Snow-ish

We awoke to snow, sleet and ice on Saturday morning. The kids have had a grand time this weekend playing in the winter-y mess and enjoyed taking Seth's Christmas sled out for her maiden run. Would have been a little easier if there had been more snow, but Mike and the kids made due.


The fun activities this weekend included sledding, sliding on the ice, building a tiny snowman, having snowball fights, stomping in icy-cold water puddles, warming up by the fire, making pizza, making clay hearts, playing on the Wii, playing Uno and taking bubble baths. (Among other things, of course) Fun times!





The kids were ecstatic to learn on Sunday evening that school was canceled for Monday due to "uncertain road conditions". While it is always more fun to actually have SNOW on a snow day, we are finding ways to enjoy ourselves today and especially loved having a play day with our friends, Sam and Charlie!

Seth fought the floor and...

the floor won. And, just in time for school pictures.

It is the Little Things

Our kids can surely make us laugh.

Katey came downstairs over the weekend dressed like this:

She insisted that the skirt went well with the dress and tried to convince me to let her wear them both together. Not a chance!

Then, later that day we went to the mall. Seth had been begging for new shoes that tie since he was recently inducted into the "Shoe Tying Club" in Kindergarten. I had the kids' feet measured and sure enough, they had both outgrown their shoes. After a long time at the shoe store and many trips of running up and down the aisles to test out the "turbo" on the shoes (as Seth put it), they both ended up with velcro shoes. Go figure!

Speaking of "turbo"... Seth really liked the look of one pair of sneakers but said they felt heavy and didn't have any turbo in them, so he couldn't run very fast. Later in the weekend, he declared that the turbo comes from the orange dots on the bottom of his shoes. Who knew?!? He was ecstatic to learn and share with Mike that the turbo also kicks in when he rides his bike! Bet you are now wondering where you can get such an awesome pair of sneakers, right?

Well, here are the kids showing off their fancy footwear.


I should also mention that Seth LOVES shoes. He is his mother's son. (Seth tried to persuade me to get him 2 pair instead of one.) And, he exclaimed the next morning, "Mommy, I LOVE my new shoes!! Thank you so much for getting them for me!" Who knew it would be our son that would be picky about clothes and adore shoes? :-)

Finally, the last big laugh we got this weekend surrounded the changing of smoke detector batteries. Seth hates the sound of the smoke detectors and is frequently afraid they will randomly be set off. Mike started to change out the batteries and this was the position Seth assumed:

What you can't see here is that he is clinging to me like a monkey! His right arm is wrapped completely around my neck and he is using his right hand to plug his right ear. After battery #1 was changed, we relocated. Seth and I went into my bedroom and closed the door. Then into my bathroom and closed the door. Then into my closet and closed the door to drown out the sound. (Just in case you are wondering, we have had the conversation that in the event of the detectors actually going off, we get out of the house, not just hide in the closet. He asked to go outside but since it was raining, this was the next-best option.)

Oh, the irony...

Last April we spent Spring Break visiting with Uncle Brandon and Aunt Annie in the DC area. At the time, Katey was very into reading Ron Roy books and was working her way through The Capital Mysteries series. We had checked out the book Kidnapped At the Capital and she was very excited to read the mystery while we actually were in the Capital city! I know we shouldn't have taken a library book outside of the state, but we did...

As you might have guessed, we misplaced the book and had to report to the library that we lost it and pay the resulting fine.

Fast forward to a week and a half ago when we were visiting Uncle Brandon, Aunt Annie (and Baby Nate) again...in the Capital. We enjoyed a very nice weekend together and had loaded up the car to leave. As I was getting into the van I looked down and noticed a book between the front seats. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered it was the long-lost Kidnapped At the Capital!! It had been in the van the entire time, though we had searched (apparently almost) every square inch of the vehicle several times. I guess we just needed to return to the scene of the crime to discover the missing book. Lost...and found in the Capital. Oh, the irony!

Anything But Mediocre

Mike and I took the kids for another long car trip. I can't believe that we were all ready for this so soon after the infamous 24 hour drive to Ohio at Christmas, but the pull of seeing our new nephew, Nathan, and visiting with Mike's brother, Brandon, and his wife, Annie, was too great to pass up. And, since the kids had a 3 day weekend, off we went!

Our family had a low-key weekend just enjoying each others' company. Annie (with the help of Brandon) treated us to authentic Korean cuisine. I would tell you the name of what we ate, but I'm not sure I remember...or could spell it correctly! We had a beef dish and a pork dish and the signature side of Kimchi. It was fabulous according to Mike and me. It was mediocre according to Katey. However, Katey felt that using chopsticks was awesome and they even prompted her to have leftovers of the "mediocre" meal the next day.



