Miss Preston

William's teacher has an assistant this year and her name is Miss Preston. Ever since the beginning of school William has been talking about Miss Preston. Tonight at bed time I asked him why he likes Miss Preston so much. Here's his response:

"I like miss preston because she never gets mad at me... She never puts her eyebrows down".

I just loved that he put the angry face into a few simple words like that. He continued:

"Miss preston has the prettiest blue eyes. I just like her so much! Even when I do something naughty, she says 'William, you shouldn't do that' instead of getting mad. I LIKE HER SO MUCH!

My first bike ride with my kids!

We finally got William a big boy bike and Mary Grace got upgraded from her 12" bike with training wheels to a 16" bike. Ever since then they have both been so excited to go on bike rides.

We took a ride up and down the street a few nights ago and I was having trouble keeping up with William (aka Cannonball - thanks Michael Bell). So tonight, I got my bike out too and all three of us took a little ride together!

We rode down towards the pedestrian bridge, then rode up the ramp to the playground at School #1. I was most impressed with their ability to ride up the ramp, then on the way back with their ability to use the brakes on their bikes to slow themselves down.

William lost some of his Cannonball energy towards the end, and I noticed that when Mary Grace's helmet came off after the ride that her hair was a little sweaty. So we had fun and got a little exercise too!

Next time, Anne has offered to come along as well!

At the Farmer's Brunch

Last month I was asked by Mary Grace's school to volunteer for the Farmer's Brunch. To go along with what the kids were learning at that time they had parents donate food and time to run a parent/child brunch.

The parents helped the kids cook various foods, then we got to eat what we cooked! It sounded good to me and I had all the fixin's for a good cowboy costume, so yeehaw...

Mary Grace got a new bandana and a pretty red straw hat and just looked so cute!

Mary Grace and I and several other kids all ended up on pancake duty, which was perfect since we've been making pancakes together since she was 3. The kids measured and poured and mixed, and even poured the batter onto the skillet. The cowboy took over from there.

When the food was all done, all the parents got to join the kids for a nice brunch.

The parts I'll remember for a while are: being called "Silly Mr. Daddy man" by a bunch of kids, because Mary Grace told them that's my name. ??? Also, getting to meet a bunch of Mary Grace's friends from her class that I'd never met before.

Here's a few photos of the fun event!

The Big Birthday Party

William has been looking forward to the Big Birthday Party at Bernies Bouncers. He invited his whole preschool class to the big shindig, and there were a few regrets, so he got to invite a bunch of his friends from the neighborhood too!

Bernies Bouncers is highly recommended. Rather than subjecting your party to the public and losing most of your party most of the time, they have a private party room with big inflated slide things, games and a self-propelled train things on a track. Only your group occupies this room for the duration of your party. It's far superior. :)

We had very good luck at the event as nobody misbehaved and there were only a few small bumps and scratches. William got a naughty scratch on his tummy that is now being covered by a cool Dracula band aid (Thanks Andrea and Larry!).

The pizza and cake were delicious and then the party was over! No prep and no cleanup made it much easier on Mommy and Daddy. Now if we could only find a place to store all the toys this birthday season has brought William!



Happy 5th birthday, William!

William's parsing skills

So we've noticed that William is getting better at listening and parsing out important (to him) information from what people are saying. Here's an example.

Anne: William, it's time to get dressed for school
William:
Anne: William, you have to get dressed. I'm not going to tell you again!
William: (does something else)
Anne: William, get dressed now or you'll be late for school!
William: Mommy, you said you weren't going to tell me again!

He finally did get dressed though...

Anne notes that he's also started quoting commercials in his hard-sell to get her to buy him things. For example:

William: (watches butterfly garden commercial)
William: Mommy, I want a butterfly garden
Anne: Well, we'll see.
William: Mommy, if you buy me the butterfly garden, you can get twice as many butterflies for only a little bit more money!

William's birthday cake, and his reaction to it

Mommy decided to make William's birthday cake, so he got to choose the flavor (chocolate) and the design (easter egg). After spending hours in the kitchen baking the cake and decorating it, here's the final product:




And Mommy called the kids into the kitchen to see the final product. William's response upon seeing it? "It's awful". He was apparently expecting the cake to be in the shape of an egg.

Happy spring; first day of kids swimming season at the pool this afternoon from 1-2pm. April 23 as the first day, what will be the last day??

Rainy afternoon at the movies with the Regans

William got a watch

As a gift "from Blast"... Today he asked me if he can pause his watch while we go outside to play.

I really love the refreshing thoughts like that which we've been programmed not to even consider!

He also said that a watch can be turned into a clock if you stick it to a wall...

William looses a tooth!

We all know the story about how William lost his first tooth. According to Mary Grace "Daddy knocked it out". It was actually a really bad fall on the stairs, but I accept responsibility since I put him here. :(

Anyway, William's second tooth has decided to meet the tooth fairy. It had been loosening but William was content to leave it in place. Then one morning he was eating my homemade bread and I hear him scream "MY TOOTH!" Mary Grace came running and sure enough that cute little tooth was in William's hand.

