What a Week

Missy was pretty sick starting Tuesday which was our first 'ice day'. School was closed Tues, Wed, Thurs, because of the inch of ice on everything. People here just seemed to stay in their houses. The news said something about trucks with salt, etc., but I don't think those two trucks get to most of the city. :)

I remember the handful of snow days when I was in school as marvelous. Now I'm a parent facing the brutality of the school's decision to leave them home with us. It's a whole different point of view.

Anyway, Missy was sick and I tried to keep things running. Wednesday when I was fixing Rachel's dresser I must have strained my back because it hasn't been the same since. Thursday I developed a bad fever and headache which continued through Saturday morning.

Now the kids are displaying a few flu symptoms hinting that our wild ride isn't over.

Playing Around

We've been having lots of fun. We got out Grant's black castle, had a friend's birthday at Pump it Up, and today Grant and I took his R/C cars for a spin in a deserted parking lot. That's not even counting the hours of Star Wars Legos on the Wii.

Free Mondays in January/February

The Oklahoma City Zoo is free on Mondays for January and February so we got to go check it out today. It was lots of fun without the pressure of getting our money's worth. I especially liked the 'Oklahoma Trails' that was a way to show the different ecosystems throughout Oklahoma.

Tall Tales

As we were eating dinner, Missy started telling the kids about how before we had kids, when I was a humble toymaker, we went to the toy store and bought a little Lego boy who we loved and then the Blue Fairy came and brought him to life, and although he had trouble with lying, eventually he became a real boy and that's Grant. And then we so wanted a daughter and a fairy brought us a little girl no bigger than a thumb, our little Ninalina. But she was kidnapped by a toad and almost married a mole and barely made it back to us. After eating lots of vegetables, she grew big and strong.

By this time, Grant is saying- "Hey that's Pinnochio! Hey that's Thumbelina!" and then I told about how Rachel got lost in France and helped a boy cook exotic foods while hiding in his hat and Nina said "That's Ratatouille!"

Then Missy said, "But wait till you hear about how I met Daddy. My father was making a house call and got lost in a forest. He came across an impressive castle but was imprisoned by a beast. I went to save my father and took his place as the Beast's prisoner. Slowly though, we fell in love."

And I concluded, "I was about to die, but she kissed me just in time and I turned back into a human."

And Nina shouted out- "Hey, that's the frog prince!"

Then we had to explain that Disney did not come up with most stories they do movies which was a little confusing to them but I think we got it across. One thing I do like about Pixar- original stories.

Lost a Tooth

Grant's starting to lose his baby teeth- unbelievable. The two front teeth on the bottom were ridiculously loose and one of the adult teeth was starting to come in. So we just had Grant sit on our bed after reading and praying, wiggling them. That was his preference over my plan to tie a string around his tooth and to our doorknob to take it off. I think that's how my parents' story went. :)

Anyway, out they came with minimal pain. Grant was smart enough to put a note with his teeth under his pillow asking the tooth fairy "Are you real?" with yes and no checkboxes. The fairy exists!

Cindy's Christmas Dresses

I know Cindy's already seen these, but I wanted everybody to ooh and ahh virtually.

Back Home After the Holidays

We had a fun holiday season with Christmas Day at home and then driving up to Kansas for time with Grammy, Gramps and Uncles John, James, Daniel and Joseph and Aunt Mary. That makes them sound old but it's my younger brothers and sisters.

The big present was a Wii from Grandma and Grandpa Fife that left Grant in a kind of Wii Paralysis. All he could do as he opened other gifts was to mumble "We got a Wii!". Everyone was very happy and pretty well-behaved. We surprised our family in Kansas by getting there a day early and had lots of fun with them including the Carousel Museum and looking at the displays at Cabela's.