Finally!

We finally went back to school today after an unplanned 5 day weekend. We went to school 2 days last week and are hoping to put in a whopping 3 this week. This is what kicked it all off around President's Day. We then got ice. Then things started to melt and rained. It was ugly and still is for many families. I'll be honest, I am a little bitter that we are 5 days over on our calamity days. I never remember going over.

While we were trapped we have had some creative fun. I wanted pictures of the girls for their recently painted pink room and I thought pictures in their Halloween Ballerina costumes would be cute. So we had a little photo shoot. I am no photographer. I got a few cutes ones that will be blown up and hung in their rooms.

I hope they always love each other...

You know who wasn't going to sit idle while this fun was going on. Superman came out in full force. Connor and I also made a paper chain to count down the days to the big 4! Where does time go?

4 Day Project

Have you ever checked out Jen's blog? If not, you should. She does the cutest things, makes the most delicious looking food, and has adorable/funny kids that I love reading about. I'm not sure when she sleeps or how she is so thin!! This is where my 4 day project came from!

A long while ago Jen posted the recipe for sugar cookies. I needed a good sugar cookie recipe, the one I had tried was way dry. So, I jotted it down, filed it away, and forgot about it until she recently has been posting these amazing cookies.

So, on snow day number 2 this week I thought I'd give it a whirl. I finally completed them today, 4 days later. I think Jen whips them up in an afternoon. And no, they are not hard!

I learned a few things on my journey.

Before baking during a snowstorm, make sure you have all the ingredients (baking powder...I had some before we moved??! I think my sister tossed it!).

Chill the dough before attempting to roll it out.

Nap time is never enough time.

Make sure the cookies are cooled before storing.

Have enough containers to store them in after cooling.

Make your brown darker so your mom doesn't say it looks like poo.

The cookies without frosting are so good. They are even more delicious with the frosting on them.

Please don't compare mine to Jen's...mine look like a 3 year old made them!

Thanks Jen for sharing so many fun things!! I have another project of hers in the works, I wonder how long that will take?

Enough already.

First, thanks to some help from Ann for the update to my blog. She taught me a bunch of new tricks to freshen things up a bit. I think this is nice change!

On to the weather. I used to like winter. Like when I was 7.

I really started to dislike winter when I was in college. I still remember how cold my legs used to get when I was walking to class, the wind always whipping around.

Then I had kids. Three kids = Three hats. Six mittens/gloves. Six boots.

I now hate winter even more. Maybe when the girls can walk and hold a hand better it won't be so bad. For some reason I doubt it.

I'm glad others don't mind it as much.

The girls would like to join in the fun.

The weather report for the next two days is ugly. Ice, snow, more snow, wind, cold. Maybe they will be wrong... At least we still have one more snow day : )

Off to find a project. Just in case.

Curly-Q

If I had a dollar for every time someone looked at the girls (when they were babies) and said, "look at all that hair!" As they admired Addy. Poor Molly, everyone thought she was a boy as she was wrapped in a pink and brown blanket. This is what she wanted to say to them : )
Addy's hair has come a long way.

From super straight,

to completely crazy...

it has always been the defining feature that has helped tell the girls apart. She now has the most beautiful curls on the back of her head. I am afraid that they are going to grow out and end up getting cut off one day. I hope not though because daddy is getting awfully good at combing through them! She knows she's pretty!!

Masterpieces

Here are a few of Connor's (sort of) recent projects.

I always make gingerbread houses with my second graders the day before Christmas break. This year, Ken happened to already be on vacation so the boys decided they would come and join the fun! Connor informed my mom that theirs was the best in the whole class!

Ken did the sticking things on while Connor bossed where he wanted everything. Notice the chimney : )

He also made this darling Baby Jesus at his church school. We kept him displayed all during the Christmas Season. I can't believe my baby is capable of such amazing work!

Thank YOU Santa!

Everyone at our house must have been really good this year, especially Connor! Santa left him just what he has always wanted... His sisters gave him a little something to add to his collection.

There is nothing like listening to your 3 year old rock out to Away in a Manger. We have a real one man band going on at our house!!

We've moved!!

Note: I started this Nov. 11 and just got back to it tonight...Dec. 7th : 0

Ahhh, my life has been crazy. We so happy to have the whole ordeal behind us! Here is our new happy home. In town, in a neighborhood, on a quiet street, with no one directly behind us : ) 3 minutes from Walmart, 5 minutes from Kroger and school. Could life get any better?

We were in contract for 6 weeks before we finally closed on our house. It was a mess. I would never recommend Chase Bank to anyone for anything. Sorry if you work at or love Chase.


Here is the (long) scoop, we got an offer, negotiated and accepted...yeah!! We looked and found a house, loved it, made an offer, negotiated, and they accepted. Easy right...not so much. Our buyers had not asked for any inspections and then got concerned, that was the first call. Then Chase waited to process their information and get the appraisal. It was done almost 3 weeks after we got the offer. Then that took forever. They had an FHA loan so we had to fix a few little things: our front door stuck, they thought that spray paint on insulation was mold so we had an inspector out, and we had to paint our out building. All done in 24 hours, phew. We thought we were moving along. Chase continued to drag their feet 'needing' a septic inspection. This was two weeks past our original closing and at the end of our contract. We decided to walk away from the buyers instead of going through 2 more weeks of the bank crap. We decided we'd still buy the house we found and hope (and pray) to rent the other house.

It was a miracle, Chase called Ken on Friday (the last day of the contract) at 5: 30 as he was sitting on a plane in Chicago. We were in complete shock that they had somehow worked it out.

We are slowly putting things together...not easy with 2 - 1 year olds!!

Sorry for being MIA for so long. I have lots more pictures to share...hopefully it will be sooner than later!