five for Friday

1. Marc has been recording dog shows for Eva lately. We watched a NOVA called Dogs: Decoded that was fascinating. And Dogs 101 on Animal Planet is a new favorite. I didn't know whether she would sit through a whole show like these, but she is absolutely captivated. She loves dogs almost as much as she loves dinosaurs.

2. Eva gathered all of her money from her piggy bank and various purses and crammed it in her wallet for the school Christmas store. She had so much fun shopping for friends that she ran out of money before she got a gift for Lucas! (I had specifically told her to pick out a gift for each of her brothers.) I sent her back with a little more money the next day so that Lucas wouldn't be deprived of one of the fabulous gifts from this one-of-a-kind shopping experience. (She bought something lovely for cousin Sarah, too. So exciting!)

3. We woke up to a big snow on Sunday morning. (After the Blizzard of 2010 that never materialized, I guess the forecasters were feeling a bit sheepish or something, because I had no idea it was coming.) I sent Max and Lucas out to shovel before church, because this is an example of a time when having sons really comes in handy. (Lucas didn't think he should have to do it on Sunday because it's work. Nice try.)

Anyway. When I went out early Monday morning to take Max to school, I slipped on the stairs and landed hard on my bum. It happened in the exact same spot where I fell and sprained my foot 3 months ago. I experienced just a moment of post-traumatic stress, but then I stood up and brushed the snow off my backside and was just fine. (Except that my foot still hasn't completely healed from the original fall.)

4. I got the carpet cleaned on Tuesday, because that was the gift that Marc wanted above all else for his birthday. Nothing says celebration like clean carpet! To be fair, it needed it, but still. He was beaming when he came home and walked on it, in all its slightly damp, slightly crunchy, clean glory.

5. Yesterday, Eva decided that she really needed to make muffins. This coincided nicely with the pile of overripe bananas sitting on the counter, so we made a double batch of banana chocolate chip, our family favorite. She loves to stir the dry ingredients together, and told me she was making a "swirl of doom." Baking is already pretty fun, but when you add in apocalyptic imagery, it takes it to a whole new level.

Bonus: This is Eva's current favorite dinosaur pal, Red Eye. Here you see him dressed up in tissues and one of Eva's undershirts for Thanksgiving. (He's a pilgrim, duh.) Yesterday, she tweaked his garb just a bit and took him for show and tell as... wait for it... Mary. As in the mother of Jesus. I didn't see that coming.