Play

Karissa loves to play with any little "thing" that has a face. It could be an animal face or a person face, it doesn't matter to her. It doesn't even matter if it has legs!

A few months ago I bought them Barbie toothbrushes that has a little mold of Barbie at the end. After she's done brushing Karissa will sit and play with hers and Victoria's toothbrushes, making them talk and walk, etc. This week she discovered that she can do the same with the end of her Dora umbrella. This week she also has been using the Chutes and Ladder cardboard kids and the Dora game cardboard pieces as her character friends as well.

I really took note of this form of play that she does at the Belleville Library this week (Belleville is where Victoria goes to school). We were there hanging out, since she didn't want to play at her friend's house, while I waited for school to get out. The library is an okay one. It has some puzzles and bead games, in addition to the books. There is also this little barn house, but it has no animals to go with it. She saw the barn and was all excited, but her face fell when she saw no animals to go in it. Then she found the animal puzzle and played happily for over an hour with her one-dimensional-animals with pegs sticking out of them. Part of the time my legs were mountains or caves.

It's amazing how kids' imaginations can allow them to play with whatever! I don't think I need to buy any more figures for her since we already have a ton, and when she's bored with them, she'll just go make up her own!

Here's the Barbie toothbrushes. See how excited she is to play with them?

Boys

It amazes me how some boys are just "boy" right from the start. I know my brother was that way and Austin is too. Obviously we have lots of girly toys around the house. Often I've given him a baby doll, even ones that rattle, and he just ignores it, but if I give him something with wheels or that is a ball, he loves it! Karissa did like balls, but Austin loves just holding one in his hand, or rolling it away and hoping someone will roll it back so he can do it again.

The other day when I was waiting in the parent room at Victoria's school, Austin found a car in the box of toys they had in the room and he held onto it the rest of the time. He was a happy camper holding that car while I changed his diaper. I wish I had my camera there to show the joy bursting from his face because he was holding that car!

Here he is with a ball at home.

Grandma Joyce

Last Monday my Grandma Joyce passed away. I was very sad to hear the news, but also relieved. Hearing about Grandma's condition over Thanksgiving, I knew she was going to go sometime this winter. I'm glad she didn't have to suffer very long. I can just hear her saying things like, "This is awful!", referring to her situation in the nursing home she was in.

Those of you who knew her, knew her as the vibrant, friendly woman who was always on the go, and that is how she wants to be remembered. At her funeral, we celebrated her life, remembering all of her idiosyncrasies. My kids were able to come with me and they also helped keep things light, along with their cousin Natalie.

We enjoyed seeing all my relatives, eating lots of pizza, and especially the 10 gallons of Blue Bell ice cream! (Grandpa would have been proud at that one!) We got to take home some of Grandma's jewelery, and believe me, there was a lot, which was one of Victoria's favorite parts. We also went through a lot of the rest of the stuff at the house. Lets just say that I'd never actually seen cardboard crumble to dust before!

It was a good experience for my kids and luckily they did well on the plane. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures myself, since there were plenty of other cameras and I had my hands full at the good picture moments, but here is a picture I found of Grandma at her house on one of her many trips.

We love you Grandma Joyce!

Snow

We finally got a good dumping of snow this last week. Of course, the morning after the big storm, I woke up to hear our neighbor, Tom, snow blowing our driveway at 6am. What a nice neighbor! We recently got snow tires for our cars and they are fabulous! I was able to drive to Victoria's school without slipping and sliding.

Here's some pictures of Austin's first ride in a sled. It's complete with a seat belt! Karissa wasn't interested in coming out in the cold, so she stayed inside with Daddy.

The Post Office

I had such a lovely experience at the post office yesterday that I thought I'd share it.

I needed to send back an order from Land's End, which was the wrong one, and in order to send it back without paying shipping, I could not go to the kiosk, as is my usual, quick, method. I also had to send another small package. With two boxes in my hands and and not wanting to waste the 2 minutes it would take to set up the stroller, I told the kids that we would not be bringing it in; mistake number 1. As I was struggling to carry Austin in his car seat with one box (I gave the other to Victoria), Karissa started to get all worked up about me not carrying her. After thinking I would leave her at the car (of course I would never!), she grudgingly followed us inside. As soon as I set Austin down in the line, he started howling, but I was already holding Karissa.



I asked her, "Do you think we should let Austin cry like that in here?" She nodded her head.



"How about I pick him up and put you down?" She didn't like it, but then she lay down in his car seat and was happier.



