A Snow Day Instead of a Date Day

We got some snow this morning, so while I took Clara to soccer this morning, Joshua and Hannah got to go play outside in the snow for a little bit. As usual, Hannah was very interested, and was excited to be dressed up in her snow gear. But once she was outside, she didn't want to stay out for very long.  Joshua immediately went to work on shoveling the deck.

When I got back from soccer, we had lunch, and then I went out with all the kids to play in the snow again. Soon, though, it was Hannah's naptime, and because Joshua had dumped a shovelful of snow on her head, he had to come inside too. Clara and I stayed out for some extra time. We originally had a date day scheduled for today, but we canceled it because of the weather. We will make that up later, but it still worked out that she and I had some special time by ourselves.  She had lots of fun shoveling and also getting pushed on the swings.

She also enjoyed using the wheelbarrow to randomly wander around the yard pretending to cart snow to different places.

From the time Terrence and Natalie were puppies, Terrence hated the cold and wanted no part of it, but Natalie didn't mind it so much.  In fact, when it snowed, she would sometimes run around in the snow for fun.  Sometimes when I shoveled the driveway, I would invite her out with me, and she would happily dart around in the snow for awhile before eventually tiring and then going back in.  Now that she's old, she's not as interested in physical activity, but occasionally she'll show bursts of energy.  I wondered if she would still enjoy it, so when she came out in the yard with us, I walked up to her and said, "Natalie, are you ready to run?" just like I used to.  She seemed interested, as I think she remembered the drill.  I said, "Ready...  Go!  Run, Natalie!  Run!" and I took off running.  She immediately got excited and took off with me, and then went off on her own bounding around the yard like an energized little puppy.  She ran around for a couple minutes, as happy as can be, before getting tired.  She ran up to me and nuzzled up to my legs as if to thank me, and I petted her for a bit, before she then went back inside to rest and to get warm.  That was fun, and I'll have to remember to do that again when it snows next, because she really enjoyed it.

Red Coats and a Red Ball in the Backyard

These pictures are actually from Tuesday, but they are pretty cute, so we wanted to include them, and since we didn't have anything notable for today, we're using them for today's post (part of my plan to be looser with the blog rules this year).  Halie took the kids outside on Tuesday, and had them each run toward the camera while she took pictures.  It's fun to look at them on the camera, because it's like a mini movie if you scroll through them fast enough.  There was also a red ball that ended up in our yard, so the kids had fun with that.  Although Hannah, of course, preferred the swings.

I also saw this picture, which is the saddest face ever, but she's still so darn cute.  I know she was okay, because she was happily running a few pictures later.

Just Between Friends

Yesterday I went to a consignment sale called "Just Between Friends" to round out the kids' spring wardrobes. I have to believe that we actually will need shorts at some point even though it doesn't feel like it. I hadn't been to the sale before so I wanted to give it a try. I went on a pre-shopping day since I have heard it is completely insane on the regular days. I am glad I went early. I hate shopping partly because of the crowds and there were still a whole lot of people today. I am not sure I could really handle a regular day and definitely not with a child in tow.

I thought this was a great place for dresses, but overall I wasn't super impressed. It was fine, but I felt the prices were not unlike what I get on eBay.  In fact, I found an Easter dress for Clara and came home to find a matching one for Hannah on eBay and it was a little cheaper. So the prices are more or less very similar to what I can get at end-of-season clearance sales. That's not to say there is no benefit because I don't like buying everything on sale for next year's season because it's sort of a gamble since I don't know for sure how much my kids will grow. The stuff I bought on clearance for this spring, I bought back in September and they won't wear it until March or April. For the girls, it's not much of a risk because one of them can probably wear it since they are so similar in size for the time being. For Joshua, who knows. Though (luckily?) my kids grow very slowly so it has been predictable so far. People are always like, "Kids grow so fast". My kids really don't.

