Snowy week

We are supposed to get another couple of inches of snow tonight and it reminded me that I wanted to blog about our BIG snow last week. I actually had no idea it was coming until someone mentioned it at church and I said "yeah, yeah... that's what they are always threatening and it never happens." Turns out the weather man was right this time!

We are those weird people who actually enjoy the snow and being out in it. Poor Erik was in Pittsburgh for a few days so he missed the fun. After a couple of days Mommy and kids were ready to get out of the house, but my car couldn't clear the driveway. Probably not the smartest thing to shovel a driveway full of foot-and-a-half snow at 31 weeks pregnant, but lets just say I was highly motivated by the idea of "kids eat free" at our Chick-fil-a on Tuesday nights! You can see how deep the snow was: the part to the left of Matthew was our walkway to our front door that we didn't shovel yet. After a few swipes with the shovel, Grace announced, "I think this must be very hard work" and quit. :)

Dixie was not so keen of having to wade through snow to go outside. And I was not about to shovel the back patio for the dog.

That weekend after Erik got home he and Grace headed out to make a snow fort before the snow melted. With two brothers growing up, this is a specialty of his. And of course the hard work was rewarded with chocolate chip cookies!

My Valentines

Don't you wish you had such fun valentines in your life? :)

What I learned today

It is perfectly acceptable to be a boy playing cars and still wear a crown (at his request). At least we have that manly Dora band aid on to prove how tough we really are!

The dread of getting back into exercising after a 6 week hiatus is worse than actually doing it.

Crayola has awesome free coloring pages and activities.

If you plan carefully, is it fully possible for a mommy to take a bath and a nap during the kids' nap times.

A day at home is a always a lovely thing.

A Very Belated Merry Christmas

So I was joking with a friend that it would probably be February before I got my Christmas pictures up on the blog. That was supposed to be a joke, and yet here I am sneaking them in under the wire. It is not entirely my fault! Really. We have been having some issues with the internet after moving the computer to a wireless connection. And it seems that it hated Blogger the most. And I have better things to do than battle with this contraption, so therefore that is why it took a month to get these pictures up. Enjoy, especially those of you who kindly harassed me for them :).

"Mine" A new favorite word that can mean both Matthew and the truest sense of that evil word, mine.

Our Christmas snow storm and the fabulous Daddy who will go out and play for hours.

This is the safest way that Matthew decided he should touch snow: through the glass or on a plate. He was not keen of having any more to do with it up close and personal.

Grace and "Snowy" that she and Daddy made. Quite creative, I thought (the decorations, not the name).

If only he always kept the crayons on the paper, this would be such a sweet activity... but alas, I have found his artistic evidence on my wall, closet door, the inside of the play kitchen...

On Christmas Eve we sang carols in a room lit only by candles, and read a Christmas book while eating cookies. Is it not clear why this is every kid's favorite holiday? This includes big kids.

One who looks like she is going on twelve. And another who is in the "cheesey smile" phase.

What a way to ring in the New Year

You know, in a way it is encouraging to know that things can only get better in the New Year. We started out the New Year with two sick parents and one sick kid, and one kid who I kind of wished was sick so that he would be zonked out like the rest of us. Turns out Grace had bronchitis, which she shared with me, and at the same time Erik got the flu which turned into a two week ordeal with some breathing complications. I knew he was knocked off his feet when the man who has never taken a sick day from work in his life took five. We were bad enough off that we had to call reinforcements to fly in and help us since the sick adults were greatly outnumbered.

In the meantime, our Christmas decorations stayed up later than they ever had, laundry grew roots on the floor, and the dust was thick enough to be able to be seen from across the room. And our rather nice microwave decided to die, to the tune of $400 in parts alone. Um, instead we'll get a new one for less than that, thank you. I can't tell you how good it has been for all of us to be back to normal this week, getting things done and playing catch up on house work (yes, it was enjoyable to catch up on housework!).

So if you haven't seen us in a while it isn't because we don't like you. :) We are just now returning to the land of the living!

