Begging dog

Pepper says "Daddy, please....can I please have some of your ice cream?"

Luck of the Irish

Valentine!s day is barely gone...but we're onto St Pattys day already!

Valentines parties

Gage had a valentines party at school. Let's just say his sister is PISSED off that parents are invited to his and not hers!!

This is Gage's best buddy, Matty. Matty is allergic to peanuts and has to sit at a special peanut free table at lunch. That means mommy has to confirm Gage's lunch is peanut free every day so Gage can sit with his buddy. 

They did a craft and then went around delivering valentines to each of their friends' mailboxes.

For some reason, Gage let Savannah craft a mailbox for him. It was not big enough for all his goodies though!!

Savannah made this super cute butterfly bag for her school valentines.

She even had a little contraption on the back so she could make the wings flap!

Finally, a snow man!

Every time it snows, Gage hopes for "snowball snow" so he can build a snowman and test out his snowball launcher. Every snow storm we have had this year has been powder...until this one. 

It rained much of the night, so the snow was SUPER wet at the bottom. Look at the muddy snow on this poor snowman!! So wet, in fact, mommy almost died lifting the snow mans belly section into place. 

Notice, the belly is a bit smaller on the second snowman (on the right)!

His nose didn't last long because...Savannah ate it!

9 years old!!!

It is hard to believe that Savannah is 9!!!

She woke me up at 6am like it was Christmas morning! She came back in 5 minutes later to tell me that there were heart decorations....and begging me to go downstairs. She was so excited about the decoration and kept asking "did you see them?". Just who does she think put these decorations up?!?!

She asked so many times to open her gifts...that we gave in and let her open before breakfast.

You can get quite a score when your birthday is on Valentine's day - double presents!!

Even Gage makes out because he gets Valentin's goodies and "un-birthday" presents.

First sleepover!

Gage was VERY excited to have his first sleepover ever last weekend. He and Brandon had a great time...

Not much has changed...

Last year, Pepper was a 20lb puppy who loved to steal toilet paper.

Fast forward one year later, and she's 94 lbs, and she still loves to steal toilet paper  ;-)

More snow....

Hmm...when we moved here, everyone told us that it doesn't snow much here. Well...here we are with another snow storm!!

Bye bye oak!

Little by little, I have been painting the oak trim throughout the house. The foyer, bathroom, and dining room are all done. The living room is half done. One of these days I need to spend some time on the tall ladder getting the upper Windows, trim, etc.

This week's project involved the cabinets in the living room.  That inspire Adam to hide the tv wires!!! Who hoo!!  That men as the next projects on dck are adding some hardware and painting the fire place.

The kitchen renovation is also happening soon. Granite is selected and being cut over the next week or two. New sink and faucet are here. New stove is on the way. After granite is installed, we move onto painting cabinets and walls, and then (if any flooring guys will ever call us back) installing hardwood floors, new dishwasher, lighting, and hardware. 

Things are coming along!

Skating

Savannah decided to try her hand at ice skating lessons, which they have at the ice arena on campus. 

When she first got on the ice, she hugged the railing the whole way over to her class' station on the ice. 

She spent the next hour falling on her butt. At one point - after a pretty hard fall - I thought it may be the end of ice skating. But, she got off the ice, laughed about falling 100 times, and talked about how next week would go! 

Fast forward to this week....Savannah did  not fall ONCE!!  She also made a new friend. So far, so good on ice skating lessons. 

Birthday party fun

Gage was super excited to have his first
"drop off" birthday party, where mom didn't stay with him! Quite the growing up milestone :-)

Enzo's mom said there were only 8 kids total, so she'd be fine. When I picked him up she looked exhausted ;-)

Gage, however, had a blast, and thought these storm trooper balloons were awesome.

Snow!!!!!

After everyone told us that we don't get much more than 3 inches a few times a year...we got 10.5 inches last week!

We had a happy dog...

Pepper ran around like a nutcase, she buried her head in the snow....

And she has not stopped eating snow since it snowed

Adam was probably not as happy about the shoveling...but he was happy to sled, drive the prowler, and have a big bonfire!

The kids were happiest to be pulled on their sleds behind the prowler.

M

Jammie jam

The kids' school hosted a pajama Jammie jam today....a "family dance". They had a blast!

Workspace

So, we've had this craft table for 4 or more years now. But, it has been somewhat unloved (I.e., unused) lately. So, while cleaning savanahs disaster of a room with her recently (seriously, her room looks like a bomb went off in it), we decided to turn it into a workstation/desk.

Best thing we ever did. She spends all of her time there now. She listens to music while she crafts, writes stories, etc. she has totally made it her little space.

Mad scientist

Gage got a science kit for Xmas, and we decided to do some experiments last week.  We made super cool underwater volcanos, so kind of non-Newtonian fluid that was not quite a liquid and not quite a solid, and then....Gage went all mad scientist on us and started mixing random stuff together. Basically, he made a huge mess in the supposed name of science ;-)

Sledding

The kids were super excited today for...snow!! No cancellation, though...

I was happy to have the chance to stay home today, drink coffee, and listen to the howling wind.

Pep wasn't too interested in going out...until later when I went out with her. 

The kids got home and immediately put on snow gear to sled

Gage, he is made for cold weather. He loves it. Loves the snow. He was just rolling down the hill over and over with his face planted in the snow. Crazy boy.

Savannah did some sledding and called it a day after she got snow all over her face. She got some good runs in though!

Big baby!

This big baby is 94 pounds now!!!

Hot stuff

Gage is definitely mine. He loves loves spicy salsa. He likes my HOT salsa. And...he was making fun of Adam tonight for being a wimp about eating the not-so-hit Frank's hot sauce. Gage eats that by the teaspoon now and then. 

By the way, I let him eat all the salsa he wants since - other than corn on the cob - it's the only vegetable he eats!!!

Lobstah...

Our Xmas tradition of lobsters moved to New Years this year!

Let me tell you, finding live lobster in OH is not easy. I had to drive to Columbus, 1+ hours away. Yes, Gage ate a hot dog instead. 

Next year, I think I will order lobbies early and have them shipped from Maine. Didn't plan far enough ahead this year. Yet another reason we should make sure we end up living along the coast some day in the far away future!!!