Snowflakes keep falling on our heads

The weathermen kept warning us about a serious snowstorm that was supposed to come through Friday night and keep pounding us until Sunday afternoon.  Saturday afternoon came and there was barely a skiff of snow on my lawn.  Needless to say, I thought the weathermen had cried wolf.  An hour later I woke up from a nap (thank you girls), and there was a blizzard raging outside.  Soccer was cancelled, Jeremy came home from work early, and we hunkered down for a cozy evening inside.  Sunday morning we woke up to a foot of snow outside!  It had turned into a real snowstorm after all and my kids were so excited.  When Jeremy went outside to shovel all of the kids put on their snow gear to help. 

 I made sure everyone was bundled up then I made cinnamon rolls while they played outside.  

That's not a "thinking" tongue, that's a "lick-up-that-oozing-booger tongue."

Don't worry, this time it's a "snowflake-catching tongue."

I kept peeking outside every so often just to see how things were going and it looked like Jeremy was playing just like I knew he could.  He shoveled all of the snow from the backyard into one giant mountain and then they all started digging.  

By the time they all came inside to warm up with hot cocoa and fresh cinnamon rolls, their cave was pretty impressive.   McKenzie can almost stand up in it, and there is plenty of room for lots of friends inside.  The girls wanted to eat dinner in it that night, but I didn't think there was that much room (and I'm too much of a sissy to eat outside when it's just nine degrees.)

Zip, Zap, Zoo

Yesterday it seemed as though everything lined up just right so that I could take McKenzie and Kelton to the zoo.  It was a free day, the weather was fabulous one more time, Cambrie had a play date after school so we didn't need to rush home, and the kids were happy the whole time.  Kelton hasn't been to the zoo for a year and this was the first time he was able to recognize what he was looking at.  He growled at the lions and tigers, growled when he saw the bears, made monkey sounds when he saw the monkeys, tried to sign "fish" when he saw the fish, and tried to tweet when he saw the birds.  

Waving "Hi."

I always like to have one great picture of the kids with the animals, but neither one of my kiddos thought I was interesting enough to turn around for.  They loved watching the animals.  It helped that most of the animals were awake and active because it made them much more interesting to watch.  

I was able to get a smile next to the polar bear cut-out though.  

We had packed a sack lunch but trying to get Kelton to sit and eat while there were animals all around him was basically impossible.  He loved following all the birds walking around the zoo.  He'd point, follow, back-up if they turned around, and kept showing me his cute little fingers trying to sign "bird,"  So instead of lunch, we had a continuous three-hour snack time.  

When we walked into the tropics house we were surprised to see one of the zoo volunteers holding a hedgehog for a demonstration.  I was confused that instead of rushing up to see the hedgehog McKenzie kept trying to tuck in close to me.  We were able to pet it, but she was nervous about it.  I liked seeing one for the first time.  I didn't expect their spikes to be so dense or stiff.  The kids weren't acting tired towards the end of our loop, but I knew that after walking around the zoo all day they had to be wearing down.  It seemed like as soon as I made the decision to go home Kelton knew what I had in mind and had a total melt down.  The kids did not want to leave, but it took only a few short minutes of being in the car before they were both sound asleep.  I even was able to have a nap of my own for a few minutes when we got home.  It was wonderful.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day!  I had grand plans to make pink, strawberry pancakes with strawberry smoothies for breakfast first thing in the morning.  That was before I made 52 gingerbread pancakes the day before.  Oops.  So I reinvented them instead.  We added Valentine's Day sprinkles and viola!  Valentine's pancakes! 

 

We added a little pink food coloring to the milk, fancy glasses, a heart straw, some bubbles and ta-da!  A deluxe Valentine's Day breakfast drink!  

Leesa had the genius idea to send the kids Valentine's Day clothes, so they definitely looked like I had my act together.  I admit it, I was scrambling that day.  We just finished putting our Valentine's treats for their classmates the night before and I felt like I was on catch-up mode all day!  The kids however never knew.  They had two awesome parties at school and came home with baggies full of Valentine's Day treats from their friends. 

 Jeremy worked that day, so late that night after the kids had gone to bed I helped myself to peanut butter and chocolate chips and waited for our date in a couple of days.  Jeremy didn't tell me what we were doing or where we were going.  I like surprises!  We ended up at an archery range!  Jeremy was bummed he missed out when the Rogers went over Christmas and he was really happy to have the chance to shoot a bow again.  That night I out shot him...it was great :)  I really like archery.  I'm a lot better shot with a bow than I am with a gun.  Go figure.  I didn't get a picture of my hot date that night, but let me assure you, that he was one good-looking guy!

Happy Birthday Jeremy

Jeremy turned 33 this year.  It seemed as though our day was crazy busy and we were running around everywhere, but luckily things calmed down by the evening and we were able to celebrate.  After a tasty dinner of marinated and grilled chicken sandwiches we opened presents.  The girls were each so proud of their gifts to their daddy.  McKenzie chose some designer socks that he can wear to work.  Cambrie chose a science experiment book from the book fair.  He received a waterproof cover for his iPod that he can take swimming from me.  And his parents gave him a new Bose speaker, an Aggie blanket, and some new running shoes.  

The girls didn't give him long to admire his gifts, they wanted cake and pulled him into the kitchen to see his birthday cake this year.  Cambrie thought that we should make a soccer ball cake for him.  I didn't have any black food coloring so we went with teal, but it still looks great.  After a round of "Happy Birthday" the girls helped him blow out his candles and then we dug in.  

Jeremy requested an almond pound cake, and it tastes like a biscotti cookie.  Tasty!  I was just glad that we were able to celebrate the birthday of a great dad and an awesome husband.  Happy birthday Jer!

Pie for Breakfast

Even though there is a lot of training left for our 1/2 Ironman, what we are doing now is already wearing us out.  Saturday night Jeremy and I commented that it would be really nice to sleep in and get some much needed rest.  Then a genius idea struck us.  This is the note we left outside our locked bedroom door.

Miraculously it worked.  I stirred at 7:00 and heard McKenzie outside our door.  "Cambrie, come here and read this.  What does it say?"  After Cambrie finished reading it McKenzie asked, "Pie for breakfast?"  "Pie for breakfast," Cambrie repeated incredulously.  Then both simultaneously shouted, "Pie for breakfast!"  I heard their little feet run down the stairs and I fell back asleep for another hour.  It was wonderful.

Pick up the ball

This year the theme for the Daddy-Daughter at school was, "Time to hang up the ballgown and pick up the ball."  So instead of picking out the fanciest dress in her wardrobe, Cambrie was instead left to decide which soccer jersey she wanted to wear.  Jeremy was glad for any excuse to wear a soccer jersey instead of a shirt and tie.  After they left I put the other two to bed and waited to hear all about their night.  They literally came running into the house with huge grins on their faces.  They had raced home.  I asked them about their night and Cambrie couldn't stop talking about it.  They played hopscotch, threw around footballs, beanbag toss, and even danced a little.  Cambrie said it was one of her favorite dances ever. 

Belly Snow Angels

After picking Cambrie up from school today, the kids wanted to stay outside and play in the snow that fell this morning.  There wasn't much of it, but really that was best for Kelton.  Up at Breckenridge the snow was so deep he couldn't even walk.  This was a lot better.  He still spent plenty of time on his belly because he kept tripping, but at least he could chase after his sister.  

He couldn't get himself up after he fell, so while he waited for me to come rescue him he would make upside-down snow angels.  

McKenzie was just happy stomping around until she found this stick.  Then she decided it was a lot more fun making it snow on Kelton.