Don't Ask, Don't Tell - Volume 8

I just bought these lovely organic gala apples. I gave someone in the house the responsibility of putting them in the fruit drawer this afternoon. Tonight, I went to grab Jonathan an apple for his lunch tomorrow. This is what I found...

Notes from this morning

These are random recent pictures... but funny things this morning:
Henry: "Mom, I'm going to obey all day today!"
Mom: "Why?"
Henry: "I don't know why... I've just never tried that before."
If you knew how our night ended last night, this goal for today would be very surprising to you! :)

Wyatt: "Mommy, that bird lookin' at me."

Lately, everything has been "lookin' at" Wyatt. It's so cute.

Memorable Things Kids Say - Volume 9

Henry is growing up so fast! He made this pizza all by himself. He rolled the dough, spread the sauce, and sprinkled the cheese. He is also making so many connections on his own. Last Sunday, they talked about Zaccheus in Sunday school. On Monday morning, after his glass of OJ was gone, he said to me, "Mom, can I have a wee little more juice... like how Zaccheus was wee little man... I'm just asking for a wee little more juice. Do you think that is OK?" It was so cute. How could I say no?

The snow is melting...

... but before it started, Jonathan and Henry spent one more day in the snow building things. It started out as a dinosaur - Henry really wanted to build a dinosaur. But then, they decided to build a snowman with it. The dinosaur was Frosty's pet. Creative I thought... Now they are slowly melting away....

The Fort

Jonathan spent a wonderful wknd in Florida with his youngest brother. They had a blast! Unfortunately, I have not pictures to post yet. But, I took the boys to Indiana to do some visiting of our own. We really scored in the fact that Greyson (one of my sister's boys) was in town at my parents AND my niece Kami had her 2nd baby! So we were able to do some extra visiting which is always such a highlight. Hen and Wy had a blast with Grey - he is 3 yrs, so he is smack dab in b/t my boys which made it fun for everyone. Kami had a little boy and named him Lukas (sp??) -- he was a little over 6 lbs and sooooo cute!

More snow

Almost have 2 ft of snow on the ground... I'm not sure who is having more fun... Jonathan or Henry?? They spent about 2 hours outside today building snow tunnels --- and taking down dangerous icicles. Jonathan actually spent another hour after Henry went in "finishing off" the snow tunnels and pathways. For the valley, there is a crazy amount of snow on the ground!

Winter Storm Warnings

It's not often, living in the Miami Valley, that we get two winter storm warnings in a 7-day span. So, you can imagine our excitement when our pastor mentioned on Sunday that we might get another 6-9 inches. I thought he was joking. But the meteorologist in me ran home Sunday night and the first thing I did (even before checking the Super Bowl score) was check weather.com. Now that Jonathan is a principal, life isn't near as exciting when we get snow days as when he was a teacher. However, I still have it in my head that it is a "snow day" and I tend to forego my typical responsibilities at home!! On Saturday, after our first snow blast, we had so much fun with the boys. We shoveled the driveway, and then spent an hour or so in the woods playing down by the creek. It was absolutely gorgeous and God's creativity was surely on display. It was so easy to highlight for the boys. And again found myself being so thankful for the seasons!! Can't wait to see what He brings us this time!

Meteorology

I keep telling Jonathan that our boys must go to college and major in meteorology. How hard can it be to say a storm will start at 6am, but then it really starts at 4pm, and then all day long change your accumulation predictions? It sounds more like a game to me! :) Took these pics at 1pm, 5pm, and 8am this morning.

Meanwhile...

... while my Dad was slaving away, we were busy going to fabric stores, Trader Joes, Kohl's, making pillow cases, starting tomato and pepper plants, teaching Henry new 'sight' words (and teaching him his phonemes... my husband would want me to say!), buying vitamins, making soups upon soups, making the guys try the soups upon soups, fixing pants, making granola, loving on kids, exercising and the list goes on. We were tired at the end of each day!!! But not as tired as Dad... :) We had a blast! The house feels quiet today with no saws going in the basement and no Buck (the yellow lab) walking around the house. It was a wonderful 8 days!

My Dad

My Dad is a real stud. For 70 years old, he is an amazing health and has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to anything handy. Actually, handy is an understatement. He does amazing work which is due much in part to his perfection-like mentality (his greatest strength and greatest weakness my mother would say!). He has never done a stair rail before, and this was no easy task. He studied, did some Internet searches, asked the guys at Home Depot (who didn't know much at all!), looked in the DIY books, etc. And his product came out absolutely perfect. It is beautiful! We baked him a giant cookie one night... it tasted great, but it wasn't that impressive to look at :)

Last week...

... we started what we thought was a 3-day visit with my parents. They were coming b/c my Dad had agreed to let us pay him to do all our trim in the basement, finish off the posts, and put in a stair rail. The visit turned into 8 days! It was wonderful! Well, I should say it was wonderful for my Mom, me, and the kids... my Dad might say otherwise! :) We did a little b-day celebration for Wy, but Henry got a gift too. Doesn't every good Grandma do that?? :)

The boys discovered they loved green smoothies! I think this one had cucumbers, spinach, pineapple, bananas... and a few other odds and ends. They both drank a ton and kept asking for more. I'm onto something new now... if they won't eat salad, I'll just blend it!