My Snow Bunny

Yesterday, we got snow. Lots and lots of snow. By the end of it, I think we had around seven inches. We knew Grace loved snow from our trip to Michigan in December, so we were excited to go outside. Since having a snowsuit isn't a priority in Virginia, Grace had to wear one that was too big. It worked just fine though...just think of a female Ralphie from A Christmas Story. We made a makeshift sled out of our garbage can lid yesterday, and today she had fun sitting in the snowbank yelling at Matt while he shoveld the driveway.

It's a Snow Day...too bad it's Saturady.

This is the first REAL snow we've seen since we moved to Virginia. I've seen what the locals do when it rains, and it is a thousand times worse with the snow. Last night I watched my neighbor poor four bags of salt on his driveway. The snow didn't even start until three or four this morning, but last night around five that dude's driveway look liked it snowed.

Grace had a great time sledding when we were in Michigan over Christmas. I wish we had a real sled today. This was our makeshift sled and snowsuit that is a size too big. She kind of resembles Ralphie in "A Christmas Story." And she wasn't a fan of making snow angels.

sorry guys...the video won't upload.

Baby Gate Diaries

Grace has decided that crawling isn't enough for her, so she started working on mastering stairs this weekend. Her persistance is quite extraordinary, so we put up the baby gate tonight. After playing for awhile, she ventured to the stairs to try and get up. She found the gate instead. And started crying. Big alligator tears.

Hello World, Here I Come

My baby girl is crawling. Last night she made a mad dash for my macaroni and cheese, and this morning she has been crawling nonstop. I tried all morning to get her on video, but each time she would sit up and stare at the camera. We finally got it on tape with a little help from some chocolate (If you noticed, she is chasing a Lindt chocolate snowman missing its head.). No, we didn't give her any.

You Can Forget Trying to Fool This Girl

My Grace hates fruit. She'll eat any vegetable you put in front of her, but give her a piece of fruit, and she scrunches up her itty-bitty face and shoves the spoon away. Her swift movement usually results in my spilling the fruit.

She will however eat baby food fruit if I mix it with her oatmeal. And since juice is made from fruit, she doesn't drink that either. Even the watered down stuff is a no-go. To get around this, I make the oatmeal with the juice.

Tonight as I was making her dinner, I thought I'd try and give her tiny bits of peaches and cherries from a fruit cup in the cupboard. Grace has to feed herself at dinner time, so I thought maybe if she was feeding herself the fruit, she'd eat it.

Step 1: I put tiny bits of fruit on her highchair tray.

Step 2: She touches it, but won't pick them up.

Step 3: Thinking she wants her plate, I put the pieces on her plate.

Step 4: She touches them, touches the plate, picks up the plate, flips it upside down on the floor.

Step 5: After picking up the pieces of fruit from the floor, I try again. This was the first mistake.

Step 6: Grace takes the plate and turns it into a food frisbee. There was food EVERYWHERE. I found fruit on the wall, the floor, and the fridge. None in her belly though.

Step 7: Clean everything up, give her three pieces of banana. She touches them, picks one up, but doesn't eat it. She then proceeds to bang on her highchair (We have Matt to thank for this.). I give her three Puffs. Now, the puffs look just like the banana. When I looked back, all the Puffs were gone, and the bananas were still sitting there.

Step 8: Go back to giving Grace fruit in her oatmeal.

My 2010 Anti-Resolutions

1. I will not eat beat myself up over eating multiple sugar cookies or buckeyes or pieces fudge every time I walk in the kitchen at Christmas. Who has the willpower to walk away from all that goodness? Not me. Maybe that is why I gained so much weight in the two weeks we've been on winter break.

2. I will not keep clothes that I haven't worn in over a year. Quite frankly, I find it a little disturbing that I still have clothes that I wore in high school.

3. I will not give up coffee.

4. I will not let 105 seventh graders let my blood pressure rise to abnormal limits.

5. I will not give up procrastinating. As much as I pains me to write this, I admit I am a procrastinator. I wait until the last minute to grade 105 essays. I wait my shoes are piling up at the front door before I haul them upstairs just to start the cycle again. I wait until the door is sagging from the amount of clothes waiting to be ironed before I drag out the iron. I wait.

6. I will not turn into a texting-obsessed person who can't even sit through a dinner at a restaurant with friends without pulling out the cell phone to check on her husband. (insert rolling eyes).

7. I will not send my family into a swirling amount of debt just to keep up with what is "in" or "cool" or to keep up with what everyone else is sporting. I'm just fine with my low-tech cell phone (I just upgraded to one that actually sends videos. It still flips though. That is apparently out-of-style now.). I'm just fine with my $10 purse from TJ Maxx.

8. I will not forget to use stickers. What kid doesn't love stickers?

9. I will not be sad when my birthday rolls around this year. Maybe I won't be told to get in line as I walk my students to the computer lab.

10. I will NEVER stop loving my beautiful Grace.