In the Bleak of Winter

So I haven't blogged in a while. I am classic case of winter blues. I hate the cold. It seems to take over your very personality until everything you think about is just that: cold. This winter has been one of lock down. Schools have been out A LOT, for anything from flue epidemic, snow, ice, and the fact that Georgetown has no snowplows willing to enter subdivisions. Very odd. That did not stop Sonya from getting out there in her Christmas Story snowsuit. Mommy watched from the window. As of this morning, we had several inches dumped on us (and when I say several, I mean more than usual for us Southerners, like 3-4ish). Daddy and Sonya escaped into the drifts for the making of snow angels, romping with Finn,


and rides on a makeshift sled that Daddy crafted from a trash can top and rope (such a Macgyver he is!).


Tasha and I were content to remain indoors, but poor Snickerdoodle was longingly gazing out the window at the freedom she may never really taste.


The confinement has afforded us an opportunity though, an opportunity to truly potty train. Ah yes, the bane of my existence. I think when it is time for the next one, we will request a built-in knowledge of that all too essential talent. Hope that feature isn't too expensive. Sonya has finally taken to it, with a combination of positive and negative consequences. Thank God for PEZ and Disney princess underpants! She is a champ, and I feel like she will truly be fully there close to her birthday.

As hinted to earlier in this blog, you may notice that there has been a new addition to the household. With the loss of Doc and my own Finn exiled (mostly, I'm such a softy!) to the great outdoors for thinking that the house was a giant litter box, there was a hole that needed to be filled. So, the week after we arrived home from Disney, we started searching. Sonya and I found our adorable little orange tabby at the local shelter, and it was all over. I was searching for a name for our little gal, like Rasha or Nala, since we were still on the Disney kick. Nope, Sonya announced that the kitten needed a "cookie name." The first one out of my mouth was Snickerdoodle,


and that was what she was dubbed. Good thing I didn't say oatmeal raisin. She has been the sweetest thing, playing side by side with Sonya, snuggling with her, and stealing all her ponytail holders! She has made our older cats young again, and has slid in seamlessly into the natural make-up of our family dynamic.


I think we may just be a cat family, but we will leave that to further speculation.

The only large project that we have endeavored to achieve this winter has been the eradication of THE YELLOW. If any of you have ever visited our house, YOU KNOW what we are talking about. For those of you who haven't, check out our first blog in January 07 and you will see it. We lived in a sandbox for a year, with the walls being, as I fondly coined it, "baby poop yellow." The WHOLE HOUSE.


We took it upon ourselves to paint everything you could see from the living room, including the upstairs hallway. After staring at paint swatches for an hour, B and I decided on a cool palette of white, super light blue, chocolate brown, and a pool blue.


Robyn calls it "baby boy blue", but we love it. There is also a hint of a soft yellow on the insets of the windows. Subtle detail.

Sonya was able to help paint, and her creative process was amusing to watch.





The chocolate brown was so real to her that she asked Daddy if she could taste it! We gave her a space to paint and a cup of paint, and she went to town. Of course, there was paint everywhere, but she kept it off the floor! She turned to me while painting one day and said,"Mommy, I'm not painting a glove." Ok, I think, it's your prerogative, do what you wanna do. But then I realized. I had been telling her to spread out her paint and not paint in a "glob" on the wall.

Toddler's interpretation was "glove." Funny!