Crazy Winter!!

sWe have had a crazy winter!! I guess we have just been used to the winters of the last few years. We have had very mild winters ever since we had the "snowmaggedon" 4 years ago. When we moved into our house in November of 2011, one of the first things we purchased was a snow blower since we have a good sized driveway. It stayed in the box until this year.

The reports before winter started were that it was going to be a snow winter. I confess that I didn't believe it. I think because I was due with a baby in December, I didn't want to deal with an newborn and freezing cold, snow weather. Well, lucky me-I got both!! A newborn and snowy wet weather! We also have had record low temperatures. We even had a "snow" day for the cold!! There was no snow that day, but we had now school because it was too cold. Really? I could not believe it. In all my childhood growing up in Wisconsin, we never missed school for the cold weather. We didn't miss school for snow, either!

Anyhow, I do confess I was happy for some snow, since we had basically none the last few years. I was looking forward to playing with the kids and being outside. But, there was one problem....Darin managed to time the storms right and was out of the country for TWO major "snow events" as they are called in the DC area. In February, over my birthday and valentines day (another post altogether) Darin was on a work trip in Nairobi, Kenya!! He totally missed it-the snow was gone by the time he got home.

So the snow started on Feb 12th, so the kids were out of school on the 13th and 14th. Happy Birthday to me. I was optimistic to have a fun time, but, really it was not the best birthday ever. First of all, I know it was just pure coincidence in the timing, but I think I was pouting inside because I knew that Darin was finished with his work, so he got to go on a 4 day Safari-over my birthday. I don't think I should ever let him forget what I was dealing with while he was gone:) Then I was worried about getting the driveway cleared off so it wasn't icy. I had unpacked the snowblower back in January for a storm, so got it out. The only problem was that the snow was super wet so it kept clogging up the snowblower. Was super frustrating. Luckily, I did find a neighbor who helped get the snow off the driveway with his bobcat, and thankfully Jordan was taking good care of the baby while I was outside. She is quite helpful with Hunter! We did get the driveway cleaned off, so that was a relief.


Darin was home for a couple weeks, then had a trip to Singapore. And wouldn't you know it, we had another storm and more snow days. I think some of these pics may be from then...not sure.

Here are the boys in the snow. Their best efforts at a snow man. Cute little fella!

 Landon-such a cute face!

 Spencer. I was so lucky to find him orange snow boots at a thrift store just a couple weeks before. Also I had made a trip to the Children's Place and found snow pants in each of their sizes!! Makes playing in the snow so much more enjoyable!

 The one thing about winter in our new house is that we don't have a sledding hill like we had at the townhouse. So the kids had to improvise. They got the sled out and started to go down the back steps.

 Eating snow.

 I think these pics are on different days since Landon has a hat on here and a different shirt. Hmm...

 Look at how wet his coat is...this was super wet snow.

 Oh my goodness...trying to get one nice picture of these 3 was ridiculous. I don't know what I'll do when I try to add Hunter to them for a group picture!! The following shots are my attempts:

 Um, Spencer, are  you throwing a snowball at your brother's behind?

 Jordan actually let me take her pic.

 The best of the attempts!

So this wasn't the end of the snow storms...we have had 11 in total. Stay tuned for another post of the March snow storm! At least for that one Darin was home:)

Guess I need to start somewhere!

Wow!! I cannot believe that 3 months have gone by since this little fella joined our family! It has been so weird to be in the baby scene again...which really deserves a post in itself.

But anyhow, I have decided I need to get back to this blog as I have a 2 year gap in our family record. Can't let that happen again. It really is sad, but I just have to get going at it again. So much is happening in life that I don't want to let it get not recorded. Yesterday in Relief Society someone mentioned having a book of her Grandfather's with lots of stories. I like to think of this blog as a "book of stories" which happen to be about our family.  So, I'll begin to tell stories!

Three months ago, this little guy was born! (Yes, there will be backtracking involved in a future post). He has been such a joy! The first few weeks were pretty hard, for sure, but we are settling into a routine and he is growing and changing so fast!! Like lightening speed! He is starting to giggle, he is super smiley, and he has 3 older siblings that just LOVE him.

I took pictures the day he was 3 months old. Here is what we have:

I really just love this baby! Well, I have to say that for all my babies. There's just something soothing about cuddling a baby! It just warms your heart. And thankfully for me, all of mine have been the best cuddlers.

So, I see all these things to mark each month your baby grows. I have a friend who found stickers you can get online. Well, I'm too cheap for that. I have other friends who I've seen sew really cute onsies with the number on it. Well, I'm not crafty enough for that.

But...what I do have is a puzzle!!! With the numbers 0-9, I figure I'm good to go until he is 12 months:) And it doesn't cost me anything:)

I just love all the faces he makes.

