Happy Birthday, Ben!

Last Friday the kids were super excited to celebrate Daddy's birthday- after all, birthdays mean presents they can open (even if they are for Daddy!) and treats to eat! Daniel very proudly picked out a really cool Star Wars Lego set to give Daddy, while Annabel was absolutely tickled to have found a Star Wars list pad during a recent trip to Barnes & Noble. She just loved having her own special thing to give him. The kids could hardly stand to wait for Daddy to have a free minute (it was a work day after all) to open presents- you'd have thought it was their birthday! They were also happy to wear shirts that they knew Daddy would like, in honor of his birthday- Daniel wore a Lego shirt and Annabel wore her Star Wars shirt. I love these kids- they are just so cute!

We had a lot of fun making eclairs for Daddy's birthday treat. I had made these eclairs years ago (6 years ago to be exact), and they were good, really good, but then Daniel's milk allergy became known shortly thereafter and we never made them again because that would just be mean to eat them in front of him. Well, it's a new world without allergies for us and we're loving it...bring on the eclairs! It was really fun to make these and remember the first time I made them because this was my audience at dawn thirty the morning of Father's Day 2009. I very clearly remember baby Daniel sitting in the family room playing away while I baked, filled, and frosted eclairs to surprise Ben with when he woke up. I remember thinking how good Daniel was while I was busy in the kitchen, and how well he played on his own. I remember how adorable it was to watch him play away the whole time. (And when I typed in eclairs to search for this blog post, I also came across this post, too- oh, the trips down memory lane!)

Anyway, this time around, I had helpers...the best helpers! The kids just loved filling the eclairs- dropping big dollops of pudding on and then sandwiching them with the top of the eclair. They didn't leave me any to do, that's how much fun they had! And of course the best part was the tasting while they helped, because these sure are messy to make! We all gobbled up just a few eclairs after we helped Daddy open his presents...they were such good eclairs.

Happy Birthday, Daddy! We love you so much!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I basically didn't take any pictures yesterday. I'm not sure where I was, but I guess I wasn't all there. We sort of had a busy day...the kids had a Lowe's workshop with Ben (they built super cute heart picture holders), gymnastics and a lunch date at McDonald's, while I ran errands (book sale at the library- scored some fun books! Barnes & Noble because I'm looking for stationery which apparently barely exists anymore!). Then we regrouped back at home, I baked cupcakes while they played, we set up a lovely dinner table with sparkly pink silverware (!!!) heart shaped placemats red plates Valentine's napkins and a heart shaped candle. I taped up all the kids' Valentine artwork to the wall. We all wore red (boys) or pink (girls). It was very festive in our house- but I never took a single picture. Oh well.

I DID take these pictures a week ago and they qualify for Valentiney pics, I think- there are hearts after all! Annabel has been having fun trying out headbands. She's forever pushing her hair out of her face (a gesture I actually happen to think is just too cute, I just love the way she does it- so sweet and adorable), and somehow I managed to find some headbands I have (from when I was pregnant with horribly uncontrollable hair, I think? I hate headbands on my head, what was I thinking?!) and she loved wearing it. She thought it was the bees knees! So I hunted last weekend for some cuter girlier ones (mine was just plain black) and found this super cute Valentine headband, on like double sale super cheap. Annabel fell in love!  I think she looks so cute and so much older. Anyway, snapped some pictures because, you know- too cute! Got the perfect picture first time around, and then the kids wanted to do silly pictures and those are pretty funny, too. (We were headed out the door, if you're wondering about the coats.) Annabel has worn the headbands I got her a couple times this week; I think the jury is still out on how much she'll actually wear them from here on out- for now they are new and novel and fun and I'll take it!

Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

Colorful Snow!

After that blizzard we had on February 1st, we were literally outside every day for a week. (Daniel's lion always watched from the window in Daddy's office.) One day, I decided to change things up a bit, and gave the kids colored water to squirt out there on the snow piles. They had a blast doing that! We had a pretty colorful fort and snowman for a while there, until a few warm days at the end of the week melted a little of the snow (but not all of it, we do still have a fair amount out there). Daniel sprayed a lot of green on our snowman and said it was a zombie- silly boy. This of course drove Annabel nuts- "it's NOT a zombie!!" she'd scream. It didn't last long anyway. Ah, siblings. Anyway, we sure got our fair share of fresh air that week!

Gotta Get Out...To the Zoo We Go!

We've gotten outside a fair amount this winter, but when the warm days strike few and far between, you can bet we gotta get out and enjoy those days! So when the last warm day rolled around a week ago Saturday, we up and went to the zoo! It had been quite a week with kids sick, parents sick, and of course it was warm...so all things combined, we really needed to get out of the house and do something. The kids and I took Grandma Cheryl with us to the zoo for almost two hours, walking around, enjoying the quiet, seeing a few animals, playing at the play zoo, and even playing on the playground (the kids wore their snow pants for this very reason- other kids we saw were very jealous of my kids having a ball in the snow and on the slippery slides!). We had a great couple hours there!

