Happy New Year

Well, after a lovely vacation with both Doug and Fiona at home all week (and Doug home in the afternoons the week before), Doug is back to work and Fiona is back to school. Back to routine!

Sophia is walking around the house saying, "Na na? Na na?" (Fiona?) Her latest sayings are "Please sit down" and "Fe-na-na, come here" and "C'mon, Fe-na-na!"

Christmas was a good one at the purple house. I love the first moment when they come down the stairs and see the tinseled tree, the presents, the stockings. Fiona dug in for the first time this year, previously having us help her open the presents and then playing with each one. Presents took a long time. Sophia is like this right now (I think it was at least half an hour before she even opened one). Fiona opened everything very quickly, and then we let her "help" Sophia open the sister presents. We bought an inflatable trampoline with the help of auntie Alex and that is what Sophia was first drawn to, with a breathless "What's THAT?"



That is what they spent the entire day in, Sophia loving to sit in it while slowly brushing her new My Little Pony's hair. They both love these things. They were a gift from Sobo. They play with them together. I won't mention every present they got here, but everything is well loved. Everything is being played with. Oh, well, Fiona sort of tossed the bed sheets I bought for her to the side. She isn't sleeping in her bed again and the sheets didn't lure her back there. Apparently, she is a high thread count type of gal because her new pillowcase is "too scratchy".

We also had a lovely incident with the gingerbread house. We had moved it to the top of the wood stove (you can already see where I am going with this, can't you?) because we weren't using the oven at the time. The gingerbread house was on a plastic cutting board wrapped in foil. Well, since we were all home and cozy and not going anywhere, it was the perfect time to start a fire in the wood stove. I forget why the house was there...to have the dining room table free or perhaps that is when we turned the dining room into a play room (just for the winter) to accommodate this trampoline. We weren't seeing it anymore. It was right in front of our eyes, but we didn't see it. So a fire is started with the house sitting on top of the wood stove. To make it very clear, the wood stove gets really hot. You could cook things on it. It's nice to have in case the electricity goes out, too. The fire goes for a while and then I sit in front of it with the girls to do...something. I can't remember what. This happened a few weeks ago now. I look at it and then I see it. I say to Doug, hey, this isn't a good idea (that will be my official understatement for the year). The cutting board is already melting, so we get a piece of cardboard from an unwanted package (boy, that is a whole other post...we've been busy little bees) to put on the bottom to keep plastic from dripping everywhere. Doug whisks it outside. The house is still standing, but the stained glass windows are melting (not to mention the royal icing and candies). The house is filled with fumes. So I take the girls in the car out into the night for Christmas light gazing. Doug turns on all our fans and opens all the doors and windows (brrr!). When we come back, the house is fine and the stove is fine. Everything is fine.
Well, the cutting board is totally warped and the gingerbread house became food for the squirrels. We got off easy.



Our wood stove is sort of like this, only it's in front of our fireplace and it's all black. We were very lucky! So, new rule. Nothing goes on the wood stove top. Unless we are desperate to cook stew in an ice storm or something. I thought I had pictures of Very Big Furry Grey Squirrel eating the gingerbread house like he couldn't believe his luck, but it must be on video.