March 2017

I love this funny little girl.

This little lady was on a 'doctor' kick for a while.  She made sure we were all healthy.

She also had an unbelievably mischievous year.  We had incidents involving permanent markers, nail polish, paint, water, bubble bath, jam, kool aid, and many other things.  Somewhere around this point in the year, I confiscated every writing utensil in the house and bought skeleton keys so I could lock certain closets and rooms in our house.  It helped a lot.  She was out of control!

I woke up one morning to the smell of chicken.  What??  The kids decided to make chicken and smoothies for breakfast.  Ha ha!  It was tasty, though.

This was definitely not in March, but whatever.  One of the other moms took some pictures of the kids in Abby's momschool group.  They had a fun year together.

This girl melts my heart.

Laurel LOVES shoes.  She's always playing in somebody's shoes.

With our many food restrictions this year, we discovered the joy of almond flour and coconut flour.  Pretty much everything we've made has been great.  One day we made bread.  It smelled amazing and tasted okay.  So it was a bit of a let down.  

We devoured it in no time anyway.

I love having a sweet toddler around.

This girl is so silly.

This looks to be the same day, different meal.  It looks like she got away with a pajama day.  :)

End of February 2017

This probably wasn't in February, but Abby's little momschool group had a field trip to PetSmart one day.

Cute Laurel.

I sent this picture in a text to my sister one day and hilarity ensued.

Her response.

So we sent another one.

Her comeback.

I threw in a sweet face.

And another silly one.

We were giggling so hard over the back and forth!

No, my finger is NOT actually in my nose.

Ha ha ha!

Time for some group shots.

She stole the bow off of her plant.

 Last picture; we all had a good mid-day laugh.

Logan's Ski Trip

In January, we sent Logan to Colorado for my family's annual ski trip.  He had the opportunity to fly on an airplane alone both directions, spend time with family, and learn to ski!  He surprised everyone by how aggressive he was on skis, and his instructor said that he should have been in a more difficult lesson. 

He had so much fun!  He was in a lesson the first day, and then he skied with everyone the second day.  My dad stayed with him the whole day and said it was one of his (my dad's) favorite ski days ever.  

Hilarious story:  My dad spent a lot of time skiing backwards in front of Logan in order to teach him to go back and forth on the mountain (Logan wanted to ski straight down...no fear!).  On one run, Logan failed to tell my dad that he was heading straight for a tree; he skied backwards right into it!  Thankfully, they were going slow enough that he wasn't hurt.

My sister sent me this video and this one as well.

Licking the spoon after Sarah made some treats for the ski trip.

Playing with the dogs at Sarah's house.

His lesson card and another funny story.  On the second day of skiing, Logan wore his ski boots to the resort and they forgot to bring his shoes.  So when they had to return his ski rental (at the resort) he was left in his socks.  Dave and the others took turns carrying him back to the car!  It's a good thing he's so little.

He also went to an air and space museum with his Uncle Dave on his extra day in Colorado.

I'm excited to go on the ski trip next year and ski with my boy!  We haven't made it back for the trip as a family since we moved to Iowa.

February

Everyone loves to pull Laurel around in boxes, containers, and on blankets.  She loves going for a ride.

Cute Annie.  She never tires of posing for the camera.

On Valentine's Day, I woke to the smell of cooking.  The kids surprised me with breakfast!  They'd made hashbrowns, eggs, and smoothies.  Thanks kids!

I love the toddler phase.

We had some really nice weather one weekend, and so we spent the day outside working and playing.  This girl was looking pretty wild with her dirty face and crazy hair by the time we went inside.

Alex lost his first tooth!

Our garage was a mess!  This is a before picture I took in the spring.  It was fall before we fully cleaned it, and winter before I took the after picture.  Ha ha!

After

Logan Learns Piano

Logan has a very musical ear.  Since he was a toddler, he could carry a tune.  As he got older, he could hear a song once and then accurately hum the melody weeks later.  I've often wanted to encourage his natural music ability, but haven't felt good about pushing lessons.  This fall, however, I felt inspired to encourage him to begin piano.  Rather than teach him, I felt impressed that he could learn on his own if he just had a little motivation.  So we made it part of our school routine every day.  He doesn't receive any instruction unless he asks for it, and he isn't actually required to practice.  His requirement is to choose one of three options each day, piano practice being one of them.  In January (about 4 months after beginning piano) he let me make this video of him.  He's doing great!

A Guide to a Mom's Life

12:00pm: Pat yourself on the back for putting away three weeks worth of laundry.

12:01pm: Share your success on social media.

(See my pretty new quilt?  I bought this for $17; it was originally $120...pretty pleased about it.)

12:02pm: Have delusions of grandeur about the read aloud time and other attention you are going to give your children for the rest of the afternoon.

12:03pm: Discover half a bottle of bubble bath poured onto the carpet.

12:04pm: Go downstairs to retrieve the carpet cleaner and discover that your gluten intolerant baby is eating Grapenuts by the handful (which she first poured all over the dining room).

12:05pm: Wonder how sick your baby is going to be and then infuriate her by removing her from the scene of her delight.

12:13pm: After cleaning up the dangerous cereal, retrieve the carpet cleaner.

12:15pm: Bubbles...BIG bubbles.

12:20pm: Rinse, suck, and repeat...over and over.

12:30pm: Wonder if putting away the laundry was worth it (because that left the 3yo unsupervised to dump bubble bath).

12:35pm: Ask an older child to feed the baby lunch.

12:45pm: Tell yourself that the lovely smell in the room is the silver lining.

12:46pm: Not convinced.

12:48pm: Observe that the water in the dirty tank is now clear enough and soapy enough to bathe your children in.

12:50pm: Smaller bubbles...hope!

12:55pm: Fresh rinse and...BIG bubbles! Hope squashed.

1:00pm: Decide to attempt the throw up trick. (Using a metal utensil to squeeze liquid out of carpet.)

1:01pm: Release crying baby from her high chair. Observe her entire lunch that she threw on the floor and resolve to get a dog next year.

1:02pm: Open utensil drawer to grab a spatula and wonder what the 3yo did with all of the untensils.

1:03pm: Attempt throw up trick with some success.

1:10pm: Wonder if two square feet of carpet is worth all this effort.

1:11pm: Envision the dirt that will stick to soap left in the carpet and the resulting large stain. Rinse, suck, and repeat.

1:30pm: Decide that putting away the laundry was definitely NOT worth it.

1:45pm: Consider how many gallons of bath water this much bubble bath would normally be used in. Sigh at the half gallon rinse tank on your carpet cleaner.

1:46pm: Promise yourself that you will stop after three more rinses.

2:00pm: Heartily wish someone had thrown up instead.

2:15pm: Fulfill your promise. Carpet still sudsy. *sigh*

2:30pm:Commiserate on social media.

2:31pm: Take a deep breath, and go downstairs to discover what mischief has been done while you failed to clean the carpet.

2:45pm: Bump into a pile of dirty laundry. Recall that you were on your way to start this laundry when your afternoon was derailed.
2:46PM: Start that laundry.

More January

Laurel is such a sweet little thing.

Sweet Abby.

Alex is my ham.

Laurel loves cuddling with Daddy and a book.