The Pouff and The Barista

I was never really caught up in having a boy or a girl. In my profession, healthy is what you wish for! But I did like the idea of having a little girl who could sport a "pouff!" I wanted to pouff my kid so much that Kai was briefly pouffed before his first hair cut. I don't think the rellies were too impressed when those videos and photos were released but they can rest assured that he never left the house with a pouff in. 

Enter Teia, someone who can legitimately wear a pouff. But alas, her hair is of the super fine, super soft variety so all previous attempts at pouffing have failed. That and she isn't too keen on sitting still while I twirl things in her hair. But Auntie Karen (a veteran pouffer) bought us some great elastics for Christmas and Teia has finally been pouffed!

I love this photo, taken the other night at a restaurant. This is her "nosey face."

The other day I posted about a few future career paths that Buds might follow. Well I've added one more: Barista!

little man, BIG SNOWBANK

This is the snowbank in our driveway. Greg shoveled all of it! Not all at once mind you, but since Jan. 12th. And we are supposed to get another 10 inches tomorrow. Yikes! I know one little man who won't mind! He is a regular Everest Explorer, right in our own front yard!

Here he is summiting. Hmmmm, spellcheck doesn't like that. I guess those mountaineer types make up their own verbs. 

And then he went right over the top and came down the backside in sort of a free fall run to land in a heap below....

Lots of fun! But I do feel sorry for the little Peach. Like usual, she wants to do whatever her big "buba" is doing but when she tried her approach on driveway mountain her little mitts went right in and she got a face full! Unfortunately we weren't camera ready and missed the moment!

We have a little snow

I'm up way later than I should be so why not lose a few more minutes of sleep and do a quick blog. It's been awhile, again. We've had a fair bit of snow up here in this them parts. Seems you never can predict one winter here from the other. I do like a snowy winter but this might even be a bit much.....

If you look closely into the flat light you can see Kai's snow slide.

It snowed so much it even snowed INSIDE our house. Here Teia is scooping some up with a spoon for our "snow bowl." Kai enjoyed watching it melt and is busy getting his mind around ice to water to steam to condensation these days. We've added meteorologist to our list of potential future occupations for the little man. The list already includes: architect, civil engineer, locksmith, distance runner and baker.

Greg is getting in quite a few upper body workouts in this winter, complete with his own personal trainers "Go Dada! Go Dada!" He confided in me today that if it snows tomorrow, he is not really sure if he can get the snow onto the snowbanks anymore b/c they are so high. We've completely given up on getting our mail. The plows have whacked the mailbox down and shoveling a spot for the mail truck is just way too much work now. 

I've had some requests from the family for a picture of Kai in his super cute hat....here he is in our backyard before it was submerged. Thanks Auntie Karen! Kai loves his hat and wears it everyday!

And speaking of cute hats. Here is little Miss T in her cute hat, courtesy of Auntie Shannon.

So we're hunkering down for yet another storm, expected tomorrow. It might be Snow Day #5....isn't that crazy? In one month! 

On another topic (b/c these days I never know when I'll get back to the blog again) here is a funny conversation b/tw Kai and I the other day. 

Me: (wearing towel after having a shower) Hey Kai, what do I need to get ready to go out?

Kai: Socks.

Me: Anything else?

Kai: (after surveying me seriously) Shoes. 

Canadian Christmas Trip

January is almost gone so I figured I better get a few photos and video up from our Canadian Christmas trip. I will try to put some more photos up later this week. We had a really wonderful time visiting family the week b/tw Christmas and New Year. Thanks to the generosity of my sis's inlaws we got to stay in a fabulous house with room enough for grandparents, aunties and uncles and our little family - Lots of opportunity for quality visitin'.

I think it is the first time that my entire family has been together for Christmas in a long time. I know I haven't shared Christmas with my sister in forever, so it really was special. To make it an extra awesome time, we had baby Dax with us this year and what is more special than a newborn? I am so grateful that I had the chance to see and hold him while he is still so small.

One of my favorite memories of our time in Ontario was skating on the canal. It was a pretty warm day so we were able to be out for quite awhile. It was so great to look around and see my family just having fun and enjoying the winter day. Hubs donned some skates for the first time ever and can you say AWESOME??? Check this out! The Canadian accent you hear belongs to Uncle "Mock."

Kai had his first experience on skates too! Uncle Meeko scooted him around so the little man could test out his hockey legs. Mine were a little wobbly as well, given that it was my first time on skates in about 7 years but once I got going, I remembered why I loved playing hockey so much! Made me want to shout "My name is Louise and I AM CANADIAN!" (Now if you are an american friend reading this blog, you might not get it ;-). 

Teia, being little, was sled-bound, but she didn't mind so long as we kept her moving quickly. I think there might be a little of the dare devil in this one! Here are the munchkins with cousin Allie. They really were having fun! 

Below is a video from Christmas Day that was just too cute to omit. 

We managed to get ourselves on skates again today. We missed the ambience of the frozen Canadian canal but we had fun nonetheless. Kai loved it and we skated as long as my burning quads and hunched over back could take it, with the little man alternating b/tw running on skates, being leisurely pushed along and sliding onto his bum which he thought was oh so hilarious!  

I don't like to take my kids swimming

It's true. I don't. At least not in the winter and not to indoor pools. I admitted it to Greg today as we unpacked smelly, wet towels from a duffel bag. But I/we do it because its good for them. And Kai lights up like a Christmas tree and you can't wipe the smile from his face while he is busy getting "pwuney" hands. Teia is still figuring out what it is all about. I am thinking that she doesn't like being cold and wet much. That little peach didn't fall far from her mama's peach tree.

