The prince and four princesses...

We had our princess tea party today! Matthew wanted to be sure to attend so that he could be a prince. We've been planning for 3 weeks now all the ways to transform him and we came up with a great costume, made him a sword, and slicked his hair. He was so excited! Ella Jane helped with the invitations, and the cookie decorating and of course dressing up in her princess gear and getting her hair done too. So fun. No actual princess stuff for Sara so we sassed her up by adding a little neck scarf. Soooo cute.

We decorated some party hats, played and had lunch complete with cookies and tea. It was a nice distraction from the cold weather outside and we were grateful for our little friends who ventured out to join us! Thanks Hoch's!

For you Suyetsugu's, when I first saw this photo of Sara I thought she looked EXACTLY like grandma. Don't you think? Thanks Aunt Mary for the adorable little blue dress.

Snow Day #5...

Mmm....temps. are too cold again today to send the kids to school so here we are at home! What started out as 2hr. delays the night before have turned into cancellations by morning because the weather has dipped down into these FRIGID temperatures this week.

Like the humidity and heat in the summer, this winter cold sucks the breath right out of you. I just came in from putting the garbage to the curb and boy, to say it's a little bit chilly is an understatement.

This is when we need underground tunnels to other SAHM's houses because we get a little crazy when we don't venture outside AT ALL...

But, we have this wonderful basement that is virtually empty (read, has a lot of space to run around in) so we do venture down there at some point in the day to get some of the kinks out.

I'm also secretly thankful that we don't have school because I really don't like being out there when it's this cold and it means I don't have to bundle up the girls and worry about whether they are warm enough on our walk to and from, and it means I don't have to explain AGAIN, why we need to hurry home so "no Matthew we can't linger along the way so you can play in the snow..." and finally it means that I don't have to resort to driving him because it's too cold and turn into a crazy lady while I wait in the drop off line....seriously, those lines are so stressful for me!

So home we'll stay and probably bake some more. Although I'm starting to run out of butter and there's not much you can do without butter.

Snow Day's #3 and 4...

Yesterday was snow day #3 and today is snow day #4 a.k.a. too cold to even be outside day. As of now the temp. is -24 degrees. With the windchill it's -50. Uh, -50???? Um, yea, I think we'll be staying home today...

I could just eat her up...

Isn't she scrumptous?

Ahhhh.....

That's the sound of a mama that just came off of two weeks of vacation! A vacation at home that is. Matthew was off from school and Jim was off from work. I cannot tell you how much fun we had! Sara was a napping machine while I stayed in my pajamas 'till noon everyday. Soooooo relaxing.....

We were given the movie Kung Fu Panda (thanks Uncle Fraser) for Christmas and as a result the kids now play Kung Fu Kickball down in the basement. This is one of Jim's endeavors as only he can do. The kids get all warmed up with their moves and sounds and then have at it. It's a good high screaming time had by all.

Sara has been learning to point and loves to explore EVERYTHING with just her index finger. It's so cute. Caught a few pictures of her yesterday doing this so perhaps will get those posted soon. She's still a crawler on her tummy but is quite efficient at it now. She gets up on hands and knees and contemplates that for a second or two and then takes off on her tummy. Oh she is so sweet right now. Except for when she's up for 90min. at night between the hrs. of 2:00-3:30am. We're working on that....

Jim was able to be home, work on a few projects, sled with the kids, play with the kids, take care of the kids, oh! and paint our living room! He did that last one all in one day which was very impressive. Can't wait to post pics of that, it's so pretty...

Now we are back to regular programming. Thankful for a 2hr. delay this morning, giving us a chance to ease back into our morning routines.

Ahh...still thinking about those last two weeks. Just grand.

Happy New Year...

Merry Christmas...

Merry Christmas from Matthew! He is big enough now that he can get around in the snow, build snow forts, stay outside for 2hrs. sledding and shoveling and absolutely LOVE the snow...

Merry Christmas from Sara! She is big enough to sit in the snow and that's about it. Except for the occasional bout on her tummy which she seemed to enjoy the other day...

Merry Chirstmas from Ella Jane! She is big enough to sort of get around in the snow and does best if she's just playing in the front yard or shoveling the driveway with the boys.

This is when I don't like the snow...when it's time to pick Matthew up from school and I have to wake a sleeping baby, bundle her all up and head out, then come home to a sleeping toddler who I then have to UNbundle and transfer to bed only to have her wake up and start crying because she's cold and uncomfortable... (that's sara in the bjorn, and ella jane in the stroller)

...thankfully it's Christmas break and we can stay home, give Sara the two naps a day that she needs and let the kids go sledding to their hearts content!

...this is what your cards all looked like before they went out. Yes, spread all over the floor where Sara quickly decided to set up camp so if some of them are bent, you'll know why...

So Merry Christmas everyone. As I understand it most of you have snow as well which is especially fun if you're in Seattle. A white Christmas for you, what a treat!

Snow Day #2...

And it's a big one. We had 10 inches of snow fall during the night. Ten inches! Wow. Thank goodness for kind neighbors who let you borrow their snow blowers. It's still snowing and it is so magnificent at this extreme level that it really is quite pretty. The kind of pretty when everyone gives up on trying to get to wherever they should be and just goes outside to play because really they wouldn't be able to make up our unplowed hill anyway.

Pics to come for sure!