Sunday, January 31, 2010

Sweet Siblings


Friday morning while I was cleaning, Brandt sat down next to Blythe and read her stories. 

Brandt doesn't read yet, but that didn't stop him.  He selected stories he knows by heart--From Head to Toe and I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean--because we read them all the time, and "read" those to Blythe.  It was a sweet moment.  They like each other!



And speaking of Blythe, here she is in her monkey jammies watching the flock of sparrows that live in the bush by our garage.  Upon her adoption (March 3) she will officially become Blythe Isabella Barrus, but we are beginning to call her Blythe now.  It will take all of us a bit of getting used to.  We selected Blythe because it means happy and cheerful, which she is, and is certainly less common than Isabella, but we kept Isabella because it means beautiful, which she is, and was the name she was originally given.  We love having her as part of our family.

Friday, January 29, 2010

The repeated clean-up

 
My very own bottle of Nature's Miracle has become my BFF in cleaning supplies.  Can you guess why?  Can you read the small print below "Stain and Odor Remover"?  This is a wonder product that removes "Even urine odors other products fail to remove."  As a certain small person at our house (who shall remain unnamed--to protect the guilty) has struggled with learning to pee in the toilet, I have struggled to remain calm in the face of pee cleanup off the carpet practically every day (I'm on day four in a row).  I take comfort in knowing that he will figure it out before he starts kindergarten. 

I hope.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Happy Birthday Kent!



It was Kent's birthday on January 18th.  He was 53, but oh, such a young 53.  To celebrate, we went bowling.  Here is how that happened.  The morning of Kent's birthday, Brandt was watching an episode of Curious George wherein George goes bowling. 


Brandt said, "I love go bowling.  Dad love go bowling.  Mom love go bowling.  Bella love go bowling."  Then there was a pause, a thoughtful expression, and the question, "Bella love go bowling?"  We weren't sure.

Kent suggested, since it was his birthday after all, that we go bowling.  So we did.  And I can answer yes, Bella love go bowling!  We were joined by Grandma Sue, Auntie Lala, and Uncle Bryan.  A good time was had by all.  Lala won.


Brandt bowling.  What is with this funny, scrunched up face smile?  


Bryan and Isabella.  She wanted to bowl every frame and, when she wasn't chasing after a bowling ball, was eating Grandma Sue's chapstick or smearing it all over her face.


Grandma Sue, Kent, and Brandt

Auntie Lala, bowler extraordinaire

Mom and Brandt, again with the scrunched face smile.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Morning snow frolic



We woke Saturday morning to find a couple of inches of snow covering the ground.  The world outside was white, calm, and quiet.  Then the snow plow truck drove by.

We bundled the children up (Look at their cute striped gloves.  Thanks Aunt Brenda!) and went outside for a stomp. 

Kent, especially, was able to stomp in the snow wearing his heavy duty boots.  These babies must weigh four pounds each and look like something Neil Armstrong wore on the moon.  When I asked him if they were really heavy, he replied, "I wouldn't want to dance the Watusi in them."   


  Jack Tanner

          Simon Tanner

We encountered our friends, the Tanners, sledding on the hill we were headed for.  Brandt loves to be with our cute neighbors he calls JackSimon.  They are one.  One exciting body of big-boyness he finds irresistible.  We spent the next hour or so sledding with them.  We threw snow balls at each other, we rolled down the hill, we even made a three sled train so all of us could sled together.  We crashed every time.  It was a gloriously wonderful frolic in the snow.

Katherine, as taken by Brandt
 
Heidi and Isabella 

 
Brandt preparing to descend

 Brandt as the "engineer" driving the sled with Bella squashed between him and Kent.  Simon is giving them a mighty push.

Katherine, Isabella, and Brandt just before we zoomed down the hill.  
  
Isabella in her cute hat and gloves with her shovel.  Her snow suit goes "swish swish swish" when she walks.  