100 Days Smarter!

Daniel celebrated his 100th Day of Kindergarten this past Friday! Sometimes it's really hard to believe that Daniel is doing things I was teaching and doing with my Kindergarten classes; it's really fun, but also really unbelievable that I have a child of my own old enough to do all that! And he is doing SO well in school and his reading is just amazing to me!

Daniel was incredibly excited that last Friday finally rolled around...it was just one big mash of a party- pajama party (he wore some race car pajamas, after much deliberation; frankly I was surprised he didn't wear superheroes or Legos- the kid remains an enigma!), 100th Day party, and Valentine's Party all rolled into one. And to be honest, in the end, I think it was sort of anticlimactic for him. He had a good time, but spent the rest of Friday literally lolling about, very restless...so we've kept the weekend a little more low key so we could all recover from all that excitement (the rest of the week had been super busy, too- it was sorta too much).

ANYway, getting ready for the 100th Day was super fun! Daniel had to bring in a project made from 100 pieces of something. He wanted to do 100 Legos, which turned into 100 Lego mini-figures. And we actually managed to find 100 Lego people around here! It wasn't too hard, what with our Lego collection (for starters, remember that huge bin?!). We sat them on a large green Lego plate in ten rows of ten and it looks super cute! And it was unique...nobody else brought Legos! Daniel was pretty happy about that. All in all, we had a good time putting that together and Daniel had fun showing it off at school.

I also managed to dig up the pictures of Daniel when he was 100 days old. And of course I had to find Annabel's, too. So fun! Oh, the trip down memory lane. The kids had a lot of fun looking at those pictures (they are sort of obsessed with their baby pictures these days). I printed Daniel's pictures up and sent them to school with him on Friday and the teachers loved that! It was so cute. And Daniel had fun showing his friends those pictures, too. AND (you saw this coming, no?) I also dug out the actual "100 days old" onesies from the kids' baby boxes and took the kids' pictures with them- so fun! They're so big now! It's so hard to believe my babies were ever that tiny- those were 3-6 month onesies.

I have to say for as much as Daniel was incredibly excited that it was the 100th Day, Annabel was equally incredibly disappointed that it wasn't HER 100th Day of Preschool (which actually doesn't even happen for two or three-day preschoolers- I just counted for her!). She'll get her turn when she's in Kindergarten, but, monkey see monkey do Annabel really wanted to share in the fun and it was hard for her to be happy for Daniel. I was just glad I'd found her onesie, too, so she could get her picture taken as well- that delighted her!

Happy 100th Day, Daniel! We're so proud of all your hard work! We had fun celebrating your 100th Day of school!

Groundhog Day!

Annabel was very excited that today was Groundhog Day- she'd talked about it at school and made a Groundhog project, too. And of course with all that snow we got yesterday and with school being cancelled for today, you can bet we were back out in the snow...again...and again...and again- yes three times total! And all three times...the kids saw their shadow. Annabel said even the snowman saw his shadow, too. Looks like more winter for us!

So, our snow gear is getting tons of use and Mommy is actually finally considering getting some snow pants, because gee, I think I'd get my money's worth out of them with these little Eskimos! With the 15 inches we got yesterday plus all the snow that blew around with the blizzard overnight, we have some snow areas in our yard that are very deep, and the kids had a ball trekking all over not only our front yard, but also our back yard! Annabel struggled and got stuck just a few times...seriously, the snow was up their waists in some of the drifts- I kid you not! But mostly the kids did great climbing all over the snow drifts and just absolutely loved trying their darndest to keep going on their own, grunting with effort and then shouting with joy when they'd made it out. It was so fun to watch them. In the front yard, the kids had fun sledding down our mountain, digging up the snow, and Annabel had fun hiding in the fort. All so fun!

At one point, when we were in the back yard, Daniel wanted some things out of the shed, to which I answered sorry, I'll never get it open and also it's crammed full of stuff...but, resourceful helpful guy he is, he shoveled off the lid and I managed to get into it and get what he wanted out. They were delighted with the buckets and sand castle molds I found, too. Next year, I need to make a note to get all that stuff out of the shed before the blizzard! (I have a feeling I've said this before!) So, the kids had fun scooping up the super sparkly fluffy snow, shoveling the deck, brushing the snow off this and that in our yard and having a great time, all while getting tons of fresh air. The sunshine really helped make the day more wonderful, because gosh it was cold out there. I'm thankful for my energetic kids who keep us moving and drag us outdoors to get that fresh air. Daniel did go out in the back yard once for about ten minutes on his own, before Annabel was ready, and then I sent her out to join him and I watched from the window for a few minutes (it was so sweet to watch them work together and trek all over alongside each other), but they really wanted me to come see what they were up to, so I put all my gear back on and went out, too. Daniel had used his hoe to make "monster footprints" and he was excited to show them to me. He's so clever and creative. Annabel noticed that the snow she was throwing off her shovel was making holes in the flat snow areas and she thought this was great- such a cute observation for her to make. Really, the whole day was so delightful- I love getting out in the snow with my kids! The hot chocolate we have once we come back inside doesn't hurt, either!