It was nice to have such a large selection right in front of me, but at the same time, I wasn't particularly impressed by what was available in terms of brand since it was mostly low (Target, Walmart, Children's Place) to mid (Gymboree, Gap) range brands. If you want to buy a lot of things at the same time, it's a good place to go. If you have a very small child, like an infant or toddler, it's great because that stuff goes for so little. But if your kids are older and if you are patient, use eBay and pay the same price for clothes in better condition (often with tags on) or buy end-of-season and pay the same price for brand new things. Particularly for boys because there just isn't a lot of great used stuff for them after around 2T, probably because they ruin things. For Joshua, I have started buying way fewer nice clothes for him in the first place because he no longer wants cute clothes, he wants $5 athletic shorts and tees from Target and I don't like buying him stuff he doesn't want to wear.

If I go to the sale again, I might go on the last day only when everything is half-price because then I really would be saving money. Of course, a lot is gone by then and it's insane on the last day so I am not sure (Maybe Jason will go. He likes crowded shopping.). Joshua was a trooper. I am a fast shopper so it didn't take that long to find what I wanted even though I had to shop three different sizes, but the line took forever to get through. And it was twice as long when we left so I am glad we got there early and only spent thirty minutes waiting in line.

One thing I did get that was well-priced (consigners set their own prices so prices can really vary even for the same item) was a Tinkerbell costume. It was only $3. It wasn't perfect for us because it is a leotard with a skirt which is harder for my girls to get on and off. They really prefer skirts over dresses at this age because they are very easy to maneuver. But Hannah doesn't let wardrobe challenges stand in her way. This is her in her new dress-up outfit, which allowed baby to wear the tutu.

Enjoying a Brief Winter Respite

Today the girls went to Ron and Peg's house. Joshua stayed home with me as he has been fighting a cold that has a terrible, terrible cough. The weather was awesome today, reaching the 50s so Ron and Peg and Julie took the kids on a walk around the neighborhood. They had a great time, though Hannah looks like she might be feeling like Benjamin has a better ride than she does. It was good they could enjoy the day since the high tomorrow is supposed to be around 19.

Drawers That Won't Be Going In My Drawers

Have you ever wanted to see me in my underwear?  I hope not, because that would make you a weirdo.  But you're getting to do so anyway.  Well, kind of.  I like to order things on clearance, because if you pay attention to the stores (well, the websites of the stores) you like, there will almost always be good things on clearance, especially at the end of a season.  Recently I ordered a few things online from Nordstrom Rack, which is a discount version of Nordstrom: a travel toiletries bag, a scarf, and a stocking cap, all $20 to $40 items currently priced between $6 and $8.  Today three packages arrived.  The toiletries bag and scarf were as expected, but when I opened the third bag, I did not find a stocking cap.  I found brightly colored striped underwear.  Um, what?  I was pretty sure I hadn't accidentally ordered them, because I would have remembered seeing something that, uh, bold.  I double checked both my order and shipping confirmation e-mails, and they showed that I had ordered the stocking cap and that it had supposedly been shipped.  So probably what happened is the worker at the warehouse grabbed the wrong thing and threw it in my bag.  It makes me wonder if there's some guy somewhere who was really excited to receive his garish underwear and was sad to get a boring black stocking cap.  Anyway, I suppose people who aren't Meghan don't need to know my underwear style, but I'll go ahead and put it out there that this type of thing is, in fact, not my preferred style of underwear.  So I will be returning them.  Before I do, I made sure to put them on (over my jeans, for multiple reasons) and took a picture to memorialize this fantastic piece of clothing that's apparently right for someone, but not for me.

EMAW

Today K-State and KU played basketball. Some years Jason has really felt like we had a good chance to win that game, but this year is not one of those years. K-State is having a rather bad year. That didn't stop Joshua from wanting to watch it, though. So after he got ready for bed, Jason let him stay up late and watch the game with him. Joshua really enjoyed this time and stayed up for every second of the game, which included a surprise victory for K-State. So it was a good night for multiple reasons.

Package Opener Extraordinaire

One of our most-used toys is the hammer that came with our construction dress-up package. Joshua uses it for a great many things, but one of the most frequent is opening packages. I hate shopping. Not grocery shopping, which I actually enjoy. But virtually everything else. I don't like browsing. I don't like not knowing if I have reviewed all options or if there is something I prefer at another store. I hate crowds. Luckily the internet fixes all of it and I can do my shopping at naps and after bed-time so I also don't have to bring three kids to places where they touch every single item. It's really a win. So we get a lot of packages. And Joshua loves opening them. 9 times out of 10, I am confident I won't return an item and it also isn't fragile so I can let him help. He gets his hammer, and often his saw, and pretty much demolishes the cardboard. He loves it and it is super cute. Here he is opening my new cooking pot.

