Fun Date During Dreary Weather

Yet another ice/snow/wintry mix storm. I thought I'd show you our portable garage. We noticed our neighbor putting a tarp over his truck a lot last year during ice storms and really heavy snow storms. We tried it this year. It is so nice not to have to chip ice off the car. Thanks neighbor!

Daniel and I have always tried to make dating each other a priority. We love to play games. I saw these at the store, and had to get them, since Scrabble is a favorite game of ours (and Cheez-its are a favorite snack of Daniels). We had a blast playing with our food.

Trying to do a selfie kissie photo. We just couldn't get it right. This was seriously the best of the bunch.

A Warm(er) Day

We had a bit of warmer weather recently. Yeah, it got up to about 40°F. Before it snowed again. Grrr...but that's another story. It is winter after all. The kids took advantage of it by splashing in the slush puddle (a hole in the ice), and playing in the mud...Again. Only this time...they really played in the mud. And I let them. Why did I let them? I just love cleaning up mud...not! Oh well. They had a lot of fun at least.

!!!!

In other news, Josh is a BIG BOY NOW! He has been doing really, really well with potty training. I'm so proud of him!

One of our favorite winter day activities is hanging our wraps on the table and using them as hammocks. Heather will spend a long time in there just reading.

Valentine's week

Heather experienced her first Valentine's party this year. She had a blast at preschool, and was SO excited to give her Valentines to her friends and teachers. I thought they turned out cute. (And yes, I'm one of those lame moms that doesn't do candy.) Here's what they say: (To the teacher's) You're the Highlight of my day, (To the students) You're all write! You're so sharp! You're the write friend for me!

On the day before Valentines day, Heather and I decided to do a girls day. We painted our nails pink, did makeup and hair, and took silly photos. Daniel came home and took one look at me and laughed out loud. Check out my awesome makeover!

Josh was our hair dresser. He has a thing for that yellow spray bottle.

Heather's face...

My lovely makeup job. Done by the talented Heather.

Funny faces

And of course, our heart shaped pizza and orange julius for dinner on Valentines Day. This year I did a chicken alfredo pizza with asparagus and broccoli. It was super yummy!

Fun with a Black Light

We had a LOOOOOOONG January and February. It was so, SO cold and I had to get a little creative. We spent at least an hour in our small bathroom playing with a black light one day. I learned something from that experience: I have no clue how to take good photos when a black light is my only light source, and not have blurry kids, AND we are all easily entertained.

Josh wanted me to do his hair with our neon hair bobbers. I just couldn't resist. He called them his horns.

Any mom knows that silence and kids do not go together. Usually when kids are silent, it means they are up to something. (See Gold-bond post.) I was getting dressed one morning, and rushed downstairs because it had gotten exceedingly quiet. Too quiet. I was pleasantly surprised to find both of my kids on the couch reading. I am so happy to have two readers. Josh is not quite as enthusiastic as Heather, but he still loves books. Heather is really amazing at reading, and is reading on at least a 1st grade level. She reads everything. Pretty soon Daniel and I wont be able to spell things out to each other. We'll have to come up with a secret language.

Powder party in the kids' room

The kids were making a huge ruckus banging on pots and pans in their room this morning. While Stephanie was getting dressed and making the bed, the noise finally let up, giving her a few moments of peace and quiet. However, it was a bit too quiet, and when she finished getting dressed Stephanie decided to investigate. This is what she found.

We had brought some Gold Bond powder into the kids room last night to deal with a sore bottom. Looks like we forgot to take it out with us when we were done. Gold bond: everywhere.

Seriously, Gold Bond powder?

Don't even try to play the innocent card!

Clean up was not a pleasant experience, as all three will attest.

This is one of those days that you know you'll look back on 5 years from now and laugh, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating to deal with in the moment!