The fingers are always in the mouth. And he is drooling like crazy. Spencer got 2 teeth at 4 months, so I think he is going to be the same!!

Seriously the cutest cheeks!!

Tried some tummy time....hmm....not so effective....

Landon actually took the next picture. Hunter hasn't quite got the kissing thing down yet.

Landon loves his baby!

Look at those baby feet!! I love baby feet.

Hunter was almost giggling when this pic was taken.

Love close ups of baby faces. Look at that drool!!

Two cute faces!!

baby feet...complete with lint!

Spencer

Our sweet Spencer

Spencer is such a sweet boy. He is loving, friendly and kind to everyone. He loves babies and toddlers and especially loves our friend Jill's little girls Alaina and Gabrielle. He is usually obedient to my requests, although he says "you make me work so hard." 

Spencer is who I call my "screen" child. He LOVES anything with a screen. The list includes the TV, laptop, wii, my ipod, and  my phone. He obsesses big time, to the point of turning into a different kid. I keep telling Darin we need to stage an intervention:) It is the worst when I put a new game on my ipod. My friends came a couple weekends ago and showed us a new game, so now he wants to play all the time. 

 Spencer likes to be outside. He loves rocks, dirt, water, all the "earthy type things." Last weekend we went to see the water and we had such a great time. He loves to throw rocks and sticks into the water. Spencer LOVES sticks, as well. He is getting quite adept at climbing on our tree house. He climbs up the slide, and also climbs from the main part of the tree house to the roof of the playhouse. He loves to climb trees. He has a favorite at the Lee RECenter. Each time we go, he runs straight to that tree.

 Spencer is quick to do what I ask him. He knows what he wants, and if I tell him exactly what he needs to do, he gets it done to get his reward. He is focused when it comes to his homework-he wants to get it finished as quick as he can to get on with other things he wants to do. Although he gets frustrated when daddy isn't here since mommy doesn't speak Spanish. Mommy is happy when the teacher sends it home with English instructions!!

Spencer is getting better and better at reading as well. He also loves to help Landon read Bob books. Spencer loves playing with Landon. I found a paper at school where he wrote "my best friend is my brother Landon." He is generous with his brother, sister and his friends. He will share what he has if someone doesn't have something. 

We are so thankful you are in our family, Spencer!!

Scuba Spencer

Anther time my kids crack me up!!

I sent Spencer and Landon in to take a bath. Spencer took his clothes off and ran the garage to get this mask. I filled the tub but they put more water in. Spencer is such an underwater kid-I went to get him and he was actually completely underwater. he cracks me up. 

 Brotherly love!!

I could look at these faces all day. I know I'm biased, but man are they so dang cute!!!

Landon

Oh my Landon....you make life such fun.

This kid cracks me up.

Time to update the kiddos. Landon is a funny kid. He has a mind of his own and comes up with some funny ideas. Here are some things about him at this time in his life.

He could live in pajamas. When he knows he has school, he gets dressed, but if I tell him he doesn't have school, he stays in his pajamas. And I don't fight it. He's been to many public places in his pajamas, including the ones in the above picture. Minus the underwear of course:) He mostly gets smiles and giggles and comments like "do it while you can." Or " I wish I could get away with that."

Landon LOVES his daddy. He prefers him when he's sick, tired, mad, happy, just about any time he prefers his daddy. At times it is frustrating because he will say "I love daddy, I hate you." I try not to take it personal, but at times it does get to me. Darin says he doesn't really know what he is saying. One night at bedtime he did say "I really do love you, mommy" so I felt much better.

This child could be left home alone. I mean it. He gets what he wants to eat with no problem...most of the time. He can push the microwave buttons...which is actually not good since he puts way too many zeros. But he loves to help me in the kitchen-anytime I am going to make something, he wants to be my helper. He can crack open eggs-a bit messy, but he loves it. He likes to stir and pour things in.

Landon can be super exasperating, sometimes, and other times he is super fun to be with. We have started the "bob" books so he can learn to read. He likes it and tries hard. He gets frustrated when he is doing work like making projects, etc. He wants things to be perfect and gets so really upset if it is not the way he wants. I subbed in his preschool today and we were making robots. He drew eyes, but then he didn't like them and had a fit until we fixed it.

This little brother truly loves his big brother. He misses him when he is at school and if we are out running errands and I buy him a treat, he always wants to get one for Spencer. Well, for sissy as well. But he and Spencer play really well. He likes everything Spencer likes as well. Saturday mornings he and Spencer will get up and play really well until we get up.

Lanny is still a challenge in sacrament meeting and primary. He just has such hard time sitting still for that amount of time. He is getting better, but we still struggle. He does ok in primary as long as he is not sitting by anyone else who is loud. And the teacher really makes a big difference to him. If he likes the teacher, he will do well.

I just love this little boy-he sure is a stinker, but our family would not be the same without him!

