Christmas Day 2016

Santa came!

 

 

Simon is trying hard to get to the scorpion embedded in the lollipop.

Alice decorated some gingerbread cookies and a house.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Christmas Eve trip to the Columbus Zoo

To get the kids out of the house and take advantage of our 50% off (due to being members of the NC Zoo) we went to the Columbus Zoo in Christmas Eve. It was a great time to go because there was hardly any one there. (There are not many pictures of Simon because he really just looked for bugs the whole time.)

The kids were perhaps more excited about the left over snowpiles (they instantly had snowball fights) than they were about seeing the animals.

That evening, Alice sprinkled Reindeer food on the lawn. It's oatmeal and glitter that she mixed together at school.

Mmm, gingerbread!



I love the promise of a Christmas tree the night before Christmas.

Headed to Ohio

After spending the first few days of my winter break alternating between grading essays at a breakneck pace and packing up to move, I was actually relieved to be headed to Ohio for a brief respite before the big move.

We made pretty good time, but at every rest-stop, Simon had to forage for bugs. Alice ran around.

This trip was a lot easier than past ones because we just hooked Alice up to the iPad.

We arrived!

Alice in the attic

Alice has been dying to go in our attic since she became aware of its existence, but it has been strictly forbidden for her. Since we were about to move out, we decided to let her go up there. She was super excited to go up, but then quickly discovered how boring it was up there.

Stockings hung by the fire with care....

We're having a little trouble staying focused on Christmas this year.

Cheetah Girl

I don't know how she knows to stand with her leg out like that.

The indomitable snowman and his wife.

I was working at the desk and Alice was doodling on a notepad. When she was done, I was pretty impressed with her creation. She told me, "It's the Indomitable Snowman and his wife, the Indomitable Snowlady." If you look closely, she took a "To:____________  From: ___________" sticker and used it for the snowlady's face.

Bees in the mall chasing Santa

I took the kids to the mall to get them out of the house (the mall has a kid's play area). While on the little mall train ride, we saw Santa walking to his post.  Later, Simon had made up his own version of the incident.

Memories in 506 Ryan Road

Here is a video walk-through of our messy, half-packed up, overcrowded house. I choked up on my first try at making the video because I started outside, walked up to the door, started to say, "This is the door I brought my babies home through..." and couldn't make it any further. So this is my second (emotions fully blocked) attempt:

Like all major transitions in life, I'm emotional about this, but ready to move on. The weird thing is that in the video, I keep talking about the sentimental value of the furniture in the house, but we are taking those objects with us. I guess it's hard to talk about walls and a floor and a roof, but those are the things that defined the space in which we lived and created memories for the past 9 years.

Farewell 506 Ryan Road.

Kids at Marbles

Zac took the kids to Marbles so I could get some grading and packing done. Looks like they had a ton of fun.

Kids reaching things

I kind of love it and hate it when the kids start getting smart enough to figure out how to reach things up high on their own.

Here's Simon, trying to get a spider he found in the corner.

And here, Alice helped figure out how to get dead lady bugs out of the living room lamp.

"Oh bother...the soap is in the toilet."

Now that I usually pick Alice up from school, I have to get her through the hand washing routine when we come home. She often washes her hands in my bathroom while I change out of my work clothes. Usually there is soap all over the counter, or a big blob on the rug or something. She's a complete disaster. But today, after she'd already made a big mess, she emerged from the bathroom, hanging her head, and said, and this is and exact quote: "Oh bother....the soap is in the toilet." And sure enough, it was. In trying to squirt some out, she somehow flipped the container over there.  Sigh.

Transformation

I was surprised to see Alice dressed like this when I picked her up. I sent her to school wearing a pink sweater and black pants. She soon revealed that the pants were scrunched up under her "skirt."

Home Inspection

We visited our house this evening to get the news from the inspector. The bad news is it need a new roof immediately. The good news is that the rest is mostly OK.

We're so excited but also nervous/stressed about making the move to this house.

Waiting for Butterflies

This is Simon in the butterfly room at the science museum, holding out his arm so a butterfly could land on it. Sadly, none did.

December Roses

A mammal that likes bugs

While reading bedtime stories with Simon, I had the following conversation:

Sera: Simon, this book is about bear bugs.
Simon: Bears aren't bugs!
Sera: You're right. Bears are mammals just like us.
Simon: Mom, am I a mammal?
Sera: Yes, you are.
Simon: I'm a mammal that likes bugs.
Sera: Yes, you are.

Spider at the Doctor's

Zac took Simon to the doctor's for pink eye. And of course, Simon found a (dead) spider.

Buzzing, stinging, cheese!

I was reading Simon a book about centipedes before his nap, and he loves this page where it shows a centipede eating bees. Since all Simon wants to talk about is bugs, you have to be creative in making conversation with him these days. So I asked Simon what he thought the bees tasted like. Without hesitation, he said, "The bees taste like buzzing, stinging cheese!"

Alice on a Tree

That North Carolina blue sky...I never get tired of it.

Apparently I temporarily wearied of taking pictures of Simon and bugs, because we had a lovely morning at this park, but I took nary a picture of Simon and a bug. But that's too bad, because he had a great find today: a really long leech under a log down by the creek.  Did Simon hesitate at all to pick it up? Nope.

Scorpion Simon

Moving on...

Our offer on the house was accepted, so it's semi-official that we're moving. Our first step was to remove the cloths from the wall. Let the fun begin!

Simon Smiling with Pretzel Sticks at School