Blake on the move

A few weeks before Christmas Blake started to crawl. Then about a month later he was pulling himself up on everything and walking along the furniture. Blake has been a little laid back on his moving. He doesn't go off and explore. He kind of hangs back and is a little more cautious about things. If he is standing up against something and it moves a little he gets scared and cries. He doesn't even try to go up and down the stairs. I am O.K. with him hanging back and moving slowly. It helps me keep track of him easier.

School on Saturday?

Am I a mean Mom if I actually had my children go to school on Saturday to make up their snow day? Does it make it worse that I enjoyed it? Matt had to work that morning so I was able to catch up on cleaning since the kids were home most of the week.


They weren't too thrilled about it. Kylee figured that they were actually getting a good deal because it meant only half a day of school from 9:15 to 12:45 when their normal day is 9:15 to 3:45.

eeewww chocolate

With the cold weather we have been enjoying hot chocolate. Kylee, Brayden, and Julia were all gathered around the kitchen table nursing their hot chocolate mugs. Kylee does a pretty good job, but Brayden and Julia are still refining their hot coco sipping technique. Julia (herself looking like this picture) noticed a mess of chocolate on Brayden's face and on the table in front of him and exclaimed with a disgusted look on her face, "eeewww, Brayden has chocolate!"

short napper

Blake has not been a great napper for me. Earlier on he just wanted to take about 4 little short 30 minute naps. As soon as I would lay him down I would have to rush and get a task done only to get half of it done when Blake would wake up. It can get frustrating not being able to get things accomplished. Lately he has occasionally taken a nap over an hour and it is amazing what I can get done when I am motivated. Today Blake took a long 2 1/2 hour nap. It made Blake and I both so happy.

Oh how much I could have accomplished if I wasn't having such a lazy day.

Schools out

We woke up Tuesday, January 20th to this.



This may not be too exciting for most, but for us it was a big deal. Our children have not had much snow experience. This was their first real snow day, and school was canceled. They were so excited to see the ground covered in snow. The snow started during the night and continued until 1 p.m. with a total of about 4 inches. The kids went out a couple of times during the day to play in the snow. It was quite the production since we don't really have clothes for the snow. We layered with pajama bottoms, then pants, shirt, sweatshirt, and jacket. Kylee insisted on wearing 3 pairs of socks. Then came the knit hats and gloves. Nothing was waterproof so the clothes and shoes got wet. When they came in I would strip the wet clothes off and warm them up with blankets and hot chocolate.


It never started to snow again, but it was cold enough that not much melted and school was canceled again for a second day. Day two started off with building forts in the living room. Then there were snow ball fights and playing on the trampoline with the snow. The children enjoyed their time home.



Are snow days worth the 2 Saturdays planned for make-up school days?

the beloved rat

As I was coming up the stairs this morning I was looking into my bedroom and noticed this at the end of my bed.



I know this doesn't mean much to the average person, but to my 3 year old Julia this means a lot. Julia has a special bond with her kitty and Randy. She loves them and carries them around wherever she goes. She includes them in her play and sleeps with them every night. Luckily she has 2 special friends so when one goes missing she will be OK with the other. Randy had been missing for about a week and we suspected our son that likes to tease his siblings. Brayden has been known to take her precious animals and hide them in drawers, under beds, in cabinets and anywhere else that would cause us to go searching for them desperately at bed time. Well, despite our accusations he claimed that he did not hide Randy at this time. I guess Brayden was telling the truth. Randy must have fallen down in between the bed and frame after Julia brought him in our bed one of the many mornings that she joins us when it is too early for me to get up (I am not much of a morning person).



Yes she is back to wearing just her tattered tutu.