This is insane. I don’t think we ever got this many snow days in Michigan. Yeah yeah, it’s different down here. But still. Yeesh.
So, by morning (and after more drugs) I wasn’t quite as pissed about the snow and the kids wanted to go out…
But the novelty has still worn off—I only took about three pics and this was the best one. They were drinking from coconuts. 🙂
It was actually warm-ish and sunny so stuff was melting. But I still spent 45 or so minutes brushing off the car, shoveling the driveway (including the rest of the plowed-in entrance), clearing a path to the mailbox, and chipping ice off the sidewalk.
We were there a few minutes early and were able to skip the line because I’d bought tickets a few days earlier…so we had to wait a few minutes for the floor to open.
Look! BLOCKS!
Can you find Katie?
And mere seconds later after I stopped recording…some kids pushed it over and I got this shot:
I love the “flying” shots!
Meanwhile, in the non-toddler dodgeball section…our poser. 🙂
I love having friends over for dinner. I like making new friends. So when I read this article last year— Friday Night Meatballs: How to Change Your Life With Pasta (if you have the time to read it, please do!)—it hit a nerve and I immediately knew it was something I wanted to attempt. I promised myself that I would schedule something after the holiday season had settled down. Well, then life happens, and I didn’t actually get to schedule it until the end of January, with the dinner to be mid-February.
I posted the following invitation on Facebook and hoped for some responses:
Imagine my surprise when the RSVP slots were filled in less than 24 hours!! And lots more people LOVED the idea and promised future participation! 🙂
Unfortunately, the weather didn’t play nice and we had to postpone a week, but the original attendees were all still able to come! And everything went awesome! Six guests (plus kids) was just right. (This house is big, but for a dinner party, six guests is about the limit of dining space. I wish we had more room, or even a good place for another table!) Everyone got along and had a good time talking, the kids were all awesome (Owen had a new Lego buddy and Katie had a friend), and everyone stayed much later than I anticipated (they all left about 9:30). One couple said it was a great idea and they are thinking about starting something similar! Yay! During the event, I even stopped Tom and told him that I was very happy. He agreed it was a good night. 🙂 We both can’t wait to do it again!
Even though it wasn’t BUSY or lots of work, we were both kept busy visiting and prepping and whatnot, so I didn’t take pictures! The only one I took was of the kids’ table:
And this one was snapped by a guest (everyone liked the aquarium but the girls loved it!):
I hope all future dinners go as smoothly as this one did! 🙂
And then, even though it was WAY past the kids’ bedtimes, we let them stay up to watch one TV show to let them calm down. And this happened:
Katie: Mama! You have crazy hair! Up there on your head!
Me: Katie, can you fit in Maggie’s crate?
Katie: Of course!!
While watching photos on the TV…
Me: Oh! That’s Owee.
Katie: No, that’s me.
Me/Tom: No, that’s Owen!
Katie: Oh that’s right!
Owen let Maggie out to go potty.
Owen: Maggie’s tail is a door.
Me: What?
Owen: Her tail is like a door. It opens when she poops.
Me: 😐
Watching “The Wizard of Oz” for the first time with the kids.
When it turned to color:
Katie: “OOH! BEAUTIFUL!” And when the munchkins came out:
“Ooh! Babies!”
🙂
Owen was shopping with Tom and there were Girl Scouts selling cookies outside the grocery store.
Owen: Ahhhh! Cookies!
Tom: Yes, but we don’t need any.
Owen: No, we don’t, but it’s nice they have them out.
Today marked the SEVENTH snow day this year (and the fourth in two weeks). Tom had a 2-hour delay but actually ended up working from home. Thankfully the kids weren’t ready to go outside until quite late in the morning. I think the major excitement of snow has worn off—though they still like it and want to go out and play in it, it’s not the very first thing they want to do!
Owen was pretending he was a ninja with his new scarf. He actually made me pull it up higher over his face. 🙂
The first thing I noticed was it was actually on the warm side—so I had a good feeling about the snow quality. One quick swipe of the snow on the car and yep—perfect snowman snow!! Time to make their very first snowman!!
The kids were excited…but weren’t much help. 🙂 Owen helped pack snow and find sticks and Katie wandered around.
It’s been probably 25-30 years since I made a snowman. It was hard with such a small yard and because we didn’t have that much snow—and what we had was on top of icy stuff—so it was a lot of scraping from all over. We could’ve tried the backyard but there’s a much higher chance of buried dog poop back there!
The kids LOVED him!
Then it was off to the backyard for more snow after they trampled everything in the front (it doesn’t take long).
But it was really wet and actually turning slushy so we went inside.
Owen LOVES his scarf…and looks quite dapper if I do say so myself. 🙂
The stool has been next to Owen’s bed for like three years. Just this past few days Katie has started to carry it all over the house, both upstairs and downstairs, from room to room. It makes me laugh.
First a trip to the grocery store where Owen learned how to pull off and open the plastic fruit/veggie bags and how to push Katie without hitting anything. 🙂
Then it was time to play in the snow! I got much better pics of Katie today!
Sledding wasn’t very good today so Owen did some snow rolling instead.
We haven’t officially started potty training yet, but every now and again we will ask Katie if she wants to pee or poop on the potty. Sometimes she wants to but nothing happens and other times she wants nothing to do with any of it.
But tonight when Tom asked her she said yes! And then actually proceeded to tinkle!
We all made a big deal about it and she got to pick a toy from the toy bin! I think Owen was most excited, getting out the toy selection and picking her toy—until we told him she got to pick her own toy! To his credit, he was still excited for her!
She picked those growing capsule animals:
Of course I’m not expecting anything to come of this. Owen did the same thing and then it was another two years (!) before he was actually potty trained.
Only 184 pics of playing in the snow this morning. Narrowed down to 30. The best one? Before we got outside! Katie wasn’t much for looking at me today!
Maggie thought she wanted to go outside with us…but of course she can’t stand the cold and snow. Even with a sweater. 🙂
Getting buried by daddy!
The neighbor girl came out while her dad was shoveling. Owen said he liked her after about 13 seconds. 🙂
Owen’s turn to get buried by daddy!
Racing to the top of the hill!
Ten pictures snapped in 10 seconds and not one with Katie looking at me!
Sledding in the back yard (from the neighbor’s yard to ours)!
