Phrats!!!

No, the title is not a typo. It is a phrase I hear many, many times every day from both my children. It is the current iteration in an evolving string of exclamatory statements that has gone like this:

- "phooey!" - taken from Donald Duck on Mickey Mouse clubhouse
- "oh phooey!" - used when "phooey!" just wasn't quite emphatic enough
- "suffering bilge rats!" - taken from Captain Hook on Jake and the Neverland Pirates
- "oh rats!" - used when the the phrase above was too long
- "oh phooey ratatouille!" - how the above phrases were originally combined
- "oh phooey rats!" - the inevitable shortening of the above phrase

...and because that apparently was not short enough we know have:
- "oh phrats!!" or just "phrats!!"

an illustration of the evolution of language right in my own home!

March Madness

This is March Madness month at the Little Red Hen. Each day has a different theme for the kids to dress up (or down) or bring something representative. So far we've had crazy sock day, crazy hat day:

talent day (Julia's talent was tumbling and she volunteered and got right up in front of the class to demonstrate), inside out day and sports day:

Julia the race car driver in her Tony Stewart jacket and Lightning McQueen sneaks

More silliness will be reported as the month goes on I'm sure!

Winter Adventures

Since this winter seems to be going on and on we figured we should take advantage of it.  So last weekend we signed Julia up for her first ski lesson. 

First ski lesson at Yawgoo.

She liked it so much she asked for another lesson this weekend.  Good thing it is snowing again to accommodate her.

Swimming Progress

Julia has been taking swim lessons for almost 6 months now. She goes once a week for about a half and hour. And while there is sometimes griping and groaning about groaning, she's always saying how much she loves it and she has a great time while she's there.

In the last couple of lessons she has made tremendous progress on her strokes. The video below is of part of her lesson from last week. It's so cool to see her turning into a confident, real swimmer!

heard around our house

a few recent conversations:

One of the nights when Andrew was away Julia ended up sleeping with me for awhile and at approximately 4:30am in this conversation happened:
Julia: Mom, why are houses straight even when the Earth is upside down?
Me (mumbled from under my pillow): It has to do with gravity
... this began a few minutes conversation on gravity which I don't really remember because I was half asleep...
Julia: But why are people straight even when they're on the bottom of the Earth? like in Antarctica?
Me: Again, it has to do with gravity... can we talk about more after breakfast??
(I'd really like to know what she dreams about!!)

While watching Andrew shovel off our deck last week a day after Julia, Benj, and I had gone to have blood work done:
Julia (to the window): "you can do it Dada, you can do it:
Julia (to me): "Dad has really strong muscles... They should have checked his blood pressure at the doctor's too."

While reciting the alphabet with Benjamin:
Me: ...a b c d e f g h i
Benjamin blinks his eyes
 ... q r s t u
Benjamin: "me?"
... t u
Benjamin: "me?"
... yes, u... v w x y z
(the funny thing is he only does these when he recites the alphabet with me, not when he does it with Andrew)

heard around our house

Julia was fussing with a new shirt that she had just put on - it has buttons on the outside of sleeve cuffs
Julia: The buttons bother me.
Me: Why?
Julia: The buttons bother me.
Me: but why? what bothers you about it
Julia (in an exasperated whine): It's too button-y!

Crowders in RI

Snowy Kids!!