There's no business like SNOW business

Mid February we finally got hit with some snow.  When it was bitterly windy and cold, the kids got to enjoy it while it was here.  It never amounted to all that much snow, but it was enough for them.

Hannah: Party Time!

The following Saturday after Hannah's birthday we had the family down for her party!

 On the lunch menu:

curried chicken salad, Paula Deen's corn salad, olives, chips, and fruit kabobs.  

Each of those recipes are absolutely FANTASTIC and have received many compliments!!!  Highly recommend!

 

Present time: she mostly received art supplies, frilly clothes, or books. Perfect for our Hannah.

And what's a party without a CAKE?!

(red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting)

 Happy 5th birthday, Sweeter Sweets! Love you bunches!!

Hannah's Bday/Vday

I'm way way behind in the blogging business. Ya see, I used to blog while watching a movie or something. But now we stream shows via Amazon or something, and I can't upload blog pics at the same time without causing the streaming to lag. First world problems. =)

Sooo... back to Hannah's birthday which was 3 full months ago!

New tradition I made up: Birthday girl got the jackpot aka all the change from my wallet. (I needed to clean out anyway, it was getting heavy)

 We did some baking since it's one of her favorite activities.

This is us. If you couldn't tell.

Daddy brought her flowers. Hopefully the start of another new tradition.

We had a nice candlelit meal as a family for Valentine's Day.

And ended the meal with sherbet punch in fancy glasses.

And ended the day with sweet surprises from Mama. Thanks to Pinterest, I made homemade scratch cards. Their gifts were things like getting to play a game with me, or staying up extra minutes, or getting a piece of chocolate.

Fun day. =)

Hannah is FIVE!! {Feb. 14}

Five.  It just seems so OFFICIAL.  Phasing out of my at-home preschooler to a grown-up SCHOOL-AGE kid.  She is growing and learning and changing and blossoming. She is ready.  Hannah has a fantastic personality.  She is easy-going, content, sweet, caring, and generous. If you come over to visit, she'll probably send you home with one of her toys or something she made.  She's super into jewelry-making and is constantly making beaded necklaces and bracelets.  She is a fantastic helper around the house but most especially loves to cook and bake with me.  She knows her numbers, letters, letter sounds, many math facts, and can read lots of basic words.   She learns quickly and is picking up a lot of things that Eli's practicing at school. And somehow she knows North-South-East-West like nobody's business! She is social and friendly, active and energetic, yet also loves to sit and look thru books or color and write. She's a free spirit and artistic, so she's the child who has the very MESSIEST room in the house, cluttered with jewelry scraps, notes, clothes, doll house pieces, or Barbie clothes.  She loves skirts and frilly dresses, even on the coldest of snow days. Yet she's going to play spring soccer for the first time with Eli.  So proud of our sweet girl. We love her to pieces!

2013 Adventure List

I was greatly inspired by my friend Whitney when she told about the adventure list her kids write each year and they as parents try their best to DO as many of them as they can!  I love adventure, I love outings, I love letting the kids make choices about what they'd like to do.  So in starting a new tradition, we wrote our own.  There were things that I wanted to do too, so everyone in the family got to pick 2 or 3 things to add to the list.  I want the kids to know things that us adults like too.  Hannah and Eli both picked some things on Carter's behalf.  =)

So here it is, places we want to go in 2013:

1. A water park. "One that's allowed for babies and older kids."

2. The zoo.

3. Something like a pumpkin patch. Haunted house, jumping pillow, etc

4. The fair.

5. Children's museum.

6. Train ride.

7. Carter's ice cream shop.

8. Backyard camping.

9. Waterfall.

10.  Beach.

11. Geocaching.

12. Bike trail.

Here's to a great year of adventures!!

Celebrate! (potty reward)

When driving back from Iowa (from Carter's party), we were finally able to stop somewhere for Carter's ice cream reward for completing his potty TRAINing chart. Each sticker indicates days he had NO accidents. He earned it a little bit ago but with sickness going through the house, it took some time to get an outing on the schedule. This is a big accomplishment in his life, and I believe in supporting and encouraging him as a FAMILY so we all got ice cream!

This is Freddy's in Omaha.  If he's anything like Hannah, he will forevermore call that "his ice cream shoppe" lol.

 So proud of you, Carter!!

Party time!

Carter and Hannah have birthdays exactly 1 month apart, and being unpredictable winter months and a decently long drive for the families I've "struggled" with whether to have a joint party (which I don't like doing, I want the kids to each have their special days) or how to do it.  So this year I tried something new.  We had one party back home and one party will here.  So Carter's party was at my parent's retirement house.  I never know quite what to call it--their house that they own and are fixing up and will live in when Dad retires in Mom-knows-the-countdown. They were so gracious to share their space!  And it was actually quite fabulous! A huge bulk of the work (prepping our house for guests) wasn't part of the equation at all!  We bought simple decorations that were quick to put up, we ordered a HyVee cake so we didn't have to bother transporting one, and overall it was just a super easy party to put together.  

When getting preparing invitations, I asked Carter what he wanted on his birthday cake and he said Thomas. So Thomas the Train theme it was!

The menu: meatballs, coleslaw, crab cubs, and fruit salad.  I didn't notice til I was setting it out that it's all the same colors!!!  =S  Oh well, it tasted good!

Nothing like family gathered around the same table.

Cake time!

 Presents!