NO WAY

WAY.

Eric "self-effacing-humor-guy" Farris wearing 3-D glasses and he allowed a photo to be taken.

I think I need to go lie down.

Cabin fever

It snowed again yesterday. Like 8 inches of fresh snow here. SUCKED. I spent this week mostly in and out of a Sudafed and Nyquil (often in combination) induced coma, and Sydney was out of school all week due to a "sprinkler malfunction" in her classroom. So this morning, I had HAD IT. I said, "kids-- go potty, get on some pants, and we're outta here". Snow, head colds, frigid temps...thinking we headed somewhere warm to work it out? Nope. Drove to Vermont. It's darn near tropical up there...!

Grabbed our buddies Shell & baby Clay and went to Quechee Gorge. Got stuck in a snowbank (thanks Shell!) , let both of my kids pee outside (pee-sicles?) at the Gorge lookout, bought some good old Vermont cheese, and let the kids choose some candy from the MILE long penny candy table.

It was a good day. A really good day.

Happy Birthday to you!

It's official! Sydney has now been with us for FOUR years! Most people go on about how time flies. Well, we're (and YOU'RE) not most people. Syd, I owe you some poignant words here on the day of the celebration of your birth. Well, you'll have to give me a break on that one. I have a horrible, achy, feverish head cold...and I'm not feeling particularly clever.

So, know that your Daddy and I are so very proud of you. You have made such progress during the last couple of months. We have been having a behavior "boot camp" of sorts--after identifying the emergence of some rather lousy character traits. Three came in like a big, old roaring lion, and it seems to be going out like a lamb. A lamb with a big mass of turd stuck in it's wool, but a lamb nonetheless. You've been kind and are really getting the whole manners thing. Where you used to be shy & snooty when people would talk to you in public, you are really learning to engage and be kind.

Today, you decided to wear a CROWN all day. A big, pink bejeweled number to celebrate your birthday. In addition to the crown, you had a large pink "BIRTHDAY GIRL" badge affixed to your shirt. While you love adornment, you don't always react well to the attention those trappings bring in public. At the mall, everyone kept getting right down in your face to comment with "happy birthday, sweetie" and "how old are you" and "aren't you so pretty" and such. I was so proud of the way you politely answered and said thank you and smiled. After an hour or so of this, you'd had it. And after one grandma-type made WAY too big a deal out of the whole thing, you pulled me down to your level, got the old nasty Sydney face back on and said, "mommy, why does everyone keep talking to me about my birthday?".

"Ummmm...the crown & the badge, sweet pea?" I said. You reached up to feel your head, and on came the lightbulb. A sheepish grin and you mumbled, "oops...I'm a dork".

You are not a dork. You are oblivious like your mommy. And smart. And sweet. And funny. Happy Birthday, baby girl.

Sleep well. Seriously. I'm taking some Nyquil and going to bed. If I see your face before 7 tomorrow morning, I'll hurt you.

Kisses.

Love, Mommy

Hey, God--you there??

Sydney was sitting on the bottom step being punished when Colin walks up to her and says "suckerrrrrrrr" in a hysterically snide voice. Well--needless to say, chaos ensued in the now-everyone's-in-trouble department. When the dust settled, I asked them where they'd heard the word sucker. (YesI did give Colin total props in my head for using it correctly & in context!!) Apparently, it came from a movie that I had DVR'd for them to watch. So, we corporately made the decision to delete it from our menu, as this was clearly something that we wouldn't be proud to sit on the couch & watch with Jesus.

Colin's fascination was with the whole TV remote part of it all & the mechanics of how exactly one deletes a show from the DVR menu. Sydney was looking all forlorn and sad that her precious movie was going to be deleted. When all of a sudden....Syd throws her hands up--palms out--looks to the Heavens and exclaims...."WAIT!!!! WE GOTTA MAKE SURE GOD IS WATCHING!!!!!"

It's just proof that Sydney does NOTHING without a reward of some sort.

whoops

So, the thing about Fifths Disease is that you don't actually know when you were ever contagious. Which explains me not realizing that I should have kept Syd & Colin away from each other like THREE FREAKING WEEKS AGO. She's got it now, too.

It's kinda cool to see a virus go right by the book, though. (or is that just me?) First comes super-pink "slapped" cheek look, then trunk rash, then extremities rash, then it's over. Bring it.

the latest...

I waited 3 days to give you an update on Colin's bruise--ya know, so it could reach it's very finest yellow-green color. Mission accomplished! Know that the camera's flash cuts about 40 percent of the green undertone out...hahahahaaaa! He looks hilarious.

My friend Shell (aka Dr. Barker, the chiropractor) emailed me after looking at the blog and was all--that's not funny, but I looked at his pupils in the pics and he looks fine, and you know you should get an X-ray to check and see if his whatjamajiggy plate got shoved into his brain, and did he lose consciousness at all, and is there cerebrospinal fluid leaking out of his nose, and yadayadayada.

...and then I though, yeah, this whole laidback Mom thing I've been working on perfecting? Should I get that checked??

It's a great day to be alive...

So--being Colin is a GREAT thing mostofthetime. Today, however, is a different story. He's enduring the tail end of a bout with Fifth Disease (for a good time--head here http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/fifth.html ) which has left him a little drained and covered in a lacy rash from head to toe. He was just starting to rally after a lowkey day yesterday when....

....he decided it would be fun to plow the driveway with Daddy without the added benefit of wearing a seatbelt. HA! At this point in the winter, you just have to gun it & kinda throw the snow over the bank.

Well-- Colin's forehead + dashboard == Klingon from Star Trek. I just know that it's gonna look worse tomorrow, and if it does... I will laugh. Err..I mean...I will post new pictures.