Money, money, money!!!

Yesterday evening Annika spent time making some phone calls to family asking for pledges for the CLC Superbowl. She participates in this fundraiser every year and this year we made a point of telling her she was old enough to make her own phone calls and explain what she was doing. It turns out she really likes making these calls and she's able to do a decent job of explaining what she's doing and why.
Last night Annika called Uncle Greg to see if he wanted to pledge her. After waiting for Annika to finish having quite a long conversation with Greg Abby asked for her turn to talk to Uncle Greg. When she got on the phone the conversation went as follows:

Abby: Hi Uncle Greg.
Uncle Greg: Hi Abby.
Abby: I need some money.
Lisa (listening in): Abby! You don't need any money!
Abby to Lisa (taking the phone away from her mouth and putting one hand on her hip while holding the other hand out, palm up with the phone) : I like money!
Lisa: You do not need any money. Put the phone back and talk to Uncle Greg.
Abby: OK (and off she went on a new topic of conversation describing to Uncle Greg the toys sh was playing with while not really paying attention to the phone and on and on and on...)

It's just amazing how quickly kids learn the value of money, isn't it? The crazy thing is she doesn't understand what it's used for yet but she's smart enough to know that if her sister is asking for it, she should probably have it too!

One I Forgot

It looks like a blizzard again this morning, with huge, white flakes.

I forgot to add this to my post from yesterday:

On Sunday, with the icy road conditions, all of our church services were canceled. We had begun to get ready - Annika had taken a shower, and Abby was taking her turn (that's not a Sunday morning norm) - when the call came that there was no church. Lisa informed Annika, who was wrapped in a towel, and then Annika told Abby, this way:

"Hey Abby - we don't have to go to church this morning!" - she starts dancing - "Oh yeah...uh-huh!"

I can't say that I was real disappointed either. I'm not saying I dislike going to church, but sometimes just staying home in your PJs sounds better than getting three kids ready and off to church.

More Snow

Ferris had another snow day today - that makes three for the year so far. It rained a ton in GR on Sunday, but it was mostly icy up in Big Rapids and then it got even colder through the night. So, Jake and I slept in until 8:30 while Lisa and the girls headed off the school. Today it's just snowing a bunch. Hopefully everything will be fine on Wednesday. The days off haven't screwed up my teaching schedule too badly, but more days off wouldn't be a good thing (not that the students seem to mind).

So, today I spent a bunch of the day doing our taxes. In completely unrelated news, here are three of my favorite people:

More Experiences Living with a Three Year Old

Someday poor Abby will not appreciate all the blog entries that specifically concern her but hopefully she'll understand that at three years of age, you just tend to do and say "bloggable" things!

So, two days ago, I was cleaning up in the kitchen and I called down to Annika in the basement that it was time to practice her piano. Normally when I tell her this she gets upset and tries her best to stall but on this particular day she piped right up and said, "OK!" and came running upstairs. I was in the process of praising her for having such a good attitude and for saying OK the first time I asked when Abby came up the stairs behind her.
Abby: We wasn't stealing your purse.
Annika: (angry look) Shhh
Abby: Really, mom. We wasn't stealing it!
Annika: Abby, you weren't supposed to tell her!
Lisa: Did you have my purse downstairs?
Abby: Yeah! We was under the pool table with it!
Annika: (glaring at Abby) We were organizing it for you. It was supposed to be a surprise!
Abby: And taking it apart. (And now she's starting to realize something might be wrong....) Annika did it.
Annika: ugh!

Don't you just hate it when your little sister rats you out? Kids are such a riot!

Rock Band!

Before the story: I had my worst drive home from Ferris ever on Wednesday, through the blizzard we had. Ferris was closed Thursday, which made for the second time in two weeks that the University has closed. It's one thing for schools to close, but it has to be wacky weather to shut down colleges.

The story: I've played some Guitar Hero II in the past, mostly at Mark and Lizzy's, but just recently they obtained the game Rock Band and invited us over to play. Rock Band is similar to Guitar Hero, but cooler in this respect: it comes with a guitar, a little drum set, and a microphone. Coupled with the guitar they already had from Guitar Hero, we managed to form a four-piece band! I was usually on lead guitar, either Lisa or Lizzy was on bass (the other dealt with Abby and Jake), Mark played the drums, and Annika took the vocals. Annika was pretty timid to begin, but eventually got into it. My favorite moment: the opening to "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" by The Clash - I got to lay down the opening guitar lines, and Annika nailed the "Woo!" right in the middle of it. It was awesome...