Some things Alice writes

"Alice's styrofoam and markers."

"My cat's name is Alice. My cat's mom is small."

"When I grow up I be a teacher. I will read books to children."

"Two people went walking on a sunny day. It was hot."

Then, on the back, because her teacher must have reminded her she was supposed to use one of the words from the worksheet in a sentence:

"Two blocks were at the school. One block got took in a we (sic). How many are left?"

Alice and Ms. Georgiana

I had to pick up both kids today and take them to Zac's work party. It worked out to get Alice first and bring her with me to get Simon. Everyone at school loves it when Alice makes an appearance. Here she is with Ms. Georgiana, the daycare's director, who had a special fondness for Alice.

Simon reads me a story

Simon told me to sit on the couch with him, and he would read me a story.

"I've had it with Simon!"

I can't remember what Alice was upset about that inspired this drawing, but I like that she's using art therapy to cope with her feelings.

Moses

Simon's first intentional artwork

Up until now, Simon has shown very little interest in art. He'll paint every now and then for a few mintues if Alice is, but he'll usually just smear the paint everywhere. But today he had an artistic vision.

It's a centipede. Do you see the legs coming off of the body?

Alice and Grayson

We had a play date with Grayson's family on Saturday, and they broke the news to us that they'd be moving to Richmond, Virginia where Brent got a new job. We're devastated, but hoping they come back to visit a lot, since it's only about 2 1/2 hours away. Lindsey will be staying here with the kids until summer so Grayson can finish out the school year. We'll plan as many playdates as possible between now and then.  What will Alice do without her (much politer) soul mate?

Flying around

Alice's creativity

Luckily, the iPad is not stifling Alice's creativity, as she still produces lots of interesting multi-media works of art. Here are the highlights from the stuff she's created over the past two months. (These are all things that she created completely from her own ideas. I don't even bother with the "arts and crafts" she brings home from school every week.)

"Simon wearing a bug costume."

"A dog."

"I see! I see! [Hollybush] I see!" 

"10+10=20"

"8+8=16" (She writes 6 backwards so it looks like 2). 

"4+2+2=8"

"It's a robot and it gets its energy from the honey tube on his head."

"Sword finger"

"The slide is fun"

The iPad Rules

Because Alice loves the iPad so much and was instantly addicted, we had to set clear rules for when she can be on it.

Weekends
1. In the mornings before we get up.
2. After her nap, unless the neighbors are outside playing, then she should go outside instead.

Weekdays
3. In the mornings after she is completely ready for school.
4. In the evening while I am cooking supper if her homework is already done.

These boundaries work pretty well and are generally designed to make our life easier by motivating her to get through breakfast quicker on weekdays and by keeping her busy in the evenings when we're trying to get supper ready.

Restroom repertoire

In addition to using the potty at the most inconvenient times (middle of meals), insisting that we stay right outside the door (but don't look at him!), taking forever to wash his hands (with a teeny trickle of water), Simon has now added something new to his restroom repertoire: a potty dance to signal the transition from the potty to the sink. He does this every time.

Notes from Alice

When cleaning up the living room one day, I found these notes Alice had written a while back (probably around Valentines day, based on the heart-shaped paper). Below each note, I've provided a translation for those of you who can't read kindergartenese.

"I love my cat so much. She likes to cuddle."

"I love my family so much. They love me so much."

"Thanks, Zac, for all your hard work! Love Alice."

Batman bath

Alice has the batman washcloth spread out over her chest.

Future Serial Killer

After catching a jumping spider, Simon comes over to show it to me.

Simon: Guess what I have in my hand!
Sera: A spider?
Simon: Yes! I'll show it to you.
Sera: Be careful--I don't want it to jump on me.
Simon: Here it is! (He opens his hand. The spider doesn't move.)
Sera: Why isn't it moving?
Simon: Because I killed it.
Sera: Why did you kill it?
Simon: Because I wanted it dead.

Under the pots

Every day for daycare drop off in the morning and pick up in the afternoon, Simon insists on looking under the pots outside the doors for bugs. What's amazing is that he checks every single day and always finds a few bugs. In fact, he refuses to go on unless he has acquired at least three bugs.

He better end up being a scientist and Alice better be a lawyer, given all the trouble they cause us.

