A Visitor

So we just had a really nice and relaxing weekend! Aunt Beth came to visit. She brought her Kohl's coupon along so we had to do a little shopping but we also got to hang out with her around the house quite a bit. Heath was spending some time in Newton hunting geese but since we'll be there the next two weekends butchering, we opted to stay home and relax a bit. Thanks Beth for coming and spending your weekend with us. You really have no idea how much it means to us! We love having you around! Hope you enjoyed it too...even the part when Gabe wakes you up with the simple flick of the light switch?!?

The kids made Beth read books, play in the snow, pretend to be cowboys and farmers and rope up our horses, cows, coyotes, etc. She also helped me clean out my deep freezers and we made a couple really good homemade meals (kind of rare at my house). We made meatloaf one night and Italian beef the other night. Yum!!

When we woke up Monday morning, there was a couple of inches of snow on the ground so got all dressed up and played a bit. Kendra wasn't too sure about it. She didn't really like her boots getting dirty?!? Gabe had to do his share of shoveling, he made a snow angel, and was excited to hop on the sled (though our sledding isn't as good as last year since we had those trees cut down in our yard last week and haven't gotten time to clean it up yet).

Kendra's new words for the weekend were sassy...as in "I'm sassy" and run as in "I run Mom"...Gabe is teaching her his running skills! She also peed on the potty twice yesterday and if I would've had the potty seat in the bathroom, she would've went a third time on the potty instead of on the floor (oops). Not sure what that is all about but hey...we'll start with baby steps and see what happens. Several weeks ago, she went #2 a handful of times and we haven't really messed with it since. She just turned 18 months a couple weeks ago...and we just got Gabe fully trained around Thanksgiving so I really haven't thought too much about training her yet. I'll have to keep you posted on the progress, if any!

We also made brownies last night so I have to share these pictures. I don't know about the rest of the human race, but if I knew I wouldn't get salmonella or something (and gain 20 lbs), I could eat a whole batch of brownie mix plain and never bake it. I think my kids have the same love. They each got their own spatula to help me clean the bowl.