Bath Time!

Bath time is always fun....

But even more so when you get a crowd in there....

Happy Valentine's Day

Any occasion around here is a reason to make cookies.  So, we got out the heart cookie cutter (and Wes picked out the train...he didn't really get the whole 'theme' idea) and went to town.

Now, its Valentine's Day and we've already eaten all of our heart cookies.

But we sure did have fun making them (and eating them).  Have a wonderful Valentine's everyone!

Josie's Aspirations

Josie:  Mom, I don't think I want to be a teacher anymore.

Me (as I'm trying to hurriedly get her clothes on early in the morning):  Well, that's fine Josie, you have a lot of time to decide what you want to be when you grow up.

Josie:  Ok, good.

Me (as I'm shoving her arms in her shirt):  But just curious, why don't you want to be a teacher anymore?

Josie:  Cause I want to be the girl at the grocery store that makes the beeping noises when you check out.

Full

When we all go places together, we often hear people say, "Oh my, you've certainly got your hands full."  We always smile politely and say, "Yes, we certainly do."  

And even though we'd love to be anywhere other than the checkout line telling 3 different children that they cannot get their prize of choice, for example, we still say, "And we wouldn't have it any other way."  

Ski Trip!

As a kid, my dad had a saying...."A family that skis together, stays together." Picking one recreational activity to do together was a big deal to him, and he picked skiing (although as kids we pretty much did everything as a family).  Anyway, I'm very proud to carry on his tradition with my little ones.  

This past weekend we took a gamble and tried to go to the NC mountains to ski.  As you can see in the picture above, it was really a gamble because the snow has been horrible this year.  Luckily they had one pretty cold night last week and were able to blow a bit of snow (but there was no extra....only on the slopes).  It was good enough to stick to one green all day with 3 and 5 year old kids.  

After a little bit of whining after the first couple of falls, Josie picked up on it beautifully.  She skied by herself pretty much all day.  She would follow the leader (either Dave, myself of BobBob) down the hill in her pizza wedge position.  

And Wes did a great job too just staying out on the hill.  We'd either have to use your poles or hand to hold on to him cause he didn't really understand how to make the pizza wedge to slow himself down.  Also, I don't know if I'm more proud of my 3 and 5 year old or my 60 year old mother who stuck with it all day (with the kids, which is 100 times harder than actually skiing).

At the end of the day, we had some tired kids.  When we finally MADE Josie get off the hill she said, "Momma, my legs don't feel good."  I think it might be the first time she's actually been sore.  But they LOVED skiing, which I'm sooooo happy about.  Cause after all, a family that skis together, stays together, right Pops?  :)

Ice Skating

This past weekend, Jess asked all of us to join her at the ice skating rink.  The local rink was sponsoring her school's Jump Rope for the Heart team, with all proceeds of the days admissions going to the Jump Rope team.  

So, we thought ice skating might be fun for the kids. 

And boy did they love every single minute of it.

Erica, Jess, Dave, and the kids skated, while I watched on the sidelines with my camera.

Josie learned really quickly and actually skated fast, which is why I didn't get many pictures of her (they were all blurry).

But Wes, as typical, was very cautious and skated very slowly (actually he kinda just jumped on his skates the whole time while the adult kept trying to keep him from falling).

But overall, it was a lots of fun, and supported a great cause.  The kids are already asking when they can go back.

Mad Face

Me:  Wes, give me your best mad face.

Wes: