Here today gone tomorrow

Yesterday left us with a beautiful snow only to be melted away 24 hours later when 45 degree temps returned. The snow reminded me of the beach.  There was a bright warm sun and snow. We dug, shoveled and sculpted for over 3 hours. I shoveled 3 sidewalks, an entire driveway to the back yard and eventually the street! Needless to say, after today's 16 mile marathon training run, I can barely move now!!

The girls built a great fort in ms marylins yard (our neighbor), while across the street the boys just stockpiled snow for snow ball wars. It was at least two hours of building and shouting "ready??" While the other group responded "no!!"  

Finally the show down started and the girls were ultimately more prepared. They took shelter in their fort and threw snowballs across the street. I'm not sure if a winner was ever declared! 

Because it was so nice out, I stayed out with the kids all morning. A neighbor and I kept an eye on each other building snowmen from down the street. Both of us continuing to add to ours, as neither of us wanted to be outdone! 

It was a great day! To complete the day, I was blessed to become the godmother of the most adorable baby boy, Matthew Charles.  He is the son of our own children's godfather! It was a beautiful service and little Matthew is such precious baby. It was so cool to be a witness to his baptism, which was total immersion...a bit scary for a little baby and for all of us too!! But It felt very special to be a part of his ceremony. Matthew did a great job and it brought back great memories of baptizing my own children. It's funny how when I was a kid, I would be so disappointed to see a church baptism. It added at least 10 minutes to the service!! But now, I look forward to every part of it, even when I don't even know the child. It's such a beautiful thing to watch and we all can feel a spiritual part of that child as he/she becomes part of the church community. Afterwards we all had a fun time catching up with everyone at Macs party! Hopefully I can include a picture of him sometime soon!

More snow pics...

School delays & Quick recall

Let's see...today was a great start to the day! An extra hour to sleep and a 2 hour delay meant our students were pretty low key! In the education field & working with kids, usually anything out of the ordinary creates crazy but luckily not today! The cold temps and delay meant attendance was down and thank goodness so was drama!  There had been a shooting over the weekend involving one of our students & I was kind of dreading returning to school after the break, but everything was pretty smooth given the circumstances. 

After a pretty easy day I picked up the kiddos and found out zach was having his first quick recall match! We seemed to be the only parents unaware of the schedule...poor zach & one of the challenges of being a fairly gifted kid is his totally lack of organization! However he made up for it at the match. During the whole first round he sat out...reading a book no less instead of paying attention to the match and questions. I have yet to give him the business about that! When it was his turn to go in they were down by 11 points. The other team only needed 3 more to win. That's when zach started firing them off! They caught up & before we knew it, tied up the match. They went into overtime and the opposite team was declared the winner but before we left, there were some challenges and we didn't hear the final outcome. It all came down to a question that zach got wrong when he identified the word "bicycle" as a noun. According to the question booklet it was a "direct object" and then there was a showdown between moms, teachers, coaches and judges at the end! We just left as we didn't need to see an argument and regardless of the outcome they did great! I was super proud of Zachary! 

My only pic of the day..not so classy! 

Frosty got disrespected by the neighbors dog.  We caught him making a great escape from our yard.  I took this picture as a joke for my brother...his reply was "he only has one eye..he didn't even see it coming!"  Poor guy! I guess his day wasn't so great! 

2 hour delay again tomorrow! -15 degree windchill expected. Ready for spring! 

50 to 5...the Ohio River Valley swing

2 days in a row! Yesterday was 50 degrees and sunny. 24 hours later it is 5 degrees and snowy!  However enjoy what comes because today was a super snow day! A beautiful wet snow & started off the am with a nice 8 mile run since we had a little extra time! Running in the snow is a somewhat magical experience. Sort of feels like you should be in a movie, as it's very 3D and somewhat disorienting! 

After the run, we made French toast, sipped some coffee, watched the movie Brave and laughed at the accents! Isabella and I built a snowman in the am before lunch & The hortons also came by for a snowed in play day. 

Post lunch we played with neighborhood kids outside, did a few magic schoolbus science kit experiments, and relaxed with some good reads! Otto book! Not a bad day! 

We are all excited about a 2hr delay tomorrow! A great excuse to call off our morning run and sleep in! Thursday is supposed to be brutal though with -20 wind chills again! 

As for today's wrap up here are the pics of our lovely Longboat key inspired frosty! 

Christmas story?? Takes 30 minutes to get 4 kids stuffed in 3 layers of winter garb! 

Grand Snow angels with Otto

Frosty the snowman

Hot cocoa and Science experiments...making slime and bouncy balls after the snow 

Nice 4 day weekend...now back to the real world!! :) 

Another crazy week!

Right now I'm wondering how I'm going to do it all when I go back to work.  I've been sick for over a week so that is contributing to my pessimistic mood.  I went to the doctor two days ago because I was certain that I had strep throat and I also had a nagging pain in my hip.  She made me feel like a hypochondriac because apparently nothing is wrong...other than a bad case of tonsillitis/head cold.  I guess there is nothing they can do for that.  The hip just is likely a strain from running/slipping on snow and ice for 8 miles.  I guess I haven't been very smart lately.

