Good Times with Family!!!

Pretty much every single weekend of the New Year, we have done something with family. Most of it has been spent with my brother in-law and sister-in-law and their family, but there were a couple of times it's been spent with my brother and sister-in-law and their family, and also my cousin and her family.

We've just had a blast - going to museums (Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry) and ice skating (thanks to Grandpa for snow-plowing the pond behind his house so we could do this!) and sledding (on Poop Hill - no lie!). Throw in some sleepovers and a couple of birthday parties (we even had one for my niece, Dana, except she had to work and wasn't there! Any excuse for a party, right! :)) and I think that we've been with family for every weekend of the new year, except one! I'm just so thankful for family, and all the memories that we are making with these kids!

So, instead of uploading all of the pictures onto the blog, I just made a montage of pictures and videos for you! Enjoy!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Random

This is what I woke up to this morning...

I took it from my kitchen window, because I didn't want to go out in it! :)


And this is what happens when you leave a two-year old alone with a marker...

Did I mention that it was NOT washable?!?


Here are my two sweet boys...

jumping on my bed! Yes - they jump on my bed - and I'm O.K. with that! :) (they gotta let out some energy in the day when it's so snowy/cold out.)



Brett and Owen were up early enough to see me pack Chloe's lunch for school. So - of course I had to pack their lunch boxes too. Can you guess what was on the menu for breakfast this morning?!? Sandwiches and granola bars! Oh well, it's fun to switch things around a bit - maybe we'll have french toast for lunch! :)


Well, I'm officially ready for Spring now. I've built enough forts and have done enough crafts. I'm ready to go swing on a swing or go down a slide! I really did enjoy this Winter for some strange reason, and I still do enjoy the look of the snow, but we are getting a little cabin fever here! Bring on the sun and the balmy weather - I'm ready for it!

I've been tagged!!

Jess from Dearest Jessica tagged me. Here goes...


1. What is the one BIG goal you hope to accomplish this week? My house is sparkling clean right now, so I really hope to a) keep it clean and b) catch up on my laundry. My laundry room is the only thing that isn't clean. Well, that and the basement. Ugghhh!

2. What is the one household chore you do NOT like to do? Duh, the laundry - that's why it's my big goal of the week!

3. What would you buy if someone gave you $2,000.00? (all debts and bills paid)A new camera with all the trimmings!

4. Describe yourself using one word. Talkative

5. What is the one saying or theme that you live by? Love the Lord your god with all your heat and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 5:6

6. What is the one household item you can NOT live without? My vacuum!

7. If you had one chance to go any where in the world where would you go? At this stage of the game - I'll take the hotel down the street! :) Just joking. I'd really take a vacation anywhere though.

8. List the one person you admire the most. My mommy! She's always there for me, even though I'm sure she gets sick of the 12 phone calls that I make to her each day! She encourages me through the tough times, and laughs with me through the fun times! There is no woman out there like her, and she's all mine! Well, I do have to share her a bit, but I'm proud to call her my mom!

9. What is one thing people may not know about you? I sleep with a heated mattress pad, and three blankets. Thankfully the mattress pad is dual sided, so Ryan doesn't even have to have his side on. :)

O.K. - so now I tag... Melanie, because she can't get off Webkinz long enough to make a new post, so maybe this will encourage her a bit to make a new post, and Shawnie. Have fun ladies!

Daddy's gone, and I've got competition

Well, Ryan told me yesterday that his friend invited him to go to his cabin to go snowmobiling. Last year we did this as a family, but this time, it was "only for the guys!" I was totally fine with it though, because he's been so busy with work, and he really deserves the time off/away. Not to mention his birthday is on Friday, so it would be a great present.

He left after dinner tonight, and Chloe just cried her eyes out. She was just so sad to see him leave. He hasn't left us to go on a trip for a LONG time, so this was different for her. She'll get over it, and I told her because she doesn't have school on Friday, she can sleep in my bed! :) That seemed to calm her a bit.