Three of Three

This weekend we didn't have a lot of plans so we decided to work on potty training with Hannah a little bit. She had some moments of success, which we definitely praised and treated, but she is definitely reluctant to go on the potty. She seems a little fearful of it. Hopefully she starts to have enough positive experiences with it that it "takes". The other two kids really don't mind standing around in wet diapers. At all. So they have been a little hard to motivate. But Hannah is really against it and asks to be changed constantly, so I am hoping that motivates her to potty train. So far she is super excited about wearing pull-ups (which do nothing to aid in potty training so that isn't exactly a win) and in theory is excited about wearing underwear, but I haven't let her wear it yet because I feel like she needs to go potty regularly before we give that a try. Hopefully soon.

Clara's First Playdate

After we had fun with Baylee last week, Clara wanted to have a friend over too. She likes Luke a lot, so today Luke came over to play. He actually ended up playing with Joshua a little more than Clara, because he was pretty active and Clara didn't want to play that way today. But they all had fun, though Hannah mostly just played on her own away from the others because she doesn't trust strangers so Luke and his mom were both on her "eye suspiciously" list.

Almost a Cowgirl

Recently we've brought the rocking horse back out. Hannah is a lot more into it than last time we had it out, but she still is a little nervous about it. So she figured out that she should use a step stool to get on to the rocking horse. I am not sure why because it actually seemed harder to get on to me, but it gave her some extra security and she felt proud getting on and off the horse.

A Book Bed for Baby

Hannah loves her baby, and sometimes she coddles her and loves on her, but other times she thinks the best way they can bond is by throwing Baby down the stairs or making her fall off of things and crash to the ground.  But Baby puts up with it, and their relationship is strong overall.  Hannah does insist that Baby sleep in her bed with her every night.  Part of our nighttime process for Hannah is to read her a book.  A few weeks ago, she decided that instead of me or Meghan putting the book back in her bookshelf, she wanted us to leave the book in her bed so Baby could sleep on it.  Previously, Baby had been given a nice comfortable spot on the mattress or pillow.  But Baby must have done something to cause Hannah to mete out some punishment, as she's now relegated to sleeping on a hard book every night.  Sorry, Baby.

Daddy and Donuts Day

Joshua and Clara's school held a Daddy and Donuts Day this morning.  I've known about it for a week or so, and I've had it blocked on my work calendar to make it highly likely I would be available.  I drove the kids to school, and we went to their classroom, where we had our choice of a variety of donuts and beverages.  We had fun eating together, and the kids love donuts (who doesn't, I guess), so much so that Joshua refused to stop chewing even for the picture.  I then headed into work, and they went about their school day, with Joshua making a beeline for Baylee as soon as he was done saying goodbye to me.  We are really happy with their school for many reasons, and having a fun event like this for the dads is yet another positive thing the school does.

Three Shovelers and One Observer

Last night it snowed, so Jason wanted to shovel the driveway today before it turns into ice. Even though it was on the late side, we let the kids go out there with him. They love to shovel or be outside, particularly in the snow, and we've had so little snow this year, Jason figured that this might be their only real opportunity this season.

Surprisingly Hannah also decided to join them. She normally isn't too into being outside in the cold, but I think getting to wear boots is an incentive for her.

She hung out for a couple minutes and then saw the stroller in the garage. She realized that was a much more attractive option, as it allowed her to be involved, but she could be in a comfortable seat and be sheltered by the garage.  She even asked to be strapped in.

Joshua and Clara actually shoveled some snow off the driveway (it was a very dry and light snow, so they could shovel it okay) and just had a lot of fun, though Jason did the bulk of the work.

Hannah said that walking was for chumps, though she did want to see, so when they moved around to the front porch and walkway, Jason wheeled her over so she could sit and watch the action.  A good time was had by all, and afterwards, while he was getting ready for bed, Joshua suggested that maybe they could shovel again tomorrow.  We actually are supposed to get a little more tonight, but probably not enough to warrant another shoveling session.

