Kind of obsessed with snowflakes.

I mean, individual ones, not gallons of them falling at once and adding up to a foot of them. Just in case Mother Nature reads my blog or anything. Not that I don't like the snow, of course, just that, you know, it's almost March and we're sort of hoping for forties instead of four. But I digress. While it's still winter, I'll still marvel at single snowflakes, fallen and frozen and each unique on our torn-out piece of black construction paper.

Polished pretties.

It may be hard to believe, but until this month, I had never painted my daughter's fingernails. She had them painted once before, last summer at our city's penny carnival, but not since. So for Valentine's Day, she got a single bottle of bright pink polish and was over the moon. It was one of those occasions where you spend two bucks and get so much happiness out of that tiny jar, versus the other times, when you spend fifty and are completely let down. Kids don't need much, I tell you.

The next day after lunch she rushed to the little table and we proceeded to cut, file, and paint. Here she is, showing off her polished nails. You can tell she's new to this by the way she's holding them up.

And, lest I think that this little bottle of nail polish will coerce my daugher into becoming an incredibly girly, prissy little thing, she also made this great face for me, which reminds me that she's still Alla. Just with polished (as she says) little fingernails.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. This weekend Ron asked if we were listening to anything other than The Avett Brothers lately.

2. The Avett Brothers concert we were having was in response to my being very late to the Mumford & Sons party, which I'm sure I'd be playing instead if I actually lived above ground and had heard of that wonderful band before the Grammy's.

3. Fisher is still remembering a few weeks ago when he "fro'd up." I'd rather not remember.

4. Alla made us a lovely granola and yogurt breakfast in bed this weekend. Aw!

5. She recently told me that the three worst things about being a kid are: 1. You can't have your own dog. 2. You can't have your own wishing well. 3. You don't get your own magic wand to make your own dog not poop.

6. For awhile there we were washing snow clothes every single day for the puddles outside.

7. Then we had a big snowstorm and our completely cleared of snow deck now has a fresh foot.

8. Alla asked me how big your heart is. I told her about as big as your fist. She said that she thought it grew one you got more love until it was HUGE.

9. She's been invited to her friend's gymnastics class tomorrow. Fun!

10. Do you know what Fisher wants most in the whole wide world for his upcoming big third birthday? A pretend vactor. Straight from his mouth, that's what he wants. I mean, what do you even do with that? Alla's magic wand would come in handy here.

Friday Five.

1. It is most definitely a grocery shopping weekend. Even Ron is saying our cupboards are bare. There are actual echoes in the fridge. In spite of that, we had a lovely lunch. I found a bag of frozen sweetie fries in the freezer, Fisher chose black beans and white beans, and some pepitas and dried cherries to round it out. Alla got some leftover pasta.

2. Today was Alla's 100th day of school. Her teacher told them they are 100 days smarter; I love that.

3. Tonight we took the kids to see Despicable Me at Ron's work. We had such a good time. The kids are hilarious at movies. Alla has NO inside voice, she just screams, asks questions, laughs - all at top volume. And then Fisher asks every five minutes, Is it over? because he doesn't want it to be over, and if it IS going to be over then he wants some warning.

4. I am in the middle of Organized Simplicity and Love Walked In, plus I have another book waiting for me at the library. I have to get reading.

5. Fisher: Mommy, do you have to poop and pee? I have lots of poop. Super, Bud. I wonder if you ask your teachers that, too?

Photo-a-day, Part III.

Here it is, the last installation of Photo-a-Day for January 2011.January 22. On a freezing Saturday morning we all headed down to the new Rosevill library for a little scavenger hunt that culminated in an all-kindergartener ceremony in which you got your very own library card. They read your name, and you beamed. You were so excited. Maybe the only downer was that they didn't have Princess Knight on hand for you to check out. You picked another familiar title, though, took your card and goodie bag and we went home.

January 23. Cold Sunday, another football Sunday for Daddy. Trying to entertain you kids without going out to freeze. Lots of games and books. Alla, you kind of cheat playing the fishing game, and I can't even come close to keeping up. It makes you pretty happy to beat Mama.

January 24. Muffin Tin Monday, going strong! Don't think I haven't thought of next year, when Alla will be in first grade all day. Somehow she's convinced me to move Muffin Tin Monday to dinner when September rolls around. Something tells me it wasn't hard to convince me. I'm kind of a die-hard for traditions, and not ready to let this one go yet, with her.

January 25. Alla had been asking me to go through the junk drawer for a few weeks on the premise that she was going to help clean it out, so finally I told her to bring it to my bed. She emptied it by herself, digging here and there for treasure, and then left this note on the drawer: "I Love Mom."

