It's Snow Fun

Ballerina looks so cute all bundled up. Do you like DH's yellow pants? Because I do.

The snow and watching the kids play has made Checkers really hyper.

Ballerina is bundled up so tight she can barely move her head around.

It might be hard to see here but our little tree is completely coated in about a 1/2 inch of ice. This was last night and today it's added another layer of snow on top of the ice. The weather man is calling it SNOWZILLA. DH is really excited about that. He is out now trying to shovel a foot of snow off the driveway so he can go to Walmart to pick up the kid's main gift for Christmas. I order it from the website and I used the Site to Store option. I wouldn't let him go get it last week because I thought it was too dangerous and now it's twice and dangerous. I feel dumb about that.

It's a BLIZZARD

Em

Cor and Ballerina

Mya

DH and Ballerina

Well it's not really but that's what we are calling it because it's the most snow we've gotten in a really really long time. The snow started last Sunday and it made our 2 week winter break into a 3 week winter wonderland. DH had so much fun this week playing in the snow and I had fun watching them from the window. I know I'm not the fun Mom I should be but I did make sure we had hot chocolate and hot cider supplies on hand. DH is a school teacher so that meant an extra week off of work for him too. Will we survive 3 weeks together? Well we barely survived the first week. DH and I make a good team but we have two completely different leadership styles. Both good just very different. So who is in charge when we are both home? The kids think it's me but I'm not really sure. That remains to be discovered and we may never know the answer.

I did try to have a togetherness/bonding family activity. It was called we'll all clean the house "together." The kids were suspisicious and DH hated the idea entirely. But I made them do it. I think sometimes it's good to learn to work together even if the job doesn't get done fast or right. DH is the get it done fast person and I am the get it done right person. I don't know if our togetherness time was emotionally productive for anyone but sometimes you just have to try things out.

DH tried building a giant snowman that didn't turn out looking anything like a snowman. He did build a snowman family at my request. They built several forts or barriers for snow ball fights but today he built a two room fort with a roof. The snowman family became part of the 2nd room. They have made the most out of the snow. I haven't gotten pictures yet because I had to charge the battery to the camera and sad to say I am still not confident on how to transfer the pictures from the camera to the laptop. It's pathetic. I will be forced to figure it out one of these days.

Last weekend I sent DH to Costco to pick up a few essentials such as pop-tarts. He called me from the store and asked if he could buy a robe. His old one is the one I made him the Christmas we got married so that would make it about 12 years old. It's really getting gross looking, enough that he has noticed. That means it's pretty bad. He got a nice polar fleece robe and has been wearing it almost everyday. We call it his smoking jacket. He looks very relaxed when he wears it. It's kind of funny to me. He has started to put a little more thought into his appearance and overall comfort of his clothes. I think I am starting to rub off on him. Yes!

Here we are at Cor's baptism. Everything turned out so perfect that day. I even had to give a talk in Sacrament meeting. But I was so grateful that I had a perfect hair and skin day. That really only happens once every couple years. Cor had a good experience and everything went as planned. My parent's even came over from Utah for the weekend.

Here is DH and I at the Pacific City, Cape Kiwanda for his birthday weekend. We had such a good time and you can see what a beautiful day it was.

You can also see our new kitty, Checkers, getting comfy with her favorite person. I don't really care much for pets but DH has taken to the cat. The kids love her and she gets a lot of attention which she seems to enjoy. A better picture would have been of all the scratches Em and Val had all over their bodies the first couple weeks we had the kitty. Checkers is very very patient with them but they pick her up and carry her the wrong way all the time and eventually she gets scared and scratches them. She is getting used to them now and doesn't scratch them so much and we've only had her six weeks.

Successfully Potty Training the Wrong Way, a book by EdgyK

I promise to never give anyone advice on potty training. I have successfully potty trained 3 of my 4 children the wrong way. I won't even tell you what I did because no one should follow my example. My first child potty trained so easily and probably would have trained herself even if I hadn't initiated it, so she doesn't count. I actually handed over potty training authority to my husband this weekend because I had lost all confidence in myself as a potty training mother. He pretty much used the same method I ended up using on Cor and Em. Ballerina could pee and poop in the toilet, she had the ability, but no desire. I had the same scenario when potty training Cor and Em. I read all the information available to me on potty training and worked hard to all the right things. But my children, like most, only do things when they choose to do it. I couldn't do what I had done with Cor and Em because I felt like it was the wrong way. DH didn't understand why I couldn't just do it again with Ballerina since it worked before. I guess I thought I'd get better at this mothering thing and wouldn't have to resort to bad mothering methods. Even though I still feel guilty I am glad cleaning poopy out of panties may be a thing of the past.

My Favorite Facial Scrub

This is my favorite scrub because it works as well as the Mary Kay Microdermabrasion scrub but is 1/3 the price.

I use it everyday especially around my nose where I get a build up of dead skin. ooh gross, I know. I have pretty sensitive skin so I was really pleased to find something that worked but didn't cost so much.

It was the 2nd thing I tried after deciding that Mary Kay was too expensive and I figured there had to be another company who was able to make something that would work just as well. It does have a slight fragrance but it is not strong. I am sensitive to smells.

DH is 34

My husband turned 34 yesterday but I am still younger than him and won't be 34 until next April. And that's like forever. We had a fantabulous weekend. We had our first over night get-a-way from the kids in over ten years. Mya just turned 10 on November 9th. I have been away for several days and nights before and so has DH but never together away. DH's parent's came to stay with the kids. The kids had a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa and we had a lot of fun being together and relaxing. We went to Pacific City and things couldn't have worked out better. I really wanted everything to work out perfect and it did.

Here are some of the things that worked out to make a perfect weekend:

• No one was sick until after we got home. DH jixed it because when we were at dinner Friday night he mentioned how healthy we've been. I told him he shouldn't have said that out loud and that I wouldn't mind if anyone got sick now because I was just concerned about everyone being healthy for this weekend. When we got home Em was not feeling well. Ballerina also started a runny nose and barking cough. And I'm okay with it.
• The weather at the Oregon coast was in the 60's, no wind and very few clouds. That's as good as it gets at the coast. A bunch of people came out to surf so it was fun to watch them. DH decided he should try it someday.
  
• Our hotel was cozy and fun and right on the beach. They had a decent restaurant right across the street so we didn't have to go far to eat or decide where to go. The staff at the hotel were really friendly.
  
• There was a full moon on Friday night, so romantic!
  
• I was able to keep the whole thing a secret from DH up until we drove away from the house. Awesome!
• DH had a good time and was able to relax and that was the whole goal.
  
• We had time to sit in the sand and talk, kiss and do nothing.
  
• We got icecream in Tillamook and we went to an outdoor mini golf course. The shop wasn't open but DH just happened to have 2 putters in the trunk and a few golf balls. So we put money in a drop box they had by the door and played 18 mini holes of golf. We were the only ones out there and we had a lot of fun. It wasn't the kind with little buildings and fake mountains it was like little putting greens so it was like real golf just mini. It was challenging and I almost beat DH's score on one hole.
• The best part is we still are "in love."
  

I arranged the weekend and then DH got decide how he wanted to spend the weekend. I am extremely grateful everything went so well and it was just what we both needed.

Cookies for breakfast

Last night I made chocolate chip cookies to sooth a friends emotional distress. And yes, it did work. This morning Ballerina saw the cookies and wanted it one. Right now she is eating it and making yummy sounds. I don't know if I am teaching her a bad habit or not. She did have to eat a bowl of cereal before she got the cookie.