Sandy Thanksgiving

We were very blessed to get to spend Thanksgiving week with Erik's family at the beach. Over the course of the week, Grace turned into a fish and even floated in the ocean (come on, big news for the cautious child) and Matthew walked on the sand (I think all babies have a natural aversion to the feeling of sand on their feet). For those of you who saw her at the pool this past summer, you know what a miracle this picture is! There isn't even anyone near her or holding her!

Just chilin'.

The boy touches sand! Ta Da!

What a pair of goof balls!

This was Matthew's main source of nutrition, as he refused to eat (or sleep) on vacation: Teddy Grahams, raisins, and pretzels. I'm serious.

Fun in the pool with Uncle Stefan.

Matthew splashed as much as he does in the bathtub, only here we didn't mind so much because we were already wet!

Catch up

Before there is a public tar and feathering because I haven't blogged recently, I thought I better get this out there, fast. I really don't know where the last month went. It certainly felt busier than normal, but I can't tell you what we really did. Of course, there are the usual suspects. You know you are behind on your ironing when your iron automatically shuts off and you are only half way through the pile! There was also the matter of this child, who is not normally so contained:

And this one, who normally is this uncontained:I'll start at the most recent stuff and work backwards. I hope the neighbors don't mind that I borrowed their maple for this picture. Ours has already lost all of its leaves. Look at that sunset behind them! I can't say that I am the biggest fan of Halloween in general, but if you avoid the scary stuff, the kids sure do have fun. Matthew was thrilled just to be able to carry a lollipop, and had no idea it was better to eat than to hold. Seriously, we do not need that kid on sugar. Grace got more use out of that recital costume from last spring. I thought it made perfectly good sense to use what we had! :)

One of the other highlights of the month was trick-or-treating at Daddy's office. You'll notice we had a costume change. Grace wanted to be Snow White that day. Fine. At least she already had the ensemble from her dress up stuff. Matthew was still the ferocious lion who won't roar in public.Grace positively adores going to Daddy's office. Which is funny, because I think we've only done it twice... maybe that's part of the appeal. Notice the high heels she wore. Who makes this stuff for toddlers and thinks its a good idea? I'm surprised we got out of there without a twisted ankle. And how cute is Matthew's tail wagging behind him? Those kids made quite the cute pair going around.

Seriously, ladies, lets all give our man a giant high five for working in a little cube all day. At least Erik "graduated" to one with a view. I don't know how I could go all day without a window. Or any privacy (oh, wait, that part does apply to me- I can't remember the last time I went to the bathroom by myself).

Matthew's obsession with all things motorized continues. Here he picks out a car to buy that is way cooler than his mommy's minivan. Which- side note- he just started calling me "Mom-ee" from "Mama". I love it.

Matthew is working on being an engineer, as he sorts and organizes everything into a nice line.

I also subjected my kids to a hands-on history lesson. Exact replicas of Columbus' Nina and Pinta were in Cincinnati for a week, and being a history buff I wanted to go. I used the kids educational experience as my excuse. :) Grace and I checked out a book at the library about Columbus, and let me tell you, there should not be a national holiday honoring that guy. He was not a nice man! And to be stuck on a ship the size of my living room for months at a time, well, lets just say I would be the first to volunteer to stay on the island and get to know the locals!

We visited a farm just down the road and did the corn maze ("Mommy, I don't think we'll ever get out!" panicked Grace half way through) and the hay ride. I had been told by someone that you get to feed the cows in the field. I didn't understand what that meant until these snotty noses came poking at us. Matthew thought it was great until Mommy fed the cow. Then he cried, buried his head in my shoulder and proceeded to fall asleep. That must be his defense mechanism.

Grandma was sweet and came for a visit over Grace's birthday and to watch the kids while we did some weekend training at church.And somehow this happened along the way. My baby turned four. FOUR. Please tell me life has a pause button and you've found it!

I learned a little something about my daughter the other day while we filled out a letter to include in our Operation Christmas Child box. I'll share the facts with you. Her favorite colors are orange, purple and pink, the latter two of which have been added in the last year. Her favorite drink is a smoothie, which we had quite a lot of this summer. Her favorite food are pancakes, with real maple syrup (don't try to fool that girl with the fake stuff- she's read the book about sugaring at the library and only wants the real thing!). She has one brother, but she thinks we should have 30 kids, to which I suggested a surrogate and more parents to help out around here.

