goodbye jack

you had a good run, old man. we will miss you.

anarchy

so Q has a hemorrhoid. it's bothering him so he keeps talking about it. but he can't remember the word hemorrhoid so instead he keeps using other big (and sometimes non-sensical) words in its place.

he just told me, "i wish my government would go away. it's hurting me."

backstory

caroline and i were talking about what she wants to be when she grows up. her answer is holding steady at "princess."  tonight i learned more about her princess story...

her princess name is tessaya. the villains are girls named braddility and turtzy. the villains live in a cave under the street, and they like to say bad words that aren't allowed in our house.

caroline's catering

disneyland would be fun..,

so while we were at disney world last weekend, jeremy and i hatched a plan to extract additional use out of our annual passes, by doing special daddy/daughter and mommy/buddy trips with the kids some time this year. with the wilmington airport, we can score really cheap flights and we know how to find cheap hotels too. it could totally be done on the cheap.

we decided to tell the kids the idea to see what they thought.

daddy: hey caroline, would you like to go on a trip to disney world, just daddy and you?

caroline: yes!

me: and quentin, would you like to...

Q: (interrupting) go to california?!!

someday buddy, someday

surprise!

i came home to a flamingo/lego city/princess/olivia/cat in the hat themed surprise party. i was sooooo surprised.

the kids also made flamingos, and cards, and wrapped assorted household items as gifts.

daily dose of disney

more birthday dessert!!

daily dose of disney

a german pickle tree for my pickle

daily dose of disney

birthday dulce de leche ice cream and churro mickey from the mexico pavilion

daily dose of disney

beauty and the beast gave me a card. and some gray stuff (it's delicious.)

snow day!

party planning committee

more than 5 months out, caroline has already locked down "frozen" as her birthday party theme. there's still time for her to change her mind but i think it's a pretty safe bet.

Q also claims that he knows what type of party he wants. definitely. except that it changes constantly. at any given moment, it could be: star wars, lego star wars, ninja turtles, wrestlers, football or pokemon. (c'mon star wars, lego or otherwise.)

sigh

i dedicated last weekend to reorganizing the playroom. the room was a disaster. not just because my children are slobs. but also because we never really took the time to integrate new toys from caroline's birthday in june, quentin's birthday in august, or christmas. it was overflowing, and many toys didn't have a true home.

pickle and i hit ikea on friday night while the boys attended a cub scout lock in. we got some new organizational structures and devices. all day saturday and sunday i worked through the room, inch by inch, bin by bin, until finally it looked like this:

ahhhhhh. a thing of beauty.

and we managed to maintain it all week by harping on the kids. one thing at a time. if you want to play with something else you have to put the first thing away.

then today happened. it took the two of them plus lilly and ginny a matter if minutes to take it from "lived in" to "unrecognizable."

this is why we can't have nice things. sigh.  it took almost 2 hours to put it back together. double sigh.

here comes the smolder

flynn rider taught quentin how to smolder

pinewood derby!

Q's cubby den held the pinewood derby today.  we were terrified since he doesn't take losing too well and can spiral into full ADHD meltdown very easily.  adding to the fear was the fact that we appeared to be the only people who actually let the 6 year old make the car.  he selected green, blue, and orange as his color scheme, and named his car "spaceship earth."

we knew each scout was guaranteed 3 heats.  spaceship earth finished 2nd, 2nd, and 1st in the first 3 3-car runs, meaning he made it to the next round.  he finished 2nd in the 4th heat, earning a spot in the next heat.  there he finished 3rd and was eliminated.  he was upset but did manage to hold it together. yay!

 

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

sugar rush

homework

caroline's pre-k (aka daycare) has started assigning homework. seriously.  seriously. no seriously.

so we now have 20 minutes of homework to do after we get home at 5:30 and before she heads upstairs to shower at 6:30. and she also needs to eat dinner. and maybe, you know, see her family.

doing homework with Q every night already makes me want to claw my own eyes out. now i have to do this with both of them??

need more wine...

pinewood derby!

painting the "spaceship earth" for the pinewood derby on saturday

suck ups

last night the kids hatched a plan to take me out to dinner because they love me. except jeremy was working so i had to drive. and pay.

but they were too cute. the whole way there they listed out reasons why they love me so much. of course, by the time we got to applebee's, the reasons had entered the "because you buy me toys and give me candy" territory. but the first few were legitimately sweet.

wonder what they want...

sweet tooth

"i loooove this dessert. i'm going to eat it all."

moments later...

"i'm full."

homonym

Q: "did you know that when you fart it's called gas? that's what gives me all my energy. like a car."

30's a crowd

not sure if enough stuffed friends have joined us for girl sleepover night.

smitten

girl night

the boys were at cub scouts so caroline and i spent the evening singing the frozen soundtrack at the top of our lungs. she actually knows an impressive amount of the lyrics. girl time!

i'm with you olaf

Kristoff: Really? I’m guessing you don’t have much experience with heat.

Olaf: Nope! But sometimes I like to close my eyes, and imagine what it’ll be like when summer does come.

Bees'll buzz, kids'll blow dandelion fuzz
And I’ll be doing whatever snow does in summer.
A drink in my hand, my snow up against the burning sand
Prob'ly getting gorgeously tanned in summer.

I’ll finally see a summer breeze, blow away a winter storm.
And find out what happens to solid water when it gets warm!
And I can’t wait to see, what my buddies all think of me.
Just imagine how much cooler I’ll be in summer.

Dah dah, da doo, uh bah bah bah bah bah boo

The hot and the cold are both so intense, 
Put 'em together it just makes sense!

Rrr Raht da daht dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah doo

Winter’s a good time to stay in and cuddle, 
But put me in summer and I’ll be a — happy snowman!

When life gets rough, I like to hold on to my dream,
Of relaxing in the summer sun, just lettin’ off steam.

Oh the sky would be blue, and you guys will be there too
When I finally do what frozen things do in summer.

Kristoff: I’m gonna tell him. 

Anna: Don’t you dare!

Olaf: In summer!​

the princess bride

ice try

caroline, in full elsa dress, upon getting asked to put on her coat before going outside: "but the cold never bothered me anyway."

horror story

whenever Q has a bad dream and wakes up before we are in bed, he just stands silently at the top of the stairs until one of us walks by and notices him.  it is so freaky - he's totally still and wide-eyed, children of the corn-style. scares the bejeezus out of me. every. single. time. 

he was probably standing there for 20 minutes before I noticed him tonight. apparently vampire bats were trying to eat him. i suppose around here, they might actually be...

the newest member of the flamboyance

tough week

Q had monday through wednesday off for the holidays. yesterday was a 1/2 day and school was cancelled today due to the snow. and yet he was stupid tired at 7 pm tonight. tough life.

thunder and whitening

caroline, screaming while riding the big thunder mountain roller coaster at disney world: "i'm not scared. my teeth are scared."

what it's all about