SBG's 1st Haircut

Fuzzy Wuzzy really needed a little shape up so we took her in for a little trim. She loved the swing, the animal cookies and the Elmo video.

No tears or yelling. Crystal did a great job!

The finished product - Crystal went a little overboard with the curling iron but she had a cute 1950's look for the day

Quite the Contrast...

... between last Sunday and today
Here's Bubba last Sunday afternoon all ready to help Daddy do some snow-blowing.

And today after we got home from church Thad decided to take advantage of our heatwave (the high is in the upper 30s) and give the dog and the boy some much needed exercise.

Lighting the Way

Tonight after we got SBG off to bed, Bubba and I decided to walk a birthday gift over to our recently turned 4 year old neighbor buddy, Grace. Bubba will be an Eagle Scout someday I think because he wanted to make sure we were safe by wearing Daddy's head lamp (for use in nighttime fishing) to make sure we could find our way. Did I mention our front light was on and so was the neighbor's?
Never fear - I made it safely home with the help of my sure-footed guide :) I know you're thinking why crocs when it's minus 10 with the windchill. He picked them because they matched his cool pants. Definitely gets that from his Dad.

Finger Paint

Can you believe he's 3 1/2 and has never done finger painting? He has been so excited to try out this Christmas gift and after SBG went to bed last night we stripped him down and he was ready to go.

I love how his little mind works so I couldn't resist including this video commentary.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-213866907264876492

A New First: Swimming Lessons at the Y

It's been a whole week of hesistancy regarding this swimming lesson experience. Finally Thad told him that if he didn't want to do the lessons that was fine but he had to go and sit and watch Lydia. Well - he was not about to just sit and watch and miss all the action. How did we get him to do it? The silliest thing - a guessing game about if his teacher would be a girl or boy and what their name might be. I suggested Susabelle Sweetheart Swimmer and then he came up wtih a million crazy ones. It turned out to be a sweet high school girl named Ashley. She did a great job with the kids.

Silly Locker Room antics - Hank wanted to do his "surfer" pose and so Lydia did a sweet pose too

More anxious sillies as he waited for this teacher

Looking a little hesistant as Ashley fills them in on "the plan" as Bubba says

Bubba loved doing the kicks with his "surfboard". Do I have to tell him it's a plain old kickboard?

As we walked to the locker room after the 30 minutes were up, Bubba looked back at Tara and said "Maybe we could do this again sometime?" On the way home I told him that it would be 12 times and he said he didn't know if he had enough energies for that :) I have a feeling he will. Another parenting hurdle leaped.

Christmas in January

We had Christmas in January with Grandpa and Grandma. It was so much fun to have Bubba healthy and at his normal energy and excitement levels to open presents. We started the evening with a Happy Birthday cake for Jesus. Grandpa and Grandma posed with Bubba while they sang.

The favorite gift was definitely the Smart Cycle. Grandpa had the pleasure of assembling it with a little help from the ToolMan

Helping Grandma open her present

and then Grandpa needed some help too.

A Belated Christmas Gift to Aunt Klions and Uncle Lee

Bubba's crib is gone from it's crowded home to a lovely new nursery-to-be 15 miles down the road. Thank goodness we have a new cousin on the way or Bubba would have still been sleeping in his crib on the first day of kindergarten :)

Here's a shot of his room right before he climbed into bed last night.

Snuggled down for the last time "in jail"

We (Bubba & I) took the crib apart this morning and spiffed up his "new" room. Looks like he likes it.

SBG loved her new access to his animal collection

Then it was time for the real test - the pm nap. He went down without a hitch (except that he didn't want to sleep under his new Yankee sheets and bedspread) but an hour later he resurfaced with no telltale sleep signs. He had many excuses but then said he was too excited about his new bed and his head hurt. My solution - I offered Motrin and a ride back to his room. He accepted and I haven't heard from him since.

Lovin' His New Toys

Bubba was blessed with more machines and farm equipment than he could have ever dreamed of and every day seems like a farm excursion in our basement.

I couldn't resist sharing this list of the orange equipment with you.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3150488639688990229

Grass Roots

I attended my first caucus in 12 years tonight. Why you may ask? I've been asking myself that all day. Why is it so important to me this year? I think that the most obvious and accurate answer is that unlike in previous campaign cycles, this year when I consider the future of our country there is so much more at stake. The direction our country is heading, the wars we are fighting, the illegal immigrants pouring across our borders, the judciary legislating from their benches, the lack of understanding and maintenance of the vision that our country was founded upon - I could go on and on but it boils down to the basic fact that I had the incredible privilege of growing up in the United States of America and I desire for my children to have the opportunity to grow up under a government with the values espoused and fought for by our Founding Fathers and not those who would seek to eliminate the Judeo-Christian ethos .

If you live in the State of Iowa I hope that you took the opportunity to caucus tonight and if you live somewhere else - please mark it on your calendar and make the time to let your voice be heard.

Tonight I voted for the gentleman whose values and principles most closely align with my own.

He received second place in my precinct.

For those of you unfamilar with the caucus system - here's how the Republican Caucus worked tonight. We all had to sign in as registered voters or you could sign a form to switch your party affiliation to Republican in order to vote. We opened the meeting by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Then one representative of each candidate could take 3-5 min. to give a little rah-rah on behalf of "their man".

Then we all wrote our votes on pink sticky notes. There were so many more attendees than expected that a woman volunteered scrap paper from her purse when we ran out of the sticky notes. Then they counted to make sure the number of ballots matched the number of registered voters in the room. 31. The ballots were read aloud one by one. And the results from our little bedroom community were:

Guiliani 2
Huckabee 7
McCain 3
Paul 2
Romney 9
Thompson 8

After that we did the part of the caucus not discussed on the national news, we had the opportunity to develop and vote on "party planks" - core beliefs that we want the State Party to support. An example - We value life at conception. This process could have gone on forever but our group passed about 6 planks and we were done by 8 pm.

Here's a few pictures.

I loved this Huckabee supporter with her scarf wrapped in a Huckabee bumper sticker

A reporter for the local paper snaps a pic of 2 young delegates with their dad

Our precinct chair counts the pink sticky notes (aka ballots) with our elected secretary tabulating

Sunday Family Snow Walk

A fun and just a little chilly afternoon stroll with Uncle Scott, Mia, Junie, Nanny, Bubba & me.

Here's our little parade as it began.

Bubba tugging Mia down the alley on his new sled from Santa.

The Crew

A couple Nanny close-ups

A Snow Angel Pit Stop at Uncle Lee's and Aunt Karoline's - arms DOWN

And UPThe finished product
A ride for Bubba on the big snow piles created by the plows

I also got a turn on the Nanny sled but since I had the camera in my lap no one got a picture but I did do a little video of my ride.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4898472264431323359