Brandon and Annie are doing well and functioning on small amounts of sleep. We appreciated them being willing to host us in the midst of changing sleeping schedules, midnight feedings and dirty diapers. Ahhh, the chaos of having an infant in the house. We were sad that baby Nate was very sleepy and a little grumpy on Saturday. But, Sunday and Monday we got to hold him, play with him and see his happy little face more. He is such a smart baby - he said "uncle" many times while Mike was holding him. You might think that was just a coincidence, but we know the truth! :-)

I can't remember what else Katey was referring to, but she described something else as mediocre this weekend. I think this is her new word of choice. Just so you know, Uncle Brandon and Aunt Annie, we think meeting Nate and seeing you all was anything BUT mediocre!

Mommy, I have an idea!

Katey is full of ideas. I mean really, really, really full of ideas. I am pretty sure we hear the phrase, "I have an idea" or "I have a GREAT idea" at least 3 times a day. And on the weekend we are talking more like 20 times a day - and that might not be an exaggeration!

There is one plan that Katey cooked up several months ago that came to fruition on Sunday evening (puns intended - HA!). Probably once a week, if not more, she explains in great detail how to make her version of Apple Cake and how wonderful it would taste. She even created a poster at school to proclaim the wonderfulness of the illusive Apple Cake.


Now, this is not a difficult recipe and I'm not sure why we haven't attempted it until now apart from the fact that I am a self-proclaimed mean Mommy (hee hee hee). So I promised Katey that we could make her beloved Apple Cake on Sunday evening. I didn't realize that I would not be home Sunday evening (see previous post on our anniversary surprise date night), but Emily was gracious enough to complete this recipe with Katey, thus launching her into the role of the greatest babysitter in history in our daughter's eyes. :) And, here is the finished product:



Now, you may be thinking, "That doesn't look like Apple Cake to me". Yeah. Basically, this is just apple wedges with powdered sugar frosting and sprinkles. Katey LOVED it! And, in case you, too, would like to taste this fruity goodness, here is the recipe, as written by Katey (who thinks she invented this concoction, but I am pretty sure we saw it in a magazine):

INGREDIENTS:
Apple
Water
Sugar
Sprinkles
2 bowls
Knife and cutting board

HOW TO MAKE IT:
Mix the water and sugar to get frosting
Put the frosting in a bowl
Cut apple into pieces
Dip each piece into frosting
Dip each piece into sprinkles

ENJOY!
*2 pieces per person*

12 Years

Mike and I celebrated our 12th anniversary yesterday! There was nothing specific planned and we had a pretty low-key weekend, but there were a few surprises.

We woke up Sunday morning to Katey climbing into bed with us. We were talking a little and I mentioned that it was Mommy and Daddy's anniversary. SWOOSH! Katey flew out of the bed and zoomed downstairs. We figured she was making a card and hoped that her plan, whatever it may be, didn't involve confetti. Mike and I were pleasantly surprised when Katey walked into our room with breakfast in bed for us! And, we were thankful that she carried the milk up separately from the Frosted Flakes (and no confetti was used).


Katey explained to us that the Fruit Loops on the top of the Frosted Flakes were in the shape of "Kissy Faces". This girl is so thoughtful!! We loved eating off the Strawberry Shortcake tray, too!

Bonus: The kids decided to join us by eating their breakfast on our floor!



So, Mike and I enjoyed our breakfast in bed then hit the ground running to get ready for church. Afterward we were planning to grab lunch at home but decided to head to Five Guys for lunch as a family instead. Romantic, right?! Exactly what we wanted to be doing!

The other surprise came when Mike told me that one of our favorite babysitters, Emily, would be arriving at the house in 10 minutes and we were going out! That meant I needed to change out of my Sunday afternoon sweatpants and sweatshirt and get ready to go. Thankfully, Emily is very go-with-the-flow and didn't seem to mind getting dinner for the kids or switching out laundry while we were gone (THANKS, Emily!).

Mike and I headed out, but didn't really have anywhere to go and weren't too hungry since we had a filling lunch. We enjoyed wandering some stores and eating an appetizer and dessert at Outback! It was a wonderful evening of fun and discussion and a great reminder of how much I adore spending time with my husband. The last 12 years has flown by and I am so very thankful for a wonderful husband who loves me and is a great father to our children and I'm looking forward to the next 12! God is good.