Tate's Birthday Week

Since we're not really having a birthday party for Tate this year, we are just going to do a few fun things this week to make his birthday special. Today it was QDoba and bowling. Tate loves the black bean naked burrito with cheese and pico de gallo. And we took them bowling for the first time. They loved it. We loved watching them. Rowan loved her bowling shoes. Tate loved his orange ball! Rowan loved her hot pink ball! And they loved watching them come back "just like magic", according to Rowan. We did not, however, love the smoke smell that lingers and stripped in the mud room, depositing our clothes directly into the washer before heading up for bath time. Yuck!

A Beautiful Day

The past several days have been gorgeous. Still snowy, but sunny! Really sunny! And warm enough to go out and enjoy it. After a few weeks of staying inside, I almost had to force the children outside, but once they were out, the had fun. We made a snow fort (though it was more like a wall) and had snowball fights. We made 4 snowmen in the front yard. Tate still falls over and gets stuck in the snow. Rowan still gets too cold and begs for hot chocolate. But they can have fun (albiet forced) and so can I. Despite the winter storm that is supposed to overtake our state this next week, I actually think I'm going to make it through another winter!

Happy Valentine's Day

Somehow, despite the adorable clothes our children wore on Valentine's Day, the only pictures I took were of our very unhealthy dinner. We opted for a heart-theme for the day. Heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast, heart-shaped PB&J for lunch, heart-shaped pizza for dinner and heart-shaped jello (in orange and what I tried to pull off as hot pink) for dessert. The kids loved it.

Rowan also had a Valentine's day party at school. She was absolutely thrilled with her stash of candy that came home.

Lance and I got to go to a fun dinner at Marie Catrib's while Grandma Jackie babysat the night before. And Lance even picked out some very fun jewelry for me! A fun day overall.

Daddy Daughter Days

Rowan felt like the luckiest girl last weekend. It all started Thursday evening with the Daddy/Preschooler sports night at school. As you can see, Rowan and Lance sported matching soccer jerseys. Then THE VERY NEXT NIGHT was the Daddy/Daughter dinner at church. Rowan picked out a dress from the dress-up bin, Lance wore a pink tie just for the occasion. There was dinner (of which Rowan ate a roll and pudding) and dancing (she is still doing the chicken dance) and other (older!) girls and their daddies, so life was pretty great.

Tate and I had fun on our own. I took him to the mall to ride an orange horse on the carousel, we ate dessert, he had undivided attention. It was nice for all of us. And, a bonus for Lance, Rowan is starting to become a Daddy's girl. He has been waiting for this for a long, long time.

Sick Days

A few weeks ago, a flulike bug hit our house. Rowan got the worst of it. As you can see from the pictures. Poor, poor sweet Rowan. It was a very rough week at the Pellow home. No school, no playdates, no fun to be had.

As you can see, Tate didn't mind at all. Yes, he is wearing Halloween pajamas in February because there is ORANGE on them and he insists on wearing orange every single day. Makes for lots of outfit repeptition. He also insists on yelling "ORANGE" at the top of his lungs anytime he sees orange. He especially likes the Home Depot sign we see on the way to Rowan's school "ORANGE SIGN, MOMMY! ORANGE!!!!" The sunglasses I can't explain. He hasn't worn them before or since but absolutely had to wear them that particular morning.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Senior year of college, my housemates and I were up way too late the night of February 1st and were talking about how funny it is that everyone calls their friends, family, etc. on midnight New Year's Eve to wish them all a "Happy New Year". And we decided that this should certainly occur on other holidays. So, we tried to be the first to wish many of our friends "Happy Groundhog Day" since that was the random holiday that was Feb. 2. And that has kind of lived on. When teaching at Charlotte Jewish Day School, Groundhog Day was one of the few holidays I could share with my kids. And I continue to embrace this holiday for it's complete randomness.

So, today, the family celebrated. Each of the kids made a groundhog to take outside, pop out of it's hole and check for a shadow. No shadow! So, this very scientific process means spring is just around the corner! And I spent no less than 2 hours making these super-cute groundhog cupcakes (but they're really whole wheat banana muffins). Really, it might have been closer to 3 hours. Ridiculous, but the kids loved them. And at least they really did taste yummy! All in all, a fun day, hope for spring (though, clearly, the background in these pictures shows that it's full-on winter here) and some happy kids.

Santa Claus

For pretty much the whole month of December, all I heard about from Rowan was her only Christmas wish--a real live pig. That and, of course, waking up each morning and immediately saying "Advent calendar" and running into our room to eat the Hershey kiss out of her calendar. Tate did the exact same thing. Though he also snuck into the room when we were playing somewhere else and stole candy.

So when we went to see Santa at the Gerald Ford Museum (can it get any better than that?), I was sure she'd mention her wish for a pig. Instead, we waited in a long line, got to the front where Rowan freaked out. She got within about 10 feet of Santa. He asked what she wanted for Christmas, she yelled "A cookie" and then ran away. Tate sat on Mrs. Claus's lap crying away. When I later told her Santa would come to her house to bring her presents, she said "He better not come to my house."

Other funny things this season: Tate saying "Santa Claus, ha ha ha" (though he figured out pretty quickly he really says "ho ho ho" and altered his little mantra accordingly), the ridiculous obsession with the advent calendar, which I truly feel is the reason the kids seem to be waking up earlier, Rowan practicing her Christmas songs for the church performance very loudly in practice (and excitedly adding "and many more" at the top of her lungs after "Happy Birthday, Jesus"), but chewing on her dress during the entire real performance.

Tate is becoming a pretty easy-going little guy, most of the time. Generally when I try to correct him, he just says "Oh, okay, Mama". He loves blocks, books and snacks. He loves horses, Elmo and pretty much anything Rowan loves. Rowan is starting to really read (well, a little bit) and can read most of the Bob books on her own. She loves reading, being read to, and hearing stories. Still. All the time. She also loves the Little Einstein's character, June (though we've never actually seen that show), pigs and anything pink.

I've had a blast with these kids this month. And I'm looking forward to more fun in 2010.