So now he's got a gap that he can fit a straw into with his teeth clenched. Surely that's worth something?




It should be noted that during the shooting of this video, Mary Grace was in her bedroom crying because she hasn't lost any teeth yet. I tried to convince her that little girls should lose all their teeth at the same time. I'm not sure she bought into it though.

Afterwards, William placed the tooth in his special "tooth fairy pillow" under his regular pillow. And don't you know that the tooth fairy came overnight and left $5 and a quarter too! Yikes, inflation; when I was little, it was just a quarter!

A snow William!

William and I played for hours in the snow last weekend, but sadly our goals for an epic snowball battle did not materialize as the snow was not good for packing.

We also had to shelve our plans for a snowman for the same reason. But I was able to make a SNOW WILLIAM! With him posing, I shoveled the snow all around him and stuck a carrot in his mouth. Doesn't my boy make a convincing snowman?



The next day it warmed up and we had our snowball battle, with a uniquely designed fort for each of us. After the battle, we started digging tunnels in the snow. We had some quite involved tunnels made, then exhaustion set in and we retired indoors for some relaxing TV and hot chocolate. A great few days as winter winds down!

Mary Grace is officially 6 years old.

So far this year, we had a friends party for some of her kindergarten friends. Sadly, Mary Grace couldn't invite everyone on her list, but we had a good sized group for our house size.

It was a Tinkerbell/Pixie Hollow theme party with each room decorated for a season and costumes optional. It was a windy and snowy day right after a big mid-winter melt and we all stayed cozy in the house. The party lasted a little over two hours and consisted of a butterfly decorating craft, lunch, bag decorating, another craft, a pinata and finally cake and ice cream.

	All ready for the party
	Cake time!
	Opening presents!

On Mary Grace's birthday proper, we got her a surprise -- a stay at a local hotel with a nice swimming pool and hot tub in a heated atrium. Walking in to the hotel, William was first to ask "does this hotel have a swimming pool?". Upon hearing yes, the screaming started.

After checking in to our room, we swam for a little over two hours. Then as hunger began to kick in, we went back to the room and changed, then headed out for Mary Grace's dinner of choice, pizza. Dinner at Pizzeria Uno, ice cream sundaes and William falling asleep there (at 7:45!), then back to the hotel. I offered more swimming but the kids were tuckered out.

The next morning, we had an early brunch in the hotel restaurant, then it was back to the pool until checkout time.

The kids had a great time mid-winter swimming and they've been asking to go back to the pool to swim ever since...

	Hamming it up, poolside
	Mary Grace and her daddy

Leg Hair.

William: Daddy, why do you have hair on your legs?
Daddy: Why do you think?
William: Because you're an alien.
Daddy: LOL!

I wish I remembered all of these micro-interactions. Sadly, some of the funniest ones have been long forgotten.

Better than a Happy Meal toy!

As the kids and I were leaving the gym the other night, they were running and playing near the tennis courts and ended up running into each other and bumping foreheads pretty hard. They were both crying and as I dual-consoled, I offered up Happy Meals from McDonalds. It worked their tears turned to smiles.

Then I called Anne to tell her I was bringing home Happy Meals and she told me she had chicken nuggets and french fries in the oven already. The kids were disappointed and the crying resumed until I suggested Anne get a toy from her secret stash and give that in place of a Happy Meal toy. (note - confirmation that the toy in the happy meal is the key ingredient)

So after dinner, we unboxed a "Mystical Garden" toy. Just put the cardboard pieces into the plastic tray, add the magic liquid and in a few days, you get a beautiful garden. To my surprise, it actually worked! Here's the proof.

First saying her R's now chewable medicine

Mary Grace has a tummy ache today and Anne just confirmed a fever too, so Anne wanted to give her some medicine. Now giving Mary Grace medicine has ALWAYS been a huge problem. She often prefers to feel miserable than to take something that might taste bad.

This has been the situation for the past almost 6 years. We've tried sneaking mess into foods and drinks with very little success. We had just about given up trying until this morning.

Anne offered Mary Grace some chewable childrens Tylenol, and she took it. She even said she liked it.

Our minds have been blown!

Rrrrrrrrrrrr!

Anne mentioned that Mary Grace had a surprise for me and what a surprise it was!

She started out trying to get Mary Grace to say some words by leading the witness, but that wasn't working (the witness is way too smart for that). Once Mary Grace left the room, I learned that Mary Grace learned to say her R's!

Now we've been trying to get her to say her R's for like two years. And while she's mastered some of them, the ones that come at the end of the words like car, bar, etc. Have been elusive.

Well, TODAY is the day that's learned it. She's tossing our the "car", star", and even "guitar" like it's no big deal! She is even acting like it's no big deal!

So I had to ask, how did you learn? Did mommy work with you? Did your teacher at school help you?

Her answer? And I am not making this up, and I had to ask twice to make sure I got it right...

"my foot taught me"

Wait, what?

