Entries from January 2013 ↓

Meghan came to play with Ezri in the snow on Saturday. They solved the “not enough snow for a snowman” problem by reducing the scale on their snow people. Thus, there was enough snow for a whole snow family.

Here is Meghan on the outing. I was off at a committee meeting in Bloomington.
“i made the snowballs and ezri explained how tall each one should be. (she even used the word ‘height’. :)) i’m not sure if our minimalist detail comes across here, but the people have stick arms and the cats have stick ears. plus ivan is only two snowballs since he is a baby. 🙂 ezri also provided other details like which people had glasses and how many paws cats had, but i had to draw the line somewhere. :op ”

Meghan again
“we started with an ezri and a meghan and somehow ended up moving on to create the entire extended blau/miller family, including cats. 😀 (if memory serves, from left to right this is uncle tim, aunt amy, grandpa mark, grandma tam, grandpa harvey, grandma liz, meghan, ezri, eric, amanda, ivan, manchi, ellie and sushi.) ”

Here’s a close-up for seeing those details.

Here are the pair hard at work on the snow clan.

Meghan was also gracious enough to pull Ezri on her sled and take her to her pretend house in the shrubbery for a nap cuddled in a blanket of snow.

Here she is at her house under the bushes.

On Friday, we had two smaller friends over for “sledding” AKA moms dragging small girls in circles in the backyard.

We made the play dough so the food coloring bottles were handy to decorate becoming his eyes and nose.

Ezri loved him and promised to keep him safe. Though later we ate his M&Ms and squashed him to make birds, a nest, eggs, a merry-go-round and a bunch of snakes.

It has not been a snowy winter, so we put on snow pants to go out and play in a mild dusting of snow.

Ezri’s pathetic question is, “Now do I have enough snow for a snowman?”
Despite sweeping up snow into a pile we did not manage a snowman.

Ezri’s attempt at a snow angel was slightly more successful.

We did a project where we used the cold outside to make colored ice cubes on our outside windowsill.
Ezri used them to slide around on the picnic table and to make patterns.

Ezri also enjoyed catching snowflakes on her tongue.

I am happy to report that our cocoa after playing in the snow was a complete success.

Ivan and Dolly and Madison and Baby Cory are all invited. We are having tea and bottles and knitted cupcakes and plastic ice creams.
Dolly is the hostess, so she pours the tea for everyone.

Friends leaving town have gifted the kids with this fun playhouse. We need to get a new bolt to put on the other half of the roof, but it’s fun as a convertible.

Ezri thought cleaning it up with a big, pink sponge was great. We sploshed soapy water all over the play house and it was fun and somewhat effective and the sponge was pink which Ezri loved.

Coming out.

Going in.

Coming out again.

You know, Ezri, it does have a door.

She made me pretend alphabet soup in the kitchen. I had to wait outside, because I was the pet and she was the owner. This worked because I don’t really fit in the playhouse comfortably. Ivan also loves the house.

“I want this mustache to be a masterpiece.”

“See, Ivan, easy as peasy.” Showing her brother how to craft.

Meghan: What’s the hardest part of being a big sister.
Ezri: The special smell.

Ezri: BEE-BO PINATA! BEE-BO PINATA!
Amanda: What is a bee-bo pinata?
Ezri: It’s a pinata shaped like a bee-bo.

Rodeo bookstore is a game where Ezri lays out books from our collection and offers them for sale while she plays her harmonica.
She also “speaks rodeo” which involves speaking through her harmonica. It’s a trick to understand.
Eric made up a song we sing when we play rodeo bookstore, “Going to the rodeo bookstore and we’re gonna have a good time.”
I am usually the customer. Though lately Ivan has learned to play. You ask the bookstore lady (Ezri) if she has a book on a topic and she gets it for you and sells it to you for pretend money. Ivan walked up and said “Baby” and Ezri happily sold him a Peekaboo book with a baby on the cover.

“The pink ninja goes like this” (lots of spinning and jumping and thumping).
“I will teach to be PINK NINJA!”

Ezri: I’m the Las Vegas call girl!
Me: You’re the Las Vegas call girl?
Ezri: No, no, no Las Vegas cow girl. Like in the lights.
Me: The Las Vegas cowgirl?
Ezri: Yes, I ride cows and have that circle rope thing.
I think we are referencing this: Neon Cowgirl Sign
Though the neon Vegas cowgirl does not have a lasso. She is also not riding a cow.

This picture is Ivan and Ezri in the story box they made. It has stars drawn on the inside and buildings and a girl with rainbow pigtails.

Ezri loves this new drill set. It comes with a drill and screwdriver and wrench and many colored bolts.
The pieces screw together just perfectly. Eric says it has just the right amount of torque for preschoolers. Ezri likes being a fixer. She also enjoys making patterns with the colored screws. Even her brother can get in on the action by placing the bolts where Ezri can then drill them down.
“I am really good at screwing!” she says.
Here is the drill girl at work.

Ezri with her finished design. Voila!