Farewell 2003 Honda Civic; hello 2014 Honda Accord

We bought our 2003 Honda Civic used in June 2007, a year after getting back from China. We were just dorky enough to take our first car we bought ourselves/together out for a photo shoot with the tripod at the Dorothea Dix field near our Raleigh apartment.

I had been wanting a new car for two or three years now. I was just tired of having a manual transmission, especially whenever I was stuck in traffic. The car had lots of squeeks and rattles (that  neither the mechanic nor Zac could ever hear) and the gear shift would often refuse to go into first gear or reverse, particularly when there was someone waiting for me to get out of the way. But, I kept waiting to buy one because we had two kids in daycare and we were saving money to buy a house and we didn't want to use up money we might need for a downpayment.

So now that we sold our old house and I did some math on our finances, I decided we could afford to get a new car. I also think the Trump debacle has made me more eager to get everything squared away, because I'm convinced the economy will collapse again or there will be some other disaster in the next couple of years.

I'd been shopping for cars online for a while, and I was determined to get a blue car. I also really liked the Honda brand and I loved the way the new Accords looked. I read a couple reviews online, and proceeded to look for a good used Accord in blue. We both left work early one day to test drive the different trim levels and decide what we wanted.  Then I just had to find a blue Honda Accord EX.  They turned out to be quite rare in this particular trim level for some reason. Eventually, I expanded my search to include a 50-mile radius, and as luck would have it, there was one for sale in Burlington, where Zac's dad lives. So we arranged to come over so they could watch the kids while we went to possibly buy a car. It was like the house purchase all over again, with the uncertainty, but it was far less stressful because there are lots of Honda Accords out there, and I could compromise on the color if I had to.

So that afternoon we took a family selfie in front of the civic, a trusted family member for nearly 11 years, then headed off to Burlington. The poor car had no idea we planned to trade it away as it happily buzzed down the highway.

I'll skip most of the details, but basically we used our newly awakened negotiating skills (plus some online advice we'd read) and negotiated pretty well for the new car. We figure we got them as low as possible, given that they actually let us walk out of the dealership. We were quite disappointed we hadn't gotten the car, until they called my cell phone after we were already on the highway and agreed to come down to within winking distance of our price. I don't know how people do business on a regular bases-- it is so stressful.

Anyway, we got the car I wanted and it's beautiful.

(Since I'm actually writing this a month later, I can say that the only problem with the car is that the seat is uncomfortable because the headrest pushes my head forward. We're still investigating ways to make the seat more comfortable. It's weird because this problem wasn't mentioned in the reviews I read, and we even have a friend with the exact same car that we talked to before buying this and she didn't mention anything about the seat problem. Yet once I googled "uncomfortable seat honda accord" tons of complaints came up, so I am not alone. I guess the problem is the seats are designed for safety and not for comfort. So I do have a bit of buyer's remorse.)

Lucky location

Zac and I know that we are lucky, probably far more than our share. But we also make a lot of plans and think about what we want. One of the things we wanted in our new house was close to a park or greenway.  We are lucky because this house's location is next to both a greenway and one of the best parks in Cary. It is so nice to be able to head out on a warm February morning on foot with the kids and have Simon find bugs to heart's content, while Alice zips around on her bike.

Snail Trail

Simon lined up all these little snail shells that he had collected from under a bush in the front yard.

Shake-it cheese

We were having spaghetti for supper. At the beginning of the meal, before the rest of us were in the dining room, Zac handed Simon the container of shake-it cheese (known by the rest of the world as parmesan cheese) and then turned his back to adjust the window blinds. When he turned back around, Simon had poured way too much cheese onto his noodles. He thought he had done a great job though.

President's Day Playdate

Alice had to go to school on President's Day because it was one of the snow make-up days. Simon and I had the day off, and I offered to watch Murphy while his mom went in to work in the morning for a while. Murphy and his brother Glenn went to Alice and Simon's daycare and it turns out they live in our new neighborhood. When I found out from other mutual friends that we were neighbors now, Andrea invited us over for dinner. Her boys are staggered in age with Glenn being a year older than Alice and Murphy being a year older than Simon.

Anyway, the boys got along great. We just played in the basement until it warmed up enough to go outside. They were so content and easy compared to when Alice is around.