I had to stick up for him.

Spencer and Jordan have been in a Karate class after school once a week. They have been enjoying it, especially Spencer. I have been proud of him-he has been trying so hard. He's so shy and always worries that he isn't good anything, so I have been just so proud of him for trying and sticking with it.

So I really had to stick up for him yesterday. I am the parent who checks the kids in every week and makes sure they are signed out after. I got one of my kids in the class free for doing this, so that was a good perk. So the kids come filing in each week, take their shoes off and start running around. Well, a couple weeks ago, Spencer and his little friend were the only 2 kids to come in and sit right down and start stretching and getting ready. The teacher marked them down for that and after class said that Spencer was one of the stars of the class. I really built him up after class-told him how proud I was, etc. So on the way to school Thursday morning we talked all about how today for sure he would be getting an invitation to test for a belt since he had been doing so well.

Well, yesterday he did the same thing-came in, got ready and paid attention. The coach started the class by telling the kids he would be watching them and looking for the kids he would "invite" to "test" for a belt. I sat and watch the class and Spencer did really well. At one point, the coach lined all the kindergartners and first graders up, and Spencer stood at attention and did everything he asked. Oh, and it's not pertinent to the story, but Spencer was the tallest kid in that group, as well.

So at the end of class, he told the older kids and the kids on the "blue line" and any kid that had a check on their hand to come over to get their "invitation" to test for a belt in two weeks.

This is where I got mad. Spencer was not on the "blue line" nor did he have a check on his hand. WHAT???? I was so upset. I had watched him all class and he was great. I wanted to rip into the coaches. I know this may seem "dramatic" like Darin always tells me I am, but I could not understand it. Spencer was of course heartbroken and felt like he failed. He was obviously confused as he totally expected he would get an invitation.

So I stood with Jordan-who did get one-I think he gave all the older kids one- and asked him about it when it was her turn to get her paper. He told me to talk to him after class, so I did. I told him that he had told me Spencer was top the week before and that I felt like he had done the same work today. He said he was getting better; although he did seemed surprised that he hadn't given Spencer one. It think he realized he had over looked Spence because at one point he had the little kids in 2 lines and Spence was in the back.

So he offers to test Spencer right then, but Spencer was already upset and thought he "didn't think I did a good job." He ran off and was crying. It was cute because Jordan ran over and was consoling him. She was just as upset as I was that he didn't get and invitation to test.

I probably was not as clear as I should have been. I should have just asked the coach why Spencer didn't get a check. One of the problems is that there are entirely too many kids in the class-nearly 40 kids. And how on earth can one coach watch that many kids at all times? Anyhow he grabbed Spencer and they had a little talk after his little crying fit. But Spence said he couldn't tell me what they talked about. ( Later in the evening he said he would get another chance next week. I felt a bit better after that.)

I finally got out of there half an hour after we were supposed to-mostly because the coach had to talk to all the kids, and I was ranting and raving all the way down the hall. Little did I realize the assistant coach was walking right behind me the whole time....awkward!!! At least the main one wasn't-although I worry about him telling the main one how upset I was.

Did I go a little overboard? Maybe. Should I have just left and told Spencer to try harder next time? Maybe. When Spencer cried and ran off, should I have just left it at that so he could learn a lesson? Maybe.

I may not have made the best choice in the situation, but I would do it again.

So I have so much to do on my blog, I decided to work backwards on my memory card.

A few weekends ago, we decided to make some treats. I signed up to take cookies to Landon's preschool for his class Valentines Party, and it was Jordan's day to take snack. She was especially happy because it happened to fall on my birthday; which meant cupcakes, of course!!

So I got all the stuff ready. It was a bit of a risk to make sugar cookies in one day, and turns out I failed miserably. I'll get to that later. But the cupcakes were a success!!! I found a candy kit at Michaels, so we made the candies, then cupcakes and decorated the cupcakes.
The top pic is Landon working the microwave.

Here are the kids watching the candy melts in the microwave. I thought it was cute how they were all watching. 

Jordan getting ready to go!

Putting candy in the molds.

Landon and Jordan working very hard.

Spencer has to check and see what the top of the candy will look like.

Jordan not so happy about how hers is turning out.

Jordan on to the cookie dough. It looks funny because we wanted to make it pink. Yeah, didn't turn out so well. And I didn't keep it refrigerated long enough.

I need remedial training in sugar cookies!

Oh wow-I'm actually in one. Oh yeah...my fingers were messy so I had Darin take a shot. And don't mind the box spring in the background-we had picked up furniture for the spare room the day before and it hadn't quite made it to the basement yet....

Ah...pride!! They worked!!

And the final product-cupcakes for Brownies.

a close up.

I watched an episode of Pioneer Woman on the Food Network...I think...and she talked about photographing her food. My attempt wasn't as successful.