Who's the boss?

Kenzie is staying with Grammy & Grampy for a couple of days. In prior visits, they have reassured me that Kenzie always behaves "like an angel"...as long as they "don't cross her."

She rules the roost down there, so this time I told him, "don't let her boss you around."

He was offended, indignant: "she does NOT boss me around. [pause] She leads me."

Yeah.

They took her to see Charlotte's Web today. She enjoyed the movie, except for the part where Charlotte died. And the parts where Grampy slept. She slugged him frequently, I hear.

Monkey

As Kenzie was drawing her dog and girl picture, Mason brought me this and told me it is a monkey.

Okay, honestly, he said it was a "mo mo," which can either be "monster" or "monkey." I said, "oh, you drew a monster?" He set me straight by nodding "no" and scratching his arm pits.

The Mean, Mean, Mean Owl, by Kenzie

Once upon a time there was a little girl that had a little dog. The little girl had a house and the little dog always got into trouble because she could reach stuff that the little girl put somewhere. And so it was in a pantry and the little dog could reach up in the pantry because she was so tiny that she could only reach at the bottom shelf. And the bottom shelf in the pantry was only jewelry and she got into it and it broke. She put it into her mouth and then spit it out.

And then she went to bed, but the doggie still got up. She opened the door with her paw because the little girl liked to leave her door open so the kitties could get in there in the middle of night. The little dog had a dream in the middle of the night that she was a hero. And she still got up and dressed up like a hero and then went out to save people. All by herself!

And then she got lost with an owl. A mean, mean, mean owl. And the mean, mean owl had a sword. When the owl went "hoo hoo," it meant "come on you're going to my house to go in the fire!!" But the little dog didn't want to go in the fire because the little girl would be sad. The little girl went out and found the little dog and brought her home and they slept. And then the owl woke the little dog up AGAIN. And then the little girl found the owl so she found the little dog, then she saw that the owl was trying to put little dog in the fire trap. And then the little girl found the dog, then the owl could never get her again. And they slept happily ever after. The end.

[She drew this picture afterward so that I could "take a picture of it and put it on the blog." It is the little girl "and that thing on her waist is a skirt, a very long skirt" with a little dog. "The little girl is holding the little dog's leash and there's a rainbow flower."]

Cheesy pose in front of Christmas tree

School picture

Report card

Besides the fact that it crackes me up that Kenzie gets a report card at preschool, I'm seeing some familiar trends with her results. Strong in the cognitive skills and has some "opportunities" on the social side. All told, though, she's doing pretty great! (Click on the report card to see a bigger picture.)

No Way

A favorite saying.

q, r, s, teeth

Mason likes to work on his alphabet, but sometimes doesn't make it all the way through.

Blankie time, by Kenzie

I went to my grandparent's house. I stayed there for two days. And then I came home, but they ate dinner at our house still. And then they left. I hope I'll stay the night with them again. And then I'll come back home. The end.

What's wrong with this picture?

Mason climbed from his crib during nap time, found some diaper-rash cream, climbed on top of the speaker (possibly on top of the dresser), painted an area of the picture with the cream, and then stuck the puzzle pieces on the picture.

I preferred it when he couldn't get out of his crib.

Bath and towel time

Fun in the bath and after...

Random relative fact

Kenzie and I were talking today and she said, "Mom, you know Uncle Bill?" I wondered what she was going to say next, knowing that she hasn't seen him for at least a few months. She continued, "he's the hugest teaser. He's a bigger teaser than Grampy. Grampy likes to tease, but Uncle Bill is such a way bigger teaser. He told me that our plant was his plant. I pulled a leaf off of our plant and he said to me, 'that's my plant. You don't pull leaves off of my plant.' [laughing] But that was our plant. He is the biggest, hugest teaser."

Is this the North Pole?

We took a mini vacation/early Christmas this weekend to Leavenworth with June, Bob, Kevin, Kathy, Marissa and Morgan. June was going crazy with all the "M" grandkids, continually either swapping one name for another, or going through the whole list. "Mason, MacKenzie, er, Morgan, I mean Marissa...."

As we were heading over the pass the kids were amazed by the snow on the hills, the trees, and piled on the side of the road. Kenzie asked us with awe, "Is this the North Pole?"

They loved the snow. Mason's cheeks were chapped, his nose runny, and finger tips frozen. Kenzie's other cheeks were so red we had to put her in the bath tub on defrost cycle. Still, they didn't want to come inside. I believe that sledding was the favorite event of the weekend. Neither kid has an ounce of fear in them when being shot down (a slight) decline.

Sleeping was perhaps a bit improved over our last outing. As a matter of fact, the first night both kids were asleep by about 8:00 and woke about 12 hours later. Last night...not quite the same. Mason climbed out of the playpen at 10:30 and didn't return until 2:30. In the meantime he crawled over his sister twice and banged heads with her once. Needless to say, they were both a little sleepy on the ride home, but neither would give up the good fight and take a nap in the car. What's up with that? Aren't kids supposed to sleep in the car?

We stayed at a cabin that Bob has done a lot of work for. It's called the Bear Mountain Lodge. If you go there, check out the hot tub cabana that Bob built.