Snow Day?

We had a surprise snow day today-- neither of us had a clue it was supposed to snow! To be fair, I think the weather people on the news were also surprised. Anyway, it was fun-- nice to be with them all day yet again!

The kids put on a show for us this morning.

They played with the piano for a bit before lunch.

And at dinner, the little guy made himself a chef's hat out of construction paper.

He's so creative!

Music to My Ears

We had a great visit with Nana and Pops, as you are aware. One of the reasons they came down was to bring us the Yamaha Portable Grand piano we got for Christmas. We tried to bring it back with us at New Years by tying it to the luggage rack. We got it all ready to go and headed off to my grandmother's house who lives about a quarter mile away. As we pulled out of the drive way at my mom and dad's and got up to speed, the straps holding the piano on began a low buzz. The faster we went the louder it got. We stopped for a visit at my grandmothers and then got back in the car to head south. We got the car up to 35 on the way to the interstate and, instead of going away as I'd hoped it might do if we got over a certain speed, it sounded like a swarm of gigantic bumble bees thought our was the biggest flower ever.

Needless to say we promptly turned around and headed back to Mom and Dad's to drop the piano off and drive home in peace.

It is nice to have a piano in the house, especially one with a volume control. The little guy actually made it sound kind of good. Here he is playing the piano!

 The baby girl got in on the action too while I took the boy to the grocery store.

It'll be nice to have music fill the house as these two (and maybe their daddy) try and learn the craft.

Guitar

My daddy bought me a guitar many years ago so I could learn to play... and I never have. It's nice to have the guitar, though, because he can play it when he visits. He let the kids help him play and sing a few songs the other night!

Someone is getting bigger...

First post in a loooong time from me so bear with me.

The little one has finally grown some. It's about time too because she is seriously always hungry. She wakes up and points to her mouth. She finishes breakfast and points to her mouth. She looks up from trashing her brother's lego creation and points to her mouth. How do I know she's grown? She can ride this and (barely) touch the floor!

She has also started dancing. She loved my jazzy version of the ABCs.

Say What?

So, this video is apparently THE BIG THING in pre-kindergarten. The other big thing is wearing your shirt backwards (reminds me of Kris Kross).

Back to the video-- it's amazing, and I love it. I'm thinking we could make some awesome family Halloween costumes from it, too. We were watching it tonight after dinner, and Eric filmed us. I'll go ahead and quote him here-- "Enjoy the amazing cinematography."

Goodbye Baseball Season

Here's a picture of the little dude eating his birthday cupcake:

Anyway, tonight he was sort of singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." His lyrics were, um, perhaps an improvement?

Take me out to the park,

Take me out to the ballgame,

Buy me some crackers and applejacks!

At that point, we dissolved into laughter and missed the rest of his song. Crackers and applejacks? What a nut!

Trendoid?

I am going to have to stop listening to our local top 40 station in the car... the little booger is learning too many pop songs! He was asking for music videos tonight by singing some of the song so we'd know what he wanted. We watched some Justin Bieber and Psy tonight. He's also been singing Everybody Talks by Neon Trees while wandering around the house lately. 

We're starting to be REALLY careful about inappropriate lyrics (Flo Rida, I'm looking at you) now that we've realized he's paying so much attention!

Splurge

I splurged on a new diaper bag this weekend... it's really snazzy. When we got it home, the little stinkpot thanked us for his new purse and filled it with toys.

After he went to bed, I emptied it out and put it somewhere safe.

In photo-less news, the little booger just started his fall semester of Kindermusik. They have an "I love vegetables" chant on the new cd that his teacher said was not too successful. We tried it tonight at home, and here's what happened:

Me: "I LOVE VEGETABLES!"
The Boog: "I LOVE CARROTS!"
Me: "I LOVE PEAS!"
The Boog: "I DON'T LIKE PEPPERS!"
Me: giggling
The Boog: "I DON'T LIKE TOMATOES! I DON'T LIKE VEGETABLES!"
Me: helpless laughter

His poor teacher!

He's Got Talent!

The little guy picked up his guitar tonight and said "Good morning!" When I said "Good morning!" back, here's what he did.
He's a natural!

Spicy!

The little guy is loving some spicy food right now. He shoveled salsa into his mouth like a pro tonight-- even though he had to guzzle milk afterwards and he said his mouth was on fire. I'm so proud (not as proud as my dad, though).

He also got some new maracas from his Kindermusik class... a circle and a triangle! Lots of fun can be had with those.

Total Rockstar!

The kid is a total rockstar. He's got the look, right? (This outfit is so ridiculous on so many levels... I was weeping with laughter while trying to take his picture.)

He really likes to sing while "chooming" his guitar. For some reason (which is probably genetic), he makes up nonsense words to songs that he knows and thinks it is HILARIOUS. He had just sung Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with the real words, but this is what he did for the camera:

Drowning (Out) Your Sorrows

Sadie loves to eat crayons and can be a bit of a, um, jerk. She actually ate a crayon out of the little booger's hand tonight. He was devastated. Luckily he has a xylophone, so he was able to drown (out) his sorrows.

Music!

Guess who's shaping up to be a child prodigy? 

Probably not this one, but that's ok.

Riddle Me This!

Q: What is more fun than a tambourine OR rhythm sticks?

A: Beating a tambourine WITH rhythm sticks!

Elmo Still Has Ducks

Remember how much the little dude used to love Elmo? Well, the only thing that has changed is how clearly he can ask for the videos (and that sometimes he sings the songs by himself-- adorable!).

He figured out how to replay the video tonight (hitting the space bar, apparently), so that was exciting for him. He learns something new every day...

Elbow!

The little stinker loves Elmo (he calls him "Elbow?"). He has a book with Elmo in it, and we also occasionally watch Elmo on YouTube. Here he is watching Elmo's Ducks tonight. This video starts slow, but I think it's worth watching through to the end...

Future percussionist?

The little stinker loves shaking my two colored-sugar bottles. He even gets them out of the cabinet himself! (Dear Fellow Cookie Exchange Participants: I promise he didn't put them in his mouth before I used them.)

Little dude's maybe got some rhythm? He definitely has style.

Better than the "White Man's Overbite"

We put Toddler Tunes on the TV after dinner tonight. I think he liked it:

I had to stop recording to keep him from unplugging everything, but he kept on dancing for several more songs. What a goober!

Dance party (or complete inappropriateness)

We were listening to '8 Mile: more music from and inspired by' tonight during dinner (fantastic parenting!).  It was a change from 'Billie Holiday: Holiday for Lovers'**  The little dude likes to dance, and he was enjoying the beat.  Here's a snippet.  He wouldn't ham it up for the camera, so this is the best I could get.

** Ok, so I bought this embarrassingly-titled cd 'Holiday for Lovers' because I misread the title as 'Holidays for Lovers.' I was expecting romantic Christmas music.  I had David Sedaris' elf story in my head, and was looking forward to a strange, but intriguing cd.  Plus, I like Billie Holiday.  Boy was I confused when I put it on and found lots of romance and no Christmas.  It's one of my favorite cds, but what a huge initial disappointment.