Getting Punch

I'm not huge into celebrating St. Patrick's Day. Maybe I'll throw on some green but that's about the extent of it. However, now Xander is getting education and that education includes holidays. So they discussed St. Patrick at school as well as leprechauns.

Last week, every single day, Xander would ask someone if they could keep a secret. Then he would whisper in that person's ear "Leprechauns are sneaky."

He asked to make Leprechaun Punch on St. Patrick's Day, which he learned about at school. It is lime sherbet and Sprite, just like a root beer float. So I added those key ingredients to the grocery list and we enjoyed them in the afternoon.

I have to say I am glad that this new tradition of setting up 'leprechaun traps' and finding gold coins in the morning hasn't hit our household. I can barely keep up with the other holidays.

What he said

I'm always forgetting to write down the hilarious things the kids say. And sometimes writing it down doesn't convey the tone, inflection or mispronunciation of what was said. So, while it is still fresh, where is what Xander has said in the past 24 hours.

Last night we watched America's Funniest Videos with the kids. They tend to have a lot of commercials about Disney World, which led to Xander asking "When can we go to Disney World?"
Chris: "When Hannah is big enough to enjoy it."
Xander: "But we'll have another baby by then!"
(No clue how he got that idea!)

Then a segment of the show came on where a participant had to guess from a multiple choice list what a kid was going to say next. It showed a girl listing what people wanted for Christmas. It paused when the girl got to her father and the multiple choices appeared with the first choice being 'a vasectomy.' Chris and I cringed. Then we cringed some more as the participant repeated the word 'vasectomy' about five hundred more times. And they played the clip and the girl did say 'a vasectomy.' And then Xander asked "What's a vasectomy?"

Fortunately, Chris and I ignored him for ten seconds and the showed moved on and he was laughing at the next video.

Today, in the van, Xander suddenly brought up when he was 'still in my belly.'
Xander: "Mom, how did I get out of your belly?"
Me: *pause* ....*thinks of something vague but accurate*... Mom's have a special way for babies to come out.
Xander: Did it hurt?
Me: Yes, a little. But it was totally worth it because now I have you.

Snow Day

Today is Sunday and the high is expected to be 64 degrees. This past Wednesday we had a day off from school because of snow. That's Ohio for you.

The kids were watching the neighbors out playing in the snow.

I was bound and determined to get Xander and Josie outside to play. There were a few snowfalls this winter but I usually stayed in with Hannah. So I gathered up our snow clothes and we played inside until Hannah went down for a nap. Then we suited up!

Xander really enjoyed making snowballs. I'm not sure if he was really aiming or just throwing but he seemed to hit a lot of things. In this picture, he is showing where his snowball had hit the cross bar on the clubhouse.

Josie had been saying for weeks that she wanted to build a snowman. This snow was perfect for it, wet and sticky. Of course, Josie did not build it, she just watched me. Then we added a carrot nose (Josie was adamant about it being a carrot), leaves for eyes and sedum for a mustache  I added the sticks for arms and Josie brought over another stick and started to put it in next to one arm. Xander became all bent out of shape because a snowman can't have 3 arms. I said it could be an alien snowman. With that thought, he gleefully ran off and came back to attach another arm.

Xander also excitedly asked to knock over the snowman. I told him to wait until we were done and had taken pictures. When I gave him the signal, he went at it like he'd been tackling all his life. Then he'd back up and tackle again. Then he took a few flying leaps to land on the defeated snowman like a pro wrestler.

Seriously, you couldn't even tell a snowman had been there by the time Xander was done.

Meanwhile, Josie must have missed the conversation about destroying the snowman because she became very sad.

So I talked with Josie and asked her if she'd like to make another snowman, maybe a miniature snowman? She instead asked for a snow buggie. Huh? So I asked if she meant a ladybug and Josie became super excited. I just made a ball for the body and Josie made one for the head. It wasn't big enough at first, but after some more rolling, they were just the right size. 

Then I had to explain to Josie that the snow ladybug might melt pretty quickly, probably by the next day. She made the sad face again and spent the next two days randomly running to check if the ladybug was still in the back yard. Fortunately by this weekend she was so happy to have the nice weather that she hasn't missed it at all.