"I learned to say my R's from my foot."

Hmmmmm. Ok, whatever, at least she's saying them now. Yay, no speech class!

Then tonight, Anne was trying to get Mary Grace to tell me the temperature (twenty FOUR degrees), and we asked her 2 or 3 times, until she finally responded "24 dude!!!"

LOL

Sledding at Tay Lodge

Brrrr, it's a cold day outside, but we all decided to brave the cold and go sledding with the Regans. After piling on layer after layer we made our way to the car, where I realized that William looked like that kid from Christmas Story. He's nearly the right age, too. I guess it's time to forbid him from putting his tongue on a flag pole in the winter.

Anyway, we arrived at the hill to find it deserted! Very strange, but hey, we had the hill all to ourselves. Once we exited the car, we realized why; the wind up there, combined with the cold made it downright in-hospitable!

After the first few runs, we had our first case of frostbite; Joe decided he had enough, so Patrick took him to the car to warm up. His little brother Dan was tettering between being cold enough to give up and having so much fun he wanted to stay. The rest of the kids were way on the fun+stay side.

After about 45 minutes though, everyone had enough of the wind blown snow slapping us in the face and called it quits. It was our second sledding adventure this year, and while the ground conditions were better than the first, but air conditions were considerably worse.

We got home and drank hot chocolate and played mouse trap, and relaxed in the warmth of the house.

William and Daddy
Mary Grace and Catherine
Mary Mary Grace and Daddy

Chicken Pot Pie

The boys cooked Rick's surprise dinner tonight; I had seen a video recipe for Chicken Pot Pie on Wegmans.com, and decided it was to be our dinner.

Now, everytime I play a video on the laptop, the kids cluster around it to see what's going on. They sat and watched the entire recipe video. So when it came time to cooking, they both wanted to help.

Absence of excessive counter-top space meant I had to choose, and since it was William who was most persistent in asking, he had the honor of being my sous chef.

He did helpful things like poking the fork into the crust to keep it near the bowl, adding the butter, vegetables and flour for the roux, and beating the egg for brushing on the top. All in all, he was a good assistant!

As soon as it went into the oven, he started asking if it was ready every 30 seconds. He went on and on about how good it smelled and how he couldn't wait to try it. He even sat at the table waiting for it for a good 10 minutes before it was ready.

When it was finally ready, I gave him a nice big scoop and he ate it all up, except for the crust; he didn't care for that. Mary Grace took one taste and picked out some of the chicken, then opted out. Anne and I loved it. Thankfully, the recipe made enough for two, so I'll be making up another one in a few days.

The joys of comfort food in the dead of winter.

And for our distant relatives, here's a few recent photos.

Judgement Day, 2010

On the way to the mall to see Santa I turned to the back seat and reminded the kids that it was judgement day. I explained, when Santa asks "Have you been good?" will you answer Yes or No? If you answer Yes, and Santa saw you being bad, then you will have lied to Santa. If you answer No, Santa might not bring you everything you wanted.

William states "I'm going to tell Santa that Mary Grace has been naughty and that she keeps on kissing me!". A few seconds later, Mary Grace says "William! If you don't tell Santa that, I'll never ever kiss you again!".

William, of course, responded with "OK".

We got a good laugh out of that. So, on the Big Man's lap, the kids responded to the question "Have you been good?" with "We've been mostly good". That was a reasonable answer I thought. Future politicians?

We're all looking to Santa's visit this year and scrambling to get ready in time. Feeling the pressure of a short December as a result of our vacation to Arizona.

Look at my cool new sneekers!

William has been saying some very funny stuff lately. Notable:

William: Daddy, look at my new sneakers!
Daddy: Wow, where did those come from?
William: From a box.
--
William: Abby Shadow (our "cat") is curious about humanoids.
--
William: Mommy, I was using a permanent marker and I didn't get any on me! None at all! Well, I did get some on me..

First sledding of the season and a tired little boy.

This morning the kids were very excited to go out and play in the freshly fallen snow. I had some chores to do outside as our vacation precluded me from finishing my winterizing, so it worked out perfectly.

The kids made a mess of the driveway trying to shovel the snow, and I put away the deck furniture, emptied the lawnmower of gas and took out the snow blower. Mary Grace quickly tired of the snow as she usually does; I think she just goes out for a little while so she can earn her cup of hot cocoa!

William wanted to go sledding, so I dragged him in the sled down to BF-Joe's house and back. On the way back he remarked that he wanted to go down the hill at Cobbs Hill Park. Since we were already bundled up, I loaded the sleds into the car and off we went.

The sledding wasn't great and we only stayed for 1/2 hour, but we had the place to ourselves and unlike last year, William didn't require me to tow him back up every time. Tummy sledding yielded the best results in the un-frozen ground and few inches of snow.

Tonight, the little angel showed his exhaustion by first getting into bed without my prompting, them falling asleep while I read a Christmas book all about Santa and the North Pole. Sometimes that boy can be a challenge, but other times he's the most wonderful and precious thing in the whole world!

Love you William.