another snowy day...

well, it snowed again today and when jaden got home from school he decided he needed to scrape off the porch and sidewalks.....in ROLLER SKATES!!! ....oh my....it was pretty entertaining watching him....he just may have started a new sport here.... hmmmm....it's a good thing when work is fun, right? :) ...meanwhile, i can't believe how big taya is getting- she's growing up way too fast!

Prince of Narnia...

my sitter came yesterday for the afternoon while i had errands and such to do...LOVE HER!... she's been with us for over 2 years and adores the kids as they do her. here's a few pics from their adventure last week- jaden got some foam swords as a reward that have been quite the hit with boys big and small. well, our sitter thought he needed a shield to go with it- so they whipped one up from the art box- .....she said afterwards- jaden was pretending to be the prince of narnia- which means someone has to be the white witch.....oh joy- just what i want to hear my 6 year old son tell his friends- "my mom's the white witch..." josie couldn't be left out of the fun so she became "princess narnia"......oh my........the swords were $2 at walmart if your interested, they have definitely been worthwhile in our household.....daddy even get in on the action.

a thank you....

there has always been something about the song "Thank You" by the Katina's.... today was a day where we were cooped up inside again due to the super cold weather, and for the life of me i couldn't get anything done. no laundry, no dishes, no cleaning...... you ever have those days? ....well, i find them exhilerating (as long as they're not clustered in more than two's then they become overwhelming) :) so instead of fighting it, during the kids' naptime, i curled up and read a great book, which i finally finished- so if you have any recommendations i would be interested in hearing them!

"Get the Hot off"

so our little neighbor boy coined a new phrase last week stating "get the hot off, mom." He was fighting the fever that's been going around and was being quite the little trooper. Well, this weekend Josie (or soshi as the little neighbor boy calls her....love it) came down with a mild version of it and again this morning she woke up with a slight temp- so tylenol has been our friend, as well as raspberry ice juice, trix cereal and cottage cheese- as that's all she's been eating today....(while watching strawberry shortcake)....but, by game night she was feeling back up to speed and having a great time- we played Cranium for Kids, a GREAT suggestion from my cousin, ....so fun- definitely a game the whole family can enjoy....and i must say i'm very impressed with jaden's school reading program as he was doing really well- though i think the glasses were the incentive. - whatever it takes, right?

a candid moment....

i woke up extra early for some reason this morning (possibly because josie was coughing and came down with a fever)  :) i don't know but anyway i couldn't get back to sleep- so i decided to come down stairs and finally sort through the pictures that my good friend Annie took of us this summer....like back in June....i know- sad, very, very sad! She's did such a great job though- here's my favorite that we're going to put above the fireplace in the dining room..... it makes me laugh- i especially love how ornery jaden looks- .....thanks annie- 

ONE.....

so our good friends who live across the street from us have a little girl 3 weeks older than Taya, how cool is that- we say they're good friends already- but you know how well 1 yr. olds play together......we are however looking forward to watching them grow up together. Her mom brought her over a few weeks ago so we could take some photos for her birthday invitations- she was so sweet, clapping, dancing, blowing kisses, very cute....she's also going to be a big sister soon- can't wait! HAPPY BIRTHDAY Laynie!!!

like a postage stamp....

so i'm snuggled up watching the inauguration balls on Fox News and they started talking about this website that you can go to and upload a picture and enter your own message- they're calling them obamicons, inspired by the iconic Shepard Fairey's poster of Obama during the presidential election, though it's a bit reminiscent of Andy Warhol to me- ....so cool though- check it out- here's the one i did of a picture my cousin took of me a few months ago for some t-shirts he designed. The other was taken from our webcam - you can tell jeff was really into it....hahaha....I'd love to see what anyone else comes up with- send me a link.....enjoy.

We celebrated the last day off of school by having a few friends over. I'm telling you I'm really looking forward to getting back into the routine of school. Josie was cute though- daddy came in for lunch and asked who her friend was- "he's my buther, daddy" - oh josie....josie- he is a cutie....i got some fun pictures of Taya today while she was playing- so sweet.....now the kids are off to bed and i'm going to wrap up in a blanket and watch the inauguration balls........ sounds exciting to me. Happy Tuesday to you.....  

because it's monday....

so some of our neighbors and us have started a tradition of celebrating the third monday of the month. it all started when we realized how busy our lives and schedules were becoming and weeks would go by when we would sometimes just see each other in passing....well, we kind of like our neighbors, and (hopefully they feel the same) so we decided to set an evening aside each month to catch up.....so the third monday it is. There's three families involved so two take care of the meal giving the other family a night off. Well, tonight was our night off and the meal was amazing- Italian Roast beef sandwiches, chips and dip and an oreo cookie dessert. It gets a little loud and crazy at times, but the kids have fun and there's rarely a dull moment.....it just made monday's a whole lot better! :)

MLK Day at Mickey D's....

well, today we celebrated Martin Luther King with a trip to McDonald's with some good friends. Which Josie had to go get a special out fit on for- she was very proud of what she picked out, "take a pichur mom, take a pichur". The kids had a ball and surprisingly it was a bit more relaxing for us adults then i had expected.... i think we may have even carried on a conversation where we finished a few sentences.....wow! Very fun time though...and another bonus is now the kids are all worn out and down for naps and quiet time- i think i will go take advantage of this......enjoy!

