Popcorn Garland Insanity

NorthernMommy is insane.

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NorthernMommy mentioned something to NorthernToddler about making a popcorn and cranberry garland to decorate the tree outside(and feed the birdies). Their conversation took place two weeks ago, and NorthernToddler suddenly remembered it yesterday. NorthernMommy stopped at the store and got the popcorn and cranberries needed to start their project.

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Currently, NorthernMommy is trapped in the kitchen, stringing popcorn and cranberries onto thread with a needle. NorthernToddler is "helping" by asking (every two seconds) if he can have some popcorn to eat.

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It's been forty-five minutes, and it appears that a really, really long garland has been created - it's almost a foot and a half long by now! NorthernToddler helped by pouring the popcorn out onto the table to make it easier for NorthernMommy to find....

NorthernDaddy is smart enough to just keep doing the dishes and stay out of that mess! (Of course, he had to stop for a minute to keep y'all updated!)

'Tis the Season

'Tis the season for Christmas and snow. We've got the snow - twenty inches of fluffy white cloud poop. We're still anticipating the arrival of Christmas (although all of the movies tell us that "Christmas should be in our hearts all year long"). NorthernToddler is still learning about Christmas. He has his own Nativity set to play/decorate with, he's reading about when Jesus was born, and (of course) is slowly picking up on the Santa thing (thanks in no small part to evil marketing people). Fortunately, NorthernToddler still thinks that only water (not presents) goes under the tree and that Santa is just a big guy in a red coat. Toddler asked for a skateboard way back in September, and is confident in the fact that Santa will bring him one for Christmas - but he hasn't connected the fat guy Santa he sees at the mall and in movies to the Santa that is supposedly bringing him the skateboard. The connection he has made is that the Santas he sees around town are the ones that give out candy canes. He sat in Santa's lap at the mall and asked not for toys, but for a candy cane. (NorthernDaddy likes that his son is such an easily-pleased child!) Mr. Mall Santa came up with a candy cane, and now the thought is permanently etched in NorthernToddler's brain - Santa provides candy canes. It's like he's the toddler version of a drug dealer...."Psst! Santa! You got my stuff?" Yup - that's all of the Christmas lights that NorthernDaddy put up this year.....Too much snow to be messing around trying to add any....

The long path to the coop.

NorthernCompany's Brewpub and Chicken Coop - established 2010
"Our Beer's So Good You'll Lay An Egg"

It's entirely too early to be shoveling all of this stuff....

NorthernToddler as seen by NorthernDaddy when it was time to pick up from daycare:

Christmas Trees

Look at this one! It's HUGE! Let's get it! (Sometimes a guy just needs a boost to reach that perfect branch.)

MOMMY!......My ordimints (ornaments) won't stay on the tree!....

NorthernDaddy hates tinsel. NorthernMommy is enamored of tinsel. It was left to NorthernToddler to decide whether there would be tinsel applied to the tree. Of course, any two-year-old on the planet - when presented with sparkly shiny stuff - would tell you to put it on the tree. (Note NorthernToddler's application technique - hang it in clumps!)

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While we were waiting for Santa to arrive on the Green, we crafted a reindeer hat and a paper snowflake.

Santa arrives to light the tree on the Green.

Now, if you'll notice, Santa arrives in a small trailer pulled by a tractor. NorthernToddler was not so excited by the fact that Santa was present as he was super-enthused about the guy driving the tractor...(that guy! He's driving the tractor in the snow! Look! Tractor! In the snow!) So, apparently, Santa is just not nearly as cool as a guy driving a tractor.....That's fine with NorthernDaddy - it fits right in with NorthernToddler's not believing that presents go under Christmas trees. If you ask NorthernToddler what goes under a Christmas tree, he will give you the answer: WATER! (That is the only thing that goes under the tree.)(In the big green stand - it's NorthernToddler's job, you see - to water the tree.)

Look closely - that's a Kubota wearing Christmas lights and pulling a "sleigh". Just how rural/farm/redneckish is our town if Santa arrives by tractor?

Electricity

Electricity is:

a.) the flow of electric charge

b.) a song composed by Elton John and Lee Hall (for the successful Billy Elliot the Musical.)

c.) the basis of the entire US population's infrastructure and very useful to power things such as furnace fans, well pumps, and refrigerators; making it pretty much a necessity to modern life and a huge stinking pain-in-the-ass when there is a grid failure and where is the power company and why don't we see any linemen working and oh boy it's getting cold in this dark house and aughhhhh!

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NorthernDaddy picks definition "C".

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A pretty bad storm rolled through the Champlain Valley on Wednesday - with high winds and a lot of rain. Wind speeds on Mt. Mansfield were measured at over 100 mph - that's about eight miles away. Closer to the NorthernClan's house, the winds were measured in the 60-70mph range. Little breezes like that tend to knock over big fluffy pine trees. The kind of trees that seem to be growing next to every electric line in the area. Lots of trees fall over = lots of power lines go down. Our house was without power for 42 hours. NorthernToddler was not amused; once he found out that his milk was slowly spoiling in the not-so-cold refrigerator, he pitched a fit and then tried to drink the whole gallon in a last-ditch effort to save it. His plan didn't work. The entire contents of our fridge were discarded, less the beer, ketchup, and a few other non-spoilable items. (House-cleaning tip: arrange for an extended power failure, and when you toss out all of the spoiled food, the shelves will be empty - making cleaning the fridge much easier!)