January 26. We get some amazing sun on the west side of the house, these warm rays and flares in the kids' room. I love how timeless they look, how warm and almost summery. How if it weren't for putting a date on this picture you might not know it's winter and freezing. You might just think that sun out there was actually warm.

January 27. First of two days off for Alla. She was a little dissapointed that Fisher didn't have school, simply because she wanted to take him to school and see his classroom, which is, actually, her old classroom. So to make it up to her I planned a craft morning, which meant bringing out a ton of craft supplies at once and letting them go to town. Fisher lasted about an hour, Alla two and then kept coming back all day. Such a joy to see them create.

January 28. We had our potty training party for Fisher! Pizza Friday, plus new underwear, a ten-wheeler, a toy truck, and cupcakes. To be honest he was kinda past the whole potty training thing by that point and probably didn't understand why we were making such a big deal about him going potty, something he does all the time, but we had to, Fish. It's quite an accomplishment.

January 29. Saturday morning long run for Mama. It's warming up, but I can't wait til I can go without face gear.

January 30. Warmer day! We took the kids outside and Ron got cold and went in but not before he managed a few pictures of outside, including the ginormous snow mound I'm standing on. There's not a lot of perspective here because I'm standing four feet up and he's squatting down, but goodness there's a lot of snow. Might as well jump from snow mound to snow mound and get some exercise while the kids are sliding down six foot piles of it.

January 31. What an end to the month, Fisher throwing an all-out fit at bathtime. Not that uncommon, really, but just kind of a big exclamation point to the end of this project! In other pictures from this scene, you can see Ron's laughter, how he can't hold it back. You just have to laugh at them. Sometimes.

The best toy ever.

I realize that's quite a statment with all of the toys we have around here, and I also realize that many of you may not agree because you probably have your own best toy ever. Look closely, can you figure out which toy I'm talking about? Nope, it's not Scoop, although we've checked that one out of Fisher's school library so many times that we might as well just adopt him.

It's not Elmo, though Fisher would scream if he had to sleep without him.

It's not even the crane, though that definitely ranks in the top five for Fisher.

It's actually the pom poms, those teeny bits of color scattered all.over.the.floor.all.the.time.

So, what I'm guessing is that if you disagree with me on the best toy ever thing, then it might be because your tolerance for teeny bits of color scattered all over the floor all the time is just a teensy bit lower than mine. I think, frankly, that the reason I tolerate them so well (aside from the fact that the kids actually clean them up when asked), is because of their pretty colors.

Think of the possibilities! Scooping, sorting, dumping with trucks, making rainbows on the floor, counting, taking to the dump with your trash trucks. It's endless.

These little guys are such great "toys" that I would go as far as to say every two year old (and five year old) should have their very own set. But I wouldn't go as far as to buy them for your two year old (or five year old) because of the above-mentioned tolerance issue.

So, if you think you might have a high tolerance for these little fluffy pretties, make your way to the crafts store, or get lucky at the dollar spot, because your kiddos will love them! Did I mention they are also the cheapest toy ever??

Ten on Tuesday.

1. We're back down to single digits here. Oh, wait, that was today. Tonight we've dipped to three below.

2. Alla has decided to enter the science fair, optional for kindergarteners, but she came home fired up about it, so we had to back her. Truth be told, I've always hated science projects, so good think she has Daddy.

3. Fisher wants a real vactor for his birthday.

4. Miraculously, both kids' valentines are done. Alla made her own this year - came home with a heart and asked me to make her a template (yep she said that) so she could make more and then paint them. All I had to do was staple bags of candy to them. Fisher and I worked on his yesterday and they are ready for his little party next week.

5. I'm now reading Zeitoun. Alla and I started the second Little House book.

6. Our fried rice dinner was delish! The kids did not think so.

7. I should have bought Alla a winter wardrobe comprised solely of dresses and skirts and tights because there are upteen pants in her drawer with tags still on them. Her teacher must think she has about three outfits that she's forced to rotate.

8. I am loving an afternoon cup of green tea with a spoonful of raw honey.

9. Alla is crazy for Wild Kratts. Crazy, I tell you.

10. My favorite lunch lately is a bowl of quinoa with sauteed red onion, spinach, beans, and feta. Yum!

Double take.

On Thursdays, I drop Fisher off at school at 9:15. It's his day at school, by himself. After I drop him off, I head home and enjoy about thirty minutes of running about the house, picking things up to music of my choosing. As I rushed past the kids' room with a load of laundry to carry downstairs, I noticed something amiss on Alla's bed (and by amiss, I mean other than the 35 stuffed animals, 90% of which are so dear they have names).See what caught my eye?

I checked the boy's underwear drawer. Yep, a little low.

And then I remembered, as I was asking him to come downstairs and put school shoes on, he was telling me he had to count his underwear. I had no idea he was placing them so nicely on his sister's bed.