District Bee

Preparing for a district spelling bee is H-A-R-D.

It's time consuming, it's stressful, the list is longer than the Great Wall of China, and you start randomly spelling words during regular conversation because your brain is zonked.  

We were relieved when finally the big day arrived. It was Michael's turn to be the sweaty parent in the audience. He dutifully geeked out and printed a custom sticker for the event.

I thought staying home would be less stressful, but it certainly was not. I nervously waited for updates from Mykey and STILL sweated through my shirt. 

Anxious much?

Well, Sissy didn't win but she did great regardless. The 2 finalists were kids with parents from India. They went nearly 50 rounds! When I asked Sissy if she was disappointed that she didn't win she replied, "Nah, when I saw the Indian kids sitting there, I knew I wouldn't win."

It's not racist, it's a compliment. They really were amazing spellers.

It was a long day for Sissy. Once she was eliminated and went to sit with Michael in the audience, she immediately fell asleep. Poor little lamb and all that adrenaline.

We celebrated with balloons and a trip to Barnes and Noble a few days later to spend the gift card she received for being in the spelling bee. It went towards a compilation of Lord of the Rings books. Money well spent.

Sissy had her name in the local newspaper and will soon be attending a school board meeting to be recognized there. What an achievement.

I'm incredibly p-r-o-u-d!

Snow Day!

Baby, it's cold outside.

The obvious choice is to cancel school.

Just look...it's up to your knees out there. (If you're an ant)

So we stayed inside and listened to the fireplace roar.

Sissy thought ahead and gathered some essentials for the freezer. You never know when you'll need a spare icicle.

The snow was gone by noon but we enjoyed our snowy morning. I'm sure relieved we stayed safe in that blizzard!

It Be 2025

After all the revelry of inviting in the New Year, one must take some time to recover - a day to relax, reflect, and devour the holiday leftovers.

I'm particularly talented at that last one.

In the spirit of New Year's Day relaxation, we filled our time playing card games, fiddling with camera filters, and Mykey and Sissy tinkered in their nerd labs. Mykey took requests from my sisters and 3D printed some piggy banks and resin printed new handles for a pressure cooker. And Sissy worked on building her Nintendo Lego set that she finally saved up enough money to purchase. That baby was es-pen-sive. But it's looking pretty sweet. 

I think 2025 is off to a good start! Now if you'll excuse me, those leftovers ain't gonna devour themselves...

New Year's Eve

As the eve of the New Year approached, Sissy began hassling her dear old parents about what our plans were for celebrating. She hasn't forgiven us for watching Field of Dreams last year and was finagling for something extra exciting. (Side note: Sissy pronounces 'finagle' with a short A sound. She thinks it's funny. I happen to agree and have started doing it to fit in with the cool kids.) ANYWAY, Sissy was being a hassler about my ancient rituals.

Ok, ok. I get it. I'm old. You don't want to do something boring.

I got it! We'll watch a documentary!

Sissy spent the majority of the day like this:

And then the remainder of the nighttime hours like this:

Mykey and I indulged in what is our now traditional New Year's Eve feast: bacon jam dip, meatballs, deviled eggs, and Muddy Buddies for dessert while we watched our black and white silent movie.

Oh, and Sissy had chicken nuggies because she didn't like my menu. Psssh.

So there we were, enjoying a delightful documentary about Christopher Reeve while Sissy played Nintendo and Baby slept like a baby. I managed to only be slightly tired by midnight thanks to the 17 Diet Pepsis I gurgled down. 

At midnight we watched the ball drop, blew our horns, Sissy danced her special dance, and away we soared to sleepy town. Perfection.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Break Style

Christmas may have vanished, but there's still some time left on the clock before the school bell calls Sissy back. 

Sounds to me like we can't just sit around watching our toenails grow. (Which is what we usually do).

Instead, we'll have adventures galore!

Really exciting adventures!

Like moving all of our crap out of an expensive storage unit into a less expensive storage unit. 

And making and gobbling up dozens of donuts.

And going for a stroll through the trees.