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Other strategies for coping with an extended power failure include:

-keeping sweaters and blankets handy. When the furnace stops working during winter, it might get cold.

- pre-planning your family's travel routes: which roads are likely to be clear in a major storm, where to go when an evacuation is necessary, and which restaurants on the way home have back-up generators ('cause you aren't cooking Ramen noodles on the camp stove in the basement!)

-keeping the family entertained while the house is dark and cold. (We spent our time playing Memory™ {with a cheating Toddler} and plotting evil revenge on the guy across the street with the whole-house backup generator - he had his entire house lit up - even the Christmas lights!)

-knowing when to give up hope of the power ever coming back on and when to bail out to the nearest hotel. (The second night was our limit: it was in the 40s in the house, and NorthernDaddy needed a hot shower and a good night's sleep - we went and found a room in the next town!)

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Our power came on about 10am Friday morning. NorthernDaddy's boss couldn't figure out how Daddy knew the power was back on without being at the house. Simple trick: call the home phone. If it rings forever, the power is still out. If the answering machine picks up, the power is back on! (How come he couldn't figure that out?!)

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With the power being out and life being a little crazy, there aren't many pictures to post. We do have one picture: our first egg from our own chickens! WE HAVE AN EGG!!!

(Sorry about the quality of the pic - we took it while we were sitting in the NorthernToddler(PowerOutage)AdventureMobile trying to determine the exact best moment to give up all hope of the lights in the house ever coming back on and head to a hotel - it was dark in the car. But, IT'S OUR FIRST EGG!!!!)

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Power Outage

41 Hours Without Power = No New Posts

Thanksgiving Weekend

NorthernMommy and Daddy are tired of being in the car. NorthernToddler wants to get back into the car - not because he likes being strapped into his rocket seat, but because he has determined that the more seat time he puts in, the more French Fries he gets to eat. It's basic toddler math: x (hours seat time) + y (minutes of good behavior) - z (episodes of whining) = n (ounces of French Fries).

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To give an example of this formula in use, consider how NorthernDaddy calculated one lunch stop: five hours of seat time (x), plus three hours of good behavior (y), minus twenty-seven episodes of whining (z), equals 2.5 oz of French Fries (n) (a small order to go with his happy meal).

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Same lunch stop, calculated by NorthernToddler: five hours of seat time (x), plus three hours of good behavior (y), minus twenty-seven episodes of whining (z), equals 2.5 oz of French Fries with his Happy Meal plus half of Mommy's chicken sandwich plus all of the fries that fell to the bottom of the bag plus half of Daddy's fries....and can you go get more ketchup for me?

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We started the Thanksgiving festivities at Grandpa's house, where NorthernToddler finally had a chance to unleash his crazy-cool skateboard skills. Yes, NorthernMommy and Daddy are aware that he is going to fall down going to break something. (He's already fallen down a bazillion times - both from general stumbles and from skateboarding.) We're not going to prevent him from playing with a skateboard because he just goes and uses something else as a skateboard. (He spent two hours last week jumping all over a flat piece of cardboard and telling NorthernDaddy that it was a skateboard.)

Thanksgiving morning at Grandma's introduced Toddler to the wonders of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was quite a show (note the photo of NorthernToddler below - he's saying two things here; #1: "Hey, look! They have a TV!!", and #2: "Look at all of these things - what are they?!").

NorthernDaddy's atrocious pool shooting is not improved by the addition of a three-foot-tall "helper".

Nintendo Wii is not a game for "old" people to attempt to play.

Wii is intended for the younger crowd - witness the Toddler bowling a strike!

After Thanksgiving, the NorthernClan drove five hours into New York State to watch the (hold on, lemme get this right)...NikeCrossNationals Northeast Regional XC Championships. The team that NorthernMommy helps coach won second place and earned a trip to the Nike National XC Championships.

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NorthernToddler saw the time between races as an opportunity to climb tall things and play on the swingset.

Ice Cream Dance

Despite his injuries from yesterday evening, NorthernToddler managed to celebrate his dessert with a short, but energetic, ice cream dance.

Kablammo!

Warning!

Graphic Image Below!

(No, seriously - NorthernDaddy knows that NorthernToddler is okay, and the picture still bothers me...)

NorthernToddler went boom last night. Actually, it was such a horrific crash that we should say he went kablammo last night.

