More Snow Days

Alison had 2 more snow days this week!  It was craziness!

Here are some highlights from our snow days:

I gave everyone hair cuts and we ate oreos for 'O' week.

 We played a few rounds of Uno.

We had "orange day"...wore orange, ate oranges, made orange paint and went on an orange hunt.

 

 

We finally made it out and went to lunch at Pizza Hut for Alison's "book it" treat.

This is the face Colin makes after he tastes pop:

 

And this is Alison and Eliot's face while they watch cartoons.

 

We went to the library and had some friends over for dinner.  It's been great to have some down time with the kids, but I'm looking forward to our routine back.

Snow Day!

The week I planned to a T has been all out of whack.  Tuesday there was a forecast of snow in the evening, so of course school had to get out early.  Everyone was in a panic about the possible inch of snow and everything shut down...literally.  School was cancelled yesterday and today and I wouldn't be surprised if they cancel tomorrow too, simply because it's in the 20's.  Even the Y closed, so I was out of teaching too.  I tried to keep plugging along with the schedule that I planned, but the snow won.

I tried to do some school with Eli, but he just wanted to eat the project.

Alison worked on making loom bracelets.

The kids were dying to play in the snow.

 

Alison had a blast.

 

I made a sled out of Alison's laundry basket and jump rope, just like my dad did when I was a kid.  It actually worked amazingly well.

 

We ran around the yard and made snow angels.

 

Colin was not super excited about my sled or the cold snow.  He didn't last very long outside and was happy watching us play from inside, in the warmth.

 

We warmed up, drank hot chocolate by the fire and watched Despicable Me.  And then, maybe just to prove to everyone around here that it's possible, we went to the grocery store.  We picked up some yummy bears and alligator (aka gummy bears and gatorade) and Alison declared it party time.  I love it that $3 can buy a party for 3 kids.  The kids played "brother/sister", I made pancakes and we celebrated the end of the snow day.

This weekend

We had a wonderfully "normal", healthy weekend!  We worked out, cleaned up the house, ate yummy food, relaxed, went to church, played outside and ran a few errands.  The best thing about this weekend was watching Alison and Eliot play together.  They played "camping" for most of the weekend and even gave up a movie night so they could keep playing together.
 

Alison quote, while playing with Eli: "We just got married and now it's time to go for a run"...then they pranced around the house holding hands.  I guess the saying 'actions speak louder than words' really is true.



I also loved that the boys' appetite seemed to pick up this weekend.  A big praise in my books!  Colin's face is plastered in chocolate from cookies I made today...I let him eat 3 :)

Preschool-letter 'L'

This week, Eli glued leaves onto an L and also made a lion.

We ate lemon bread and played London Bridges falling down.

Preschool-letter 'M'

We read 'If you give a moose a muffin' and made muffins.  Then we ate them with milk!

We also counted marshmallows.




Eli worked on writing 'M's and made an M mountain.

More Kansas Pictures

Playing with the dollhouse

Jonathan and Colin opening presents

Maggie, Grandpa and Colin

Grandpa with all the grandkids, minus Rose

Playing pizza party

playing in the snow with Jonathan and Maggie

Grandpa giving sleigh rides in the street

warming up with hot chocolate

Happy New Year!

I kicked off 2014 going back to my roots.  I've heard a million times "A new year, a new you!".  What if I want to be the old me?  I think there's something precious about knowing who you are, accepting it and appreciating it.

I cleaned and organized the house to start the year in the right direction.  Plus, "old me" relaxes a lot more when things are in their place.

 I put on my grandma's apron, pulled out her old cookbook and spent the afternoon cooking.

Zwiebach

There is absolutely nothing better than fresh bread.

Alison enjoying a fresh after school snack

 We had ham and potato soup for dinner, followed by a butterfinger dessert.  I thought it was funny my grandma had a candy bar dessert in her cookbook, but I figured it must be good if she made it...and it was:)

Yummy food and your family is always a great way to start the new year.  

 

A boy update

Colin "cleaning" up the salt he poured all over the table...Eli giving him an "I taught you well" look

We met with a nutritionist last week to discuss a plan for Colin.  She confirmed that Colin is 2 pounds underweight and needs to gain some essential weight in the next couple of months.  I loved her perspective on it though; we're not trying to make Colin something that he is not.  He will always be thin with a high metabolism, but we're trying to make him the best Colin that he can be by providing him enough calories for his development.

A few days later, we had a doctor's appointment for Eliot.  He has been showing some signs of nut allergies and we wanted to pursue getting him tested.  To my surprise, we found out that he is also underweight!  All I could do was sigh and assure the doctor that I knew how to pack calories into his diet. 

Eliot does not strike me as being too small.  But the other night, Ben told him to go get some pants on and he came down like this:
 

He's wearing Colin's pants!  And they fit!  Well, except for being too short

Tthis week has been full force into high calorie diets for the boys.  I wish I could say it was easy peasy, but it's been stressful.  I feel like the more I work to feed them, the less they eat.  And balancing high calories for the boys and low calories for the rest of us is complete craziness.  All that to say, if you see us in a few months and Ben and I have put on the weight that the boys should have, please be gracious and know that I tried my best.

I resulted to anything I know they would eat this week, which is not budget friendly but hopefully worth it in the end.

yogurt pouch and nutella sandwich

pasta and avocados...Colin likes them in his hair :)

I'm anxious to find out the results of Eliot's tests...hoping maybe it will explain some of his grumpy moments.

Lately, when Colin gets grumpy, he will strip off all of his clothes, even his diaper.  I don't really understand how being naked solves being angry...

He also found his nose this week