Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!


Straight from the horses's mouth, here is what Cecilia is thankful for today:

Cutie-head (our cat)
My sister Ruby
My parents
My home
My family
The food
That I'm healthy
...and I'm thankful that I'm able to go to a school.

Now Ruby's turn:

For my grandma because she gave me a job to clean my room (??)
My grandpa to play games with me
I'm thankful for my mommy
When my grandma comes for a visit

Gobble gobble!

"Pinch-Black."

This morning, Ruby described the darkened windows of the school across the street as "pinch-black."

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Taking After The Old Man.

Most of you know that the better part of my job involves editing other people's writing. Well, the other day Cici brought home a sweet little handwritten invitation to a sleepover that a classmate of hers had made for her. This morning, I noticed Cici was writing on it with a pencil, and I said, "What are you doing there, honey?" She handed it over to me, and would be you believe the little shit was EDITING the thing! She fixed transposed letters and numbers and corrected the spelling of several words - and all of her edits were quite correct, I might add. As if that didn't have me proud enough, she turned the balloon that her friend had drawn into a monster - my child!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Okay, Ruby (Part Two).

Ruby: Hey! When I burp, I sound like a boy!

Okay, Ruby.

[Ruby is "getting ready" to go to daycare.]

Ruby: Okay, I ate poop. Okay, I ate pee. Okay, I ate fart.

Dadam: Okay, Ruby, that's enough.

Ruby. Okay. [pause] I ate butt.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Cici The Foodie.

Those of you who know Momlissa and me well are aware that we like food. We like eating it, we like making it, we like trying things we've never had before, we like forcing other people to try things they've never had before, we like talking about it, we like reading about it, we like watching TV shows about it (even if they're on creaky old VHS cassettes that we've already watched together a thousand times).

Well, lately we've been feeling that Cecilia might have caught her parents' food bug. A few pieces of evidence (in addition to the conversation about tater-tot hotdish that Momlissa has already documented) point in this direction:

1) When eating some homemade applesauce Momlissa made a couple weeks ago, Cici said she preferred it to the stuff she got at her school, because the texture (chunky) was so much better. (And she's right about that, of course.)

2) At breakfast a few days ago, she made some very accurate observations about the differences in flavor between Honeycrisp apples (sweet) and Haralsons (sour). (She prefers the Haralsons, and so do I.)

3) The other night we went to see Christopher Kimball, a noted food expert, the founder of Cooks Illustrated magazine and host of America's Test Kitchen on PBS. Cici watches the show with us, and after we had attended the event she said to me, "Dad, if he's such a great cook, how come he never cooks anything on the show?" (A great question - I told her she should have raised her hand and put him on the spot during the Q&A.)

And 4) (although this one's more funny than observant) When we were getting ready to go see Kimball, I told Cici that we were going to see somebody who was a famous cook. She said, "You mean Earl?" It took me a minute to figure out who she was talking about - and then I realized she meant "Boilmaster Earl," the crazy old fisherman who oversaw the rustic Wisconsin fish boil we went to last month!

What a super kid. I hope she never loses interest.

Momlissa Does Not Suck.

Greatest - mom - ever.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

I suck.

Today has been a crazy day and schedules had to be rearranged to accommodate an early morning meeting for me (Momlissa). On the way to Dadam's office (late) I opened up my planner to discover that today was Cici's day to bring snack for the class, and I didn't send one with her this morning. I was horrified, as normally I'm on the ball with this sort of thing, and I totally freaked out imagining my poor daughter at school with no snack for her or her classmates.

After dropping Dadam off, I sped to the grocery store while having Dadam look up her class schedule online. Snack time is 9:45 and my next meeting was at 10:00. That gave me 20 minutes to get to school. I ran into the store, ran through the aisles, and checked out in a matter of seconds. I sped to the school. I ran down the hallway. I ran into the classroom only to discover....a bunch of first-graders sitting at their desks eating raisins. The teacher keeps a stash of snacks for the loser parents who forget to send snack, and they had already busted out raisins from the stash. Cici gave me a look like, "Nice job, dork" and I could tell she was disappointed in me. I apologized profusely and eventually she smiled and gave me a hug. I told her it will never happen again. And I mean it. I refuse to be one of those parents that can't get it together.

But for today, I suck.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Tater Tot Hotdish

Last week Cecilia came home from school going on and on about tater tot hotdish. I guess she's never had it at school before, and she certainly hasn't had it here at home. She repeatedly suggested we have this for dinner some night and I figured at some point I'd have to give in and make my child tater tot hotdish.

Tonight was the night.

We try very hard to make sure our girls eat a healthy, balanced diet, so when I started looking up recipes on the internet I was rather horrified by what actually goes into this concoction (hard to believe, but as a Minnesotan who likes to cook this is something I've never put together). I found a "healthier" version and made some of my own modifications (more veggies, less oil, less meat, etc.) and threw that sucker in the oven.

I've never seen Cici eat something so fast in her whole life. And then my daughter - the marvelous creature that she is - not only thanked me for my efforts, but went on and on about how the food I make is always the best and I'm the best cook she knows. And really, what's the harm in eating tater tots once in a blue moon if it makes her that happy?

Note: Anyone who lives withing driving distance is welcome to join us for leftovers tomorrow!

"Bon Appetit!"

- Ruby, after flushing the toilet in a public restroom yesterday

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Another One Bites the Dust


The other front tooth is now gone. It happened as I was picking the girls up from daycare and our daycare provider asked if she could wiggle it. Cici opened her mouth and it practically fell out, much to Cici's chagrin (she was not yet ready to part with it). On the way home she cried because, as she said, "How am I going to eat apples now?!" Such a tough life.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Ruby's Post-Election Analysis.

"But Dad, I think there's gonna be a different winner. 'Cause Obama starts with a 'O' . . . but a zero looks like a 'O'!"

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

They Knew All Along

"But Cici, A Unicorn Is NOT A Horse!"

- Ruby, talking in her sleep this morning

Saturday, November 1, 2008