Snow Night!

It's been a VERY mild winter with temps mostly hovering in the upper 50's and 60's so when the pouring rain turned into sleet...then finally to snow I got the kids out of bed to show them. I was pretty sure there wouldn't be much left in the morning and only Kinsey was actually asleep...thankfully she perked right up:). Braden has a HIGH tolerance for pain, etc. and went out barefoot IN the snow because he was so excited!! Cailey tried it for a second but couldn't take it (not surprisingly, I wouldn't be able to either!) Kinsey (who was still sleepy...and always naked under her robe) was freezing and wanted no part of going in it. She's usually my adventurous one so I'm sure it was the sleepiness keeping her back...and Ephram loved watching it but said it was too cold to go in.

LOVE that joy in my boys' eyes!! He totally loved it! I almost did a separate post on him and snow just because I had so many great pictures of him LOVING it.


snow bunny, joy boy, and sleep ready girl:). yep...she really does sleep with an eye cover, just like her mama:). funny cailey story...she REALLY loves to eat snow and was picking it up (grass and all) and eating it as fast as she could:)!

close up

These are the tulips Brian got me for Valentine's day surrounded by markers that seem to stay on the kitchen table being used to encourage others. The kids are always making cards for everyone...the homemade kind ARE the best:). I want to remember 'real' life and that my flowers (given to me by my MAIN squeeze) are pretty much always surrounded by signs of our 'little squeezes'. I sat back at church and thought about how BLESSED I really am:).

jan/feb random

my girl just LOVES her baby friends:)!! and her 'sassy' look:)

cailey made a snowman out of homemade
chocolate chip cookies, fruit snacks, and pretzels:)

i love taking pictures when they have no idea
they were picking wild flowers:)

ephram also had no idea and was enthralled with his trains and coloring.
still has an awesome pencil grasp.

kinsey got some clip on earrings and LOVED wearing them while
nonny was here! she's VERY close in phonics to getting her ears pierced!

more requested pictures:).


two things ephram LOVES to do...build with the magnetic
tangrams and play on the ipad. he gets more screen time than any
of the others ever did because of the ipad AND because of school. thankfully
there are a lot of educational apps:).

the girls are requesting their hair styles lately...
but i am still privileged to be able to fix it:) this day they
wanted pictures...and i obliged.

my handsome prince:) turned silly cone eared boy:)

not many cold days this month but boy was he warm when it was cold!

cailey asked if she could have an ice cream sundae...and i said, "sure! be sure to take a picture of your creation!" i think she remembered when it was half gone but she said it was very minty.

look who broke the cycle!

Kinsey FINALLY broke the cycle at the dentist this time and I think she's officially over her fear...YAY! She had cried every other time for YEARS..though crying seems calm...it was more like SCREAMING, kicking, hitting, etc. There were no tears at all! SO proud and happy for my Kinsey girl! Ephram didn't have an appointment this time but will next year so I was trying to prep him for it:). I have a feeling he's gonna be just like Kinsey and scream but we were all sure trying to get him excited:)! Love these crazy babies!

cleet.

cailey- "mommy do you hear that sound?" "that's cleet."

mommy- "what?" (to be sure I heard her correctly)

cailey- "that's cleet outside. it's frozen rain."

mommy- "sssss"

cailey- "oh...sleet?"

mommy- "yes"

cailey- "it's sleeting sounds a lot better than it's cleeting."

mommy- lol! :)

yes...it was predicted a week ago that it was going to snow tonight. and of course everyone believes it. when it comes to snow and the south i'm a much more "i'll believe it when i see it". right now it's just rain, rain, and cleet:) oh, and yesterday was 60 and sunny:).

update...we did get a little snow:)

afternoons turned evenings

hilarious! winston came over to play one day...and they had fun. i had
no idea that ephram was trying to pull his kung fu moves on him:)

wagon rides...best investment ever! and to think little cailey got it for her second Christmas!

i know i'll look back on time out moments and laugh...so i just had to take a picture:)
of course she was right back to smiling 6 minutes later!

we have such a great street for bike riding! and cailey drew a very pretty castle. i love hanging outside watching my babies play...when it's not TOO hot:).

Winter/Heart door art

Cailey drew the design for this door art and we followed it to a 't'. Braden and Kinsey decided what materials we should use and they all got to work. I thought it was very creative and loved that they took the reigns. They didn't want it to be 'too wintery' but didn't want it to be only for Valentine's day either. First they painted bubble wrap and used that plus glitter paint to create the clouds and sky. Then they traced a rectangle and went over it with do a dots for the outline of the house and windows. They were super creative with the roof and used gift wrap ribbon for it.

They used green glitter paint for the top of the tree then a paper towel over it for texture. For the trunk they used really cute glitter 'tutu' material which they wanted to stand out. Beads and tissue paper were used for flowers on top of painted grass. They picked out tiny seeds for a gravel sidewalk which was painted brown first.

When it was done they decided it needed something more and added a kite coming out of a window which gave them the idea to draw a person and hearts over two of the other windows. The last window has lots of children looking outside:). Great job kiddos!! Oh...and in case anyone is thinking this gets done fast, this one took around 4 hours which was pretty much non stop. They work super hard and take their time:)!

sleepover night

While the girls were at AHG and then their lock in Braden had a sleepover of his own! Reece came home with us after co op at noon and stayed until noon the next day! It was pointed out to me by Braden that he got a 24 hour playdate. The boys had a BLAST playing with walkie talkies that Reece brought with him. They used them for everything...super fun! They played hide n seek, did puzzles, played legos, star wars, took turns playing piano, played outside, games, and just had a blast. Their movie choice (after Cailey's basketball game) was Rio and they loved it! Ephram asked to sleep in his sleeping bag with the boys and of course they were sweet to include him in everything:).