What a new year it's been so far....
We had some crazy weather. There was a winter storm that affected most of the country. The temperature got down to 0 degrees here in Tennessee. Schools closed and the kids and I didn't leave the house for several days. We could have, but I decided not to due to the cold. We got maybe a half an inch of snow, but because of the low temperatures, it stayed on the ground for 3 days. Last month we had a larger than usual electric bill. Daddy went down in the crawlspace to check for wholes or leaks in the duct work and discovered one of the ducts was split in half and another wasn't even attached. Daddy and Grandpa repaired it and the next day we found out the culprit. There's been a beat up cat hanging around the house lately and crying on the front porch. We've been feeding him for weeks but didn't realize he had been sneaking in a open vent in the side of the house and hiding in our crawl space to keep warm. Anthony's school has been closed all week due to the cold and ice on the roads.
Every day he looks forward to my phone announcing, "Call from Seymour Closing." Every day I put the phone on speaker and let him listen. Every day his face lights up when the message says that school will be closed again the following day. Thursday night when the call came in, his face literally went from a huge smile to a disappointed frown when the message said that schools would be open on Friday with a two hour delay...The next morning a message came in saying that due to refreezing and black ice, schools would remain closed after all. Anthony slept til 11:30 when we finally woke him up.
I wish I could remember all the cute and adorable things the girls have been doing. I'll write down my favorites before I forget....
For over a month now, Aubrey has been mimicking Emily's behaviors. During their baths Emily always insists she needs a towel to wipe the soap from her eyes. There's rarely soap, but she hates to have water on her face. Now every time Emily bends over to wipe her face on the towel (or sometimes my shirt), Aubrey does this too.
Aunt Kim got Aubrey a music set for the bath that came with a drum, flutes, and xylophone. Emily turns the drum upside down and fills it with water and uses a toy spoon from her kitchen to stir the "soup" she is making. Now Aubrey does the same. And gets very upset when Emily and I try to add ingredients (toys) to her pot of soup.
Emily is rarely cooperative in the tub so I don't usually wash her anymore. I put soap on a wash cloth and give it to Emily to wash herself.. Usually I could while she washes to see how fast she can wash herself. She hates washing her crotch area and tries to be quick. I'm always telling her to do it again and get the left side, right side, and in the middle. Aubrey must have seen this a million times, so now as soon as I put her wash cloth in the tub, she's washing herself down there.
Emily's school closed a few days this week and last, but most of the days I've kept her home with us anyway. She's had a runny nose and I didn't want her having to go out to the car in the cold. She went to school yesterday and was so excited. I did the usual. I opened the fridge for her to put her lunch box in and took off her coat. She took my hand and asked me to walk her to class. (the carpet) She quickly sat down and never even looked back to say goodbye. But I love picking her up. As soon as she spots me at the door, she gets up, pushes her chair in and runs to me grinning and takes a flying leap into my arms. She's always happy and tells me what a good day she had.
Yesterday Anthony, Aubrey, and I brought Lucy with us to pick Emily up from school. Lucy has very large boobs considering she's never had puppies.....Conversation with the kids.....
Mommy: Lucy, you sure have big boobs!
Anthony: So do you. Don't judge!......
After Emily gets in the car....
Anthony: Emily! Who's boobs are bigger? Mommy's or Lucy's?
Emily: Mommy's! And Aubrey eats them!
Today Daddy and I took the kids to Mckays' used book store to spend the money they got from Aunt Chris and Uncle Larry for Christmas. I didn't bring Aubrey any toys and Emily had her Doc Mcstuffins doll and her Lambie, Chilly, and Stuffy figurines. Aubrey kept asking for one and after much convincing, Emily finally agreed that Aubrey could play with two of her figurines. Aubrey kept reaching for the Doc Mcstuffins doll. I don't know what happened but I turned around in time to see Emily punch Aubrey in the leg as hard as she could. Aubrey has this look on her face, both confused and upset. She was looking at Emily like, "Why did you hurt me?" Then she started crying, but still had that look on her face while continuing to look at Emily. I had a talk (yelled at) Emily and explained how much she hurt and confused her sister and demanded that she apologize to Aubrey. Daddy couldn't see what she did next, so he repeated me. But Emily, instead of using words, turned to Aubrey and handed her the Doc Mcstuffins doll. It was the sweetest thing ever. After Aubrey finally calmed down, she enjoyed playing with the doll.
