After the storm comes the calm and the the sledding!

How much did you guess? The right answer was 0.68 JCs or 21.6 inches. It was a long slow walk to the sledding hill for me, JC. Not only was I tired from yesterday's heroics, but my legs are really, really short.

Still a bit worried from my last sledding experience (see two posts ago), I let my sister take a few test rides with Aunt JKC.

After a couple hours of injury free sledding I was ready to take flight...in my mom's lap. She held me like this the whole way and we didn't hit a briar patch -- no wonder I'm smiling!

With a few successful runs behind me, I thought we should increase the difficulty. The first time our sled was so heavy we didn't move. So we kicked my dad off and made him push. That did it!

We made it!

After many hours of early morning driving in one-lane fashion, my dad managed to get us to Virginia in time for us to be snowed in! After a four hour sleep my brother and I woke up, got dressed, ate our Wheaties, and got ready to head out side into a blizzard.Whoa! It was still coming down, but we wanted to start the shoveling process. Since we only had one kid-sized shovel, my brother stood around as a human measuring stick to keep track of snow depth. You can see in this picture we were already at half a JC.

Dig, dig, and more dig! We have almost made it to the car! Inside was a half burrito left over from our traveling that I refused to give up on...

Once I made it to the car, I handed my shovel to JC and told him to make like John Henry before our front door got covered up again. He dug us back to the porch quicker than any snow blower could have...


Just as we were heading inside, we heard some shouts from the roadway. Through the blowing snow we made out the voice of Aunt JKC and my wonderful Mom. They had left to find the newspaper at the end of the driveway about three hours before. While my dad and I stood frozenly in place, JC wasted no time and quickly dug all the way to them. Look! The snow was up to his shoulders at this point.

Using his sense of smell developed by foraging for extra snacks to fill in his cheeks, he managed to lead them home safely by following the scent of my burrito. The newspaper was MIA, but thanks to JC, Aunt JKC and Mom were not. Safe and warm at home now, Aunt JKC thanks my brother in a photo I took myself. Guess how much snow we had (to the nearest JC). The answer will be shown in our next post.

Sledding...

Happy holidays! Given my intense fear of snow, my brother, JC, and I got to sled for the first time together. One of us was a big fan of sledding. The other, not so much. We shall start with JC. JC was not convinced that sledding was fun at the bottom of the hill even though he rode down the hill with a muppet...

The long, slow crawl up the hill only made matters worse. He headed in to brew himself some hot cocoa in the Cocoa Motion (as seen on TV)! As he left, I could hear him mumbling, "This is a three marshmallow day..."



To allay my fears caused by my brother's experience, I first rode down with my mom. What fun! We glided through the snow and then stopped neatly at the bottom of the hill.




I felt so good about my experience that I decided to give it a try with the old man. This sled looks top-heavy, and not in the good supreme pizza type of way.

You know how there is a movement restricting old people who can't see from driving? Turns out you shouldn't let blind dads sled either....

Good thing the briar patch stopped us! We had to use a shop vac to suck out all the thorns that had punctured us.


Despite the wreck, I was still so excited about sledding, I danced a jig! Chorus Line here I come...and KICK!

About that time, my mother in a leopard print Snuggi, with a newspaper under one arm, and a cup of Cocoa Motion hot cocoa in the other, opened the front door. She told us to come in before we caught cold. My dad was still concussed from the sledding accident and threw a snowball at her! What a poor decision by my dad - but look at the snowball fly!



Whoops! The snowball hit my mother square in the face. She didn't think it was funny and my dad and I both got sent to our room. Not too stiff a punishment, though, considering we had a Parcheesi, the royal game of India and of M, to keep us occupied. I can't wait for more snow!

Country Snow

The weather man said it was going to snow today. I sure hope he is right. In case he is, I got dressed up for the weather. Snazzy is not a strong enough word...

I asked my brother if it had snowed. He can't talk, so he looked out the window and gave me this face. He makes the same face when he hears the word 'banana'.

A wintery wonderland! My dad started making a snowman while I touched snow without crying for the first time in my life (see "Brr..." Jan 2009; "Snowblower" March 2008; "White Dawn" Dec 2007; "Snow Bunny" Jan 2007).

Our snowmen started to take shape with the three of us working hard. Suddenly, my dad said "Oh snap!" and he stayed in this position for the rest of the day.

Add a bit of celery and carrots...wa-lah. We have the best snowmen I have ever made!

Later on after my brother went in for a nap and my dad went in for traction, I finished the snowfamily. I am holding what is soon to be the head of the last one!

Clever readers will notice that I made a clothing substitution at one point during my snow day. What was the substitution?

