Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Finally...snow!!!

I laughed and asked my oldest to remind we why we moved! Our old driveway would have taken an hour for 2 kids today. Our new driveway took 2 hours with 3-5 of us working the entire time.  Glad my son can get the snowblower started.  (in my defense...it's really really old)

 

But, there is a snowmobile trip planned for this evening right from our yard. That's one of the reasons!

Beautiful outside:
Those poor birds are probably so confused


Not so beautiful inside: We have 2 bsmt bedrooms to finish in our new house. This is why we haven't finished them yet. We wanted to wait until spring to make sure we didn't cover up something like this.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Life with kids :)

Ash Wednesday:
We arrived at Mass with only a few minutes to spare.   We walked in the side door near the front.  The church was packed!  Where were 8 of us plus an infant in a carseat going to sit?!  We walked all the way to the back...and sat in the very last pew.  We sat down and Logan said he needed to use the bathroom.  So, we walked ALL the way back to the front to get to the bathroom.

Same day:
We HAD to go to the Hennepin Cty Service Center.  Abigail (10 wks) did pretty well the entire 45 minutes we waited.  I already whispered to Elizabeth and Logan that we must go when it's our turn so we'll pick up the books when we were done.  She started crying while it was out turn, by the time we were done we needed to leave.  She was quite loud.  I explained to the kids that this time it would be better if we left the piles of books they were looking at on the chairs because Anna was pretty loud and people would probably  prefer we just leave.

Abigail needed a diaper.  No changing table.  Not even a bench or chair in the hallway.  It was only wet (but Abby hates wet diapers).  And, I had grabbed the diaper bag that didn't have a pad in (does now) so the floor was NOT an option.  I did manage to change her in her carseat.  Took awhile and she wasn't happy.  I got everyone cleaned up and bundles up and Logan said he needed to go.  Maybe he thought I was too busy to tell before?!

Today:
I managed to get all the kids (except the oldesst, she was sick) out the door to Mass.  I even woke up Abby early to get her ready in hopes she would nap during Mass.  For many reasons we decided to go to a different church.  We got there and discovered....no Friday Mass there. 

Monday, February 20, 2012

Doc appt or field trip

...or both
2 month old Abigail had another ultrasound and orthopedic surgeon consult today for her mild hip dysplasia (at this point doc thinking 95% chance she will NOT need a harness/brace!)

I decided to take the next two along.  At ages 4 and 6 they cannot work on much schoolwork without me, so they would have been playing together all morning (my 3 oldest are babysitters).  That's fine, but for some reason something urged me to make them come along.

I realized they had never been to an ultrasound before, but telling them we were heading to a doctor appointment would have been "boring".  So I told them we were going on a field trip so they could see the inside of Anna's hip :)  (and just for the record....I don't feel the need to make them want to come with me to things...they need to come just because I said so, but this was more fun)  They each took a backpack with a cookie and juice boxes.  They enjoyed it.  And, I have to admit, I did too.  I think simply calling it a field trip rather than just another doc appointment made it much more fun.

They took one look at the ultrasound screen and decided that there wasn't much to see, especially not compared to the TV playing Sesame Street (which is pretty exciting when you've only seen Sesame Street a handful of times in your life:) )

Next stop was about 30 minutes away to see the doctor. 

We played score on the way (counting yellow cars).  Here's the funny part.  Elizabeth had 3 points already, Logan and I each had zero.  I suggested we count them all together like her cousins do.  She decided that would no fun.  There's no competition in that.  But, it's harder for Logan to play so she suggested he be allowed to team up.  I started to ask Logan about it when Elizabeth interupted, "no mom, can I explain it to him please?  Logan, you get to decide who's team to be on.  I have 3 points, mom has zero.  then again really slowly...I have 3 points, mom has zero."  Yep, he chose her team.

After we arrived at the clinic we got to ride on an elevator - that was a huge hit! 

They were so excited that they didn't even mind a trip to the grocery store for milk on the way home.  Then I figured, what the heck, and threw in 2 lunchables.  This was a field trip remember!  We all had fun :)



Friday, February 10, 2012

"Winter?" scavenger hunt


It was 40 degrees and sunny with no snow.  (really NOT cold, but not warm enough to enjoy climbing trees or playing in a sandbox).    I wanted the kids to get outside for some fresh air before the temperature was expected to drop into the teens.  So I sent them on a scavenger hunt.  It only took 5 minutes to make up the list.  It provided them with an hour of fun running around the yard collecting items; I had fun watching.  Nope, it didn't take them an hour to find the items, but once outside they found all sorts of things to do.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Something to think about

"He [Satan] knows your story, knows what works with you and so the line is tailor-made to your situation." from Wild at Heart by John Eldredge

Jesus is throwing you the lifeline, you need to grasp it.