Happy early St. Paddy's day! I caught a Leprechaun here in my own kitchen! Just as you'd expect a leprechaun to be, this one was hard to catch and harder yet to get still enough for a good picture, but you can get the idea! Unfortunately, he didn't have any gold to give me...







I haven't gotten any good shots of Abby in the last few days, so I thought we'd go back to Marches past...this is almost exactly 2 years ago...in sunny FL. What a tubby chub!



We've all been getting into the St. Paddy's Day spirit by producing copious amounts of green snot...hehe, tmi? Sorry. But I think we're on the mend. The kids have had several restless nights due to congestion and coughing, and that coupled with the time change has our schedule all wonky.

Being sick just ain't what it used to be...used to mean a break, being babied, sleeping and watching movies all day...now, it means Bj and I get to pull double duty on half the sleep with all the same symptoms that would knock us on our backs before kids. But I guess most of you know what I'm talking about. What happened to the "call in sick" option? Why does it become 'not ok' to holler "Mooooooooooom, I'M SICK!!"?

Oh well. In the spirit of all things Irish:
May the road rise to meet you may the wind be always at your back; may the sun shine warm upon your face, and the rain fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand.

On Thursday Bj didn't have much work, so he took the day off. It's always a party when "Daddio" is home! He took us to Chuck E. Cheese! There was great celebration when our destination of the day was announced! :o) Abby was exploding with energy and Alex was excited because Abby was excited, hahaha!!



Alex was thrilled to find that the car moves!!



Here's Abby "going to the farm"...



Peekaboo!!!



They have a toddler area just Alex's size! He felt like such a big boy to be able to climb up and go down the slide all by himself!



Oh no! Fender bender on the slide!



Princess Abby in her carriage...I asked if she was going to the ball, and she said, "No, going to WalMart!" (yup, she's my daughter!)



And a good time was had by all...



In other news, Bj isn't feeling very well--luckily for me, I ran into some Girl Scouts at a craft show today, so I have a Saturday night date afterall!! :o) Here's a pic:



Mmmm...I love me some peanut butter patties! I'm counting down 'til the kids are sleeping and my patties and I can be alone...

A new friend!

Meet "Flora", Abby's new friend! Flora's a male beta, but don't tell Abby...she named "her" after one of the fairies in Sleeping Beauty. According to Abby, Flora's red and has "flappers" to swim with!



She and Bj picked "her" up at WalMart while I was on a church girl's night out...yeah, that's right, ALL night! We spent the night at a hotel, and I had a wonderful time and didn't worry about a thing...Bj enjoys playing Mr. Mom and does a great job at it! I came home to a tidy house, happy kids and the grocery shopping done! :) And as if that weren't enough, he's also letting me take a sewing class on Monday evenings with a friend! It feels indulgent to be getting out so much, lol.

Last night we had spaghetti, Alex's favorite meal! Here's how much he enjoys it!



It's too bad we stop enjoying things so thoroughly! Life would be a lot more fun if we'd dive into it with as much enthusiasm as Alex does his spaghetti!

This morning the trees are coated in a beautiful layer of frost. I wish this picture did it justice, but to get a really great pic, I'd have to actually go out into the knee deep snow, and I'm just not ready for that yet this morning. The view from the window is one of every branch and twig covered in sparkle, framed by the icicles hanging from the roof!



It's been a slow and lazy morning, since Bj is home today, but I suppose it's time to shake it off and get the day going...

Have a good day!

ABC's and 123's

Today while I was staring blankly into the freezer trying to decide what to make for dinner, Abby chirped, "Mommy, I made an A!" She was coloring at the table so I went over to take a gander...sure enough, there was a big, green, capital A! I was skeptical, so I asked her to make another--and she did! What a big girl! Looks like I need to print off some letter tracing coloring pages!




Obviously I made the pink ones, lol!

Later she was building with her blocks and said, "Here's a T, Mommy!" Funny girl!


Sorry about the redeye again...once again too lazy to edit! It's so much fun to watch her learn, because she's so excited about it!

Hope everyone's week is going well!

Snowiness!

Someone in the sky last night
Had an awful pillow fight,
And when I woke today I found
All the feathers on the ground!