Happy Thanksgiving

Hi there! When I found out that my dad was threatening to make Thansgiving dinner, I ran to the store and hauled home a grandma in my wagon. Everyone knows you need a grandma's touch for Thanksgiving dinner!

With my grandma in place, we started to prepare the feast. Here you can see me making the deviled eggs! Rachel Ray has been out-pepped in this photo!

My dad at one point rolled into the kitchen and said he could toast up some taquitos in order to help out. Have you ever had a child who tried to be so helpful, it was annoying? That's my dad. I gave my brother and him a stack of books to keep them busy...

Finally it was eatin' time. What a beautiful view out the back window. JC ate a little of everything....up until he discovered cranberry sauce. He then only ate cranberry sauce until being cut off after his second can!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Decorating for Christmas

Hi there! Last Thursday we went to the Columbus Zoo lights show! I had to dress up warm. Here you can see my usually svelte body inflated by three layers of clothing! My sister is so weird...

Whoops! We made it to the zoo, but without spare camera batteries. This shot was the only one we got - which was four fewer than the number of dollar Brauts my dad ate.

The show inspired me to decorate our house for Christmas. Look at all the boxes we had to take out!

Given the sunny, warm conditions outside, I had my sister decorate the windows to make it feel more Christmasy. Here is a shot she took of her work. What nice holly leaves!

My sister decided to name the tree Dolphin. As I was walking around Dolphin, it fell over for no reason (I might have pulled it). Here is a shot of what I saw laying on the ground with the tree on top of me. Oof! That tree really whacked me - Dolphin must be short for Dolph Lundgren!

Despite the tree-felling accident, the final result was worth it! Look at our beautiful tree!

(Props to Aunt J and the M clan for all the cool toys under the tree!)

M's first word was banana...

Hello there! After many months of communicating via the written word, I, JC, have finally managed to say something...

Rescue Aunt K!

Oh no! Aunt K is lost somewhere in COSI! It was her first visit, and she quickly became disoriented deep in the bowels of Columbus' leading science museum. Her new husband, Uncle B, was quite worried so he hired a couple of secret agents - namely myself and little JC to find her! First things first - we had to get to COSI from our secret lair. My helicopter license came in handy here.

My brother and I showed extreme caution after landing. We quickly disguised ourselves and then waited, motionless, for a few hours to case the joint and look for anything suspicious.

It appeared after some time that nothing dastardly was going on. The museum was filled with mid-westerners eager to learn more about science. JC and me left our disguises and began to look for the missing Aunt K. JC checked the ball ramp.

Watching his little legs walk gave me an idea! I could cover far more ground on a set of wheels. I had Uncle B, who was now hysterical, help me requisition one of the bikes on display.
Nothing was found!. So JC then checked the fountains with Aunt JK...


And I checked underwater in a submarine with my dear Mom.

After traveling several hours underwater, we came up for air near an island. Guess who was on the island? It was Aunt K! We spent some time looking at the giant birds that inhabit the island....

And then we headed back to COSI where I performed a full medical check-up to make sure she was okay.
Uncle B was very happy that he had his bride back. He asked how he could repay us while on the helicopter flight back to our lair. We said we were simple people who only needed milkshakes! He took it a step further and bought us McRibs, too. Thanks for visiting Aunt JK, Aunt K, and Uncle B.

Happy Halloween

Trick or treat! Before we went out to collect candy, we carved a pumpkin. We named him Ed the Pumpkinhead.

Then we got dressed up to go out. Here you can see us in our costumes.

Lo and behold! Who should show up but a new homeowner and her rowdy band. They quickly replaced one costume with another and Jack Bomb - my brother became a dinosaur! I often feel patriotic, but today when free candy rains down, I feel especially lucky to be an American. So I, M, have started the tradition of saying the Pledge of Allegiance before heading out. You can see Aunt JKC supported me.

We then commenced the trick or treating.



Soon, though, we both started to tire, so we made our way home to look at loot! Here I am with my first Pixie Stick!


Thanks for helping us trick or treat, Aunt JKC, Aunt K, and Uncle B.

MNF and Pumpkin Festival Comparison

It isn't often that the Washington Redskins make primetime TV. Last night was JC and M's first opportunity to watch the Redskins on MNF with Dad. Here you can see JC is dressed up and ready to go.

After McNabb's TD toss on 3rd and 23, M meekly asked to go to bed. She asked, "What's the point?" Dad and JC had no response as seen below.


In other news, the first pumpkin festival M attended was so long ago that blogs were futuristic hypotheticals. Since our blog didn't exist then, here is a shot of M in front of the mural when she was less than a month old.

Here is a shot with Mom, JC, and M, three years later. Notice the completed mural!

Thanks Gram and Pops for the Redskins leisure wear!