Before we left for McKay's, Anthony wanted to bring some of his older Wii games and the ones he had already beaten and didn't want to play anymore. He turned them in and while he was waiting from the store employees to look over his items he looked at some new games with Daddy. When we went to pick up his coupon for the store credit they were giving him. He grinned from ear to ear. I told him he might get about $30 in store credit on the drive there. I always estimate low just in case. The lady told him he now had $78 in store credit. I told him the game he picked was only $13 and asked if he wanted to look around some more or come back later. He said come back later. That Daddy reminded him that he had enough to get a used original Xbox. He was so excited. Daddy and Anthony each picked out a game to play on their new Xbox along with the Wii game. They played from the time we got home (around 4:30) until Daddy went to bed at midnight. I'm writing this at two in the morning and Anthony's still in the living room playing. (Yes, I'm going to send him to bed in a few minutes) He told me tonight that he's so excited and that he can't believe that he bought his own gaming console with his very own money and that he never thought he would do that.
After McKay's we went to Sams Club to pick up some diapers and groceries. Aubrey was playing with Emily's toys she got from McKay's in the cart. It's a book with a magna doodle drawing toy on top. Aubrey drew and I said, "Yay! Aubrey, you did it." And then she said, "I did it." I've never heard her say that before........ A few days ago she learned another new word. I was in the middle of making Anthony and Emily hot chocolate. She pointed to the cups and said, "EAT EAT EAT EAT !" Later that night after her bath, she saw her toothbrush and pointed and I swear she said, I brush my teeth." I could have heard her wrong I guess, but I know for a fact she said, "brush teeth."
Emily is having a sleepover at Grandma's tonight. She LOVES sleepovers at Grandma's. Grandma got a new Kindle. (a mini computer to read books and play games on - in case they don't exist when you kids read this later)) Emily was cuddling with Grandma while Grandma helped her play games. Emily looked like a pro sliding her finger back and forth on that thing.
Tonight Anthony told me that last night at dance class, his teacher, Ms. Dee Dee asked all the boys what their favorite Christmas present was and that he told her his portable dvd player. He said she asked all the boys what their favorite present and that one kid said he got a Wii and that another said he got an Xbox, and another got a Kindle and another got a bunch of video games......
Anthony: Was I really that bad?
Me: What do you mean?
Anthony: Well all the other boys got all these really expensive electronics. Did Santa think I was bad this year?
Me: I don't know. But some kids only get one present from Santa and others get so much stuff you wonder how it fits in their house. Maybe one of those kids got JUST an Xbox, or JUST a Kindle and nothing else. Did you get any video games?
Anthony: I got Mario Kart and I got two Knex sets and......
Me: Well then there's your answer. I wanted to get you Mario Cart after Santa got you the Wii one year, but do you know how much that game cost?
Anthony: Maybe $30 or $40?
Me: No, it cost $50. That's why I never got it for you. And guess how much that dvd player probably cost?
Anthony: Probably around $150.
Me: Wow! I was going to guess around maybe $70 or $80.
Anthony: Mom! A dvd player is electronics. These are modern times. Electronics are expensive. This IS the 21st century you know!.............
Anthony: Ryan has his own phone. I don't have my own phone.
Me: I doubt Santa got Ryan a phone. Maybe his parents got him a phone.
Anthony: How come I don't have a phone and Ryan has a phone?
Me: Maybe after Ryan's parents pick him up from school they have to go to work. Maybe he has a phone in case there's an emergency when he's home alone.
Anthony: That's another thing Santa never gave me!
Me: What?
Anthony: I'm never home alone. Sometimes when I say I want to go out, I don't mean with the whole family.
Me: Then go buy yourself a car.
Sometimes I love these silly conversations with Anthony. :)