Not sure who wrote that, but it's cute! It was a pretty crazy pillow fight too! Hmmm...18ish inches? Lots of beautiful snow, making the whole world look soft, muffling sounds, and blinding bright white everywhere! BJ had the forsight to check the church sidewalk last night, finding a 3 foot drift in front of the doors...the nice guy shoveled it out. He was up early to get out to Grandmama's to plow the drive, then back here to get our car out of the way for the plow, as well as shovel out 3 of the neighbor's cars. All before 8 a.m.! Thanks to him we were able to make it to church, but we were a big percentage of the congregation today! We met in the "Fireside Room" by the fireplace, because there were just too few of us for the big sanctuary. It was cozy and fun.

After church and lunch, we went back out to Grandmama's to enjoy the snow! Abby had such a fantastic time. After an hour I could see when she took her mittens off that her hands were icy cold, but when I asked if she was cold, she threw out an emphatic "No!!" Funny girl--we went in anyway! She didn't care too much for the sled--she preferred to slide "otter style" down the piles of snow. She'd struggle and grunt her way to the top of the "tower", then slip slide face first on her belly to the bottom.



Alex enjoyed a couple turns around the yard in the sled! Well, that is until I took one of those turns too tight and he tipped out onto his face. Poor guy! He decided he'd rather slurp a juice box in the cozy house with Grandma and Grandmama.





Proud of her big snow chunk! "It's pretty heavy Mommy!"



Here's our hero!

What a wonderful day. I'm so thankful. We have a snug little home, a caring Daddio and hubby, friends that are like family, family that couldn't be better family, good health, oranges from Florida (thanks Mom!), Grandmama's big yard to play in, and spring will come soon!

Corn Eye...and other mysteries...

Abby is into seeing what she can make her face and little body do...she can put on some hilarious shows! She usually says, "I can do like this, see?" then excecutes some gyration, twitch, fancy dance move, acrobatic feat or funny facial contortion. Our current favorite is "corn eye"...so named because she was eating corn for supper when she "discovered" it. Enjoy...



For kicks, and because she looks so sweet, here's Abby in the tutu and flower wreath I made her...



Alex's latest is that I *think* he might be saying "Thank you"! He says the same 2 syllables whenever I give him something to eat or his cup...they're pretty much unrecognizable, but they're consistantly in context...and end in "oo". The jury's still out on this one, but it's a possibility... :) Here he is proudly displaying his latest adorable cloth diaper! It's my new favorite, and has little cowboys and Indians on it.



Cloth diapering has turned into a hobby for me...I've got a pattern and the fabric (blue and brown--one of my fav combos!) to try my hand at sewing them up. I LOVE not having to worry about running out of diapers! Anyway, 'spose you might appreciate a head shot of the guy?



What a doof, huh?? Here's more:



Kissing the baby...he's such a lovey guy!



Here's all of them--aren't they wonderful? Sorry about the red-eye...too lazy to edit.



And for more kicks, here's my latest little project. I wanted to try a crazy quilt, and I've had this homely fabric laying around for quite a while...can you iamgine it was in the dollar bin at WalMart?? Lol...I can. It actually looks better in the pic than in real life...Bj's only comment on it was, "That's ugly." :) I've resized this pic about 30 times, but it's still huge, sorry!!




We're having a heat wave...we're in the 40's!! Some of the birds are back. Abby noticed their singing on our way to the car- it's so fun to watch her discover things! She said, "Mommy! Hear the birds?!" Hope you're all having a good week and can hear the birds!

Finally, a little bloggin' action!

Oh my goodness. A full month later, and here I am, finally getting something going. I'm sorry I'm so sloooowww!

Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day! It's late, and I'm tired, so I'm just going to put up some pics for now. I'll be back later when I'm feeling more wordy...


Miss Abby noticed me sucking down the coffee the other morning and requested her own "chocolate coffee", which is what she calls hot chocolate...so here she is, all grown up and enjoying her chocolate coffee...





Alex's mohawk was getting out of control, so I took the clipper to it!! He's sooo blonde that he looks bald sometimes, lol!! I don't think I'll do that again...good thing he's sooo cute!



Here's a pre-buzz shot...you can see a little of the crazy fuzz! This is his "You know you want me, baby!" look. Pretty sure I've seen it somewhere before...



Ok, well, looks like the pics are a little too big still. Dern it. Ah well...I'm really not that inept at taking pics, lol. I'll do better next time, but not this time...too tired... :)