Something I didn't need to learn from helping her with the letter was that she has become such a grown up little girl. She is full of caring for others, finds something to compliment us on daily, I am amazed at how maternal she is with Matthew, always trying to help him, encouraging him, willing to read to him when he has the pre-dinner whines, and entertain him when he has the everyday whines. Of course there are those moments they fight like cats and dogs, but I love seeing how they are becoming friends. Now if only we could get Matthew to call Grace something else besides "SSSSSSSSSS!!!!!"....

Amish Friendship Bread Starter

That's right, ladies. I've got it and I know you want it. :) I seem to get this bread every time I am pregnant. It has become my baby belly food I guess! The last time I was making this bread I stopped the week Matthew was born. I mean, who has time to babysit a ziploc bag of goo with a newborn?!? The funny thing was that I was just lamenting how I wanted it, and what do you know, someone at Erik's work had it the next day. No kidding!

If you want a starter (and I guess live around here!), let me know and I can bring it with me to church on Sunday. And if you have never tried it, well, I hate to be like the serpent, but try it... you will like it... and won't be able to stop making it! :)

Fall is coming!

Up until recently, it hasn't really felt like fall. It has been what I consider hot (any day with a high of 80 or above) and dry. Then it rained. And it really hasn't stopped raining for days. I love it. A dreary, rainy day calls for tomato soup and grilled cheese for lunch, and some applesauce making.

For those of you who live in NKY, you must check out McGlasson Farms in Hebron. We love it there. Grace always wants to go to the "farm." Right now their apples are in season, and they carry a ton of varieties. I like the fact that they come from right there on the farm, too, not Michigan or some other place 'far away'.

Last week after dropping my brother-in-law off at the airport, it was perfect timing to go to the farm to see what we could find. I came home with what seemed like a ton of apples, but have learned that one of those giant baskets of apples doesn't make as much applesauce as you would think. See below...


The giant pot of apples, after cooking on the stove, and put into this magical machine (that Grace is modeling above- doesn't she look like Vanna White selling it?) makes a 9x13 (about 3 quart size Ziploc bags worth).
No peeling, no coring... a big thanks to Janelle for turning me onto this thing. I borrowed hers so many times that I finally asked for one for Christmas! :) I am about to try it out on tomatoes. And maybe canning them? Pioneer woman I am not, but this is fun! No snickering, please.

One last tidbit of summer news....

What we did on our summer vacation in Colorado

Do you need a recap? End of July, head to Chicago. Erik, home. Cathryn and kiddos to Albuquerque. Erik works, then on to Albuquerque as well. Then we took a Westbrook family vacation to the mountains in Colorado. I lobbied afterwards to get a vacation house up there but couldn't get anyone to jump on board with me. :) Something about money...

The boys fish, the girls and kids through rocks. Look for this to be a recurring theme.

The big kids got to take a train ride on a 1920's steam locomotive through the mountains. Poor Matthew positively loves trains, but was happier napping at home I suspect.

At this point I think Erik 'shrieked' :) "are those train cars tipping?" I believe he also stopped leaning over the edge to take pictures of the river thousands of feet below!

How to keep babies entertained for part of the long drives and flights. Hey, you get desperate.

How cute is this picture of Papa and the Little Man?

More rock throwing... I told you there was a theme here!

Turn the hot tub temp down and it is like a giant warm outdoor baby pool!

Snuggles with the chosen ones on the trip, Aunt Sara and (Uncle? ;o) J.J.

Seriously, my baby almost got attacked here by rabid chipmunks who apparently other people find fun and cute to feed. But the baby can't defend himself! It was crazy. Grace also slipped on pond scum trying to get the perfect rock to throw into the lake. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the wet underwear and shorts drying on a stick in the sun like a white flag of peace for the chipmunks.

The boys fish.... Lots of travel and lots of fun, but still good to be home too!