to outside right away. I insisted that we wait until it was just a bit a warmer, then we bundled up and played.

Getting Theatrical

I often find wacky things on my phone after the kids have used my camera. Cooper doesn't have a TikTok account, but I think he's seen enough TikTok variations on YouTube that he was inspired to create his own. He came up with this on Sunday afternoon while the rest of us were doing other things. 

All the Faces

Sad face:

Happy face:

Silly Face:

Angry face:

Surprised face:

Really happy face: