Snow Day! (x3)

We woke up Tuesday to a fine dusting of snow. Now I know this is a bit pathetic as far as snow goes, but the South doesn't get much snow and any appearance of the white stuff is met with shock, awe, and an impending sense of doom. (After last year's ice apocalypse, I kinda get their sense of fear.) School was cancelled for the day and so we bundled up and hit the backyard to romp in what little snow we had. 

Zara insisted on building a snowman (darn you Olaf!) and this was the best we were able to muster. The carrot refused to stay on his face and the whole thing collapsed pretty quickly.

Adelaide didn't know what to think of the snow. I think this is her first real experience with snow. She did not want to keep her gloves on either. 

Zara has had much more experience with snow and was super excited to run around and play in it. I wish we had gotten a little bit more. 

It looked like we'd get our wish on Wednesday. A big snowstorm was reportedly heading straight to Atlanta. School was cancelled in anticipation of the forthcoming snow and our other appointments (dance classes, dentist appointments, etc.) were all called off.  The governor declared a state of emergency starting at 2pm and David was sent home from work around 3pm. (He still had to work from home, but at least he got to eat dinner with us.)

And then no snow came. We got a few flurries, but nothing stuck. Northern Georgia got a lot more. Even towns just 15-20 minutes north of us got quite a bit of snow. But we got nothing. Life had been cancelled for nothing. And for good measure, they cancelled school on Thursday as well, for fear of ice.

So after three snow days for only one actual day of snow, Zara is back to school and we can resume our normal lives. Is it spring yet?

Sitting on Cats

A few months back, a woman in our ward posted a plea on our Facebook page looking for someone who could catsit her two cats for an extended period of time. A student at the local chiropractic college here, she was taking a semester off to spend time with family and tavel and needed someone who could watch her cats for nearly 3 months. 

Always a sucker for cats, I volunteered the Malones. So just before Christmas, Jack and Annie came to stay with us. They've been with us for about two months now and I think they've finally gotten used to us, although they are still rather gunshy around the girls. Annie was the first to grow accustomed to us and she'll roam around the house freely and mostly tolerates the girls. Jack spent the first two weeks hiding under the bed and only came out when the girls were asleep. Now, he doesn't hide as much but he still tends to stay away from the girls as much as possible. But as soon as they've gone to sleep, Jack is immediately in your face, seeking love and affection. 

Annie, small and gentle

Jack, neurotic and affectionate

It's been nearly a year since our Suyom disappeared. Her absence is still felt and her loss is still mourned, but it's less frequent and intense as it once was. I have debated back and forth in my head whether or not we should get a new cat. It feels weird to not have one and the girls adore animals. I thought catsitting would be a good way to determine if I wanted a new cat or not.

I really love having cats in the home again, but I do not love the cat litter everywhere. I love the cuddles, but I do not love the sharp claws digging into my skin. I love the purrs, but I do not love the way Jack feels the need to interrupt me every single time I'm using the computer. So yes, I want another cat, but I think I'm okay with waiting a little while before we adopt a new one. I know the girls will be sad when Jack and Annie leave next month, but I'm sure we'll find them something new to distract them with soon enough. But I'm going to enjoy them while they are here. 

Valentine's Day 2015

We're not big on celebrating Valentine's Day in our household. It's nothing against the holiday, but since both David and my birthdays are the week before, we often forget about Valentine's Day. But we did something a little different thing year. We actually celebrated it. 

I had the appalling realization that even though David had been thoughtful enough to buy me flowers or cupcakes for past Valentine's, I'd never reciprocated. So I went out and bought David some roses. And he loved them. I also helped the girls make clay prints of their hands, which David now has hanging in his cubicle at work. (I should have thought to take pictures of them before he took them away.) 

During the day on Saturday, David and I decided to take the girls out for dates. David took Adelaide since he doesn't get to spend much one-on-one time with her, and I took Zara. Zara and I first went out for cupcakes (and I have yet to find a cupcake place here to match The Cocoa Bean back in Provo) and then we went to the Aquatic Center for a little swim practice. I plan on signing Zara up for some more swim lessons this summer, but it has been a long time since she's been swimming so I wanted to give her a little more practice. She had a great time and would have kept swimming until the pool closed but I was too tired to carry on. Swimming takes a lot out of you. 

Adelaide and David went to the park together and according to David, had a great time swinging and sliding down slides together. David then took her to Whole Foods where they purchased some raspberry sorbet and ate ice cream together. We both had a lot of fun with our respective daughters and I hope we'll make this a more regular experience. It was nice to have a little one-on-one time with them. 

That night after the girls went to bed, I made David and I a dinner of bacon wrapped steaks, potatoes and salad, and then we played games. (I won both.) But we also exchanged our Valentine Day cards. And wouldn't you know it, we bought each other the exact same card.

We're perfect for each other. 

Scary, huh?