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As NorthernMommy and Daddy prepared dinner, NorthernToddler was playing in the kitchen. By 'playing', we mean "running around all crazy like a psycho hamster on PCP." At one point, NorthernToddler started to spin in circles, and after a few rounds, his feet slipped out from under him. Straight down to the floor he went - leading with his face. There was a loud THUD, and then silence. A long silence - count with me: one..........two........three........four...(Dear Lord, is he gonna be alright?)......five.........six...and then the wailing erupted and the blood started flowing and the baby was scooped up and the parents tried to stay calm as the tears poured into snot and mixed with blood and covered the cuts and baby screamed and twisted and turned his head refusing to let anyone look at or touch his face to try and assess the wounds. Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm.....wait are we talking to NorthernToddler or ourselves?....stay calm. Get the bleeding slowed down and we can go from there. Looks like a deep gash to his cheek and a nasty double cut through his lip. Dang it - still can't see anything with him screeching and bleeding.

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Since NorthernToddler wouldn't let us touch his lip with anything, and we couldn't see through the blood pouring out of his mouth, the only thing that we could come up with was to ask Little Man to take a sip of water and spit it into the bathtub. Apparently, that was an unusual enough request to get him to stop crying and give it a try. As usual, NorthernToddler did things his own way: he took a big sip of water from the cup, swallowed it, and then leaned over the tub and said, "ptooey" as he 'spit' out air.....Two cycles of that, and NorthernMommy and Daddy were laughing so hard that Toddler started to grin too, and then let us get a closer look at his face.

He's not pretty, but with the bandage covering the crater in his cheek, and the lip not dripping blood too badly, he looks like he'll survive. We were a little worried about the cuts, but it appears that they aren't too deep, and will heal over if we give them some time. We were close to heading to the ER, but we got the bleeding stopped, and there are no signs of infection (even a day later), so we think he'll be fine. Less than an hour after the crash, NorthernToddler was back at his normal self - trying to set things up for a few mighty launches off of the sofa....

This is what he face-planted on. It's a wooden toy train piece. Note that Toddler smashed it with his face hard enough to crack a wheel and remove it from the axle.

A Few Phone Calls, A Cardboard Shack, and Touching the Sky

On the phone, lining up a hot date for Saturday night....Hanging with NorthernMommy inside the cool new NorthernToddlerBachelorPad (really just a reused cardboard freezer carton).--

Just being a boy....
(NorthernToddler singing) - "I Believe I Can Fly....I Believe I Can Touch the Sky..."

Hold on there, buddy - let NorthernDaddy check our health insurance coverage...

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Flight 322 experiencing rapid loss of altitude!

Umpteenth Ear Infection/Tiger Pics

As you might guess from the title of this blog entry, NorthernToddler currently has yet another ear infection. We've actually lost count as to how many ear infection episodes that we've been through by now - we think it might be number nine. The good news is that the doc says the tubes (second set) are still in place and draining (draining a lot - yuck!) and the prescribed antibiotic seems to be helping reduce the infection (and, combined with the whatever-brand-it-is-that-we're-using-now-since-Tylenol-messed-up-their-infant-drops-and-ticked-off-millions-of-parents-making-us-buy-another-brand pain reliever/fever reducer) and letting NorthernToddler sleep a little bit tonight.

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Hopefully, NorthernToddler will be well on the road to recovery by morning, and we'll be back to our normal, not-wanting-winter-to-be-here-yet family routine. (This morning, the water in the watering font out in the chicken coop was frozen solid. Guess it's time to think about installing the font heater/thermostatically controlled outlet setup that we're going to use this winter....)

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Enough of the sickness and chickens, right?! Faithful readers want to see photos of NorthernToddler in his Halloween costume, right?

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Cutest tiger cub ever..... Bet you've never seen an accordion-playing tiger....

(Before we get any reader email, NorthernDaddy is aware that he has set the as-yet-unofficial world record for the use of hyphenated phrases. Thank you...)

Bad Bunny!

Autumn the Bunny will eat anything.

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She will nibble on shoes, backpacks, carpet, doors, window trim, and our CSA vegetables. She has shown a particular affinity for chewing on human fingers and electrical cords.

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Her absolute favorite thing to chew on up to this point has been NorthernToddler's jack-o'-lantern.

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Bad Bunny!

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While NorthernDaddy worked, NorthernMommy and Toddler (and a northern Grandma) went and got pumpkins. NorthernToddler tried to get one out for free....

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Hmm...I wonder if anyone will notice if I just hold a pumpkin behind me and slooowly walk towards the car?.... NorthernToddler wants nothing to do with carving a pumpkin.

After last year, when NorthernMommy and friends carved a giant pumpkin and got NorthernToddler stuck inside, it's no wonder that he is anti-jack-o'-lantern!

Designed by the master artist NorthernToddler, carved by squash-slasher NorthernMommy.

NorthernDaddy installed two windows (free - reclaimed from the local dump) in the chicken coop. Now there is a whole lot more natural light in there than before!

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Time for a reader poll....what color do we paint the frames on these windows? Keep in mind that we are not painting the coop - it will stay its naturally weathered grayish color. Do we put a new coat of white paint on the window frames? Do we choose a bright neon green? What do you think?

NorthernMommy picked up her first CSA share today.

The bunny likes CSAs.

Monkey-Boy says HI!