Pancakes

We don't make pancakes shaped like trains anymore, because those will never be eaten. We are way into letters and learning to read, so Ikey got initial pancakes and Jovie got her whole name.

Snowy zoo!

There weren't very many families at the zoo on the last day of January. It was probably the warmest day of the month, but we still wore our snow clothes. Ikey watched the armadillo for about 20 minutes. It was piling up straw and shredded phone books and tunneling under. I've never seen the armadillo do anything so it was kind of funny. Ikey said he was making a fort and he sang a song, "Armadillo armadillo: Scratching the tree. Armadillo armadillo: climbing the rocks." A lady walked by and said, "That looks like a big potato bug." Jovie said, "Potatoes are things you eat."

Snow storm!

A big snow storm finally cleared out the inversion and all the built up pollution so we can breathe again. Ikey got all his snow clothes together before 8 am today and announced that he would play outside before breakfast. He really gets into the snow and really can play outside for hours!http://youtu.be/Ld-jPNKwqwo

Todd had a lot of work to do clearing the sidewalks and driveway. The letter carrier left a note that we need to do a better job clearing in front of our mailbox so that's on TB's list now too. The kids like to help out with the little tractor. http://youtu.be/rGyLrdQckbE

Home defense and our arsenal

Our powdery Utah snow is great for skiing, but doesn't usually stick together enough for forts and snowballs, but it warmed up just enough today so we made it all. Thanks to AJ and Tommy for a bricker and snowballer. We warned you that we're armed and protected over here.

Swan Lake

Jovie is truly a little ballerina. Her favorite book right now is "Hooray for Ballet" and she dances to any kind of song and talks about "romantic tutus".
Here's a little movie: http://youtu.be/VO2OV9Be7Hg 
She says, "This song has a lot of feelings."

Poor Ikey

There's a flu epidemic in this country, but (knock on wood!) we haven't been very sick. Regular old sniffles and a little coughing is all, but Ikey's little lymph nodes on his neck are so swollen again. He had this last year during winter and it looks so creepy. He says it doesn't hurt, but it does bug him when I ask him to stick his chin up so I can look. We went to the doctor for this last year and his pediatrician said it was just his immune system at work, so I'm banking on that again this year. If you're a health professional though and you're worried about this at all, let me know asap and I'll take him in to the doctor.

Ikey has been working hard with his flash cards and letter games and he's starting to sound out words. He gets really excited about being able to read by himself. We finished reading "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator" and just started "Fantastic Mr. Fox".

Third ski lesson

Ski class was at the top of the gondola this week, so we didn't see any of it.

 

 

 

 

 Todd says it makes him really nervous to give Ikey to someone and just walk away, but it doesn't seem to make Ikey nervous at all. He's the small person in the green coat who is not looking for his parents.