Again?!

It is snowing so much around here that I don't think Hope even gets excited about it anymore.  I tried to take her out in last week's snow, but she cried and said her cheeks hurt and she wanted to go inside.  This time, we lathered up our cheeks with Vaseline and had a better time.  Of course, the weather is about 20 degrees warmer than it was last week also.  That helps.  The other good thing about this snow is that it was a surprise.  They forcasted a "dusting." We got around 5 inches. 

The snow bunny...being forced to play outside.  Do I have the only kid who doesn't like snow?

Desperate times call for a little creativity.  I desided to get out a sled.  We don't have any hills, but we do have a raised flower bed that has a gradual decline into our backyard.  To a 2 year old sledding for the first time, it was a mountain! 

My perinials may suffer for it, but I think we had a great time in the snow...finally!

Hope and Mom's First Road Trip

It is a well known fact that I hate driving.  I detest driving on the interstate. But, we had plans to visit with John's family at G.G's house in Northern Kentucky and Woody needed to be in Owensboro last week, so I took lots of deep breaths and may or may not have closed my eyes to pass a few trucks, but I drove us to Florence.

The girls before we leave.  You can see how excited I am about the 4 hours of interstate driving that are ahead of me.

We waved good bye to Daddy and loaded up.

Long story, but John's family had come in unexpectedly to Owensboro earlier in the week for a funeral on Christy's side of the family, but he was unable to come and had to meet them in Northern Kentucky.  His family was glad to see him.

Hope likes to hear stories of when I was a little girl.  When we talk about G.G's house there is always food involved.  Whether it be the cheese puffs my Papaw always had for me or the smell of eggs with hotdogs in them (you read that right) for John along side the aromas of coffee brewing for Grandma- there is always lots of food at G.G's.  Every flat surface in her home will have candy bowls or nuts covering them.  This is just the spread of fruit for one morning's breakfast.

Grammy and Pappy came up a day later.  Pappy is reading Hope the Three Bears.  It's a favorite of Hope's. 

Grammy's entertainment is less conventional.  Here, she's playing bull fighting with the kiddos.  Yep, bull fighting.

Later, there was a dance party.  This is just a continuation of the Wii dance party Luke had been throwing for the rest of us earlier in the week at Grammy's.

Hadley grows sweeter each day!  She is loving on Hope's favorite baby.  If it hadn't been Hope's favorite, I would have sent it home with Hadley.  Attention Grammy: Hadley needs this baby.

Hope was literally flippin' to see her cousins!

Winter can be tough to entertain three children who are high on G.G.'s candy stash, but we did pretty well getting them out. We went to the mall and to the creation museam.  We also went to Grammy and Pappy's hotel room to swim one night.  Hope and Luke had fun, but for me, it was great to be away from the snow for a little bit and pretend it was summer.  When my child's lips started to turn blue I had to stop remembering and go put her in a hot bath.  Then, as our winter has gone, a forcast of snow caused us all to cut the trip a little short and head home.

I'm Bored

Well, it's like this: There is NOTHING going on in our little lives right now.  Well, nothing to write about anyway.  We've had snow: not enough to get all excited about, but enough to keep us at home. But, you're tired of seeing Hope play in the snow pictures.  We are cleaning and organizing and rearranging our home-a much needed project.  But, that's not finished yet, and who wants to see home organization photos anyhow?  Hope's little vocabulary is ever expanding.  Thankfully, one word she does not yet now is "bored."  Don't get me wrong: she gets bored, but she doesn't use that word...yet.  In the summertime, we go play outside, visit parks, play softball, and just go places.  The good thing (one of the only good things) about winter and being stuck inside is that it does foster creativity.  Hope is playing more make believe and using her toys in more ways than their original intended use. 

Here is school.  Hope does teach her animals letters and the few numbers that she knows.  She also reads to them, but more often than not at Teacher Hope's school (as she calls herself) it is snack time.  She loves to deliver snacks to her students. 

This is all Hope's idea.  She got my cooling racks and cutting boards and combined that with her own plastic utensils and played "set the table."  Later we played restaurant, but I never did get my quesadillas that I ordered and she told me to just go away.  She'll make a better school lunch lady than she will waitress.

Every thing has to be in its proper place for her.  No moving it.  Is this normal for toddlers to be perfectionists?  On Monday we had multiple fits at the grocery because her sucker stick kept bending.  "I can't eat this!" She would scream.

And to cure my boredom, I'm cooking.  These are Granny's yeast rolls.  It took a couple of tries for me to get these right, but they are worth the effort.  Not just ordinary rolls. No sir! You start by mashing cooked, cubed potatoes through a wire strainer.  Who knew?!  Every good recipe has a secret ingredient.  I guess potatoes are Granny's secret.

Tutu and snowman?

What do tutus and snowmen have in common? Nothing except that it's what is going on of late at our house.  I did finish my Christmas video, but it's up on facebook.  Blogger was taking too long to load.  I'll try again later. 

At first glance, this may look a little...well...odd.  Is Woody in drag? Is Hope stripping?  Neither.  Well, Hope does strip a lot lately.  I can't keep her clothes on her.  You just look over and she's taking them all off.  Who knows. A phase?  Woody is just being a nice dad and wearing the "twirling dress" (as Hope calls it) while they listen to the little people sing Wheels on the Bus- one more time.

Today it is snowing.  Hope and I built our first snowman.  It is more like a snow midget as we've been calling it.  Poor little snow midget.  It didn't even have coal for eyes, a carrot for a nose or proper accessories like scarves and hats.  Still, we loved it with it's leaf eyes, stick nose and arms and mulch mouth.  It lived a short life.  Once we let Daisy out of her kennel, the snow midget was but a memory.  R.I.P. little snowman.