Pajama Day

Today was Pajama Day for Colin at preschool. He really enjoyed it! He seemed happier than usual to be dropped off, and looked smashing in his PJs, slippers, and robe. Mike insists that the robe is actually a smoking jacket and that he should have a pipe with this outfit. At school they let the kids make their own pizzas out of English muffins, sauce, and cheese. In the photo he is wearing his snow boots, because it is snowing AGAIN today! I know he is making a strange face- it's getting tougher to get him to smile in a photo.

Deep Thoughts 2009

There is nothing new to read here- my apologies! I decided to clean up my sidebar and put all these 2009 Deep Thoughts into a post so I can keep them for later.

November 2009
Me: Colin, let's get a tissue for your runny nose.
Colin: Actually, I'm going to keep these boogers.

Me, seeing Colin coming downstairs after bedtime: Hey Colin, what are you doing?
Colin (slowly): I don't know what I'm doin'.
Me: Go back to bed, please.
Colin: Mom, there's somethin' wrong wif myself.

Amelia: I'm taking off my pants, because genies don't wear pants or have legs.
Me: Sometimes genies have legs or wear pants. Have you seen Aladdin?
Amelia (very matter-of-fact): But they DON'T wear underwear.

Colin, out of the blue: Hey Mom? I don't like Ben Franklin.

Colin, putting on navy dress pants: I don't want to wear these church pants.
Me: You need to wear church pants to church.
Colin: I want to wear the peanut-butter colored pants.

October 2009
Mike: Amelia, don't hide back there, you need to get out of the car.
Amelia: Oh, you're cool with that, man!

Me: Amelia, put your skirt on and finish getting ready for school.
Amelia: Sure. This skirt could never be gnarly.

Amelia: Remember how Dad cooked my food while you were gone? He made eggs. They were good, but not great, because they really needed more salt.

Amelia: I'm going to be the Mom, Colin is going to be the baby, and Dad, we need you to be the Dad for us.
Colin: Mom, you can be the faaather.

September 2009
Amelia: Mom, guess what. Tomorrow is your second day of being (whispering) thirty!

Colin, at breakfast one morning: Mom, I'm going to make you a special lil' Mother's Day after Halloween. I'm going to pick you some fish, worms, and flowers, too. Oh, and shiny shells. But shiny shells have lil' crabs in them, so watch out. The fish will be goldfish. Maybe I'll pick the goldfish for me and the flowers for you.

Amelia, whispering to her Kindergarten teacher, regarding her first day of school: I need to tell you something. My Mom cried while I was at kindergarten yesterday because she missed me! Hee hee!

August 2009
Colin, to Mike: When I grow up, I’m probably gonna be a grown-up. Then I bet we’ll ride in a fire truck together, and we’ll both be grown-ups.

Amelia: I'm trying on your bra, Mom. I have boobs!

Amelia: I'm inventing a new sandwich. It has peanut butter, jelly, and marshmellow fluff. It's called a Snutter Nutter!

Me, seeing Colin after tripping while wearing Amelia's dress up high heels: You should probably take those off.
Colin: No Mom, I fink I like girl stuff.

July 2009
Mike: You peed in the potty? Good job!
Colin: Yeah, it's a great thing.

Amelia: Mom, I wanted to go to the store with you because I thought you needed a friend.

Colin: I spilled water all over me.
Me: That's okay, we can get you a fresh shirt.
Colin: But it's on my legs. We don't want to get new legs. Just a fresh shirt.

Colin, referring to brownies in the oven: I wanna eat the frownies!

Amelia, during Wimbledon: Who did Feder (Federer) play last time? He beat him 11 times? Oh yeah. It was Soderling. Hey Mom! Colin's saying that Feder isn't playing Erotic (Roddick)!
Colin: Is Federman playing?

Colin, discussing the field mice we saw at the zoo: I'm a feel mouse. Feel mouses are mice. I just nivled the food off my lips. (Nivle is Colin-speak for nibble. Also, bench is pronounced vench.)

June 2009
Me: You can't have that, it's too messy.
Colin: Ohh, yay, I just love getting messy all over me!

Amelia: You know what? Grandma Debi is having no fun at work without me.
Me: Did she tell you that?
Amelia: No. I just know it. I just know she doesn't have fun there without me.

Amelia, yelling: Colin hit me, he hit my brain!
Colin, laughing: yeah, yeah, her brain, her brain!

Amelia, upon waking up from her nap, which she detests: I really did not enjoy that.

Colin: Is Evie coming in the car with us?
Me: No, she's not.
Colin: Ohhhh, I just love her so much. She's my little cutie pie.

May 2009
Mike: Do you know what the Grand Canyon is?
Amelia: Yes, it's in Arizona and it's one mile deep

Note to Self

This is a note Amelia wrote to remind herself of something very important that she was forgetting. Translation: "Be nice or ask Mom or Dad when Jack takes your toys." I love this phase of sounding things out and writing them down.

18 Months

Jack is 18 months old now, and walking like crazy! It has now been one year since he was hospitalized with botulism. He just finished physical therapy this month, so he's officially made a complete recovery. He's quite a kid, and we're so lucky to have him!

Snowtorious B.I.G. (thanks Jon)

After 2 more feet of record breaking snow, this is what our house looked like! The poor Dogwood tree banches nearly touched the ground.