Blizzard!

We have now officially had a really big snowfall in our area! Found data that said something like 15 inches total! The kids of course were super ecstatic when they woke up this morning and discovered alllll that snow out there! It looked SO pretty! I do love looking at snow. We headed out around 10:00 this morning, after we were all dressed and had eaten breakfast (some of us, ahem, Mommy, are a little slow to wake up and move around in the morning!).

And wow, that sure was a lot of snow. At that point we were guessing around 10 inches or so, but it was still snowing and blowing. The kids grabbed their shovels at first, but then decided it would just be fun to wander around in that bright white fresh fallen snow; it was so fun to watch them just follow their whims and go this way and that. They would flop down to the ground, on purpose, get back up and go again. Finally the kids started shoveling or filling this bucket and that (Daniel would lay his bucket down on the ground, then he'd lay down and push at the bottom of the bucket with his feet to fill it up- pretty clever trick he had there! see picture below for illustration!), while Ben and I started shoveling the driveway and making our huge mountain of snow for the kids. The kids had a ball with that mountain as always.

Ben also decided to start up on a fort, using our recycling bins for the fort bricks, while Annabel and I made a snowman, once I realized that this snow was just perfect snowman snow. She had so much fun rolling her ball around the yard. It was so cute to watch her exert such effort in doing this. I made the bottom ball, she did the middle, and then we did the head together. Annabel and Daniel put in paint sticks for the arms, and I went inside and grabbed some food pieces for the face (he had to have a carrot nose, of course!), along with the scarf, mittens, and hat that Annabel requested. Our snowman turned out pretty cute. "He's a good snowman and he lasted a long time," Annabel said, quoting a fave story lately (Sadie and the Snowman). Anyway, building that snowman was so much fun!

After about an hour out there, the kids decided they'd had enough and were ready to go in. Neither Ben nor I were ready, for a change- we were having too much fun with the fort, it was perfect molding snow, and it was actually rather warm out there so we weren't too cold, but we couldn't convince the kids to stay out, so I went in with them, we had lunch and played a bit...while Ben stayed out for a loooong time working on his fort. He was clearly having a good time! We watched the fort grow from the windows as we played. Eventually, about an hour and half later, the fort got pretty big and looked really cool, so Daniel was excited to go back out again to check it out. So we bundled back up and headed out for a second time! We had such fun checking out that fort, throwing snowballs, digging out a tunnel, climbing through that tunnel, and so on. We even had neighbors stopping by to check it out- the kids thought that was pretty cool. They were the envy of the neighborhood with that fort!

Annabel had hoped to make another snowman, but the snow had changed by then and it just wasn't working as well as it had two hours before, so she was bummed. But she did love being "princess" of the mountain and she really liked that tunnel. Daniel loved throwing snowballs most, of course. The kids played around some more with their shovels and various buckets, staying out for almost another hour again. Then, we'd all decided we'd had enough fun and it was time to warm up again and play some more inside. Daddy had been out there for over three hours at this point- crazy guy, but oh we do love his fort- thank you, Daddy!

We did go back out a third time a few hours later, but we didn't even last five minutes that time, temps had majorly dropped and it was blizzard-like at this point as well, with lots of blowing snow, so we quickly ran back in, and then the kids were inspired to make a "snow pile" with blankets and pillows in the loft and "sled" down that. Too funny! Guess they wanted to play in the snow some more, because two hours wasn't enough!

All in all, it was a great day out in the snow! And of course, wimps that schools are these days, Daniel's school is cancelled for tomorrow, so I have a feeling we just may be back out again tomorrow! At least our street did finally get plowed long about bedtime. Now to figure out how to get that Baker's Square Pie of the Month, European Truffle Pie, in my house...hello, February!

Let's just flop in the snow!

Trekking in the snow, this way and that!

Starting our snowman!

Annabel fell over at one point, then decided that it was like she was sitting in her chair. She's so cute.

See? Daniel's pushing at that bucket with his feet to fill it up. Clever kid.

"He was a good snowman and he lasted a long time."

"Princess" of the mountain! ("Not a King, Mommy!")

"Well, I'm the King then!" Note the folded arms!

Back out again, trying to make another snowman!

There's snow on my mittens! Well, yes, that would happen when you're playing in the snow!

Such a big fort! We can barely see Daniel!

FUN tunnel!

Fun mountain, too!

Annabel helped dig out the tunnel.

There she goes!

Hello, again!

Running away from snowballs!

All finished now!

Ben looked at this picture and said the fort was way bigger than that! But, there you have it. That's a pretty big fort!

"Snow pile" made out of blankets so the kids can go "sledding"!!