Crab Fishers

Deadliest Catch is now one of Connor's favorite shows (although he always refers to it as Crab Fishers). He asks to watch it all the time. He has a lot of opinions about how the fishermen are doing, if the crab pot is full, why they should all quit smoking, and the best way to get ice off of a boat.

I just hope that all this crab fishing isn't encouraging him to actually ever fish on a crab boat. I like the show too, but can't help notice all the people dying each season. The show is called Deadliest Catch for a reason.

Adorable

In the words of the world's greatest magician..."Come on!" She is super adorable. (Just don't tell her I said so).

All aboard the Mommy Express.

I took a class at the seminary once and the professor talked briefly about how we should not exasperate our children. We often place expectations on our children that put unnecessary strife in our lives. Picking battles is a fact of life for me and Ben. Connor is so willful that we have to be willing to fight any battle we pick to the bitter end.

A new territory that Connor is starting to wage war on is bedtime. He doesn't want to go, can't go to sleep, is too thirsty, didn't eat enough, can't shut off his brain, needs it to be lighter in his room, needs it to be darker in his room, and on and on. Seriously...this kid has a million reasons why he can't go to bed.

Like the best of generals fighting in a war, I have tried several bed time tactics. I launched a small and somewhat successful, you won't get a story tomorrow night if you don't go to bed right now, campaign. Although it was somewhat successful, it was still a battle and one I was getting sick of fighting.

However, in an effort not to exasperate my son, I have developed a new tactic. My new approach is simple, quick, and effective. When Connor starts complaining about bedtime I shout "Oh no! The Mommy Express is leaving in 12 seconds." I then start the countdown, he climbs up onto my back for a piggy back ride and I take off. He rides into bed where in there is much hugging and kissing and sweet dream wishing. Crisis averted.

Mom: 1
Connor: 11,000

It's never too late for a comeback!

Why I love the Backyardigans.

Connor loves the show Backyardigans and Sophia is fairly fond of it as well. The show is full of music, singing, dancing, and creative plots. As far as kid shows go, I give this one a giant thanks for the 20 minutes to myself.

What I love most of all is the creativity of the episodes. The plot lines are so ridiculous that they encourage Connor to make up equally unique worlds in his mind.

Here are the latest plot lines of the most recent episodes we've watched.

Blazing Paddles: Uniqua is the sheriff who keeps her small western town safe for ping-pong. When Ping Pong Bandit Pablo comes to town, his deadly ping-pong moves allow him to beat everybody in town and even drive Sherriff Uniqua out.

Le Master of Disguise: Austin is a detective who's in search of the notorious Master of Disguise, Pablo, who can only be identified by his laugh. He follows the laugh onto The Orient Express from Paris to Istanbul.

The Masked Retriever: Uniqua is a librarian by day, who with her horse Toronado avenges un-returned library books. When Tasha wants to take a book out and can't because Don Austin hasn't returned it Uniqua makes it her mission to get it back.

You wish you were six years old again now, don't you?

The learning pot.

Sophia is working towards mastering the skill of stair climbing. To be fair it is really more stair crawling. Also, by mastering I mean getting up three steps and then screaming Mom over and over again because she is stuck.

I am terrified by her ongoing desire to climb up these stairs, but equally terrified that if I put a gate up she will pull it down on herself, or if she doesn't learn under close supervision that she will climb up and take a tumble down.

Connor thinks we needs to change her nick name from stink pot to learning pot...because she is more of a learner now than she is a stinker.

The good news is that in just one short month we will be moving into our new home. A home without stairs of any kind. I am sure that Sophia will derive a new and equally dangerous hobby. After all, she is a pretty resourceful little girl.

The boy

There are days when Connor drives me crazy, there are days when I think there is no way I am going to make it until he is eighteen and that I will most likely snap.

Then there are days when he tells me I am his best girl and smiles like this and I think I can do this whole parenting thing for a while longer.

Snow...snow...and more snow.

We decided it would be fun to chronicle our snow accumulation yesterday, last night, and this morning. We started with a fair bit of snow already on the patio that we've received over the last several days.



It started to get more and more fun to watch.



We especially liked how the solar lamps began to completely disappear.



The wind blew and blew and the patio began to look more like a winter wonderland. Until at last, the storm was over.



Now we can chronicle how long it takes for all this snow to melt.

So cute.

I was looking at shoes for Sophia online. It's a snow day - what else am I supposed to do besides look at things online? Clean? Yeah, I don't see that happening. They are so cute I could just die.



Okay, they are also between $40 - $50. As such, it is far more likely that Ben would kill me if I bought them than that I would die of their cuteness.



But still, freaking adorable.

Snow Day

One of the best things about working at the seminary is that when it gets nasty enough they close it down. It is kind of like being a teacher but without ever having to grade a paper.

I might just stay in pajamas all day.