Spring

Nothing warms the body and soul after a long cold winter like the sight of crocuses and a sunny, 60 degree day!

The clean windows will help me feel like I got something accomplished today and lessen the "I shoulds" while I park myself in an Adirondack chair with a book!

Just Chillin' ...

...With Olaf and my movie.

A Style, Still, All Her Own

GGirl's sense of style emerged early and has continued to evolve.  Her most recent exploration is in the area of prints, and such.  The shirt matched the jumper because they both had white, then everything else was accessories.

She was going through a bag of clothes passed to us and was very excited about the pink, sparkly, pretzel sweatshirt.  I was at a loss until she showed me what she was talking about.  May we all have more pretzels in our life.

Showtime!

Every so often GGirl will announce that she has a show.  It's always entertaining.  Tonight's show, directed by GGirl and starring some less that cooperative actor(s), featured Firestar, Spiderman and IceMan in a quick action feature that was beyond the speed of the focus of my camera.  There was flying ice and fire, tickling, running and laughter.  Encore's continued until the "audience" announced it was time for bed.  :)

Kindergarten Graffiti

"Mommy, I wrote a note on your car!"

After I took the picture.  "I wrote 'I love you' on Daddy's car too, but he didn't take a picture."

I'm sure it will be "wash me" before spring is over!

Some Decisions Are Easy

Go out and walk, or yoga in front of the roaring fire.  It's a no-brainer on a morning like this!  February: the longest shortest month of the year.

A Princess Engineer

You've heard about the boy and his train, well GGirl got some additional add-on pieces for our train set for her birthday - complete with a pink train, a castle and an enchanted forest.  It was a great way to pass time on this snowy, cold afternoon.  We had tracks covering most of the living room floor before we were done and enough room for two little engineers once MMan woke up from his nap. 

Taking Advantage of a 20 Degree Morning

Even with my warm weather gear, I've decided that if the temperature is under 15, it's just to cold to be out walking.  And it takes way too long to warm up afterward!  Not enough hot cocoa fixins in my kitchen.  I've discovered a great yoga channel on youtube to get me thorough the rest of winter

But, it means that on the rare morning like this, when the little red line on the thermometer is actually above 20, I hit the road. Yes, 23 degrees felt warm, even though I looked like Olaf's cousin by the time I met up with my ride.

I can't wait for spring.

Safety from Siblings

Me: MMan, what are you doing?
MMan: (with an mischievous grin) I safe of Gwnonyn!

Snowy Play!

Our family time doesn't fall in normal intervals like evenings and weekends.  Occasionally, HandyMan is home to get GGirl off the bus and play in the afternoon.  On this particular afternoon, they all bundled up and headed out to play in the snow.  There was running, there was chasing and there was tossing of clumps of snow.  It was packed down so to say they "made snowballs" may be a stretch.  But it was clearly two against 1.  I only stepped out as far as I had to to take a few pictures. :)

I Happy!

Today was one of those days that the sun shone brightly and the temperature seemed tolerable as long as you didn't look at the thermometer.  The sunshine comes with a cost in the winter!  Days like today where the sun shines off the snow and temperatures seem tolerable, I remember there are a few things I like about winter.  But it seemed nice enough out so MMan and I ran some errands.
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I guess I've told him that we take naps and sleep so we can be happy and have fun adventures.  So now, on a few occasions, when fighting a nap, he proudly announces "I happy!" And goes about his merry way.  He's also excused himself left whatever is going on to go to his room, snuggle with his binkie and blanket and return 5-30 minutes later making the same announcement.

Backseat Drivers

It was one of those mornings when we were all trying to get out of the house at the same time to get GGirl to school and then off on other errands.  It was time to leave and MMan was lost in his imagination driving a busload of passengers (the staircase) and holding on to his steering wheel (rubbermaid lid) for dear life.  So in an effort to get out the door without a meltdown, I told him to get in the car and he could drive in the car.  That appeased my public transit wannabe.  Except then GGirl wanted to drive in the car too and made a break for my rubbermaid cabinet (in the opposite direction of the door we were trying to get out of) to get her own "steering wheel".

Oh, no you don't!  Just like every other house in this country, the bottoms and tops of my rubbermaid container rarely match up when I want them to and we are certainly not taking them to get lost in the abyss that is the back-seat of my van.  

So with a quick thought I sent GGirl to go grab plastic plates.  And we were out the door.  On time.  

All in a morning with small children.  I wouldn't trade it for anything -except maybe the cup of coffee that I never got this morning, yawn.

A Boy and His Trains

Thomas the Tank Engine, Chuggington, any engine he can find is a new friend.   And if the engine pulls musical cargo, its only better!

Snuggles & Stories

Story time with Daddy before bed is a favorite for the kids, and some nights I enjoy watching and sneaking pictures of the snuggle-fest!

Good Morning

This morning was one that had all of us getting ready to leave at the same time-earlier than normal for some.  Usually this type of morning involves frenzy and chaos.  Today, we all got out the door calmly-and even some smiles.  GGirl's mood was appreciably elevated by her new shirt that I surprised her with when I woke her up.

Fun With Boxes

Mornings wirh MMan

Play dough, blocks and sometimes even fishing are par for the course if you're spending the morning with MMan.  And snacks.  Lots of snacks!

He is full of energy and gets his point across, even if the passersby wouldn't understand his "words".

 But he's getting there.

Boats & Busses

GGirl usually doesn't take the bus to school, we drop her off.  On Thursday, school was delayed, so she rode the bus in.  MMan wanted nothing more than to play in the 'no.  So for a half hour before the bus came, they played boats in the snow, I held my tea mug for warmth.

Not the Normal Grocery Run

How much food could a Mazda haul, if a Mazda could haul food?  Well, we were riding pretty low with this load after we went to pick up the last grocery order for Christmas food boxes at church!

Unexpected Reactions

Quite often one of my children will surprise me with a reaction that is unexpected.  Such was the case on Thursday morning.  Snow everywhere! We had watched it snow for most of Wednesday and I was expecting glee and excitement out of GGirl.  Nope.  She looked out the window and responded to the piles of snow with:

"Oh, the poor trees!"