The newest Imagination Mover

Yesterday, while we were getting paper out to make her birthday invitations, she found my helmet. Inside were N's night driving glasses.

Instantly Zoe was in love. She felt like one of the Imagination Movers.

She's trying to make Wobble Goggles the newest trend.

I think she makes them look good.



You can only wear the Wobble Goggles for so long. They do have special powers. I think she puts them on her head so I won't put any hair accessories in. She is very clever.



And very stylish.

She has friends in low places

Zoe is a very social girl. She loves to be out among people. Last night was the rescheduled Christmas program from my nephews. Beforehand we grabbed some dinner. On the way into the restuarant, there was a teenage boy sitting outside. Zoe walked closer to him, tilted her head and just looked at him. Oh, the flirting starts young.

I am a little nervous about preschool. I caught a glimpse of it with Connor's class last night. Connor got to be an angel. His preschool class did a set of 5 songs, some with bells, some with hand motions. One little girl in particular led the group. Through the chorus of Jingle Bells. 3 times. The teacher finally had to "sing" louder than the girl to get them on track or the song might've looped for the entire evening. It was adorable.

My older nephews, T-Dog and MJ, do a musical. They both had speaking parts. MJ played a jock. T-Dog played a kid who lost the first round of the spelling bee. Which is ironic because he is an excellent speller. However, I think he was some kind of surfer dude because his word was Yahway. He kept saying "yah" "wAAAAy." Much like the turtles in Finding Nemo. Then they both turned into wise men for the nativity at the end.

T-Dog is a little shy, but Zoe is totally in love with him. When he was on stage, she would scream. That's why we were in the foyer for the show!

When we went up to MJ after the show to tell him how great he was, he was hanging out with his older friends. Namely girls. We totally wrecked his game. When I whispered to him that I was impressed he was dating 6th grade girls, the blush on his cheeks was priceless.

Instead of continuing to ruin MJ's game with the cougars of his school, we decided to head home. All that running and screaming in the foyer really made me tired. Not to mention Zoe's running and screaming.

I was not too tired to hear about Zoe's day with grandma. They went to the mall, where Zoe flirted with the security guard. He apparently had no idea that was what she was doing, so Zoe started screaming at him. Fearful of being escorted out of the mall, grandma took Zoe to the department store to look at some appliances.

As they were walking the aisle Zoe stopped dead in her tracks. She had met a friend. A little girl. Looking back at her from the new front loading dryer window. Amazingly she looked exactly like Zoe.

Not one to make that reflection lonely, Zoe went up and kissed her new friend.

Apparently she doensn't need a sibling. Just a mirror.

And some santitizers. For those times you have to kiss that baby in the dryer on display at the mall.

Obi Won Cuff-Nobi

For about 6 months I've experienced some slight soreness in my shoulder. It would come and go, so I didn't think too much about it. I mostly felt it while cradling Zoe before bed. I just assumed it was because she's growing and I still hold her like I did when she was 3 pounds. That's bound to cause some pain. I wasn't willing to give up the cuddles for a little shoulder pain.

However, over the holidays I was home more due to snow and we played the Wii. Namely Lightsaber Duels. It's a game where you're Star Wars characters and you fight it out. You have to use a controller in each hand. Which I totally stink at. One hand in your lightsaber, the other is The Force. In my ignorance, I totally beat N. The force was with me!

The shoulder paid dearly for my Jedi ways. It has been hurting constantly for three weeks. So much that I can't sleep on that side anymore. Aleve is too weak and they don't make wireless heating pads. So I called the doctor.

Official diagnosis: impingement syndrome.

Basically the muscles and tendons in my rotator cuff are inflammed. Because the rotator cuff is surrounded by bone, that inflammation has no where to go. So it causes an intense burning sensation all. the. time.

Apparently when you're a Jedi Master, such as myself, you feel the force.

Through your rotator cuff.

Now I have to go to physical therapy to learn proper Jedi techniques. Because the Force will rise again.

Daddy's little girl

Dancing with daddy at Amber's and Chris's wedding.

We're going streaking

Last night N was home because all the colleges in town were cancelled. After 40 or so roof collapses, they decided to cancel all schools. Apparently for the two weeks of Christmas break no one could get on the roof of the college to clear the snow. Whatev.

Anyway, he was home with Zoe and I last night. I love to watch them play. She laughs harder, she remains close to him, she looks to him when she thinks something is funny to see if he's laughing too. She will chase him, imitate him and sneak up on him to scare him. She loves her daddy and her playmate.

We were all on the floor and having a pillow fight. Technically I was getting pelted with the pillow and N and Zoe were laughing hysterically. As Zoe took a moment to catch her breath and watch a little of the news, N pants her.

Within 2 seconds flat she was on the floor stripping out of them. Within another 2 seconds she was holding her shirt saying "off." I had no idea she felt so restricted in her clothing. As she ran around the house I fully expected to hear "we're going streaking!"

Thankfully it was bath night and I just started the bath water a little earlier than normal.

I just hope she doesn't get any ideas while she's in the nursery at church.

Or at the store.

Old Man Winter is giving me gray hair

Dear Mr. Al Gore,

I know you partially won a Nobel Prize for your movie "An Inconvenient Truth" about global warming. However I would like to show you my inconvenient truth.

It's continuing to pile up in my front yard. And on my roof.

At the rate of an inch per hour.

I would love it if you could get on our roof and remove some of the snow. It might give you a little better perspective on global warming for us near the 49th parallel.

Unless you're too busy sunning yourself, er I mean measuring erosion off the coast of Mexico.

Or creating something better and equally as cool as the internet.

Then I totally understand.

Sincerely,
Kelly

Welcome 2009 & welcome snow

I truly thought 2009 would be a little different. Yesterday we experienced some melting and even saw the sun! We even started to get some puddles. I would say we lost probably 6 or so inches in the melt. It was a glorious New Year's Eve.

To celebrate the melting, N and I had some mongolian for dinner and saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I highly recommend it.

Our 2009 started with some sleeping in and some snow fall. By the time I went outside to shovel at 10:30 we had about 4 inches.

Since 5 feet of snow is hard to comprehend, we decided to take some pictures of our house for reference.

Below N is holding his tape measure and we have a solid 61 inches lining our driveway.

The outhouse across the street is not really functional right now.

N waving from our driveway. It's like playing Where's Waldo!

The view from across the street. We still have some Christmas trees with lights by the front window, but you can't see them anymore.

The Lady Shoveler of the house enjoying her throne. Those Narnia kids would be totally jealous. It's a bit chilly, but when you can't feel your muscles after a good shoveling you don't really notice it.

Happy New Year. May 2009 be full of many blessings, less snow and your very own snowed-in outhouse.