Shopping with Kids

Any mother will tell you that shopping with kids is one of life's great frustrations and a wonderful natural birth control. The thought of adding one more child to my shopping escapades makes me want to break out into a cold sweat. And I typically do my shopping when Zara is at school so I only have one child with me.

That child would happen to be Adelaide who seems determined to leap to her death from the shopping cart child seat. I can't get that kid to sit down, stay down, or not try to climb all over me while shopping. If she's not insisting I hold her while pushing my monstrous cart along, she's trying to push the cart herself, and she doesn't take kindly to any stops along the way.

On my last Costco outing, I devised an ingenious plan to distract Adelaide by offering her a See's Candy chocolate lollipop. It worked like a charm....except for the fact that she was covered in chocolate by the time she was done.

But hey....she stayed in the cart and I got my shopping done in record time. Who cares if she'll never be able to wear that outfit again?

Out of the Mouth of Babes

At Adelaide's last well-baby checkup many months ago, the nurse asked about Adelaide's language abilities. Is she speaking in sentences? Does she know her body parts? I realized that we had sadly not spent a lot of time working with Adelaide on learning certain things like body parts, colors, shapes, etc. and that she was not speaking much. She certainly understood a lot of what we said to her, but Zara is so loquacious and dominates so many conversations (even when we try to direct our questions at Adelaide) that it was difficult to give Adelaide a chance to respond. The last few months have seen Adelaide's vocabulary explode. She's even learned the alphabet and can correctly identify and pronounce about 75% of the letters. (W, for instance, is just "double.") This isn't a comprehensive list but here's some of her favorite words, sentences, and songs.


Words
Cat
Mama (this she does not say as frequently as daddy)
Dada
This (This has replaced the sign of "more" as a way to indicate that she wants something)
Thank you (She's excessively polite)
Bless you (said after she fake sneezes)
Body parts - hair, nose, eyes, ears, head, shoulders, knees, toes, belly, hand, teeth, bum
Book (this is what she calls the Kindle)
Bye
Duck
Dog (or pup pup)


Sentences
Let it go.
It's you. (Said when looking at a picture of herself. I have tried to teach her that she should say "It's me!" to no avail.)


Favorite Songs
Let It Go
Popcorn Popping
Once There Was a Snowman
Book of Mormon Stories

Sour Cream Face

Dinner tonight consisted of taquitos, quesadillas, and sour cream. Adelaide used her sour cream as not a condiment but a hand rub and facial. Good thing it was bath night.

The Snowy Day

Zara's class read "The Snowy Day" and then drew pictures about what they'd do if it snowed (not a regular occurrence here). While every other kid had a one or two sentence answer, Zara's was, of course, a whole paragraph. Typical Zara. 

In case you can't read it, Zara said this about her drawing: "It's my sister, me, and my Daddy, and my Mommy. We don't want to go outside because my mom said it was going to be chilly outside and your sister needs mittens and a hat. She said I need a scarf and a jacket and mittens and a hat. My Mommy said when my Daddy comes home, my Daddy will play with me in the snow so I will be safe."

Building Legos

When Adelaide is asleep, David and Zara break out the Legos and build together. For the last few weeks they've been building a gigantic Lego Tumbler from the  Batman trilogy. It's a huge set and will take them awhile to build but Zara loves helping David build.

Sope Creek Trail and the Paper Mills

The weather was uncommonly glorious this MLK Holiday weekend and we made sure to take advantage of that and get out of our house this Saturday. We decided to take the girls on a little hike at a nearby trail that runs along Sope Creek just 10 minutes from our house. I was excited to visit because the creek boasts several ruins of old paper mills that used to operate in the area. (In fact, the road that leads to the trails is called Paper Mill Road and our local ward (congregation) is the Paper Mill Ward.)

There are several trails that break off and meander throughout the park. We started off on an easier path that led to a small lake. Zara wanted to collect all the sticks and leaves she could find.

Adelaide walked more than half of the trail herself. She did a good job keeping up with us even if she did slow us down. (David and I like to walk fast.)

Sope Creek. 

Our chosen trail deadended at the Creek so we had to backtrack a little to get to the ruins. We could see one across the river but we had to go a long way around to get to it. 

 Hello from inside the paper mill!

All the ruins were constructed of stone and were mostly pretty well preserved. The roofs had probably been wood and those were all gone.

Adelaide didn't know what to make of sitting in one of the windows.

More ruins across the river. David got down into these ruins and explored more. He took some photos on his phone but I haven't seen them yet.

Tickle Fights

When Daddy's around, there's lots of tickle fights and dog piles and giggle fests galore. Zara and Adelaide seem to think being thrown on the bed and tickled by a ruthless Tickle Monster is all sorts of good fun. The apparently haven't yet had the sorts of traumatizing tickle experiences that I endured as a child which make me detest tickling in all its forms. (When it's being done to me. I don't mind doling out the tickles.) Still, the sound of their laughter ringing through the house is one of the greatest sounds in the world. You just can't beat it.