Marshmellow World in the Winter

It's a marshmallow world in the winter,

When the snow comes to cover the ground,

It's the time for play, it's a whipped cream day,

I wait for it all year round.

The world is your snowball, see how it grows,

That's how it goes, whenever it snows,

The world is your snowball just for a song,

Get out and roll it along.

That's the song that kept coming to mind this afternoon as we watched it snow, and snow some more! For those of you who remember 8th grade chorus, I hope that didn't make you shudder. I even took Nixon out for a little bit to let him experience his first snow. He wasn't a big fan! This winter has been so strange. This week is the first that we have any snow to really count. We have had unseasonably warm temps- like 65 degrees around here. I keep thinking we are going to start seeing tulips bloom. The kids could not have been happier about the snow. The snow must have brought some magic with it because I decided that dinner could wait and we could warm it up after they were done playing.

Confirmed

So, I just finish my post about needing to wrap this kid in bubble wrap and the next day he goes and gets this shiner! He was climbing through the rungs of our tall kitchen chairs and fell into the next rung. He was so sad. He actually sat on my lap and cuddled with me for about ten minutes! That is a record for this kid. He was still smiling though only about a half hour after it happened. Geeze, people are gonna start thinking I abuse my baby!

Bubble boy

I have finally seen the differences between a little boy and a little girl- apart from the obvious ones. Nixon is constantly climbing and trying to do things he shouldn't and can't quite do yet. In a matter of about a week he hit his teeth and bloodied his mouth 5 times. Twice in one day! One of those times I actually thought he pulled out his two bottom teeth. Geeze, he worked so hard and had so much pain getting those teeth in we don't want to loose them! In fact during this week he was also cutting his top two teeth. He has hit his teeth so much that one of his bottom teeth is now shorter than the other one. I really hope we don't have nerve damage. His latest little boy adventure was climbing over and falling out of his crib! He was supposed to be taking his afternoon nap, but instead he stood on his crib bumper to get high enough and toppled out with a big thud and a scream. After comforting him and making sure we didn't have any broken bones I immediatly lowered the crib another notch and took out the crib bumper. I am thinking I need to put this kid in a bubble!

How to entertain 3 kids ages 6 months to 8 years

Let them play in water!!!

Katera singing a song while she worked on her map pockets.

I was having a really good "mom moment" when I was actually doing something with my kids instead of letting the TV or ipods do my entertaining. I found cute little memory/keepsake pocket books to make for the cruise. We set Nixon up in his high chair with some 'edible finger paints' (aka: lime yogurt) so he could be a part of the action too. I ended up doing most of the project myself. I have decided my girls have mild ADD. I always come up with these cute crafts and activities and they only last about 10 minutes into it. So, once they were done with their part they just wanted to get messy with Nixon in the yogurt. I quickly put an end to that one! We transferred Nixon to the kitchen sink where he took a bath to wash off his 'paint'. I could not believe how much fun all 3 kids had in the water. Katera even wanted to get in the sink herself. She just wouldn't believe that she really was too big! It's quite funny when I think about it. We are always telling her how little she is and then for once for her to be told she is too big is funny. I think they played in the water for about 20 minutes before they started getting it all over the kitchen and I had to put and end to that.

For the love of the Vacuum

This little guy LOVES the vacuum. Even when it's on! He follows me from room to room while I vacuum and cries when I turn it off. When he is onery and won't stop fussing I can get the vacuum out and he will cheer right up. He is getting so big I can hardly stand it!

Ice Skating

The kids had a week out of school between Christmas and New Year's. The girls' request for what to do during that break was to go ice skating. We packed up the car and headed to the 7 Peaks Ice Arena. Our original plan was to leave Nixon behind with a friend, but we ended up taking him. I need to learn to trust that other people will be ok with my crying baby. In the end, he was a pretty good boy, but we should have left him so we could focus more attention on the girls. Sekoya was a pro right from the start and even made a new friend within the first ten miuntutes. Katera was a little upset because we didn't get there early enough to get a skate aide. She did wonderful though. She was slow and stayed pretty close to the wall, but insisted on doing it all on her own. After skating we made a couple shopping stops that the girls were not thrilled with and ate lunch at Chuck A Rama. The girls absolutely LOVE buffet restaurants! There's just something about getting to pick from a million different things. Not to mention all the desserts! I don't particularly like buffets, but it is great for the kids. They eat good and it's cheap!

Ringing in the New Year 2012

I don't understand the purpose of staying up until midnight just to wish those around you "Happy New Year" when things don't feel any different from 15 minute ago. I could go to bed like any other regular night, but the kids wanted to do something fun. I tried to put together a little party with some friends, but they were all busy. So we had the Grandma's and Grandpa's over for dinner and some games. We played a fun Around the Clock game with dice, Phase Ten so the kids could learn to play cards, had ice cream sundaes, made our cruise countdown, and filled out time capsule papers. I really didn't think Sekoya and Katera would make it to midnight, but they did. We went out on the front porch in our New Year's party attire and let the girls light sparklers. As soon as we came inside they were both begging to go to bed!

Through Katera's eyes

These are a couple of pictures Katera has drawn at preschool. The top one is of all things Christmas: candy cane, Christmas tree, present, ornament, reindeer, and Santa.




This picture was part of learning how to be healthy. She insisted on eating what "healthy Bob" would eat for days after bringing home this picture. The healthy things are: milk, cheese, banana, apple, peas, potatoe, corn, carrot, steak, and grapes.

Jolly Old St. Nicholas...

Family party #1