Gracie in the Snow

Grace is smart, and slept in a bit more than her brothers. Since I'd braved the 16 foot ladder, I outfitted her in her ski bib, hat & gloves, booted her up and headed into the back yard. She wasn't a fan of snow when we took the kids tubing a few months back, but when the snow is in her own yard, she was all about it.


Hayden had escaped to a friend's house with better sledding terrain, so Bayley & Grace had the yard to themselves. They decided to plant a tree branch to convince Daddy a tree grew in his beloved fire pit, broke the ice on the water table, and headed for the play structure.



It's fun how a place they can go everyday becomes magical with a simple dusting of snow.


After a while, Bayley was chilled to the bone, so he came inside and started the hot cocoa. Once it was ready, Grace decided cocoa was worth coming inside for.

For the 1st time, I didn't put hers in a sippy. She's fine with cups, she just tends to dump them...so I'm watching her even as I type this!!

SNOW DAY!

My boys clearly do not understand the meaning of a snow day...they were up before 7...and in the white stuff before 8. I thought we'd agreed to a pajama and movie day?



The good news? At 830, my driveway and sidewalks are completely clear...I told them all that snow would melt slower on the grass...


The bad news? The one tub Jeff has put away lately has all the snow gear in it...and it's 12 feet up on the Hi-Loft...in the center, three tubs up. The sled? Same thing, different shelf.










An ambulance would still come in the snow right? And Tina is around the corner to watch my kids if I fall...hmmm...what are gloves and hats worth to me right now?

Grace hates to have her picture taken

And she is just so cute, I want to take her picture all the time. Hence our dilemma. I guess it's really the posing for pictures she's against.

She has the best cheeks for pigtails, yet every time I try and get a picture, I wind up with only one in the shot!

However, after a trip through the dollar bins at Target she was so excited to get home and try on her new dress up things, she didn't fuss as much as usual. She insisted on the 'hot pink' hat. I tried for a yellow or white, but since she got some hot pink shoes, everything must be hot pink.







The bunny ears were hilarious. She'd put them on, then hop hop hop...and off they'd pop!

Aw, so cute

Gram-mo & Pop-Pop came back from South America and brought dolls for the girls. When Grace saw hers, her first coment?

Oh, cute shoes!

I was more concerned the doll has a baby in a papoose...and one in her arms! I can just see Grace ealizing she can put a one doll in her hippo backpack and carry another!

Popcorn & Movie Night

Every week the boys beg for a movie night, since it usually means popcorn and staying up late.

This week was Karate Kid and a special blue popcorn Hayden found at the grocery store...and yes, Bayley is cuddled up with a snuggie, and Hayden is rockin' a bathrobe.

The Science Project That Ate My Life

I am not known for my time-managment skills and apparently, Bayley has inherited that gene. His science project is due tomorrow...and we spent the whole day doing it.

The whole day.

Not that he hadn't started it on time, and worked on it...or said he was working on it. But when it came time to get it all together...um...yeah.

All day.

The good news is that it's done, and he's quite pleased with it. He was quite particular that everything be printed out and not handwritten (since his handwriting is as bad as Jeff's) but when it came time for a last minute correction, he went ahead and penciled it in.

Next year...we'll finish the project the weekend before. I am exhausted...

The experiment itself was rather clever - figuring out which paper made paper airplanes fly the farthest. I mean, he got to make paper airplanes for a month and call it school work.

But he didn't do the actual experiement. He tried half a dozen different designs to choose the one that flew the straightest...then he tested it out...then he decided which papers to try...he had most of the work done, but of course as you read the expectations, his two paragraphs of 'research' needed to be more in depth. And they wanted the board to be neat and visually interesting with lots of pictures. Which meant taking said pictures, and then trying to figure out which camera pictures were on since they were taken on different days...and getting the pictures printed at Costco...

And going through two glue sticks to put the whole thing together.

Next year he wants to see if the size of paper matters. Please, let him come up with a different, and easier idea before then!

Dinner Dance

Each year the boys' school has a fun night for the kiddos called the dinner dance. Lots of the families go and watch the littlies dance around to whatever the DJ is spinning. (Dynomite was the big hit) My favorite part is the hula-hooping contest, organzied by grade. They also raffle off baskets each class puts together, and do a silent auction...


I thought this was the best one the school had put on (with a fun 80s theme the kids really got into - Hayden even dressed up in a polo with an upturned collar and a sweater over his shoulders ala Carlton Banks)


Grace was in rare form and Jeff was working. Plus, we didn't win anything, and my mouth was a painful post-root canal mess so I was hungry for my blended soup.



The boys had fun running around with their friends and stuffing the raffle baskets with tickets...and then their mood soured when they didn't win anything.


Grace cheered up for a moment once her pal Ava arrived...but as soon as the snacks were gone, both girls were wondering what in the world they were doing in a school cafeteria.



I was never so glad to leave a school event - even though I missed the best part, the hula hooping contest.

Not Everyone Can Rock This Look

Ava In Wonderland

Grace's besty turned 2, and celebrated with an Ava in Wonderland princess party! All the girls wore princess dresses and decorated their own crown, most played pin the smile on the Cheshire cat followed by musical flowers.

Grace was having an exema flare, so her dress was too itchy. She wound up wearing her pink gown with a yellow thermal underneath. How Punky Brewster. But once she changed, and started eating the candy hearts decorating the table, she was MUCH happier.

So happy, she wanted to go play upstairs...in the bathtub which she and Ava have decided is THE place to be. Only Mr. Steve was hiding in the master bedroom, and decided to rescue the princess back to the party.


Once the food was served (her favorite - fruit and cool whip) she stayed put. She even wanted to help her friend blow out the birthday candles.


The highlight of the party had to be the Dora doll house. I think Grace wanted to take it home! Luckily, she'll get plenty of chances to play with it!

Baker Boy!

For the Superbowl last week, Hayden wanted to be in charge of dessert. He knew he wanted to make a cake, but it took him a while to figure out what flavor. In the end, he settled on two cakes with three flavors.

Chocolate Caramel cake (chocolate cake & icing, caramel fudge filling)










Triple coconut cake (coconut milk, oil, shreds)

Diary of a Worm, a Spider, and a Fly

The boys were excited to get to go see a play about some of their favorite picture books...until we told them they had to wear pants with a button and shirts with a collar.

Oh my, the drama that followed. Our boys think everything can be done while wearing t-shirts and sweat pants.

The Nutcracker

Hayden's class has been learning about The Nutcracker all year in music. He's been really excited about it, and I'm excited that next year we can go see it live and not worry if he'll enjoy it.


He's decided that he's going to be a singer, move to Hollywood, and joing Big Time Rush. He even wants to perform one of their songs at the school talent show...many of you may recall his rendition of BTR's Oh You're Such a Jerk from Grace's birthday party last year.

The kids did an amazing job...I wish I could say the same for my camera!

Today's performance Overature, Toy Soldiers, Russian Dance, Chinese Dance

Feeding The Ducks

With no room to store bread heels in the freezer door anymore, we decided to feed the ducks. The sun was shining and we had to go to the library anyway, so it seemed like a good idea.

It's February.

A beautiful day to look at, but not so lovely to be out in. The hot-blooded boys didn't mind a bit as they tossed bread to the ducks, intrigued by all the different species of ducks and geese in our little pond. I thought they were too old for it, but apparently they just notice more as they mature.

Grace loved seeing the ducks, but woudl rather eat the bread herself than feed it to them. It was all very exciting for her, but five minutes in, she was shivering so much I had to tell the boys to wrap it up!