Typical Scenes

Joseph has been jealous that the girls don't go to school, and has enjoyed his many days off due to cold still at school but in the after / daycare program.  I'm assuming the difference is that he has more play time and doesn't need to be quiet for such long intervals, but that's just a guess.  Joseph likes structure but would prefer it be his structure (I can of course sympathize).  He has been spending a lot of time reading lately (he'd much rather read a book when he wakes up than brush his teeth or get dressed) and most weekends he spends some of his time constructing something with Legos.  We've stopped karate, because like getting ready in the morning, it was just too many battles to fight getting him to rush to class and he wanted to do other things instead.  But he is still into Hockey, and he and Jay just got hockey sticks and a puck last night so they could start playing on their own after class.  The girls still skate for fun whenever we go down the hill to Hart Park or over to Petit, and even though they don't have preschool until the fall, they keep amused with writing, coloring, painting, dancing and especially singing.  And in particular, "Let It Go" from the movie Frozen.  We've seen many "Let It Go" performances in our dining room and have every intention of getting this movie from Netflix as soon as it comes out (in March!)  In the mean time, the girls have a class next week at the zoo to learn about the Rainforest and they are preparing for their spring dance recital.  Their reaction (said with a smile and much expression) to the zoo class was "Oh no, I am not going to pick up any animal poop.  There had better not be poop there."  We have convinced them there will in fact not be any poop work required as part of this class. This morning however Leah called Jay into the bathroom just because she wanted him to smell her poop.  She really cracked herself up with her big stink and getting him to fall into her trap.  But onto other subjects...the girls have been asking a lot of what does that mean questions with words, like today playing hide and seek I told Hannah she was clever by hiding behind something and covering herself up with a blanket, and she said "what is clever?"  I told her it means a combination of smart and creative, to which she asked "what does smart mean?"  Each question gets a bit more difficult to answer and I had no desire to keep the question game going so I diverted by starting to count again.  Later in the day we couldn't agree on what to do so I suggested the one thing I knew they'd say yes to that would also cause them to sit in one spot for 20 minutes...painting finger nails!  Red and blue for Hannah and pink and blue for Leah, after which we put on colored burt's bees lip balm, a princess costume, and our aprons to help dad make pizza for dinner.  Typical attire for a typical night!