Truly Happy Day for Kiddos

Since we are out of the deep freeze up here, we finally have a day warm enough for all the kids to play outside! Talk about a nice change of pace from being inside all day long every day. The kids enjoyed hanging out in the snow fort, climbing up and sliding down the small snow hill that has formed from scooping snow off the deck all winter, playing on the swing set, and just enjoying the warmth! Granted, it's not quite tropical shorts weather yet, but I think we all are beyond happy to be enjoying 25 degrees today! And no subzero temperatures again until Friday. . . yahoo!

With no school today, we had 3 extra "big kids" here all day long, but everyone got along well, played great, and had a really good day.

Painting

This weekend was spent repainting our living room/dining room/entryway. Thankfully, I had done all the prep work during the week: taking stuff off the walls, taping, moving furniture out of the way, etc. I started painting Saturday morning and we had the house all put back together (except stuff back on the walls and putting up new valances) by Sunday night. Wow does it feel good to be done!

Here is the before shot:

Here are some during the process shots:

And here is the final result!

Happy Birthday Reed!

Reed turns 2 on Sunday! Today we celebrated his birthday and had some goodies. Katie baked delicious cupcakes in ice cream cones and all the kids had fun devouring those. The kids also had a good time opening up goodie bags and wearing their party hats. Sophie decided that sleep was more fun than party stuff, but hopefully she likes her little party t-shirt anyway!

So have a wonderful birthday on Sunday, Reed!

Family and Friends

One of my favorite things about Christmas is receiving Christmas letters and updates from family and friends we don't get to see very often anymore. There is nothing better than getting that card or letter or email from someone you know but haven't had a chance to talk to in awhile.

Last week, one of my second cousins, Amy, was blessed with a brand new baby girl. She and her husband are adopting her sister, Allison's, new baby. It's all a huge blessing for the entire family for so many reasons, and I am just so very happy for them all. I know it will still probably be awhile before we see you all again, but congratulations Amy, Bob, Kaitlyn, Adelia, Allison, Rich, Julie & Adam!

Another fun bit of news that I received this week was a message from Phyllis Wiuff down in Texas. She and Bruce got to visit their youngest son, Nathan, who is in the navy. They got to spend time with him on board his ship. Nathan had put up the Christmas picture I sent him of Bria and Emmy on a commons area bulletin board, so now my girls' smiling faces are sailing around the ocean. They were pretty excited to hear about that. Stay safe Nathan!

For all our other friends and family. . . . thanks for keeping us up to date on your lives. Isn't it awesome to be living in an age with cell phones, digital cameras, email, internet and all the other wonderful gadgets that make it easier and easier to keep in touch with each other even though it seems we're all spread out more and more all the time?!

Teeth #5 and #6 and The Flu Bug

Emmy was so excited to head to preschool this morning so she could show her friends the big gaping hole in her mouth! Saturday she and Bria managed to knock out tooth #5 and this morning tooth #6 came out as well. So, our little Miss Emmy, who is just 5, has now lost 6 teeth! I think she's trying to keep up with her cousin, Tre! I'm not surprised her teeth are coming out so fast considering they all came in so fast when she was a baby. She had 16 teeth in by 14 months old - and almost all of those came in in pairs. She seems to be losing them about the same way!

Tooth 5 got bumped out on Saturday

Tooth 6 fell out this morning!

We've also had the flu bug floating around here for the past week. Emmy had it last Wednesday - Friday and last night Bria came down with it. So we've had lots of movie time and quiet rest at our house. And with the stinking cold weather, it's ok to be quiet and warm under a blanket right now. Really - it's just stinking cold!!! We woke up to 35 below this morning and the next 2 or 3 days promise to be just as cold, only the wind will be added to the mix again starting tomorrow I believe. It makes us very thankful for a warm house and vehicles that are running well in spite of the temperatures. So we'll just keep bundled up through the cold and the weather man said we might see 20 or (gasp!) maybe even the big 3-0 this weekend! Talk about tropical!

Well, I think I might try to sneak some rest in while Bria is settled down a bit and Emmy is at preschool. Two girls with the flu during the past week means not much sleep for Jon and me and I'm feeling it today!

Girl Scouts

Bria loves participating in Girl Scouts and today their troop leader, Julie, had put together all kinds of fun activities for them to do. The event was originally scheduled as their Christmas party, but due to a blizzard that day, it was postponed until this afternoon. But the girls had so much fun! They got to make snowflakes, frost and eat sugar cookies, make gingerbread houses, create winter clay creations and made a handprint dishtowel for their moms.

I had forgotten my camera, so I took these pictures with my cell phone, but you get the general idea. The girls all had a great time! Thanks, Julie!