Look at me, I'm Dad.

Alex is back on night shift and we're back to our weekly routine. When on nights, Alex gets home between 8:30 and 10:30 AM, sleeps with ear plugs in until 5 PM, and leaves the house about 45 minutes later. The up-side for us is that the kids see him during his work week. They rarely see him when he works days since he leaves so early and doesn't get home until after they're in bed.

Cole swiped Alex's clothes while he was in the shower yesterday and announced that he was Dad.



I finally got the tree down tonight. Phew. I wish I could have hired someone to come over on the 26th to pack it up, put it away, and clean the house while they were at it. I learned that what you get when you stuff a 12 ft. tree out the door is enough pine needles for a small woodland creature to make a nest and some major scuffs on the walls. The living room looks so sad ...



What would be the coolest DK Visual Dictionary ever? LEGO Star Wars, of course. We picked up our copy today from the only bookstore either online or off that said they could get their hands on a copy: Barnes and Noble. The major flaw of the book from a five year old perspective is that so many of the sets have been retired.



On the LEGO front we've had an exciting start to the year. First, the much anticipated Titanium Command Rig is almost built though our resident wrecker has caused some backsliding. Grandpa and Tutu sent Christmas money for the kids - Christina is getting a gift certificate to Boundary Bay, Cole and Audrey are sharing a Toy Story LEGO set. The theme appeals to both. Audrey loves the characters and Cole does too in addition to having fun building the set. AND ... Cole gets to go to another LEGO club meeting at the Bellevue store. I'm just crazy enough to drive down there to sign him up and Aunt Gabe and Taj will host us on Friday night. It's Legopalooza. And now I'm so done until birthdays.

No girls allowed!

Cole made this sign a couple weeks back and hung it on his door. I think it's really cute and very little boy-ish. The translation is "No girls allowed, but yes women". He wanted to keep Audrey out of his room that evening, although they really enjoy playing with each other. When Heather explained that she and Grammy wouldn't be able to tuck him in and kiss him goodnight, he added the "but yes wimin" part.

Besides being classic "no girls allowed", I really like his phonetic spelling, since it shows that he's figuring out the spelling of a word by sounding it out. I don't recall if I was doing this at his age, but I kind of doubt it.

No grls alad, but yes wimin!

Professional Aspirations

After a full day of adventure at our old Seattle haunts; Mountlake Terrace Pool, Dick's Drive-In, Great Harvest, U-Village, Cole mused about what he wanted to "be" when he grew up. He wants to live in Tokyo and will be a Doctor and a Ninja. Or maybe a Ninja Doctor. Audrey would like to be, in her words, a kitty cat - meow.