Mercer eating ice cream

What else is new? Blue Pig ice cream at Umami Cafe in Croton-on-Hudson, NY.

Doodle

Pop got a drawing app for his new phone for Mercer to play with. The plan seems to have worked nicely as Mercer got bored with drawing and is likewise bored with Pop's new phone. Pop drew this portrait of Mercer, though. It doesn't look anything like him, really, but Mercer says it's him every time he sees it.

Birthday party

Mercer went to a birthday party a few weekends ago for his school "girlfriend," who just turned 3. It was at a play center where they had lots of indoor play equipment like slides, giant balls, mats, and trampolines. They tried organized activities, but Mercer was far more interested in running around. It was hard to yell at him for not conforming to the group, so we let him do what he wanted, within reason. There was also pizza, which Mercer did not want, probably because he wanted to play more. And there was cake, which Mercer ate the icing off of. All in all, not a bad way to spend a late Sunday afternoon.

Skee Ball, mercer style

Mercer's favorite song right now.

Every day Mercer asks to dance to "There Are Listed Buildings" by Los Campesinos. He asks for the song by saying "Daddy, I want more Bah Bah Bah Bah's!!" It's hard to disagree with him; this is easily one of the best songs of 2010. The climax, starting at 2:29 in this ridiculous video, is amazing. Plus, the song starts off with lyrics featuring the word "glug." Mercer and Daddy have not stopped dancing to this song for two weeks straight.

A visit with Ryan and Sydney

Sydney and her new baby brother Ryan stopped by this weekend (with their parents Chris and Kyle, of course). We asked Mercer if he wanted to hold Ryan. How cute!

Blizzard!

We got blasted with a massive snow storm last week. Everything started Thursday night and the snow continued through Friday. Not only was there plenty of volume (we probably got close to 2 feet), the snow was extremely dense. Trees snapped and broke all night, causing power outages and traffic nightmares. We've never seen anything quite like it. By the time we dug the car out and decided it was safe enough to hit the roads, plenty of damage was done. All of the roads were littered with branches and we saw entire trees uprooted from their homes. Wires were down everywhere.

Thankfully, we weren't without power for long, unlike most, who didn't have electricity through the weekend. When our power went out, Mercer got upset. He thought that bringing a candle into a room would turn on the lights. But after some discussions, Mercer got used to the idea.

For kids, though, snow means something entirely different: fun!