Monday, December 15, 2008

did someone leave the freezer door open?

Sweet fancy Moses it is COLD outside. I used to think it was cold if you needed to take a jacket. I now consider it cold when I'm walking from my car to Costco and my teeth start to feel like I just bit ice cream. Yeah, it was a balmy THREE degrees at 10:30 this morning. But what am I complaining about - it was -6 when we first got up (-20 with the windchill). Plus, I got to discover that my car thermometer does actually register negative degrees. And I picked up a woman who was walking and drove her to where she was going. I think our high today is supposed to be in the 20s. They say it hasn't been this cold since 1901. Then again, our first winter here was full of blizzards that "never happen."

Honestly, I think it's funny. Mostly because I know in a week it will warm(ish) back up. And for now I can stay inside and make more caramels and peppermint bark and marshmallows and sit by the fire and drink a lot of hot chocolate. So really, what's to complain about? We'll reassess this question when we're walking out of swim lessons tonight at 7:30 (note to self: bring hair dryer).

Oooh, oooooh! I can't believe I didn't lead with this - Santa came early!! Get this - on Saturday morning, I took the kids to the park (it was nowhere near 20 degrees that day) while Joel went to "set chairs up at the church." Imagine our surprise to return home to a note on the front door saying Santa had something too big for his sleigh on Christmas Eve and a TRAMPOLINE (with pads and safety net, of course) in our back yard. Coincidentally, Joel just happened to drive up right as we were getting home so we all got to discover it together. The kids went crazy. They jumped for probably two hours out there and it was completely blissful to hear their squeal and giggles, mostly because Donovan has the most unabashed gleeful laugh in the whole world. I sometimes suspect that if we could broadcast his giggles worldwide, we would achieve world peace.

That night, as Donovan said his bedtime prayer, he thanked Heavenly Father for the usual things and for the trampoline that Santa brought early and that daddy could go help set up chairs at the church. Um...ok! Heh. Many thanks to the Johnsons who were our partners in deception and joy.

Walking home from the park I suggested we go swimming that evening. Donovan agreed saying, "Yeah, it's fweezing out heew. Yet's go swimming!" So we did, and we discovered that we had the whole pool to ourselves. Before we left, I said maybe I would go swimming this time. "But MOM! You need a swimsuit!" Donovan yelled incredulously. Yeah, I have one. And when I came walking out of my closet with said suit on, Donovan squealed, "MOM! WAH-HOW!" He quickly walked over, patted my stomach, stepped back and said (admiringly?), "You have a bwown swimsuit!" And then, like I was elderly or special, took my hand and said, "I wiw just hoed yo hand." Who knew that wearing your swimsuit could bolster your self esteem? Thanks little dude.

Donovan has been full of awesomeness lately. I have a friend to whom he is partial. When he was 2 and I had to leave for the airport before Joel returned home, I left him and Ainsleigh with this friend. After I left, she said, "Can you say Alicia?" He just looked at her, then slowly raised his index finger and pointed at her. "Pwetty." And that is what he called her from then on out. Now, in all fairness, he's right. She's kind of a walking Barbie doll. Because she is his teacher in his Sunday nursery class, he now calls her "Sister Kehwer," and her approval means just about everything to him. Imagine my surprise when he walked into the kitchen on Friday holding a doll and said, "Mom. Sister Kehwer and I had a baby." Huh. And then when it was time to go get Ainsleigh from school, "Mom, Sister Kehwer is going to wide in duh back with me." Interesting. I mean, Ainsleigh played with Peter Pan for quite a while. It's just...amusing. And my friend thinks it's funny. And flattering.

A week and a half ago the kids and I decorated a gingerbread house. Last year my mom and brother did it with them, so I suppose that was why Donovan saw the house kit and immediately exclaimed, "Grandma and Dave are coming?!" Despite their absence, we were able to decorate the house. And what do you do when you've run out of space on the gingerbread to decorate? You say, "Hey Donovan, hold still," while holding the bag of frosting and his lips spread into a conspiratorial grin as he suspects where this is going.





and the frosting on our family cake:

1 comments:

wanda said...

I wish I had been there for the gingerbread house! And the trampoline! But not the cold...