The line wasn't too horribly long. We only waited about 8 minutes and I was able to bounce Austin and pull Karissa along in the car seat. When it was our turn, I brought my packages up and asked if they could tape them for me, as we had run out of packing tape at home; mistake number 2.



The lady looked at me and said, "You can do it yourself in the back corner, then come to the front of the line when you're done. Next!"



I glanced at the packing tape right in front of her, then told Karissa to get out of the seat so I could carry it across the room. As soon as I put Austin in it, he was wailing. Karissa started crying, on the verge of a meltdown. I lugged the car seat, Karissa screaming in tow, to the back, where I proceeded in the battle with the tape. It was the stickiest tape ever known to man! Every time I pulled a piece off, it would stick to my coat. After I pulled it off, it would stick together. After about 3 pieces of tape, for every piece I needed, I just put it on the box, sides stuck together and all. The bigger box was quite a sight! Throughout the taping ordeal, Karissa was now having a full-blown tantrum with her face on the salty, slush-covered floor, while Victoria rocked a screaming Austin in his car seat.

After completing my transaction in the front, with two crying children, I made my way out carrying Austin on my hip and Karissa in the baby car seat (luckily she's in the 10-25th percentile for height and weight, so she's not much heavier than Austin!), a total of around 46 pounds, plus whatever the car seat weighs, which is almost half as much as my own weight, no joke!

The strange part about it was that no one in the whole post office, not even the employees, showed the slightest indication that there were two screaming kids in the building. It was also strange that I wasn't even really phased by the ordeal. It was so outrageously crazy, that it didn't even affect me like I would have thought it would. That was a blessing! It also reminded me of why I was a UPS costumer before I discovered the kiosks at the post office. At least they tape your packages for you!

Party Hardy!

When asked who she wanted to have come over for her third birthday celebration of pizza and cake, Karissa responded, "Mr. Tom!" our neighbor who is like a grandpa to them now with all the treats he spoils them with (fruit snacks, cherries, oranges, milk, gummy bears, spice drops, cakes he doesn't want to finish by himself, etc.) Since we invited Tom, we decided to invite our other neighbors, Bethany, who is Victoria's age, and her family. Bethany's mom and sister had to work, so it was just Bethany and her dad, Bernie. As we were sitting eating our pizza, I thought it was interesting that two of our closest friends here are our neighbors who are both a lot older than us; Tom is 60 and Bernie is 48. Karissa was as happy as could be with all the old men to cuddle with and hug. They brought her some nice gifts and she enjoyed playing with Victoria and Bethany as well.

On New Year's Eve, the kids all went to bed early. It wasn't even planned, they were just tired from the birthday celebrations the day before and the morning of Glo Golf at Zap Zone for the stake New Year's activity. We played some games and toasted to the new year at 6pm, complete with instruments, and they were all asleep by 8!

Austin is now 7 months. Where has the time gone? He is cutting is first two teeth on the bottom, which is about a month earlier than Victoria did and two months earlier than Karissa. He enjoys sticking out his tongue so he can feel them. He sits on his own now, which is his preferred way of playing. As you can see from his picture, we're teaching him the "blue" doctrine!

Tradition

As is our tradition, we had a delicious Puerto Rican meal for dinner on Christmas Eve, which included pasteles (similar to tamales except uses a banana and plantain masa and is supposed to be wrapped in banana leaves, instead of corn husks), pork, rice and gandules, a salad, and flan. Jason was the master chef, as usual for this meal, though I helped with the pasteles and made the salad. Our friends the Peterborgs (we knew them in Delaware, but they now live in Ohio) joined us and brought a perfect flan, which they made. Victoria and Karissa had fun with Ben and Abby again and all helped act out the Nativity.

Victoria was very sweet on Christmas morning. Instead of plowing in at some crazy-early hour, which she is perfectly capable of, she waited until around 7:30 to come in. We knew she was awake since we could hear her whispering, but she waited until she thought it was time to get up. Lucky for us, it is dark until around that time. When she came in she said, "I think it's time to get up now. I think it's light enough and I saw the neighbor outside with the dog." With that sweet wake-up call, I happily got out of bed. Victoria then proceeded to pick out the gift she had bought for Karissa at the school book fair and gave the books to her before Karissa was even downstairs! Those moments were the best gifts of all for me on Christmas! The other best gift is Karissa cuddling with me on my lap and telling me that I'm her best friend, which she does all the time now!

The rest of Christmas was typical: presents, stockings, playing, fighting, breakfast, movie, playing, bath, lunch, playing, gingerbread house (a gift from a friend), home video, turkey dinner, and phone calls all in between. The worst part of the day was that it rained and all the snow was washed away!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!