Friday, January 22, 2010

Green crayon removal--trial and error



While speaking on the phone this morning, for four brief minutes, Brandt found a green crayon (his favorite color!) and wrote all over the hallway walls and floors.  When I discovered his artwork, I went looking for his writing implement and found him upstairs having added flourishes to his toilet and the couch.  His hands were behind his back and he looked guilty.  Very guilty.  I held out my hand to take the crayon, and he handed it over without protest.

So, what to do about green crayon on the walls?  A search on the internet provided me with several possible solutions.

Baby wipes: Effective at removing general grime from the wall (and there is plenty of that), but completely ineffective at crayon removal.

Magic eraser: Too effective.  Took both crayon and paint off the wall.

Hairspray: Even though I was using super hold, it did nothing to remove the crayon.  Again, completely ineffective.

Goo Gone: Aha!  This was just the ticket.  The Goo Gone removed the crayon with a gentle circular scrubbing motion without removing the paint.  I did have to wash the walls after getting all the green crayon off, but that had the added effective of getting me to clean the hall walls which needed attention.  Should I be glad Brandt wrote on the walls, forcing me to clean something that was relative dirty and in need of a good wipe down?  Somehow, I don't think so. 

I did manage to get Brandt to help me with the removal.  His interest lasted approximately 4.6 seconds, 3 minutes and 56.4 seconds less than it took him to make his mark.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

New Year Resolutions

Is it too late to proclaim my new year's resolutions?  It is, after all, the 21st of January.  Perhaps "procrastinate less" should be one of my resolutions.
But seriously.  Here they are.

1.  Iron more.  Or less.  I really don't like to iron.  It is a time-consuming, detail oriented task, and I find it eats up time I would rather spend doing other things.  But it has to be done.  When I am willing to do it, it must always be in front of the TV watching something fun.  Nothing mentally stimulating while I iron--oh no.  Day before yesterday I finally finished ironing a HUGE basketful of clothing.  It took me two days.  Not ironing straight through, of course, but I had to work on it over two days because it had been accumulating since the weather was warm (I did, among many other things, four short-sleeved shirts I probably won't wear again until April).  When all finished, I said to myself, "Katherine, you need to do something about this ironing business."

So I have resolved to either iron once a week, just like I do the laundry, so that it doesn't pile up and I can feel good about watching mindless television, or I need to send out to be laundered every article of clothing I own that ever gets wrinkly going through the washing process.  My guess is, the latter choice will win out.  (Hey! This resolution had nothing to do with saving money.)

2. Wear jewelry more frequently.  I have a lot of really cute jewelry and I don't wear it very often.  I don't do much with myself these days, but in an effort to look better, I am going to wear earrings.  At least.  And I can feel good about this resolution because it doesn't involve weight loss or watching what I eat.

3. Read as many non-fiction books as fiction.  This is a self-improvement sort of resolution.  So far I have read two non-fiction works and am half-way through a work of fiction.  This is definitely an accomplishable goal.  I believe if one is going to resolve to do anything, it should be reasonable and doable. 

There we are.  Three whole resolutions.  Are three resolutions an adequate number?  Is that enough?  Can I look forward to the new year with only three goals, one involving ironing? 

Yup.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

What a way to start the day


I can always tell when Isabella is awake because she likes to jump in her crib first thing in the morning.  This morning, Brandt wanted to jump with her, so I put him in the crib too.  I left them together while I threw a load of laundry into the washing machine, and returned a couple of minutes later to find them both with nothing on.  Brandt had removed Bella's jammies and diaper, and his own clothes, and there they were, gleefully bouncing in the buff.  It was naked jumping.  What a way to start the day.  Give it a try!

Should I be embarrassed that my first post includes nudity?

So I initially included a darling picture of the naked nudies jumping, and then when I mentioned this to Kent, he suggested I take the picture out, lest we get pre-verts looking at our children inappropriately.  What was I thinking?