On a different note, I have some new competition for time on my computer! :) I taught Brett how to use the mouse on my laptop, and he's doing awesome with it, but it means that a bit of my computer time is taken away from me! :) No big deal though - I'll just "surf" the net after they go to bed. I don't know what I'll do when all three of them know how/want to use it. Uggghhhh!! I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

O.K., I've rambled on long enough now. Off to read and then sleep in my bed - by myself! I'm secretly looking forward to it, but don't tell Ryan! :)

Psalm 100 - His love is "indoors" forever.

Chloe had to memorize Psalm 100 for school. The teacher e-mailed all of the mothers the day that they had to do it, and said that all of the kids did wonderful, and that she highly recommend that we videotape our kids reciting it. So I did...





No matter how hard we tried, we could not get Chloe to say "His love endures forever." It was always, "His love is indoors forever." :) Too sweet.

I'm just glad, that with the weather that we've been having lately, that his love is indoors forever! :)

Mommy was sick....

I won't go through all of the details, but mommy was sick last week. And when I'm sick, nothing gets done. My house was in disarray. Laundry was piled up high! I'm finally coming up for air, and feeling ALOT better! But I just had to show you what goes on in my house when I'm sick, and not on my kids like a leech!:)


This is what happens to the cookie bars when mommy's sick...




And this is what Chloe does to the boys when mommy's sick... (It's kind of dark - sorry)



You can't tell in the video, but Chloe actually painted the boys finger nails. The whole time they were up there, I thought, "WOW! They are playing so nice together!" And then I saw what they were actually doing, and I had to just go get the camera.

Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week

Each year, an estimated 1 in 100 babies are born in the United States with a congenital heart defect; CHDs are the most common birth defect and the number one cause of death from birth defects during infancy. Nearly twice as many children die from congenital heart defects as from all childhood cancers combined, yet research for cancer receives five times the funding. This is due in large part to the lack of awareness most people have about congenital heart defects.

I have just recently found out that one of my blogging friends, Alexis, lost a daughter to this type of heart defect. Here are some of her words...

When you see those two little lines on the home pregnancy test you are thinking about morning sickness, labor, diapers, breastfeed or formula, will I make a good parent? No one ever imagines that their thoughts would be consumed to echocardiograms, cardiology visits, medicine schedules, surgery, and the endless thought "will my child die".

We lost our 3.5 month old daughter, Allison Grace, to complex CHDs on August 13, 2002. We endured 32 days in the Lutheran General Hospital NICU in Park Ridge, Illinois, endless doctor visits and watching our little girl fight through open heart surgery at 3 months old. We have lived through the horrible nightmare of burying a child, had our living children lose their innocence and endure the harsh realities of life at 3 and 6 years of age and somehow have managed to remain a family through it all.

Help spread awarness of Congenital Heart Defects!!

Well, we got the snow day I've been wishing for

Except, Chloe doesn't have school on Fridays. (She has 3-day kindergarten, Tuesday - Thursday) Needless to say, we still got the call this morning at 5:42, saying that school was cancelled for today. (Our school sends out a mass recording to each family.) Either case, I'm still treating it as a "snow day," because we've got ALOT of snow, and I'm certainly not going to try to venture out with three kids in tow.



We've done alot already today. Let see, we've played with play-doh, made a mouse craft, printed out school work sheets on http://www.abcteach.com/ to play school, baked butterscotch chip cookie bars that Owen (and Ryan) think are out of this world, and now we're just sitting watching t.v. to have a little break.



Anyway, a couple of people asked for the recipe for the butterscotch chip cookie bars, so I thought I'd post it up here for you.



1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

2 1/2 cups flour

1 bag butterscotch chips



Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and milk with baking soda. Mix together and add baking powder. Gradually add flour and stir well. Stir in butterscotch chips. Place dough in a 9x13 greased pan. Bake at 400 degrees until the edges are light brown. (I'd say about 25 - 30 minutes - but just keep an eye on them)



These are really easy to make, and they tast pretty good too - according to Owen!

Off to make lunch, and then banana bread!:) Enjoy the snow, if you have it!