But honestly, other than your kids' smiling faces, what is there to like about taking little ones to a crowded, dirty and cold pool in the middle of winter? You pack a bag with swim suits, towels, extra clothes (b/c you know the ones they are wearing are going to end up in some big wet spot on the change room floor), drinks, snacks, swim diapers, regular diapers, and don't forget your wallet so you can pay money for this experience. Once you get through the rigamaroll (or however you spell that word), that is getting them changed, you have to jam all of your coats, boots, mittens, hats into a small rusty locker while not losing a child in the process because they are excited and scampering about in their gitch. Don't even think about putting a lock on to protect your valuables b/c you can't even get the door closed, let alone remember the combination.

Then on days like today you make it onto the pool deck, hoping no random fungi are hitching a ride on your or your little ones' tender tootsies, when the life guard tells you there is a wait list for the warm-ish kiddie pool. "Only 10 people ahead of you." Yes, this does happen in Massachusetts where far too many of the earth's inhabitants reside. You are offered a 4 by 8 section of the lap pool as your waiting area. And this is okay because kids under the age of 4 wait REALLY well. Luckily for us, pretty much any pool will do for Kai, so long as their is water in it. Teia, not so much, so today we sweet talked ourselves into a corner of the kiddie pool, promising not to walk in deeper than an inch until it was our turn. The lifeguard couldn't resist Teia's cute belly button bulging out of her too tight bikini (who knew how much she would grow since she last wore her suit!)

Neither child was keen on separation from the other parental unit but we survived and eventually ended up in the kiddie pool all together. Other than being cold most of the time and swimming in other kids' pee (because mine would NEVER pee in a pool; they've seen the sign "there is no Pee in OOL," and other kids' boogies (and not my kids again b/c I NEVER take a snotty kid to a pool. That is just beyond gross), the swimming part is okay b/c they have so much fun. Even Teia enjoyed it until she was just too cold. Kai was happy to just keep getting even more "pwuney." Unfortunately, I think we'll have to endure this experience a few more times before we don't have to anymore....at least not for a few years :-)  

Little T

Name: Teia F.

Nickname: Peach, among others.

Age: 14.5 months

Favorite clothing item: My brother's scarf, wrapped around me just so.

Favorite thing to do: Sit. And I will back up and sit on anything I can find, including my new shape sorter.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas! Obviously 2010 was a busy year and it seemed to ramp up near the end, as is evident by our all time low blog posts for the month of December of n=1. Even now, I am sacrificing sleep to post. But I can't not blog about Christmas; this is our family journal after all.

True to form, Massachusetts delivered a carbon copy Christmas day as it has for each Christmas that we've been here: snow a few days before with warmer weather and a melt by Christmas Day, but enough snow left on the ground that technically, we are 3 for 3 for white christmases in this state. Somehow the elder Fennells managed to get all the Christmas preparations done in time (with the exception of Christmas cards) and Christmas and all its festivities went off without a hitch, despite our really, truly believing that we'd never get it all done in time. Healthy we were not, but we enjoyed it just the same. It was Kai's turn to be the most sick for Christmas. He spent the few days leading up to Christmas looking like this:

Cuddled up on the couch with LOTS of kleenex and various entertainment. Poor guy wasn't much better by Christmas day and was a little lackluster opening his gifts. Teia made up for it, opening every gift with gusto, even ones that weren't hers and playing, playing, playing, playing. Kai has improved his gift opening speed. We managed to get through all but one or two gifts b/tw Christmas Eve and Day which is a big improvement from the 6 or so days it usually takes him. 

Here they are on Christmas Eve opening gifts from the New Jersey Fennells.  

To avoid a repeat of last Christmas when Greg and I almost didn't get to open our gifts at all due to being overly ambitious with a turkey dinner, a 2 year old and a newborn, we decided to have turkey on Christmas Eve instead this year. Teia gobbled hers up and Kai continued his lifelong turkey strike. Kai loved the traditional British Christmas Crackers but the hats, not so much. Teia was briefly a hat fan, at least long enough for us to get some photos. 

Here she is sans hat. Gotta love the face!

Christmas Eve before bed: we got all set up for Santa with cookies, egg nog and of course carrots for the reindeer. The kids slept great. In fact, Kai didn't even get up until 8:45! I'm thinking that this is probably the last year we can count on that. 

Santa came!!!

Like most days, Teia was the Christmas morning rooster. Greg has nicknamed her the "Waimanalo chicken" and if you've ever seen one, you'll know why. But she reminds me more of the ubiquitous Hawaiian neighborhood rooster: loud, persistent and early. Greg took her down for her morning bottle, figuring we'd wait until her sleepyhead brother woke up before checking out what was under the tree but Teia is an observant one and as soon as she saw that big puppy peeking out, the squeals started and Christmas was on! By the time I found my slippers and made it down the stairs Teia and her new stuffie were fast friends. 

Kai was quite pleased to find a chocolate Santa in his stocking. Chocolate is almost the only food group consumed on Christmas day at the Fennell house, starting even before breakfast!

We took a little hike in the afternoon, enjoyed mulligatawny soup and chocolate mousse for Christmas dinner, got the tired kidlets off to bed, and then packed, packed, packed for our drive up to Canada on Boxing Day (Dec. 26 for our US readership). In true Fennell style it was crazy busy but really, there is nothing like Christmas with kids. Okay, maybe Christmas with kids AND lots of sleep and free time would be ideal, but we'll take what we have with a smile. 

I think they like Christmas :-)

Our 2nd Christmas and New Year in Canada was mostly fabulous (aside from my second stomach flu in a month!) so will be back with photos and stories soon.