One More Katie Picture

I realize a lot of my posts lately have been about Katie. Or at least the things she writes. But I had to laugh at her when I passed by her room tonight and looked in to see her asleep like this. She somehow got it into her head that she wants to learn cursive. It's like kids think it's this secret code writing or something, because it always seems to have this magical appeal. She begged me to write out all of the letters "in CURSIVE!" for her, and I see now it wasn't for nothing.

An Open Invitation

Katie has been home sick this week with just enough of a sore throat to keep her out of school. Not enough to prevent her from putting some serious work into her bowling game on the wii, though.

As a result, she's given me a lot of material for my blog. I forgot what the surprise was going to be the other morning--she usually feels the worst in the morning, so I think she forgot about it as well. But yesterday, she gave me this piece of paper:

So if there are any of you out there who would like to go to church with a very cute kindrgartiner on Sun. at 900, you can "sinupe" right here. I love how she tried spelling "Riyine" before she crossed it out and just put "dad".

I Can Hardly Wait...

...to find out what Katie has in store for us. We found this note taped at the bottom of our stairs this evening. In case you can't read it, it says, "Mom and Dad doow not wacke up intil 700 we will be doing thumpting Andrew can go dawn [down] stars if you go dawn you cant look in the kichin.

I wonder what's for breakfast?

Happy Valentine's Day

Just a little Valentine from our house to yours.

(he did perk up a little once he found out he'd be getting CANDY for wearing that ridiculous headband)

Unfullfilled Wishes

I found this wish list on my kitchen table this morning. "List uf thing I want and dont want" from my sweet Katie. Here's what made the list:

Mabie: a babie doll (I guess the verdict is still out on how she feels about them. Since our baby was born, she's been much more interested in a doll that has been languishing without love in our basement for the better part of 5 years).

No: Pokemon! (Yea! She's outgrowing it.) glas (why would we give her glass?), chis (that's cheese), doornob (always our favorite gift...I guess she's tired of them), stickrs

Yes!: a sudookoo puzzll (sudoku), a smile,, sum wud to bild (some wood to build), a hug, a dog, a hamster, bird food, cloou jr (clue jr.--a game she likes), one undecipherable thing that even she couldn't read, and 1 dog. Yes, the dog made the list twice. And she's not getting either one.

It provided a very cute peek into what's going on in her world. I'm glad she included a smile and a hug on her list so that I can give her something that she wants.

It Finally Happened

I can't believe I'd admitting this: I read "The Family Circus" cartoon this morning and actually related to it. Completely. I have been that mom.
Growing up, we read the Sunday comics as religiously as we went to church. It was part of the day that we never missed. We had to know what clever line the hillarious "Garfield" would come up with next (how did I ever think Garfield was funny?). Beetle Bailey, Hagar the Horrible, Charlie Brown and Hi and Lois weren't really funny, but I'd read them anyway.

But "The Family Circus" was by far the worst of all of them. It was pointless. It was NEVER funny. I couldn't figure out how the guy who wrote it was getting paid to do it.

I realized today, though, that my life has turned into the "Family Circus." I'm having a slight identity crisis with the fact that my kids are about the same ages as the four kids in the cartoon. We do not have a dog named Barfy, but other than that it's a match. When did this happen?

I guess I might as well accept that I now find humor in the Family Circus. I'll look at the bright side: at least my life hasn't turned into "Cathy" or "Andy Capp".

It's an Art

Every year, the MBA's do an auction, and the faculty are "invited" to donate things for charity. Most of the time it's some kind of service, like cooking an authentic international meal or lessons in various things. Between Ryan and I, the best we could come up with was me making some cinnamon rolls (who doesn't love cinnamon rolls?). I am sure had we offered to make dinner for someone--authentic or not--the winner of the auction would have wanted their money back simply due to the chaos that would have surrounded the meal, and the fact that my cooking is generally pretty subsistance-level.

So, back to the cinnamon rolls. That's one thing I do well. But there was a catch that I was unaware of. Actually, two catches.

The first one I found out last week. Ryan had auctioned off not just any cinnamon rolls, but the BEST cinnamon rolls in the WHOLE WORLD. Yikes. Talk about pressure.

I decided on a whim to try out a new recipe from allrecipes.com that had a couple thousand stellar reviews ("clone of a cinnabon"). I did it twice, and in the end I'm sticking with my "Basic Rolls" recipe from Ryan's Aunt Mona. It's a keeper.

Surprise number two came a couple of days ago when Ryan arranged with me a day to take them to the students and let me know he had told them they'd be fresh. As in straight out of the oven. And he had promised them he'd bring them in at 8:00 a.m.

Um...es imposible. Maybe the roll-goddess (that's you, Delsa) could pull that one off without waking up at 5:00 a.m., but I'm only a humble disciple, and I only know one way to make rolls: the long way. And there's NO charity worth waking up at 5:00 a.m. for when you have a baby that you're already getting up with.

Ryan volunteered to wake up early and make them if I'd just leave him the recipe. I looked at him incredulously (love that word). As if. I watched the master (that's you Delsa) in her kitchen over years to try to perfect what truly is the art of making rolls. And, as I said before, I still rarely reach perfection.

Ryan, to his credit, would cook anytime I want him to. But I'd rather cook and have him play with the kids. And when he does cook, it's usually when I have nothing to make (which is why I don't want to cook) and he seems to make the same thing: tuna puff sandwiches. Why? Because I always have tuna on hand since I never use it. But boy does it come in handy when you're in the mood for tuna puff sandwiches (which is pretty much never, just ask my kids).

In the end, he moved the roll-delivery time up to 9:30 in the morning, so I only had to start by 7:00. It's messy, and time-consuming, but fresh cinnamon rolls really are hard to beat. Especially when they're the WORLD'S BEST cinnamon rolls, and you have an awesome husband who cleans the kitchen afterward--as he does most days. Ryan is DEFINITELY a keeper.

Just sick enough...

...to stay home from school and drive me crazy! My sweet boy woke up this morning feeling a little sick. He's had a cough over the past few days and hasn't been sleeping well, so I think it was probably a mixture of the two. Either way, he said he didn't feel well enough to go to school.

But that didn't stop him from being my little shadow today. I had a packed schedule, since it was my turn to teach preschool and I teach piano lessons all afternoon. He was always there to offer me parenting advice ("I think Andrew probably needs a time out for that. Do you want me to do it?"), help with preschool ("Should I explain to all of the kids the rules about the swords and the light sabers?" "I'll plan an activity for the kids while you're outside. I think I'll do a treasure hunt!"), and shoot down every suggestion I gave him for things to do ("I've already read all my books!").

What I wanted to say is "You do preschool then, and I'LL read a book--even if it's one I've done 10 times."

But to his credit, he was always there to help me when I actually wanted his help. It made me wish I hadn't been so busy today so I could have spent a little time with one of my favorite, and most helpful, people in the whole world.

And he is, barring vomit or fever, going to go to school tomorrow.

Snowman

Katie managed to scrape together enough snow to make a midget snowman. We'll take what we can get. I loved her enthusiasm and the way she made due with natural elements for decorations since her mom was to lazy to go scrounge up a carrot and hat for her creation.

Winter Wonderland

This is the first real snow of the year, and it was beautiful to wake up to. It translated into a 2-hour school delay for my kids, which they were happy to wake up to. It has pretty much all melted by now.

Snow on my azalea bushes--it looks like cotton balls!

Sunday Naps

Sunday naps are the best--especially when it's a daddy-daughter date. Let's face it--church can be exhausting.