MONSTERS

In the winter time we don't use our "front" entrance..simple reason being--

there are no steps and no walkway from the driveway to the front door.

Silly, isn't it? 

It is something we plan to remedy sometime in the next 50 years, Lord willing.

Anyway, so imagine our surprise one day, looking out the window..

 to find these monsters!!

Ah, winter.

Most of them are gone at this point, either knocked down or melted.

I'm surprised the gutters didn't fall down in the process...

Pleasantly surprised.

SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

dunno.

There is something about this picture that I like.

(aside from the obvious)

Thought I would share.

MESSY

The other night..Saturday night, I believe it was, we had some leftover chocolate sitting in the fridge.

And an open bag of pretzels. 

We mixed the two.

Resulting in...ta-da--chocolate covered pretzels.

I let Michael have the remainder of the chocolate.

He has not been this messy in a loooong time.

It required documentation.

It was promptly into the bath afterwards.

FRIENDS

Yesterday, Michael had off from school due to President's Day...

and so did all the teachers!

So, we were able to get together with some friends.

Well, Sophia was supposed to come too..but instead she got a new sister!!

Isabella Jaclyn was born this morning.

She weighed in at 9.14lbs and 19"..

Congratulations, Lis & Josh!!

Quentin.

He is getting so big!

2 years old in 2 weeks or so..

And what is a playdate without a ton of toys all over the place?

Zachary & Lucas...

Also, growing quite nicely.

Zack

Luke..

(I did get that right, right?)

All bundled up to go home..

Thanks for coming over to play!

SNOW

Some pictures of the snow we got.

This was mid-"storm"

mid-"storm" evening

LandRover closed early..so Mike came home and took Michael outside. 

Carina did not want to go.

They both went out yesterday, but I don't have any pictures of it.

The day after..

If you look at picture #1, you can see the difference in accumulation.

Though at this point, some had already melted.

Okay, how bout some Spring now??

REALLY, WHO NEEDS TOYS?

I love it that the kids have fantastic imaginations.

They will sit at lunch and play for hours (well, okay--hour) with pretzels.

Let me introduce you: 

This is Daddy Pretzel and Mommy Pretzel.

Let me tell you--they have some wild adventures.

They run from foxes and bears

hide from trolls

swing from trees

swim down rivers...

the list goes on.

They always end up getting saved and then get hugs.

Not to make this a tragedy, but eventually--they both lose their heads and arms and legs.

And they can always still talk.

It is truly amazing!

The kids have a great time.

I'll have to record them one time as we drive down to church..

They can go the entire drive (an hour+) calling out--and it sounds so serious/dramatic--(like these things are really happening) to whomever is driving--for example:

"Watch out!  There is a baby alligator in the road!  Quick beep the horn!  Oh no!  A rock slide!"

and on and on and on and on and on...

...it is really quite amusing.

I love the imaginations.

HOW DO I LOVE THEE?

Its that time of year...

Valentine's Day.

With the snow days, the class party is postponed until Tuesday.

Remember these days?

Not that I looked many places, but the places I DID look--

they don't sell just class cards--it has to come with candy. 

We went with tootsie pops.

I'm rather glad the party is postponed--Michael was getting tired of writing his name.

Now he has a couple more days to finish up.

Happy Valentine's Day

from our house to yours.