Other January

Some lovely friends had us over for dinner, during which time Hailee demonstrated her carnivorous side and went to town on a turkey drumstick...

Dallin exhibiting his amazing eye talents at dinner one evening...

He can actually move one eye independent of the other😝

I noticed an awful sore on Hailee's finger one day- below is a picture of it looking "good" after several days of bandages and neosporin.  Initially, it was really swollen and very painful- I was surprised she hadn't come to me when it first happened, and she really wouldn't give me any details about how it happened...

A few days later the cause was discovered... Nathan and I had brought Hailee and Jace to Nathan's office one day so we could get some things done there.  We put the kids in the waiting room with the tv on, but our silent explorer Hailee decided to do her thing... When Nathan went to work the next week, he discovered several drawers in an operatory that had been dismantled, and some acid etch spilled everywhere... Hailee fessed up to it and we discussed *again* the importance staying out of other peoples stuff *sigh*

I helped out at the kids school one day and ended up eating lunch with them- I love how Hailee peels her oranges with her eyes closed...

Jace felt like such a big kid getting to go to school all day... at the end of the day in Hailee's class there was a birthday party and enough cupcakes for Jace to get one- he patiently waited for all of them to be passed out before he ate his...

It's slowly warming up (into the 40's) and the snow is melting.  I'm sure we haven't seen the last of winter yet, but it's nice to have the driveway melt off a little *grin*

Snow Shoeing

This month at school there has been enough snow that the kids have all gone snow shoeing in PE.  They love it!  Hailee's teacher sent this picture:

 Can I just say again, how much I love their school?!?

Basketball

Bryson played on the same basketball team again this year... and again they didn't have a single win the whole season 😩  This, in stark contrast to his first year in Upward Basketball, when they won every.single.game.  Regardless though, the team had fun- they tried hard, and on the upside, they weren't sore losers or even devastated when they lost.  They have improved SO much over the past season- it would have been nice for them to have tasted victory, just once...

Bryson had a pretty substantial cheering section *wink*

Tooth Fairy

My kids have me on a major pedestal.

I wish I could say that I'm just as 'on it' with my third as I was with my first in fulfilling tooth fairy duties, but alas, I recently found myself creeping into Eli's room at 6 am to git-er-done...  he stirred a little in the process, but I was confident I'd successfully pulled it off.

Until breakfast that is.

Dallin: Did the tooth fairy come last night Eli?
Eli: No, she forgot, so mom had to put money under my pillow.
Dallin: Oh.  {pause, eyes widening}  Unless mom IS the tooth fairy...
Eli: {gasp} Maybe she is!

Naturally, I'd assumed that they'd figured out the cold, hard truth.  But then...

Dallin: I mean, it would explain why she is tired a lot, you know, if she's up all night going all over the world as the tooth fairy..
Eli: And she IS married to a dentist...
Dallin: It just makes sense!

*sigh*

Sure boys, it makes far more sense that I'm a magical fairy with control over space and time than that I merely fill the role for my own kids.  I mean, I'm good, but not that good *wink*

Rough and Tumble

The kids' initial excitement of having ridiculous amounts of snow to go sledding in was quickly dampened when they realized that they mostly just sank in the multiple feet of powder.  With some time and persistence though, we've developed quite the sledding path, and each day it gets a little faster...

As today's sledding extravaganza was drawing to a close, Jace decided he wanted to go for one last run, this time solo.  As soon as he started down the hill, I knew he was in trouble- he weighs next to nothing, which means there was no drag to slow him down... sure enough, at the 'bottom' of the hill where we typically bog down in the deeper snow, he skimmed right across the top and down the next hill, crashing into some branches and shrubs.  Nathan went after him and carried him up- he was pretty upset about it and got some decent scratches on his face... nothing a cookie can't make better though!

The puppies are so funny in their totally unfinished dog house...

We like to bring the puppies in on cold evenings to warm them up and love on them- they're fine in the basement and laundry room, but they h.a.t.e. coming in the front door onto the tile or wood floors!  I literally have to carry the big oafs!  Unless I lay down a blanket, they desperately claw their way to the carpet in the piano room- the blanket ends up being their island and they won't leave it!  Silly puppies!

A New Year

Happy 2016!  We celebrated with some friends and family at our house eating yummy finger foods and treats, and then watched King Julien shake his booty and count down to the New Year at 9:30ish-

After everyone left, the boys stayed up til midnight, playing with their snap circuits and reading.  We really know how to party *wink*

For the second year in a row, Katrin spent the night with her kids (and adorable baby puppy) and we had a lazy morning on New Years Day.  Eventually we got up the energy to go sledding in the 3 1/2 feet of snow in the winter wonderland we call our backyard...

Duke and Knight totally want to join in *grin*

Jace loves going backwards, he either belly laughs or "wee-oooh wee-oooh's" like an ambulance on the way down...

 Snow much fun *grin*

Nathan was standing on the ground, buried in the snow past his knees...

We managed to find one of the many sleds buried under the snow that hadn't been put away before more snow fell...

After sledding, we mostly lounged and played video games and did makeovers on my phone-

*rawr*