School has been closed for two days (Mike's included), and the whole east coast is digging out. So, when the Chin kids get time to play in the snow, what do they do? Build snowmen? Snow forts? Have snowball fights? Go sledding? Nope. They build "snow chairs" and lay in them.

I don't call myself a knitter yet...

But I have been giving it a try! I figured I should try learning to knit while I live in a snowy climate, and it's pretty darn fun. Project tally so far: 2 acceptable kid hats, 1 very ugly kid hat, 1 excruciatingly ugly adult scarf.

In this photo the kids are showing off their new hats while Amelia simultaneously practices her choke hold.

Huge snow!

Over the weekend, Philadelphia got two feet of snow! It was the second largest snow on record, and it was really amazing. It took two hours just to dig out the driveway. Tonight there will be another storm that is expected to dump another foot on top, so we are anxious to find out what that will be like. Here are some photos we took just after the snowing stopped.

Here was what the window looked like when we woke up in the morning.

The kids' birdhouse definately got some accumulation!

Jack wanted to taste it.

Amelia has decided that she loves to throw snowballs. She just isn't into getting hit by them.
Colin seemed to like it until he tried to make a snow angel, fell on his face, and came up looking like a snowman. He cried and swore off snow angels after that. Here he is before the carnage.
We loved the way the rocks collected snow on the stream.

Pizza Time

A couple of nights ago we let the kids make their own pizzas for dinner. They loved it! Plus, they got a chance to wear their darling aprons that Lauren made them for their birthdays last year. After dinner the kids decided that the pizzas were the best they'd ever eaten!

Hard at work. Jack was pretty jealous.

Amelia adding cheese with a flourish.

Colin was totally committed to the mushrooms. Strange, because he doesn't like mushrooms and picked them all off before he ate.

Sarah and Ryan's Visit!

Two weeks ago Sarah and Ryan and their kids came to Philadelphia for some interviews at a public health clinic for Ryan. We had a spectacular long weekend with them, and we wish they could stay forever! Here are some highlights from their trip.

Checking out Penn in winter. Still lovely! This visit was followed by some amazing hot chocolate.

Ryan and the kids running in the grass, chasing squirrels, and checking out a large tree.
We went to see the Liberty Bell, of course, and while we were there Evie took a little spill. The exceptionally cautious park ranger rushed over, made a scene, and pushed an ice pack on her. Evie thought it was awesome. She happily posed for this photo!

Here are the kids in Chinatown before we stuffed ourselves eating dim sum. We made quite a scene at the Chinese restaurant. Many female waiters crowed around our table, staring, touching Max and Amelia's hair, and asking the kids questions that they couldn't understand because of the accent. It was hilarious! Sadly, we were full before the jellyfish cart came around. Next time, guys!

We also went to see a children's performance of the River North Chicago Dance Company. Amelia, Sarah, and I loved it. Colin and Max had a little trouble paying attention. To be fair, I think we should hit a Phillies game next time.

Girls' Team Sunglasses

A couple of days ago I left to take Colin to preschool and Amelia and Jack stayed home with Mike. While I was gone, Mike noticed that Amelia had been strangely quiet, so he checked on her and found her upstairs working on her "Girls Team Sunglasses." Amelia and many of her stuffed animals were dressed to the nines and covered with bling.

The Nutcracker

One of the highlights of our Christmas was seeing the Nutcracker at Symphony Hall. Amelia and Molly loved getting dressed up in their matching Christmas dresses and enjoying an afternoon at the ballet. Amelia was mesmerized! When she would really become absorbed in the performance, she would start waving her hands and arms, and sort of dancing along. At one point, I asked her if she was doing okay and she replied, "I'm crying because I'm SO happy!" What a funny little girl. We had a wonderful time!

Family Photo Shoot

Mom hired a great photographer from Mesa, www.saracoral.com, who photographed our entire family last month. She was amazing, and we got some excellent shots. Here are just a few of our faves.

Papa's Motorcycle

Over the holidays my Dad took the kids on a very brief ride around the block on his motorcycle. Colin was in awe, in a good way, and Amelia was giddy.

We love helmets and safety gear!

Amelia getting ready to cruise.
Ahhh, the Four Peaks. I could just jump into this photo. I miss those cacti! For anyone who noticed, yes, Dad is wearing a T-shirt with a skull and crossbones. No, he is not a member of Hells Angels. The shirt is actually a souvenir from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. I love you, Dad!

Christmas Tea

This year, Amelia got to join her Grandma Debi and I for our annual Christmas Tea. It was wonderful, as usual, and even more special because Amelia was there. I could rave about the tea sandwiches for hours. When we arrived, a big red SUV was pulling up to the valet, and its licence plate said "CLAUS." Sure enough, the most beautiful Santa jumped out, and later he visited Amelia at our table.

Here is a photo of Amelia and Debi in front of a giant gingerbread house at the hotel. Debi had just shared some of her lipstick with Amelia, but she was so tired, and had sipped SO much hot chocolate by this point that she was entirely unable to smile.

Up in the Air

While in AZ, we visited Brian at the fire station and took Mike and the kids up in the "bucket" on the ladder truck. It went amazingly high! The kids loved it, and loved every minute of hanging out at the station with Brian. He even slid down the pole! Thanks, Uncle Bobo!