snOMG!

I wish I could take credit for that title, but I can't... I got it from an autocross friend.

Anyway, on Wednesday night, we finally got The Big One.  We got about 5" over the course of Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.  Then on Wednesday evening, we got a thundersnow (a thunderstorm that's too cold to rain so it snows instead) that dumped at least another foot on top of that in a matter of 6 hours or less.  At one point, it was white out conditions.  If this has been a summer storm, we'd have gotten hammered with sideways rain and flash flooding.

Steve and the trusty snowblower got us unburied in about an hour and a half on Thursday morning.  I drove the kids to daycare and on my way, I realized just how heavy the snow was.  None of it had fallen from any of the trees overnight.  And what's more, a lot of it hasn't even fallen today!!  That also means it's perfect snowball snow.

When Steve brought the kids home from daycare, we partially cleared the deck to get to the grill.  A dedicated grill master has no fear of grilling in... weather.

A foot and a half of snow is not a deterrent to a master griller!

While the grill was heating, I spotted a stinkbug (cannot confirm if it was actually alive) attached to the top of the garage wall.  As I mentioned earlier, this snow was excellent snowball weather.  So Steve and I started to throw snowballs at the stinkbug to see if we could hit it.  Curt Schilling we are not, but eventually, Steve hit the stinkbug square.

Making and throwing snowballs gave the kids the idea to throw them at us, and so the "fight" began!  DJ had the BEST time trying to make a snowball and throwing it at Steve and me!  He also enjoyed just picking up piles of snow and throwing them up into the air as far as he could, and watch the flakes come down again.

DJ's glasses are wet from throwing snow up into the air.

 Meanwhile, I got the idea to knock down a big icicle for each kid.  DJ threw it to see what would happen when it landed.  Elektra, on the other hand, put it right in her mouth.  Once she got ahold of that icicle, she was absolutely content.  She didn't want to let go of it, and she didn't want to stop sucking on it.

Elektra sucking on her icicle.  Someone's going to love popsicles this summer!

I tried to get a picture of the two of them sitting on a mountain of snow, but that didn't work out so well.

DJ and Elektra happy in the snow!

 Then Steve got a wild hair and decided to go DIVING into the snow in the yard.

Not a great picture, but you get the point!

Once you're *in* the snow, you may as well embrace it!  The kids LOVED it when Daddy did this!  we heard lots of laughs and giggles, and DJ wanted to join him with a snow angel of his own.

Steve making a snow angel.

Steve's snow angel

Boy that white stuff is COLD!!

DJ made a snow angel of his own as well!  Unfortunately, those pictures didn't turn out.

In addition to all of this, DJ also couldn't wait to help shovel.  He loves the shovel that we have that is just his size, and helped us shovel at the house.  He also was a HUGE helper at daycare by helping Sonny clean the walk and the driveway!  Sonny was so proud of how hard DJ worked that he gave DJ his first earned $1.  I'll pull down his piggy bank and we'll put it in there for him.  We are very proud of him!

Sonny's BIG helper!  Thanks for the picture, Eleanor!

And there you have it... Snowpocalypse 2011.

Elektra's new glasses

At the end of DJ's appointment with the pediatric ophthalmologist, Dr. Collins suggested I bring in Elektra for a baseline evaluation.  I made the appointment that week, and couldn't get a new patient appointment for 2 months!  But Dr. Collins is worth it, and I was perfectly happy to wait. 

They first checked Elektra for depth perception and red/green tests, and she was very accepting of wearing the glasses designed for each test.  Then it was time to dilate her eyes and completely unlike DJ who screamed bloody murder, Elektra giggled and laughed and thought it was a grand old time. 

After her eyes were dilated, Dr. Collins did Elektra's refraction (which, again, completely unlike DJ, Elektra was a dream child), turned to me, and showed me the refraction results.  YEARS of McDonogh training have taught me that 6 > 4 and since that's almost exactly the same refraction DJ has, I knew this meant that Elektra would need glasses, too.

So I turned to Elektra, "Elektra, do you want to wear glasses like DJ?"  "Yes!!" she replied with a huge grin.  Well, that was easy.

On Thursday, we picked up her glasses.  When she put them on, she looked in the mirror and got this HUGE grin on her face.  It was hilarious!  She's only asked to take them off the day after she got them, and hasn't asked since then.  Here are some pictures! 

Christmas 2010

Here is another catch-up blog post.  Better late than never.  

This year, we were so luck to have Uncle Dave, Aunt Nancy, and Cousin Axel come to Baltimore from California for Christmas!  I hadn't met Axel yet, and he is the cutest boy!!  I thought he might be a little scared of me, but he was very tolerant of my giving him attention.  :)  And for a little boy completely out of wack schedule-wise (it's hard to adjust to a 3 hour difference!), he was sooo good.  We got to see them a number of the days that they were in town, and share a few very nice meals with them, too.

