This week...

Tuesday it was warm, but there was still snow on the ground.  So while I unloaded groceries and organized some things in the garage, the kids knocked down our snowman.  I think they loved playing in the snow even more this day because they didn't have to bundle up.

And this is what I was organizing in the garage:

 

Our purge pile takes up half of the garage and we haven't even touched the attic space.  Why is it sitting here?  One of the moms from gymnastics asked if she could come pick up all of our stuff for a friend who has garage sales to help raise money for adoption (they're trying to adopt 2 babies from overseas).  I immediately said yes and it has made letting go of some things much easier.

Playing a game after dinner has become somewhat of a routine lately.  Colin always sits with Ben and is "on his team", but I found Eli trying to teach him how to play Uno one afternoon so he could participate that night.  I love how much he loves his brother.

We played dominoes tonight...

 

and Ben always has the hardest job trying to play with Colin climbing all over him.  Tonight, he was attacked by a blanket while trying to win.

 

 

We begin the final attic purge tomorrow and come Monday, we're going to start chipping away at getting this house inspection ready so we can get our full deposit back.  I know it will be hard to leave this house, but I'm also looking forward to no more winter!  No more coats and boots and being stuck inside!

I had our crib made into a bench and I LOVE IT, but you can hardly see it under the constant coat/shoe/bag drop-age.

Snowed in

Church was cancelled yesterday and after Ben did a "home church" service for us, he took the kids out to play in the snow.

Alison taught Colin how to make a snow angel.

Then they threw snowballs at each other.

 

Ben shoveled our driveway a few times and I think it was mainly just to get his moneys worth of our shovel.  To keep or not to keep that shovel when we move?

 

The pj king did not want to go out...

 

he spent a majority of the day rebuilding all of his lego sets.  I found a youtube channel that shows intructions for ones we've thrown out or lost.  I didn't know keeping instructions was a thing, but lesson learned.  He also wanted me to sit there and watch him all.day.long and be available to find pieces or take apart pieces.  I am way too organized to enjoy shifting through a big pile of random lego pieces, but I endured for awhile.

 

 

Colin insisted on wearing this hat the rest of they day.  His little noggin has fit that hat for 2 years now! 

 P.S. This stinker is 3.5 now!  I have officially quit half birthday pictures.

This week

We are in the middle of a snow storm, but I'm too cold to take a picture for you.  Maybe tomorrow...

But this week:

I went to tell Colin quiet time was over and found this:

Somehow I missed him turning his closet into a "bunkbed" and getting a snack and changing into pj's.  He's a sneaky one, I tell ya.

Alison has decided to start a club when we move to AZ to make new friends.  She's calling it the 'Gizmo Galz' club, for homeschool girls ages 8-10.  She spent a good chunk of time this week making fliers and thinking about what this club entails.  We've been talking a lot about making new friends and it was nice to see her get excited about meeting people.  She wants her club to meet once a week and go on a nature walk and make a collection of artifacts they find each week. 

Eli spent a good chunk of time on his own project.   He reassembled the Minecraft lego house, finding all the pieces and following the instructions to put it back together.  It was impressive and he carried his masterpiece around with him for a good 24 hours.  Then, I had the biggest mommy fail of the century.  He asked me to help him put ONE piece back on and when I pressed the piece, the entire house crumbled!  Completely crumbled...all his work gone in an instant because I tried to help.  He tried to brush it off, but when I looked him in the eyes and apologized for accidentally ruining his creation, he too crumbled.  Like any good parent, I said, "Hey!  I'll help you put it back together!" and then I looked at the instructions and realized that my 5 year old is smarter than I am and there was no way I could figure it out.  So this was our compromise; I put a coffee table (i.e. new building table) in his room so he didn't have to build on the floor and then he told me where I could sit, a safe distance from the legos, and I watched him put it back together.  Maybe all little boys are amazing at legos, but this particular little boy is astounding.

I guess all the projects going on in the house wore Colin out because he crashed on the way to gymnastics and didn't wake up when I took him out of the car.  He slept for most of gymnastics and I had to document perhaps the last time one of my kids sleeps on me in public.  I was certainly not complaining about the extra snuggle time while I got to watch the other two tumble around.

Yesterday, schools closed and Ben was sent home from work around 11 am for the predicted snow storm.  We thought it would just be rain, but were wrong and it's been snowing hard since.  Our kids were bummed when the Shear Academy remained open, but snow day=daddy teaching grammar!  I was thankful for the little break on this particular subject.

