In My Day,

We had ONE week-long school vacation after the Christmas holiday and it was spring break. These kids--these crazy New England kids--have a "winter break" to go along with the spring one with an additional two days off the following week to accommodate "town meeting" day. Winter break is this week. That is why we've been busy bees all morning long all week long. I, as their personal secretary, tried to assemble playdates throughout the vacation. Today's play date is a bust as we all got snowed in.

I should be outside now with them with those colored ice cubes I mentioned, but, well, um, it's cold out there! I'm cold sitting here in front of the computer! I am totally weak. I also made peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies yesterday, so mock me all you want as I sit here eating them (I did share with them and they are also watching Totoro, so not only are they not getting some healthy outdoor time, they are eating cookies filled with sugar and chocolate.). Good times.

Fiona has been reading (yes, reading out loud!) to Sophia more and more and I finally got a picture of that happening. Fiona has also been leaving several notes, letters and postcards for Sophia and I that say either: "I love you Mom. Love, Fiona" or "I love Sophia. Love, Fiona" with a picture of two people holding hands (one is big, one is small).

That Thing You Do

That white stuff is back. The birdhouse we had hanging from the apple tree fell a while back and was sitting nicely on the snow, which had a hard icy surface at the time. Now it is lost. There isn't even a mound to show where it was.

My goal today is to try to keep the kitchen table clean. Ok, the kitchen table right now is this round catering-type table we got a while ago when Doug was making Chinese food feasts for the Chinese New Year. Now it's our dining room table, except it's in the kitchen because our dining room is now a play room. I have totally lost count how many times I have cleaned this thing today and it's only 12:20 PM. First there was the initial cleaning, because I didn't make the kitchen spic and span the night before. Bite me. Then there was the post-breakfast clean-up (cereal and yogurt-and-granola). Then the post-second breakfast clean-up. Then the cookie clean up (we made snickerdoodles!). Then the birdhouse painting clean-up. Then the lunch clean-up (first lunch, yogurt-and-granola...the second will be pizza). Right now, the table is covered in playdough. Itty bitty tiny pieces of bright pink playdough are everywhere. Sophia keeps trying it, but actually spits it out. It's quite salty, you know?

Right, so the snow is back and the snow cave is long gone and buried. I guess it's time to make a new one. I made lots of colored ice thingys in different plastic containers so they can play with them outside (I did this a few weeks ago, actually, ahem). Maybe we'll do that this afternoon, b/c I can't do arts and crafts all day. I can happily read for an hour this afternoon and then...

And now I must inform you all that Henry, our 1994 blue Honda Civic...is gone. All 200 million miles and rust. He had a cracked windshield and a back-out light out and...just a lot of freaking miles. I think we could have gotten a year or two more out of him, actually, but. We bought that car soon after we got engaged. Now Doug is the proud owner and driver of Harold, a blue 2007 Honda Civic...in other words, the same car I have, but in blue. Henry has been through so much with us. It's sort of odd that he's just gone now. I know, it's a car, but what a great car he was. He drove from Texas to Florida, from Florida to North Carolina, from NC to Vermont...and then from Vermont to Texas and back again! Plus all those working communter miles (we only had one car between us until we moved into the current purple house). I used to think nothing of driving an hour to work (nor Doug for that matter). He even got bumped off a Texas highway by a moving company truck (Mayflower)---minimal damage to him and none to us. Thank you, Henry!