Barbies and Building Blocks

It's snowing again. I knew that there was a 30% chance of snow last night, but when I woke up and saw the white demon littering the ground, and more despicable little fluffy-fluffs spitting down, I barked out a VERY attractive something like "GLAAHGH!".

Fortunately, the day has been well spent. We had baked oatmeal for breakfast, I may have had cheesecake for lunch, which I blame entirely on the white demon, and I have cleverly concealed yesterday's pasta leftovers into tonight's "Pasta Bake," which I think will go over well, and which contains flaxseeds (Shh! Don't tell!). The house is as clean as it's gonna get with two kids in residence--I have a groove for this now, and I feel really good about myself every time I think about it. I forced myself a total of twice to look out the window at the snow and think, "Pretty!". Then I kicked the kids out into it, and they're out there now, chasing each other, their startlingly shrill pony neighs disturbing the neighbors. I have let the power of being an admin this month for CAGW (my boss had a baby! Insert squee here) go to my head. Speaking of my boss, and my friend, AND my half-sister, I cut out WAY too many baby bibs to sew for their new babies, humming happily to myself as I worked in a way that would bring a cold sweat to Matt's forehead if only he'd been home to witness it. I did a mile on the treadmill while watching Call the Midwife; I *almost* want to hop back on just so I can watch some more. I set up the computer for Willow's Magic Tree House Club meeting, then dug out my wedding scrapbook so that she could see our photos of standing next to flowing lava--it was Vacation under the Volcano this month, you know. I made a note in my planner to do some planning/price checking for a future Hawaii family vacation. 2015? Definitely not 2014, because in 2014 Sydney will finally be old enough for the Children's Museum of Indianapolis' Family Dino Dig program in South Dakota. I have been waiting for her to be old enough for us to all go to that program since...she was born, I guess? Miss Sydney has also had a great day, listening to Magic Tree House audiobooks, drawing a cheetah, other assorted animals, and a personalized badge for every member of the family, complete with our age and a personal message from the artist, and playing and playing and playing and playing with her sister.

I've mentioned before how clearly the girls' indoor play has been continually evolving this winter; for the past week, rather than the indoor sandbox or the Wikki stix or the Xbox Kinect or the Legos, it's been nothing but Barbies and building blocks, working together in happy concert:

Both girls love to mine my (overflowing) scrap bin--

--both for costume choices--

--and for crucial dramatic components of the scene in progress:

I have to say that I love watching my reluctant writer muscle those molded plastic arms into those teensy clothes. Yay, finger strengthening!

And yes, that is the Waldorf doll that I spent most of last summer making for her being ground into the floor:

At least it's well-loved.