The kids have also been sick.  Vincent has the same chest cold that I have.  Zachary and Isabella have both spent days home from school throwing up.  I think we are all worn down.  Kyle is the only one who has maintained his health!

We spent some time out in the snow when it snowed last week, building snow men and having snow ball fights.  The kids had lots of fun doing that...while Kyle was in the warm/toasty house with Vincent...hmmm..maybe that's why we are the sick ones!

Kyle had a great birthday.  He got a flip-video camera!  It's really easy to use and fun to play with.  We've been making short videos of the kids and soon we'll be able to burn them to dvd to preserve them forever!  Nice!

 

 

 

Delicious Nords Bakery Birthday Cake!

I finished knitting my first baby hat.  It turned out pretty nice.  It looks great in the pictures but if you were to inspect it up close you can see a few mistakes.  I had trouble with the double pointed needles.  I tend to lose track of what I'm doing with 3 kids and 3 animals running around.  There are a couple of small holes in the top and it looks a little messy...but maybe next time will be better.  Currently I'm working on a pair of booties that were supposed to be for Vincent but they may instead fit Isabella!  Yes, they turned out a little too big!

                             First baby hat! Made with love by Momma!

We did have a day of nice weather this past weekend and we were able to take the kids out to the park to practice ball.  Isabella didn't last long, but she was also coming down with that stomach virus too.  They did have fun though.

 

  

Zachary..Turn the glove around!

  

Isabella gets the glove down

  

Vincent showing a little baby attitude!  

Kyle made an awesome soup last night.  It was a Bolivian recipe that he got off of the Lenten rice bowl.  It was a great cheesy vegetable soup.  He even followed the recipe and included the red and green peppers!  It tasted great!

That's it for the new news.  Sounds like Vincent is awake so I better attend to him!  Until next time....

Snow Play

Today is January 19th!  Vincent is 4 months old.  Time has gone by too quickly.  His 4 month old check up is tomorrow and I'm guessing he'll be starting solid foods soon, at his doctors advice.  This week..three days ago..he began grabbing his feet.  It's too cute!  He also loves to look at himself in the mirror and he can roll from his back to his side pretty easily to reach for toys.  He has such a cute personality and is a very happy baby.  The only time he really cries is when he is hungry or tired.  We've noticed his one true fear is of walking down the stairs.  When I hold him while walking down the stairs he holds his arms stiffly straight out and holds his breath.  Then when we get to the bottom he'll either relax or cry...if he was really upset.  It is so sad to watch!

The weekends have really been heating up with the kids involved in so many activities.  Zachary has started a swim clinic and plays basketball.  Isabella began basketball too.  It is hilarious to watch preschool kids playing basketball!  They have no clue what they are doing but they are having fun!  Our Saturday's sound something like this...wake up, breakfast, swim clinic,lunch, isabella's basketball, home, zachary's basketball.  This Saturday I'm starting knitting classes so we'll stick that in there too, along with some time to go running...it's a pretty crazy day.

Last week the kids had a snow day.  That gave us a chance to go out and play in the snow!   The kids made a snowman in the backyard with Kyle using face pieces from the Mr. Potato Man kit.  Then, I took the kids sledding at the park while Kyle got some work done at home with Vincent.  They ran up and down the hills until they were exhausted.  Zachary would fall off the sleep purposefully and roll down the hill. 

I didn't mention our new pets last time.  Zachary got two pet frogs for Christmas from Uncle Jed and Katie.  He decided to name them John Wall and Fred Rocks.  He has invented little personalities for them both.  They are super easy to take care of since they only get fed twice a week and they are supposed to live up to 5 years!  That seems like a long time for such a tiny creature.  They are helping him learn responsibility since he has to remember to feed them on Monday's and Thursday's.  I always forget to remind him but he does it on his own.

Other weird stuff we are doing around the house...Zachary and Isabella have been inspired by an American Express TV commercial to find faces in everyday objects. They love the commercial and laugh hysterically at every face.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m56F4EKN9hg

They like to look for them when they are riding in the car but I never have my camera with me.  Yesterday Zachary found his first face that we were able to take a picture of.  I guess the TV has inspired some creativity in the kids!  Maybe it's not all bad.

Kyle and I are having a soup contest.  So far I am in the lead with my Shrimp Chowder recipe that I stole from Real Simple magazine!  It was delicious!  I can't remember when we came up with the idea to have a soup-off contest.  I've made a potato vegetable and squash soup.  Kyle has made Vegetable Cassoulet and his awesome chili (does that count as a soup?)  So far I think the Shrimp Chowder has been the best...however Kyle is not a good judge since he's been sick for 3 weeks and claims he can't taste anything.  I think he just doesn't want to admit to how great my soups are!  I don't know what's on the soup list for this week.  I haven't been inspired yet!

Well, lots is coming up this week.  Zachary had career day today and I will be going in to his school on Thursday to talk about being a science teacher.  We have boy scouts and basketball practice this week..and games and swimming on the weekend.  It will be a busy one as always.  There is no time to be bored in this house!