Snow Day!

Maya was supposed to have preschool today, but due to Snowpacalypse 2011, every school within a 200 mile radius was closed (I'm just guessing here...the ones in our county and the surrounding counties were closed, though).  Michael was working from home, so I thought it would be a good idea to get the kids outside for a bit.  Maya has been begging me every day to go play in the snow, too, so that made the decision easy!  I got the kids bundled, and before we even got out the door, Charlotte was freaking out.  Have I mentioned that she doesn't like the snow?  I tried to reason with her, to show her how fun it was, to have her just sit and watch, to carry her around, but none of it was working.  Her screams were getting louder and my patience was running thin, so I took her inside and explained that if she was going to scream then she would just have to watch from the back door while Maya and I had a super fun time (did I mention that my patience was running thin?).  Michael heard this conversation we were having:

Me: Charlotte, I am sorry but your choices are to play outside with Maya and I or to stay inside by yourself.
Charlotte: Waaaaaaaah haaaaaaaaah my life is so hard and I'm cold and waaaaaaaah
Me: I understand that you are very mad at me right now.  Let's take off your boots and coat and...
Charlotte: WAAAAAAAAAAH
Me: I know it's hard when you're cold and tired, but your choices are to stay in or to come out, and your screaming tells me that you are choosing to stay inside.

***enter Michael***

Charlotte: (running to Michael with arms outstretched) Daaaaaaaadyyyyyyyy!

So I went back out and played with Maya, and Charlotte laid in Michael's lap while he worked.  Win-win :)

As you can probably guess, I have no pictures of Charlotte playing outside!  Plenty of Maya, though :)

 

 

Sickness and Snow

In a typical week, I take anywhere from 100-1000 pictures, depending on what fun activities we have going on.  This past week, I'm pretty sure I took about 5.  We had an amazingly terrible stomach virus hit all 4 of us ~ Charlotte on Sunday followed by Michael and Maya on Tuesday.  I didn't have it nearly as bad but was definitely not feeling 100% for several days in a row, and I'm pretty our whole family survived on Gatorade and crackers!  We have been washing and washing and washing laundry ~ Charlotte doesn't have very good aim, so Sunday was the worst, when we literally washed 2 down comforters, a duvet, 2 sets of sheets, a mattress covering, and 3 quilts (all in addition to clothing that...um...needed washed).  In case you were curious, this is what half of that looks like:

Charlotte spent a whole lot of time like this for 2 days, poor thing:

But now we are all back to healthy!  I tried to make up for the lack of picture taking today, but it's just so gross outside and I am feeling very unmotivated.  Tonight after dinner, I finally pulled out the camera.  Michael and the girls were playing "hide from mommy" and just as I was about to get some silly pictures of the game, Charlotte bashed her head into Maya's nose, causing much drama!  I did take some pictures of the whole scene, but Maya looks so distraught in most of them that I feel too guilty to post many!

Charlotte immediately after the incident.  You can tell she is really upset by what has just happened.

Maya feeling sad.  You can't tell but her lip is sticking out so far I'm surprised it didn't fall off!

Maya has decided that "smile" means "stick out your tongue."  Tonight I actually asked her if she could please smile without her tongue hanging out, and she said, "no."  Silly girl :)

 

Wouldn't it be awesome if this was how bedtime actually went?

 

 In reality, shortly after that scene Charlotte jumped off the bed and headed into the bathroom to play with soap (her new favorite activity).  She is still awake (at 10:47pm)

"Charlotte, can you show me your eyes?"

She *almost* fell asleep doing this puzzle...but apparently got a second wind.  Then Michael and I had ice cream which she insisted on sharing, so that probably didn't help with the whole bedtime thing!  Good thing we don't care much about a schedule!

 

Maya the Fashionista, and An Interesting Conversation

My friends and I often joke about how often our kiddos change outfits, so I've definitely recognized that Maya changes several times per day.  But, until today I think I didn't really grasp just how often it *really* is.  Because I somehow convinced Maya to help me clean the house today ("Maya!  Let's play 'Mary Poppins' and put on aprons and march around and clean the house!!!!! :D :D :D"), I had to come up with jobs that she could actually do all by herself.  Laundry didn't *really* need done, but I had her go ahead and do it anyway ~ from ONE day's worth of ONLY MAYA'S laundry (I'm not exaggerating here), I folded:

1 pair of pajamas

3 skirts

3 pairs of pants

4.5 pairs of socks (the other .5 pair of socks was in her drawer, clean...not sure how that happened)

2 pairs of tights

3 pairs of underwear

3 t-shirts

3 sweaters

1 dress

Missing from this was one outfit that I caught her in the act of changing and made her refold and put back in her drawer.  Also missing are the countless "dress-up" outfits that she wears but don't get put in with the laundry.  And I wonder why I always have piles and piles of laundry to wash!

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On a pretty much daily basis, Maya has a conversation with me about the baby she has in her belly (I think it started when Sierra was pregnant with Isaac).  Often the baby is 3 years old and named "Jillian"...which is a little bit strange because the only Jillian she knows IRL is actually 4...but I digress.  Today's conversation was extra fun so I thought I'd share it!

Maya ~ Mommy, did you know I have a baby in my belly?

Me ~ Yes, Maya, actually I did know that!

Maya ~ Mommy, can you say "what's your baby's name?"?

Me ~ What's your baby's name?

Maya ~ Well my baby is a husband.

Me ~ ???

Maya ~ My baby is a baby and a husband and can you say, "what's your husband's name?"?

Me ~ What's your husband's name.

Maya ~ I have a baby in my belly and his name is Baby Jesus.  And there is a manger for him because he's a baby and he is my husband.

Um, ya.  That one *might* be shared with her first serious boyfriend (I kid, I kid ;)).

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Pictures!