Baby tried to gather all of the sticks in the forest. She good cavebaby.

And having sandwiches at our favorite country store.

And meticulously painting a figurine. Sissy did this one. It's a shame that Baby snapped the staff off with her grabby hands.

And making time for conversation and really listening to Jeff.

I love when school is out and we have time for adventures galore. If only it happened more often.

Happy Christmas break!

18 Months

The day after Christmas landed us at the doctor's office for Baby's 18-month checkup. Do you know when you should go to the doctor?

The day after Christmas. 

That place was dead as a doornail, Smalls. The waiting room was empty, the service was prompt, and I found myself a new date to conduct all of my doctorly business. 

Unfortunately, Baby wasn't hyped about being there. 

She cried. She screamed. She didn't want anyone to touch her or conduct their doctorly business. You can't really blame her...theys were giving her them shots. AND she had some blood drawn. It was traumatic for everyone. 

So here's how Baby stacks up at 18-months old:

Height: 2' 10'': 95th percentile

Weight: 25.6 lbs: 81st percentile

Head circumference: 32nd percentile

Baby is such a delight at this age. She is curious, curious, curious. She loves to dance, suck on every lotion bottle, soap dispenser, and cleaning product she can get her grubby little hands on, she loves to read, snuggle, carries around the toilet plunger, and will pat me on the back as her way of saying she loves me. Baby is starting to say words and it is fun to hear her little voice. She says thank you, Sissy, heavy, awesome, stinky, and bless you just to name a few.

My heart rejoices when I look at my beautiful girl!

I can't believe she is already 18-months. They have been wonderful months indeed!

Ye Olde Christmas Day

Be prepaaaared!

(Did you just sing that like the song from Lion King? That's what I was going for.)

Be prepared for a gazillion Christmas morning pictures. This is the only warning I will give.

We had a wonderful Christmas day. As usual, we had to wake Sissy up to open presents. Baby slept in a bit since we went to bed late, so that was a nice break from her usual pre-dawn routine. Santa carefully filled our stockings and piled gifts under the tree. Then he was kind enough to snap a photo before scurrying back up the chimney.

The old boy was very generous this year. Baby received necklaces and fruit snacks in her stocking. She had those eaten before we were done opening gifts. There was also a Koosh ball, a water bottle, bath toys, and 2 books: "Uni the Unicorn" and "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb". We read the latter over and over again. 

 

Sissy was the proud new owner of the video game Cuphead, TriForce earrings, The One ring, every color of Posca marker, Weird but True book and her annual gift of the National Geographic Almanac, Ferrofluid, a swim coat, a pen that looks like Harry Potter's wand, a Movie Cats calendar, and loads and loads of candy. Her favorite gift of all was Zelda controllers for the Nintendo Switch. Mrs. Claus almost didn't purchase those. It was an impulse buy and I talked myself out of it 4 times before I did it. Thank goodness for Santa and his ability to see the future and know that Sissy would adore them. 

 

Sissy drew us a picture of an outline of a family photo. I loved it.

Mykey received a DNA test kit, a new Cirkul water bottle, and the entire Shadow book series. Sissy painstakingly designed and 3D printed a case to hold all the books. Hours and hours went into that project. It was amazing in the end.

Booney received new wooden spatulas and a bracelet. But no one took any photos because Booney is obviously unimportant. (I kid, I kid. I know I'm not unimportant. I'm just unnoticed) 

We spent the balance of the day continuing our work on an impossible puzzle of the map of the Zelda world. It was Sissy's birthday gift from cousins and it was the worst puzzle of all time. Everything was the same color. Between the frustration of not being able to find connecting pieces, and Baby knocking things off the table every 2 minutes, we gave up. 

Very unsatisfying.

But don't worry, Baby had plenty of satisfaction having us read "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb" 10,563,987 times.

As the afternoon rolled forth, I made a real Christmas dinner, complete with Honey Baked ham and butter rolls. (She never does that!) When I asked Sissy to sit up nicely and smile, I received this:

And that sums it up.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!