The Melting Pot: Amazing Again

Meghan has mentioned that we don't do much in the way of celebrating Valentine's Day, but we do typically exchange cards and go out to dinner.  We timed out date night this month with Valentine's Day weekend, and because I get tomorrow off because it's President's Day (although this is the last year, as my new company doesn't give that as a holiday), we were able to treat tonight like a weekend night and go out to eat.  We went to the Melting Pot, which remains one of out all-time favorite restaurants.  My previous company gave all employees who were not local to HQ, and therefore not able to attend the Christmas party, $100 to spend on a night out for dinner.  This is probably another thing that will go away next year, but we had it this year, so I used that to offset the cost of the dinner, because while the restaurant is amazing, it certainly isn't cheap.  I had the same outstanding California salad that I always get, and Meghan tried the Cobb salad, which she found to be excellent.  We went with the classic Cheddar for the cheese fondue, and the Mojo for the entree fondue.  This year we added the lobster tail to our normal selection (filet mignon, shrimp, etc.), and that was well worth it.  We finished with the bananas foster for the dessert fondue, which they make at your table complete with the flames that barely showed up in the photo, though you can see at the top the server's hand and the shaker of whatever he was adding.  It was all wonderful.  We had a fantastic time out and are so thankful that Mom and Ron afford us these opportunities.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I am not a fan of Valentine's Day as it often is celebrated. I think it ostracizes single people and puts show over substance. You want to show me you love me? Leave the flowers at the store, forget the grand gesture, and empty the trash every day. Because flowers wilt and die within the week, but the trash needs emptying forever (I actually am just using that as an example. Jason is happy to empty the trash, but that is a chore that I also don't mind doing myself). So before we had kids, we didn't really celebrate Valentine's Day much because I have a bad attitude about it. After kids, we still don't celebrate it much as a couple. But one of my core parental values is to celebrate minor holidays and I can get behind a holiday celebrating love and kindness, which is more what Valentine's Day is for small children. So we do celebrate it now as a family. We started our celebrating with festive lunch and fun shirts for the kids. We had tomato soup and heart-shaped sandwiches with cherry 7-up floats.

Next we did small gifts. Clara got a Chelsea doll (which is Barbie's sister, similar to how Kelley used to be, but they don't make Kelley anymore), Joshua got a transformer, and Hannah also got a small doll and then each kid also got a book and some conversation hearts. 

Then for dinner we had pizza with a heart in the middle, salad with pink dressing and bubble gum ice cream for dessert. The ice cream turned out really well. The recipe I used called for melting actual bubble gum to flavor the base. I think I might use bubble gum extract next time because it was a little messy. But it was so good that I am also hesitant to change it up. Then I used gumballs as add-ins. When I was little, sometimes we would go to a restaurant called Swensen's after church for lunch. It was a restaurant/ice cream shop and I really loved their bubblegum ice cream. Because you eat your ice cream and then you get to eat all the gumballs. It's a double dessert. Does it get more awesome? No, it does not and it's festively pink for Valentine's Day. The kids really enjoyed it, as did Jason and I. Clara wasn't convinced that she should save the gum to the end though, and tried to eat both at once, resulting in this weird facial expressions. It was a fun day that we all enjoyed.

First Playdate

This picture was taken on Tuesday, but it shows Joshua with his new friend, Baylee. She is a newer student in his class and they became friends right away. She loves outdoor play and running and tackling, so has all the qualities Joshua looks for in a playmate. He has been asking for some time to have Baylee over to play with our toys and today we were able to schedule it. He has never been interested in having another kid over to play before so this was a first for us. Baylee was a little shy at first (her mom definitely stayed this time), but it went well. Hopefully we can play again soon.

Extreme Bugs!

 Today there was no school so Halie took the kids to see the extreme bugs exhibit at Union Station. Here they are looking at the large bug outside of the building.

They started out going through the exhibit. It was a series of very large bugs as well as some smaller things such as photo boards.

Next they enjoyed the play area, where there were hands-on insect-related activities.

Next, they went to the fairy tale exhibit in Crown Center.

They had a lot of fun trying out various things and running around.

They had a fun day out and came home happy and tired.