Thursday, March 23, 2017

February

February usually calls for survival mode. It's still cold, still snowy and we all have a bad case of cabin fever. I always have to tell myself to be positive. I tied to think of things to do that get us out of the house but don't cost a ton of money. We visited the library a few times, and the nursery. Ellie had swim lessons two days a week which was really fun for her. She was in level one and she will have to repeat it because she wasn't very confident with putting her face in the water. We are going to re visit swim lessons in the summer. 

We got a few new windows to replace the old wooden ones. Its so nice to have clear glass to see out to the beautiful mountains and they open!! The old ones were not only hard to open but they have a storm window on the outside. We are excited about letting the breeze blow in this summer. 







Ellie enjoying "don't eat pete" for fhe.







Our spot in the house to thaw out. Catching the afternoon sun is a must.





The winter allows me to sit inside and stare at spots I want to decorate or paint, or walls we want to tear down! Revamped my shelves with stuff we already had around the house. Always nice to refresh things. 



Ellie in her heart shirt for Valentine's Day. She is sitting in front of our "heart chart". We each had a heart and took turns writing things we loved about each other. Ellie loved Lucy's silly faces, and that's about all she could come up with. We love Ellie's jokes, singing and dancing also her art work. 


We had so much snow and then within a week it melted, fast. A lot of people in the neighborhood had flooding. We have a sump pump so we lucked out but the pump was going off constantly for weeks. We got a few wet spots on the opposite side of the house, we'll probably have to replace a few pieces of carpet. But with the snow gone we got outside to play a bit. The girls were happy to be able to see the sandbox again and rediscover their sand toys.


Heart shaped pizza by candle light for Valentine's day dinner. Very Romantic!





Oh Lucy. Your hair....mullet/rat tail. No one else but you could pull it off so well.



Grandpa wrote Ellie a letter asking to be pen pals. Of course I cried while reading it. We've sent a few pictures in the mail, Ellie digs it.



Ellie usually want to help me cook, she helped me cut carrots and potatoes for curry. She didn't eat the curry though. She's also loved watching Master Chef Junior, we might have a future chef on our hands. She just has to start trying more food because there's no way she's going to make it on the show making peanut butter and jelly.



At the end of the month Jared and I got terrible colds. Most likely the flu. We were both so sick for about 2 weeks. Jared stayed home, which was nice to have some help with the kids. With the kids having colds then us we missed about a month of church. So happy to be on the mend just in time for allergy season.




Getting out of the house after being sick and taking a drive to Antelope Island. We have a state parks pass this year so I think we will be going there a ton. 







Ellie has taken her art up a notch lately. She sat down, traced her dinosaur then began to paint and this was the result. Her attention to detail impressed me. She has become more focused in staying in the lines while coloring. I love watching her creativity develop. She is definitely inheriting our artistic abilities. 





Monday, March 20, 2017

January


We got home from California and settled in for a few more months of winter. Every winter I tell myself I'll make the best of it. Get out and enjoy the snow, embrace the season. We did our best. Lucy enjoyed the snow until her hands got cold and then cried hysterically until we came inside and got them warmed up. I got my exercise by pulling both kids around the backyard on the sled. 


Lucy's battle wounds. She got in a fight with the trampoline and the cupboard door.


Staying sane with dance parties. Trolls soundtrack on repeat, dance light, and scarves make for a fun night.


Playing farm and a tea party, all on the table of course so Lucy doesn't RUIN it.






SO MUCH SNOW!


Watercolors and snow after church. That lasted 5 minutes.



Assembling our Saturday Ikea haul.



The library closest to us is under construction so we've ventured out to a few other branches. They've been renovated and we LOVE them. It makes us so excited to have ours finished. 


Lucy looking so big. Still lacking hair but she's working the mullet.


Joined a local mommy hiking group for a snowy hike. Met some nice moms, Ellie ran around and ate lots of snow. Sometimes staying home with the kids is so much easier than packing them up and going out somewhere. I usually refuse to interrupt Lucy's afternoon nap, it's a nice quiet time for all of us. Sometimes the stars align and we get out for an adventure, it's always a good time, even if the adventure are few and far between these days. 








Jared and I made the decision to start implementing R&R back into Ellie's day. This kids just has so much energy and really benefits from a little nap. Since she stopped napping I would let her have quiet/alone time in the play room sometimes with a movie on. Well this wasn't working. Every 15 minutes she would come into the other room asking for a snack or some other bizarre request. I could tell by the look on her face that she was about to fall asleep and thought up some reason to get up as to not let herself fall asleep. WHY DO KIDS FIGHT SLEEP?! So she wouldn't take a cat nap and come dinner time she would be melting down at the dinner table. So tired she couldn't think straight. I was loosing my temper frequently at the dinner table and so we made the decision to bring back R&R. We have her lay in our bed with some books. I have her stay in for 1 hour, we show her the hands on the clock and tell her not to come out until the hand is on the right number. She falls asleep 95% of the time. I let her stay in the room for about an hour and a half and we are all much much happier. THE END ;)  



Ellie's future aspirations, waiter, rock star, police officer

She set the table by herself and even rolled the silverware. 



Saturday chores. We started having Ellie earn a little money for chores around the house. Usually she just gets a quarter maybe two. It sure gets her excited and she does a pretty good job. Her favorite is vacuuming the couch and washing windows. She does a pretty good job on the bathroom sink too! 


Ellie's artistic skills have really improved lately. It's so fun to see. This is a drawing of Grandpa Ric surfing. 


So much snow again. The shoveling never stopped. Those mountains of snow were so high! 



We survived you January, one more month of Winter!