Confession is good for the soul

Confession is good for the soul.

Kendra: One time there was a block that fell in the potty downstairs.
Mommy: There was? What kind of block?
Kendra: A spinny one. With the yellow thing in it that spins like this.
Mommy: Like the one with the horse in it and the elephant one. One like those?
Kendra: Yeah.
Mommy: Who got it out of the potty?
Kendra: Well, I was trying to dry it off.
Mommy: So you dropped it in the potty, you got it out, and then you were drying it off? What were you drying it off with? A towel?
Kendra: Umm (scrunched nose), with my shirt.
Mommy: Ew. Was there potty or baachy in the potty?
Kendra: There was just a little bit of potty in there.
Mommy: Ew! Ew! Ok, that's why toys shouldn't be in the bathroom. But if a toy does fall in the potty, you have Mommy or Daddy get it out.
Kendra: Would it fall down?
Mommy: It might fall to the bottom, but no it wouldn't get flushed. You'd need to have Mommy or Daddy get it out though so they can get it clean. Oh, and EW!

Confession is good for the soul. But sometimes very bad for the mommy.

Because I'm just that nerdy

I think in another life, I was supposed to be a meteorologist. But not in this life. In this life, I'm just a weather nerd. I like watching radars. I like looking at the road reports map. Which may seem sad and pathetic to you. But, to me ... well, ok, it may seem sad and pathetic to me too. But I still enjoy it. Why do I enjoy it?

Because I get to see things like this.

This is the Iowa road conditions map a little before 8:00 Monday night. The day that we were supposed to have a light dusting of snow, a snow of no consequence. The day that the majority of the state ended up in a blizzard warning. The day that our "inconsequential snow" shut down most of the state.

Assuming you're not a road conditions map junkie like I am, I'll give you a very brief, very incomplete tutorial. Red means Travel not advised. The little red circles with the white line in them: they mean the road is actually closed. Never before have I seen this many Closed signs on the road conditions map. Ever. And certainly not for a light dusting of inconsequential snow.

My name is Lynnette, and I am a nerd.

Map from http://www.iowaroadconditions.org/roadConditions.asp?area=IA_statewide&textOnly=False

Who needs furniture...

Who needs furniture

when you've got a daddy around.

Finally a chance to play in all that snow

Does anyone else think it looks like Kendra is photoshopped into this picture?

Evan can somehow get out of a snowangel without messing it up one single bit:

Time to go in! So Kendra hopped through the snow to get to the driveway.

For (a different, not mine) Kendra

After posting here about the kids' homemade crocheted Christmas presents, a somewhat distant relative named Kendra asked if I would make her a pig. And a sheep. There were three minor dilemmas with this request.

1) I had just finished making a pig for a Kendra and would now be making another pig for another Kendra.

2) I had never made anything for anyone else and was therefore doubting my crocheting abilities. This was exacerbated by

3) There was no pattern for a sheep.

However, I overcame those 3 barriers, made up a sheep pattern on my own (by combining parts of the reindeer, pig, and giraffe patterns), and crocheted this:

And here they are together:

To that other Kendra, I hope your sheep and pig live a full and happy life together!

Weather radio increases imagination

Our weather radio just went. Blizzard warning until midnight.

Evan's in there listening to it. "Blowing snow! And high winds! That means monster (something something)"

Kendra: Oh no, we're gonna die!

Evan: And the snow machine isn't working. Careful, the blizzard's almost getting you!

I do believe I have the world's funniest kids!

I must

Evan (upon hearing Daddy make Laura giggle in the other room): They're having fun in there! I must go too!

The (no) school schedule

We've had a wacky winter here for school days lately. I wish I had been keeping track of how many days there hasn't been preschool. But I haven't. However, as an example, here's how the last week has gone:

Monday (Jan. 18): Holiday/In-Service day, no school
Tuesday (Jan. 19): Normal day
Wednesday(Jan. 20): Ice, no school
Thursday (Jan. 18): Ice, 2-hour delay, therefore no preschool
Friday (Jan. 21): No preschool on Fridays (but for the record, they got out early for no power due to Wednesday's ice storm)
Monday (today, Jan. 25): Blowing/snowing, 2-hour delay, therefore no preschool
UPDATE: And I just now got an e-mail that school is getting out 2 hours early today.
Updated update: School is 2 hours late tomorrow(Jan. 26): , so no preschool.

I'm thinking Evan might be going to preschool up until the day he starts kindergarten.

Half a Vacation Day

Last Monday, we all had the day off, so we decided to take half of a Vacation Day. (Chad and I were neither one feeling up to a full Vacation Day.) We decided to go to a nearby prairie wildlife refuge. We told the kids we would go for a drive and maybe see buffalo. Unaware of how foggy it really was, we shouldn't have made that vague promise since we wouldn't be seeing much of anything on the driving tour (although we did see two whitetail deer on the drive out afterwards). However, the kids were very excited and started yelling as soon as they saw this. "It's a buffalo! I see a buffalo!!!" Had to explain to them that it was a statue by the gas station, but they were still excited.

Once we were in the learning center, the kids played with the puppet stage for a while,

looked and found at the (stuffed) animals in the prairie display,

pretended to be an elk,

learned how heavy elk antlers really are,

declared, "look, Mom! I'm a unicorn!",

watched more than a few push-a-button-to-choose-a-movie movies,

and watched a movie about the prairie in their theater.

After leaving the refuge, we stopped for lunch, then headed home. On the ride home, the kids (and I) were

Another great Vacation Day!

If you've been reading my blog for a while and have read about our other Vacation Day adventures, you know that "free or really cheap" is a standard requirement for our Vacation Days. The grand total for this one was $23. The wildlife refuge was free (plus, we were the only ones there on a wintry Monday morning, so the kids had plenty of time and space to run around and explore in the learning center!), and lunch was at a family diner which is more than we would normally spend but yummy.

Classy stuff

Nothing says classy, sophisticated, and talented

quite like letting Daddy pinch your nose shut ...

... and then keeping it that way.

I'm so proud.