January

Lizzy has an obsession with sticks. She is constantly trying to bring them in the house, and since I always take them away and throw them back out, she's now in the habit of bringing them to the door, gnawing on them, and leaving them there for the next time she comes outside. 

She discovered she can get on the tramp with the piles of snow. She seems to enjoy the bounce, because she keeps going up there and pouncing around in the snow.

And to get my mind off of freezing cold temperatures and snow, I made some yummy homemade chicken noodle soup and french bread. 

 Emma FINALLY lost one of her front teeth that has been loose for the longest time. She takes quite a bit of convincing to let me pull on it, and will not entertain the use of string and slamming doors...

 Boys bath time filled with dinosaurs, funnels, and imagination.

We may be experiencing a bit of cabin fever, but we're still smiling and having a lot of fun playing board games, toys, disney infinity, reading, crafts, and such.   

Jan 1-14, 2017

Snowpocalypse 2017

And the Boise/Meridian snow record from about 30 years ago has been broken. According to a news station I just looked at (Jan 23rd, because we just added another 3.5 inches this morning), the record snow for this season was 35.1 inches in '85-'86, and we are currently at 35.5 inches. And there's still plenty of winter coming. To say this is ridiculous, is an understatement, and I am sooo done with snow. It has been a lot of fun for the kids with EIGHT snow days, but my arms and back are exhausted from shoveling. It's also been a learning experience -- for instance, I've learned what snow dams are. I've been trying to keep the snow off the 3-4 feet from the edge of the roof to try and let nature resolve the issue, which has worked fairly well, but again, my arms are so tired -- and gaining muscle, which is good I guess. And then it snows again. Repeat. And now comes the fear of flooding.

Snow tunnels.

 Luke tries to throw snow balls, but it's hard to make balls with mittens, and when he throws, it just comes back at him. Good thing he loves snow!

The kids have made a few pathways in the back yard that go to their favorite spots. Luke and Lizzy do pretty well when they follow the pathways, but when they get off, well, you can watch the video below. You can't hear him very well, but he says "stuck" "help". 

 Lizzy bounds around in the snow, still loving it. I always attack her with a towel when she comes back in trying to limit the puddles, but nothing but warm water can get these snow balls off.

 

 I'm loving having this flower in the house to brighten my mood a bit, and homemade chocolate chip peanut butter cookies always help.

Jan 4-5, 2017

New Years Eve

The kids had been looking forward to this night because I had told them they could stay up as long as they could as long as they were not too cranky. We played board games Sorry and Clue, had another dance party on the xbox, and watched a movie with popcorn. I expected the kids to be dropping like flies, but no. None of them. Even the two year old was still bouncy around.

 I think it was more me done being Mom for the night, and knowing tomorrow was going to be rough with three sleeping kids who never sleep in no matter how late they stay up, so we did some poppers in the kitchen and sent them to bed at about 11pm. Well done children -- it was a good night. Happy New Year!

Dec 31, 2016

Christmas

A wonderful Christmas morning filled with smiles, games, and playing together. Luke's reaction is one of my favorites... He's big into all the Toy Story's right now, and Jake gave him a talking Buzz. 

This year we slowed it down, and would only open a couple presents, set them up, play with them for a while, and then open a few more. It was fun spending more time enjoying each individual gift and playing with them as a family.

 The kids each got Lizzy a little toy present, and another big ol' bone.

 We got the kids a dune racer, but as we have no where to drive it due to all this white stuff piling up everywhere outside, we moved a couch, and they just went forward and back in the one room. They are loving the idea of taking it outside for a real spin. By the looks of it outside, it will be a while...

 Brad got a lot of techy things, so we threw in a few fun things, like this voice-changing Kylo Ren helmet. He (and Jacob) now walk around the house with it saying, "I'm going to destroy you!" My favorite quote from Jake trying to convince Emma to try it on, "Don't worry, it only changes your voice when you wear it." It's a real concern folks. 

Brad gave me some fun new piano music, that I'm sure by this point he is regretting ;). I'm loving playing something other than church hymns -- not that there's anything wrong with it, but this new stuff's been fun! I have variety! And a lot of other fun things as well for each of us.

 The day was filled with legos, toys, board games, remote control driving, sword fights, movies, and all around family fun.

Dec 25, 2016

Christmas Eve

Mmm... another prime rib spinning on the rotisserie. Lizzy was not leaving the area until she got some. She was in heaven that night.

We let the kids open the xbox kinnect  with the game Just Dance 2017 we got them so we could play it as our Christmas Eve family activity. I tried to grab some pictures, but was quickly shut down until we get better. It might take a while. It was really fun and hilarious though. 

Then, after we were sufficiently worn out from dancing, we opened kids' Christmas jammies and adult head gear.

 Lucas has never been happier to put on jammies when he saw Mickey Mouse on his. Goodnight children!

Dec 24, 2016

Christmas Cookies!

The kids always look forward to bringing out the cookie cutters for Santa's Christmas sugar cookies. They all helped make, cut, and decorated them. This year we added in some camels, sheep, and penguins to our regular Christmas cuts.

And then they were devoured.

Jake has the funnest smile and laugh, when he's not trying or being told to smile for the camera. Brad got a hold of the camera, and I don't know what he was doing or how he did it, but I love these smiles he captured.

Lucas, for some reason, doesn't particularly like soft frosting on cookies or cakes, so he would only take little nibbles, and then say he was done. But he would eat them unfrosted. Weird child. 

Also a result of Brad getting control of the camera. I do love cookies.

I made sure Emma enjoyed them too :)

Dec 23, 2016