Alison was supposed to have a gymnastics show today, but everything has been closed down and it got moved to right before we move.  I'm praying it doesn't snow then too!

The beauty of a day

Saturday:

 Sunday:

Saturday, when I was lacing up my running shoes, Colin asked, "Can I run with you momma?  Please.  Please take me running."  He says the sweetest things...I promised I would take him for a little run when I got back.  So around the cul-de-sac we went, and Alison and Eli joined us, unable to be left out of anything.  However, somehow our run turned into the boys jumping on little bikes to try and beat me.  But I loved it; I loved that they wanted to be out on the road with me and I'm excited for the day that we can actually all run together.

Sunday afternoon we were back outside with snow clothes on, building snowmen.  The snow was perfect for building and made some good snowballs.

Alison trying to hit me with a snowball

Eli laughing that he hit Alison with a snowball

He built his very own snowman

Alison's own snowman

Colin trying to hit daddy with a snowball as he's busy rolling snow

Eli rolling the body of the snowman

Finished snowgirl

Jump Rope

It was a beautiful day yesterday, in the 60's, and when I got home from my run, Ben and the kids were outside playing.  Alison challenged us to a jump rope contest. 

But the best part of the day was watching Alison jump rope.

Less than 24 hours after our jump rope contest, it started snowing!

The kids were thrilled to walk through BIG snowflakes as we left church and were in awe as we drove home.  I love the wonder snow brings to little kids.  We immediately changed into pj's and turned on the fire when we got home.

The kids sipped cocoa and I made them all lay in their rooms with the shades open, to just watch the snow for awhile.  They thought I was crazy, but I wanted them to just take a moment and savor the snow...and rest.

I'm sure the snow won't last long, so I'm enjoying this winter afternoon for all it's worth!

This week...

It's no secret, these kids are spoiled.  Somehow quiet time ended up on my bed Sunday afternoon.

Smoothies, a movie and pj's...spoiled.

I can't remember why I took this picture, but let's just document that Eli at 5.5 still loves the tag on his blankie.

 Monday morning we started school back up and got to watch it snow while we worked.  I should have waited to do school and took the kids outside to catch flurries because I waited too long and by the time we were done working, the snow was gone.  Lesson learned...snow=pause school.

Thursday was back to gymnastics and Colin refused to participate (although I can see how the gym is intimidating to a little squirt) and took pictures with my phone while we watched the other 2 tumble around.

Colin: "Say 'Cheese' momma!"

Me: "Cheese!" with my giant cup of tea to try and gain some energy while the kiddos get some of theirs out.

Selfie of Colin...he looks so different!

Friday, Alison had a slumber party with her friends Natalee and Lydia, who are conveniently sisters.

She has been dying to have a slumber party before we move and although I warned her that I'm no Lorelai Gilmore (i.e. I'm going to make them go to bed at 9:30 and be quiet), I think they had a great time.

I explained to the boys that they get to have "boy time" all the time because they have each other and this was Alison's time to have "girl time" because she doesn't have any sisters.  So, we asked them to leave the girls alone and let them play girlee things in peace.  A few minutes later, the boys walked downstairs like this:

"We're girls now, so we can play too!"

I have never laughed so hard in my life.

They attempted to convince the girls that they were girls too, but it didn't work.  So, they changed into superheros and flew around the house.

Ben built the girls a giant tent and they happily played Barbies and made bracelets in there for hours.

This morning, Colin came down for breakfast like this:

And while the boys went to the Y, the girls did makeovers.

Alison's napping now, which means they probably got a whole lot less sleep than I thought.  Sleepover, check.

In other news:

We are officially moving to Yuma, AZ and have a verbal agreement on a house to rent.  Packers come February 24th, Ben checks out of his post on March 1st and we'll begin our trek across the country.  I don't know a thing about Arizona, but I found a homeschool group in our town and the house is 7 minutes away from the Y and water park and just 2 miles away from California and Mexico, which I think is just plain crazy.  Anyway, we think Yuma will be a great experience.  Ben's commute will be half the time it is now, with no traffic.  We're looking forward to some amazing Mexican food and to making some trips to San Diego and the Grand Canyon.  If nothing else, we'll learn a little Spanish and have a good dent on our geography notebook.  I love it that our kids get to experience so many different states.