Bouncy Bouncy

Now that Valentines is over, I had to try out a new background. We've had a normal busy week thus far. Monday I had the day off work for President's Day and so did the kids so we went to Pump It Up. This is a big building with the inflatable bounce houses and slides. I did NOT know what I was getting myself into. If I had just brought Gabe, it would have been a different story...but bringing Kendra meant that Mommy had to play and climb on everything. Try carrying a 19 month old up the teeny tiny steps to a steep slide while she is trying to get away from you because she can DO IT BY HERSELF (or so she thinks). The kids had a blast and I was fairly sore the next day. Even had a bruise or two to go along with it. I was too busy to take too many pictures but here's what I managed to get.

This is just a random picture of Gabe at his Valentines party at preschool. I wasn't able to attend but one of the other mom's sent me this picture. Looks like he was celebrating pretty hard...or maybe not. What a boy thing to do...build a pretend gun out of Legos!

Next we have Kendra's Valentines picture. She got new sunglasses for Valentines day. She must've thought they'd look good with a diaper and boots??? This could be blackmail someday.

And lastly, a couple of random smoochie face pictures. Kids are too funny sometimes!

Have a good weekend!! We are celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary tomorrow. I think Heath has arranged for a sitter and we've got dinner reservations. Should be a nice evening!

Shopping Trip

My sisters, Mom, niece, and I had another one of our crazy adventurous shopping trips yesterday. Well, it actually started Friday night with a trip to Kohl's. Then on Saturday, we were in Dieterich by 7:40 and then off on our way to Champaign. We started Saturday off with a second trip to Kohl's. And we found several things there that the Effingham Kohl's just must not have had. We like to do our part to keep that store in business I must say. I bought myself a few shirts, a pair of dressy pants, and even bought a swim suit already (tankini). I know it is early but I'm so glad to have it done...now I don't have to go through the struggle of finding the right size top and the right size bottom in a matching suit for the price I want to pay when everything is all picked over later in the season, etc etc.

Next we headed to Best Buy, then to the mall for lunch and more shopping, and lastly to the outlet mall. We had less than two hours left that we could spend at the outlet mall and that was tough to do, but we managed to find several bargains. I love shopping this time of year for bargains for next fall! I found lots at Children's Place, Osh Kosh, and Carters.

It was a really fun day. Us gals have such a good time when we get together even though it is rare that we get to do this. There are always a few of those moments where you are laughing so hard you have tears coming down your cheeks and you're about to wet your pants!! That is especially true if you just pulled out of McD's with a large Diet and a large Water all for yourself (Pam). I would like to inform the general public that if you ever want a double cheeseburger with only 1 slice of cheese, that is called a McDOUBLE. It might sound like a make believe sandwich or possibly a cross between a McChicken and a Double Cheeseburger but a McDOUBLE is a real menu item. Learn something every day!! Sorry this must sound ridiculous and I guess you had to be there...but I'm cracking up as I recall our McD's drive thru experience.

We made it back to Newton just in time to meet up with Dave, Dad and my two kiddos for Donkey Basketball. That was my first time experiencing donkey basketball and I must say it was awesome! I found it hilarious and Gabe really seemed to get a kick out of it as well. Kendra was laughing and watching too though her favorite was probably the popcorn, M&M's, yo-go bites, etc that she got to snack on!

Back at home, Heath did some work around the house and he got to spend a lovely Valentine's hanging out with his brothers some. But we made it home early this morning in time to spend some time with him as a family and celebrate Valentine's a day late.

Snow Fun & Cleanup

I guess it was almost two weeks ago now that we got all of the ice and snow. Evansville had a couple inches of ice first and then 6-8 inches of snow. Preschool was shut down Tues - Fri. Since we had the ice, we couldn't play outside too much since our yard is so tree-filled. We had to stay clear of playing under any trees because you heard the constant crackle and pop in the trees soon followed by falling limbs...scary!

We did make it out to play a couple of times though. We even hit Mom & Dad's sledding hill though there are no pictures to prove it. I couldn't believe it but Gabe went down the big hill all by himself!! Kendra doesn't seem to be too fond of the snow getting on her boots or gloves but she did enjoy her trips down the hill. I really don't know how people sled without a 4-wheeler. Heath and I were sweaty and exhausted when we left after packing the kids and the sleds back up the hill several times!! We needed some extra helpers or a 4-wheeler for relief!

Here is the patio furniture on our deck. This was before it was finished but you get the picture...lots of icicles beneath the snow!

Gabe has a bit of his mother in him. We like to mess and shovel the snow whether we're doing any good or not.

Poor Kendra only has Gabe's snow bibs and jacket from last year so we have to be sure and put the pink hat and gloves on her so you can see she's a little girl. She preferred hanging out in the barn riding a bike while Gabe did his shoveling.


Juice break!

Today, we had big plans to get up and start cleaning up the yard...the many limbs that had fallen from the ice storm as well as some of the trees that we had taken down a few weeks ago from the wind storm this fall. Well, that was a big joke. Heath got the chainsaw out and sawed for a while and the kids and I did our best to pick up some fallen limbs. But the yard was a slushy muddy mess in some places and still iced over in others. It was too hard to walk down to the burn pile without falling down on the ice so we just didn't get a whole lot accomplished. We did get the front yard cleaned up so passers by will think we've made some progress :)

We still played outside quite a while and Kendra did require one wardrobe change after falling in a nice icy mud hole that soaked thru up past her belly button. I think we all enjoyed the weather anyhow. The kids stomped around in mud puddles, we shoveled some more ice and snow to help it melt faster, played remote control cars, cleaned up in the barn, took a buggy ride, got naps, did a couple loads of laundry. Ah, it's good to be home with nothing better to do for once!

Happy 21st

Happy 21st Birthday Dan!! Hope you're enjoying your birthday (and semi-behaving)! Also hoping a fellow sibling is there to keep an eye on you?!? You know...to make sure you're having a good time :)

Apologies to my followers for the lack of recent blogging. I've been working on a pretty big project at work lately that is consuming well beyond the standard 40 hour work week. We've also been on the road quite a bit butchering in Newton the past two weekends so that leaves us with lots of dirty laundry, a messy house, lots of half packed and half unpacked bags. WHEW! I know I'm glad we're staying home this weekend and hopefully getting back to normal. The temp here is supposed to be 63 degrees tomorrow so as long as it doesn't rain, we'll probably play outside a bit! And hopefully I will NOT have to work!

Also a Happy Belated Birthday to Heath, Pam, and Dave. I didn't get posts to you individually and for that I am sorry. It was nice to celebrate with you last weekend though with our dinner at Stone's Throw and the big bowling outing afterwards...high score was 195 and low was 49...if you want any more info than that...or if you care to share your score you can leave that in the comment section. I was right around 105-120 both games and I'll give Heath credit for the 195. We are a pretty competitive family so it was quite the good time! And as soon as I get my pictures uploaded, I'll post a picture of the awesome handmade birthday cake that I made. My siblings got me cake decorating supplies for my birthday last year and I love them!! I'm not overly creative but it sure is fun!

Everyone enjoy the weather tomorrow! I'll post some pics of our recent activities soon!