locomtion

this weekend was a study in movement.  specifically, the ability to move from one place to another in the most dangerous manner possible.

bea perfected riding a bike without training wheels, while hardie perfecting falling over on his bike and bleeding. with training wheels.

bike rider

bike faller

after such a successful run outside, the kids practiced their roller skating and roller hitting-with-a-baseball-bat.

they did this for 100 laps around the house.  i counted.

next week, we conquer flying.

in which has a dream and invades hardie's privacy

before leaving for the field trip, i did get to spend a few minutes in bea's class during which time i checked out her last few journal entries.

'I had a dream that my father and me found a door and my brother went to the bathroom and there was no door so I saw him'

every morning when i wake the kids, i ask them three questions: did you sleep well?  did you dream well?  what did you dream?  the last one is because i am totally fascinated with what their little minds process during the night and just what a child dreams about anyway.  usually i don't get an answer and if i ever do its a short, one-word description - you, superheroes, lunch - so my search for insight is largely fruitless.  UNTIL i found this journal entry.  now i know - bea dreams about accidentally seeing hardie on the can. 

'Last night my mom's sink was broken so I had a plan that I should hold [no idea] and my mom should go faster then the pipe broke so my mom [again, what the hell?] the best and fix it and that also was my dream.  MLK had a dream that people should be treated equally no matter what color their skin is.'

i appreciate that bea chooses to segue between my mad plumbing skills and the vision of martin luther king, jr

the sound of one hand high-fiving

clearly we haven't done much better in our quest for organization and/or time to complete basic tasks like blogging or, um, showering.  yesterday was my last day at my former job so i took the opportunity today to spend the day with bea at school.  i meant it to be an opportunity to watch her work and learn more about how her day is structured in hopes of helping her be more successful in school.  in reality, i managed to get suckered in to chaperoning a field trip to a park in humble, texas.  the park was pretty neat - it featured a 19th fully functioning (and staffed with kids in period costumes) settlement.  we got to see black smithing, and fabric weaving and then a weird musical...performance?  i also took several of bea's friends around the woods on a hunt for geocaches.  the first one we found was a pretty big box with a ton of random gifts inside.  the fact that i led these girls to actual buried treasure?  they loved me.  i spent a lot of time fighting off various kids who just wanted to hold my hand and be a part of my awesome.  i'll go ahead and ride this high for as long as i can remember that i did something cool.  probably i will forget by tomorrow morning.

on the bus, eating flowers

soon, these children will worship me

seriously, i was like a god to these girls

settlers cooking 'hoe' bread.  heh heh.  hoe.

in unrelated news, hardie is a pirate

there and back again

the holidays have ended and life is slowly returning to normal.  slowly.  so very, very slowly.  it is taking some adjustment to get back into any semblance of a routine and so far our sacrifices have been primarily in the subjects of food and hygiene.  since i am far too tired to do much of anything else, i give you: January, in photos.

bea is a baller

and really really REALLY likes icing now

hardie made this face

bea painted mickey mouse

the kids cheered me on during the houston marathon

bea read nabokov

hardie also painted mickey mouse

bea ate spaghetti

bea waited

hardie ate spaghetti

that about sums it up.

yesterday was my birthday and, while it started with a sputter, it ended with quite a bang.  to my ego.  i came home to a surprise 'party' hosted by the munchkins, complete with balloons and cake and handmade signs wishing me the happiest of birthdays.  my spirits however the constant chanting of  'YOU'RE 36!  YOU'RE 36!' certainly did not allow any escape of my disappointment in my inevitable aging.  the party abruptly ended after beatrice, upon poking my chest, announcing 'YOUR BOOBIES ARE MORE SQUISHY!'

we spent the rest of the evening in quiet reflection, eating icing from the jar and generally contemplating age.  ok, the kids played wii and i sulked on the coach.  at least i can say that my birthday present was the knowledge that my children are both thoughtful (they threw me a party!) and blissfully unaware of time.

meterologist

after months of being towel manager, chair manager, and office runner, hardie was finally given the best job in his class: meteorologist.  why is this job the single most awesome position?  because hearing a lipsy 4 year-old say the word meteorologist is probably the funniest freakin thing i've ever heard.  also the fact that his whole job is to stick his head out the door and announce to the class 'the weather today is ...' is also amusing.

mee-to-wol-a-giss says: the weather today is waining.