Snow Days

Monday night it started to snow and was finished off with a nice layer of sleet.  It was the strangest snow I've ever seen and not a pretty one for an area of the country that isn't prepared for snow at all.  Ben was home from work Tuesday, Wednesday and went in late Thursday.  Public schools were closed all week and our streets are still atrocious. 

The kids played outside everyday, but it wasn't easy.  The snow picked up in sheets of ice, so throwing "snowballs" was just painful. 

(that poor playground still hasn't been touched!)

Any snow that didn't get walked on the first day, was so frozen that you could walk on top of it.

Alison and neighbor friends walking on top of the snow

We didn't leave the house all week.  Friday, we tried to go to Tae Kwan Do, but the van got stuck halfway down the driveway. We were starting to sing the cabin fever blues!  This is Colin's version:

(he's saying "I not okay, momma" and pretending to play the guitar with his hands)

Friends and Fun

The best thing I ever did:

I invited one of Alison's best school friends over for Valentine's Day.  I really want to make an effort to keep her connected to her friends, especially the really good ones.  Allison and Alison have been in the same class for 2 years and have always had to go by their last names.  It's funny having just the 2 of them together, because I'd give my Alison an instruction and Allison L. would do it for her.  Anyway, they had a great day together.  They spent a lot of time in Alison's room, quietly making loom bracelets. 

 

P.S. Allison L. is the only kid I know who is taller than our Alison.

Sunday, we sat down and tackled knitting.  New yarn and a fun girl on youtube made it possible.

 

This is what our project looks like.  Alison wants to turn it into a sweater for her stuffed kitty.

 

Monday was kicked off with a forecast of snow.  Around here that means everyone freaks out and everything shuts down.  We followed true Virginia suit and joined the masses at the grocery store before the flurries started.  Colin snagged my phone and literally took 200+ selfies.

Snow pictures to come, plus some hilarious videos.  

Besides another round of cabin fever, I'm thankful for a week full of smiles.

making cake pops

This week in pictures

Too much for one post...so here's our week in pictures and I'll do a second post explaining.

We went on a "scavenger" hunt on the trail.

We went to the Children's museum.  The kids spent the most time playing on the bus, pretending they were going to Kansas City.

They had a craft room set up at the museum.  Alison made a spider hat and Eli drew creepers on the chalkboard.

Lunch at Jimmy Johns after the museum.  Could not keep enough food in the kids this week and had to go buy seconds for the first time.

Alison attempted to build her 3D puzzle...

We met Colin's BFF Luke at Chick-fil-A for lunch and lots of play time on the jungle gym.

Watched it snow for an afternoon.  Colin jumped in Alison's lap while she was eating yogurt and started eating out of her bowl with his fingers.

Target practice with nerf guns.

This boy started to look different.  His shirt is off to show how big his belly is...gotta love toddler bellies.

Valentine's Day party, with crafts, games and a candy heart science experiment.

Joined a homeschool group at Tae Kwan Do.  Alison got a little lesson and met a new friend.

The boys watched and played legos with some other kids.

We ended the week at the Air and Space Museum with Alison's girl scouts troop.

Alison and BFF Jensen

Alison Louise 7.5

Alison modeling her gifts from Nana:

She's full of sweetness!  She's smart and spunky and growing like a weed!

Love my 3!

 

Kansas Trip, a Lawrence week

We spent the rest of the week in Lawrence with my parents.  Monday morning, my mom watched the kids so Ben and I could run through our old neighborhoods.  It was fun to be back on those roads, but the hills and wind nearly killed me.

In front of our house on 27th St.

Then we got to have lunch at Papa Keno's all.by.ourselves.  I really love lunch dates.

The kids were jealous that we went out for pizza without them, so Tuesday we took them to CiCi's pizza.  We've never been and the fact that they could pick any pizza they wanted was a huge treat.

My dad had been traveling and got home that night right before the kids went to bed.  Somehow that meant that it was time to play catch inside the house.

Mom and I had spent the afternoon making verinky and Alison helped with the finishing touches.  I LOVE this picture.  The pictures I have with my grandma in the kitchen are a treasure to me and I hope this one is for Alison too.

Wednesday, while the boys went hunting, the rest of us went to LOL play place.  It was so much fun and we had the place pretty much to ourselves!

Here are some videos from our morning:

1.  Eli thought he was jumping so high, but only his left foot would kick up.

2. The dance room...there's a TV above the me where the kids can see themselves dancing.  Eli is trying to get just his hand in the picture, in true Eli form.

3.  Colin shaking his booty will lift any spirits.

We spent a lot of the week just hanging out, being spoiled by cable TV and relaxing.  It was great!  The weather was super nice all week and we made it a point to play outside as much as we could.  Alison loved climbing the trees in the yard.

 

I challenged my dad to teach Colin how to behave in Target.  So our last afternoon there, we took a little shopping trip.  Of course Colin did fine.  One look from grandpa and he stopped whining about sitting in the cart.  And there he quietly sat while we shopped for random things.  Alison didn't complain about the trip-she came home with a new wardrobe and accessories.

 

It really was a great trip and just what I needed.  Alison kept saying that she's going to move to Kansas :) 

Colin's favorite part of the trip; riding the bus at the airport