So Steve and I both had off Christmas Eve as our company holidays.  When we woke up in the morning (and found a little boy in our bed between us), DJ asked if it was time to open presents.  We told him "not today, but tomorrow", and then promptly asked for our iPads to play with while we snoozed a little longer.  Christmas morning, DJ didn't even ask about presents when he woke up; he just asked for our iPads.  I have no doubts that next year, that question won't be asked!!

Christmas Eve - the presents are ready

We had the kids dressed in matching reindeer blanket sleepers for Christmas that Grandmom had given them. But as part of DJ's morning routine, he goes potty and then gets dressed, and he was VERY upset when I told him to go potty but he wouldn't be getting dressed just yet.  That level of upset immediately disapated up seeing PRESENTS!!! 

We waited until Uncle Dave, Aunt Nancy, Cousin Axel, and Grandmom came over to open gifts, so that the kids could open them together.  The speed at which paper was ripped probably caused a rip in the space-time continuum.

Elektra and Axel checking out the loot

The kids on Christmas Morning and Grandmom, Uncle Dave, and Steve with their cameras in the background

DJ checking out his new cement truck while Axel opens the Toobeez box

DJ playing with his new dump truck

Elektra with her new baby carriage

A note about the baby carriage and the dump trucks - both kids put their most "prized possessions" (see the next picture) in their respective vehicle of choice and run laps around the house with them.  The rebel yell is heard if DJ takes the baby carriage or if Elektra takes a dump truck. 

Contents: 2 miniature field hockey sicks and soft balls and Bunny.

And here's an incredibly cute pic of Elektra and Daddy wearing the construction helmet that came with DJ's cement and dump trucks.

Cute!

Elektra also received some really unique shoes from Holland!  She couldn't wait to put on her "new shoes"! 

Dutch Daisy shoes!

We had a ball building with the Toobeez.  Check out this house that Aunt Nancy built!

Nancy building the Toobeez house with 2 little helpers.

Like last Christmas, DJ received a new bike, but last year, it was a pedaless (running) bike.  This year, DJ received a Lightening McQueen bike for Christmas, but he's still learning how to use the pedals despite the fact that he can balance on the running bike, thus the training wheels.  Once he figures out how to deal with the pedals, we'll take the training wheels off.

DJ on his new bike.

By the end of the week that Dave, Nancy, and Axel were here, the kids had figured how much fun they were having with their cousin and their aunt and uncle, and have continuously asked for them since they left.  But before they did leave, we tried to take a picture of the three of them together....

Cousins Elektra, a tired Axel, and DJ

We miss you, Uncle Dave, Aunt Nancy, and Cousin Axel!  We hope to see you again soon!!

Halloween 2010 and other miscellaneous pictures

So I took a break from blogging to focus on my insane work load at my paid job, transitioning my unpaid job to the next person, and the holidays.  So now it's time to catch up.

The kids are growing like weeds, especially Elektra.  Elektra has been eating like a horse the last month or so, and it shows in her clothes.  I put a 24 month set of overalls on her yesterday, and they were short by over an inch.  They looked like overall capris.  This morning, she at 4 eggs for breakfast.  Four.  And then she asked for more off of my plate.  DJ hasn't been eating as much, but you can tell he's getting taller as the 4T pants I put on him at the beginning of the cooler weather no longer need to be rolled for him at the bottom. 

Meanwhile, we celebrated Halloween at my sister's house!  The neighborhood picked a 2 hour window the Friday before Halloween to have Trick-or-Treating, and we thought it would be fun to let the cousins Trick-or-Treat together as DJ and Elektra have never been.  They had a good time watching the other children come to the door and yell "Trick or Treat!" at my sister.  Then, when the doorbell would ring, they'd RUN to the door with her to watch the kids.  Finally, it was their turn to go out, and they went with Spiro, Sophia, and me.  When they got to the first door, they needed to be coached to say "Trick or Treat" and hold out their bag.  By the second house, DJ had figured it out, and was all but running to get to the next door.  We only went to about 6 houses because it was bitterly cold outside, and the kids had frozen hands.  But you could tell they had a good time!

DJ the Cowboy

Elektra as Alice in Wonderland

DJ the Cowboy playing with a flashlight

Elektra counting her loot

This was really the first time either child had been exposed to "chocolate", and we haven't heard the end of it since.  :-)  We spent the night, and the older cousins read books to the younger cousins when it was bedtime.  My kids couldn't have had bigger smiles on their faces.  DJ was very upset when we had to leave to go home.  We had a great time with the Schramms, and we look forward to having another overnight with them soon! 

Miscellaneous picture time!  I thought this picture was hilarious... it doesn't even need a caption!