the Kansas Crew

we had been talking for probably the past 3 years that we're going to start a dinner club with all the kansans that have moved out here. well tonight was our first "bi-monthly", "tri-monthly", "if- ever-again" kick off and we had a blast. There ended up being 17 of us, counting kids with 7 originally being from kansas. we had burrito bowls, a great option for crowds, even though i did get the rice a tad bit too mushy, we're talking mashed potato style, oh my......there was a great game on, the kids had fun- but the highlight of the night was definitely rock band- i'm thinking we could go on tour...... :)

Trumped....

so saturday morning was spent playing play-doh again, this time daddy joined in on the fun and helped build a castle, made animals and played tic-tac-toe with the dough. The kids thought he was a rock star- which was fine by me, cause that meant i had some ever-elusive alone time. Whooo----hoooooo! 

Need some dough?

School was called off again today because of the extremely cold weather we're having. A coworker of jeff's said it was - 15 when he left for work this morning.... it's just soo cold. Jaden spent the night at his cousin's house last night so josie, taya and i decided to mix up a bunch of kool-aid play doh. I got the idea from my friend Jessica who made some last december (2007) that is still super-soft. I need to get her recipe- but here's the one i used. I did have to kneed in an extra 3/4 - 1 cup of flour at the end. We ended up with orange, green, blue, red and yellow- for the yellow i ended up having to use some food coloring which hopefully won't stain in the future...yikes....the recipe made enough to feel a quart size ziplock bag. Josie ended up playing with it all morning- and then again once Jaden got home in the afternoon. Taya thought she would get in on the fun too, and then decided to clean out my baking drawer..........oh taya, taya! ;)

Mr. Snowman

well school was called off today since it was so cold outside, it's currently -9 and -18 with the windchill. BRRRRRrrrrrrrrrr......... so needless to say, we didn't make it out to play. Hopefully it will warm up by the weekend though, jaden's been begging to go to the big hill to go snowboarding.

i did come across some pics of our first snowman of the season- it wasn't the best packing snow but the kids had a ball and i did too. He was a vegetarian, he had olive eyes, a carrot nose and broccoli buttons- I was informed that we had to have hot chocolate afterwards- my son is all about creating memory traditions, i love it....

Snow.....yummy!

well, we woke up to a blizzard today and even as i am typing this it is still snowing, big fluffy snowflakes- it really is beautiful....one of those days you want to curl up in a blanket with some hot chocolate and read a great book- which if your a reader check out The Shack, by William P. Young. i recently joined a book club that a friend started and it is our current read....very good. 

Anyways- since we were having fresh fallen snow the kids were all about whipping up some snow ice cream- it actually is pretty yummy- and the kids had fun- sure there was i'm sure a few bits of leaves, dead grass and maybe a dash of chemicals from the ozone- but what's a dish without a little spice? here's the recipe if you need it.

enjoy

What are the Odds?

my sister sent me the link to this video and i found it incredibly inspiring....

so what do you do when you find the odds stacked against you?

.....apparently DON'T WORRY and BE HAPPY! Check it out- this guy is amazing.....

a new staple.....

so today it snowed and snowed and snowed, it was beautiful. We were all still pretty exhausted after a big weekend so we were hanging out in side. The wall that divides our dining room and formal-but-not-so-formal living room there is a see-through fireplace, well Jaden has gotten on this big kick where he likes to put on these "web shows" and pretend that the fire place is the TV screen and we are in the TV.  We have to ALL participate, there's theme music, news, weather....it get's pretty entertaining to say the least- well that's what we did most of the afternoon but then i realized that we still had some sugar cookie dough that i had purchased for christmas cookies that needed to be used up- the kids were sooo excited- they spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the dough, rolling it out, building stuff, using cookie cutters- i did make sure we had enough dough for cookies before i let them go to town with the extra- but it was great- i think i'm going to officially keep a package on hand for those rainy, snowy days when they're (or me) are getting a little cabin feverish. i do wish, however, i had had some icing on hand to color and decorate with.....next time.

WOO-HOO....

....so i found out that my friend Meg just passed her nursing boards....WOO-HOO.... it was definitely a time to celebrate- and what better way but with chocolate?...... try this yummy recipe- though i will warn you- it is VERY rich. 

CONGRATS MEG!!!! 

......and thanks for all your techno tutorials! :)

on a side note- we had kid's chef pizza night last night- here's one of the deliciousness they served up...

MOPS MOMENT....

Today was mops at our church....i'm in charge of the newsletter they hand out that gives moms tips, recipes, crafts, and fun things to do with their kids. Here's some excerpts from this month. I get most of the information from martha stewart, martha stewart kids and the family fun websites and magazines-  ....i am always looking for fun things to include so if you know of any sites, magazines or activities let me know- i would be VERY, VERY appreciative.  

Enjoy.......i hope these spur some fun moments of bonding with your child(ren).

NOTE: i did not take these specific pictures- they are from the sites or magazines i mentioned above.