Happy Valentine's Day!

This is the after the big day of eating cookies, ice cream and chocolate all day photo. It appears they all enjoyed it, especially Lincoln as he has chocolate drool all over his shirt.

Too Good To Be True...

In a discussion with someone about my husband and our relationship, someone referred to my husband as too good to be true. I laughed, of course! But quickly realized he is too good to be true. Not in the sweep you off your feet, super romantic, buy you nice gifts kind of way. (I mean we went to CiCi's Pizza buffet on our last date night, that should tell you something.) But in the perfect for me, amazing person that totally gets me kind of way. I could go on and on and bore you with all the delightful details, but no one really wants to hear that, right? It's hard to believe that this Valentine's Day will be the 13th anniversary of our first date! I hope you and your too good to be true significant other enjoy your Valentine's Day!

Sweet Dreams

There are so many things about this picture that make me smile, but mostly I think that it is hilariously sweet that they choose to sleep together in a twin bed. Every night. They just can't give it up.

The End

Well, my two week hiatus of sleeping in, sitting around in pajamas and sweatpants, eating cookies, drinking hot chocolate by the fire, staying up late watching movies, playing with the kids, etc is coming to an end. I am beginning to feel the pressure to begin getting things prepared for a normal week. I have to say, that for the first time in a very long time I actually felt like I had a break, a real break. For a short time, our little world seemed to stop, or at least slow down a lot, in a very happy place. Nowhere to be, no one expecting anything, just us hanging out. I thoroughly enjoyed the lack of schedules and activities, just the luxury of a little down time with my favorite people. This time of year is usually quite challenging because of Kevin's busy season, so it was so nice to have him home with us for several days as well. For our family, this blizzard was a true blessing and a perfect reminder of who is in control.

Puzzled

We decided to spend last night putting together a puzzle. I thought it would be a fun way to spend some time together as our leisurely lifestyle is soon coming to a close. Although, I totally overestimated the amount of time it would take. I bought a 100 piece puzzle thinking it would take us an hour or two, but it took about 20 minutes. I've never much enjoyed puzzles because I wasn't very good at them. It probably would have taken me an hour or two. Oh well, we still had a good time, and I guess next time we'll go for a larger puzzle that will entertain us for a little while longer!

Remembering Fall

I've had a bit of extra time on my hands, so I thought I would post a few of the pictures we had taken in the fall and I never got around to posting. We attempted to get pictures of all the grandkids on my side of the family, but it is near impossible to get so many little kids to cooperate. (and we've added one more since then) I still managed to find a few favorites. All pictures were taken by Sara McDaniel of Beloved Photography. She's fantastic, but you already knew that.

More Snow Days

Well, we are in the middle of week two of our winter vacation. As expected, we received a little more snow today, but not as quite as much as they were calling for. We will, however, be out again tomorrow! I, for one, am enjoying every minute of our days together. We were able to get out over the weekend and restock, we had several people over for the Super Bowl, so we were good to go for another week of fun! Monday and Tuesday, Lincoln went to school and the girls and I ran around, knowing we would probably be home the rest of the week. I have sort of laid off the pictures since we haven't been doing anything too exciting, just the same relaxing things over and over again. I did snap a few pictures today of the kids reading. They love cuddling up in their bed and reading together under 18 blankets and 42 stuffed animals. Lincoln has also developed a love of books and reading so he was more than thrilled to join them today. It's funny to me that everyone in our house has remained in pajamas every day possible with the exception of Londyn. She gets dressed everyday and always puts a bow in her hair or some other hair accessory. I hope you are enjoying winter as much as I am!

My Middle Child

I feel like frequently when I write posts that have to do with Londyn, I talk about how she challenges me. I hope that isn't perceived negatively, she's just different than Skylar and we butt heads a lot. She tries to see what she can get away with and pushes the limits, which are qualities that could be advantageous to her in the future as long as they're channelled appropriately. I just feel like I am always getting on to her, or getting frustrated with her. Thankfully she also has a wonderfully loving and forgiving personality. However, in the four days that we have been home, I have been able to have so much fun with her. She has been an angel. No whining, complaining, eye rolling, grumpiness, negative attitude, etc. She's done what she's been asked to do, been extremely helpful, kind to her siblings, and just all around pleasant to be with. I've thanked her several times for her stellar behavior, and tried to make sure she knows how proud I am of her and how much I love her. I'm very thankful that I have had this time to spend with her where I am able to be more relaxed, and she isn't overly tired that we could spend several days just enjoying each other's company.

It Goes On and On-Day 5

When I started the Daily Blizzard posts, I thought it would be three days tops, and considering we're on day 5 it's getting a little old. I think I'm going to stop. I hate to be a quitter, but I doubt anyone is complaining. Today was great! We saw the light of day! We ventured out to Sam's, Wal-Mart and Reasor's. Sam's wasn't very crowded and they had everything I needed there in stock. I bought 4 more gallons of milk! The other stores were really crowded and short on supplies, but between all three we're good to go for another week (or more). The only thing I couldn't find was ground beef so I settled for ground turkey. The find of the day was seeing Diet Sun Drop in Reasor's! Sun Drop has been in OK for a while, but I've never been able to find Diet Sun Drop. So exciting!

Then we ended the evening with a movie night, hot chocolate and popcorn required!

Love these little cuddle bugs and thankful they aren't old enough to be embarrassed by how gross I look most of the time at home.

I also finished cleaning out the closet I started and didn't finish yesterday as well as started a little picture hanging project that has me a bit frustrated. Oh well, at least I feel like I actually made good use of my time today!

In Case You Haven't Heard

IT SNOWED!!!!

And the only "getting out" I've done is playing around in the yard. But, I'll take it! We had a great time getting a bit of fresh air and enjoying a little sunshine. Lincoln is still not much of a fan, but gave me a few grins.

We've had A LOT of family time over the last few days, and I have to say that I am constantly reminded of how much I am blessed and how much I adore this family of mine. The kids have been amazing and haven't complained at all about being bored or not getting to do anything. (Lincoln has whined around a litte, but I suppose I'll give him a break since he is only 16 months old.)

Desperate Times....

Call for desperate measures. I completely ran out of all baking supplies. I couldn't believe how quickly I went through supplies considering I did actually prepare for the blizzard. Of course, it didn't help any that I kept messing up recipes and having to double them or throw them out. Anyway, we needed something sweet today, and so we concocted a little something with a few of the ingredients left in the pantry. Vanilla Wafers on their own are definitely not my favorite (especially the off brand). I keep them around for Lincoln to snack on every now and then.

But, with a little peanut butter,

and a little chocolate,

they're not bad, not bad at all!

Ok, I know this picture looks kind of gross, but I'm a terrible dipper, and I wasn't going for pretty:)

On the Fourth Day....

We said our prayers,

said the Pledge of Allegience, (Apparently, the girls were feeling guilty for not pledging this week. I found this picture on my camera when I picked it up to snap a few pics.)
played in the snow,

and last but not least, made a few messes while attempting to clean out closets.

So far, I think I've been handling the fact that I've been unable to leave my home quite well. I am, however, beginning to feel the cabin fever. Kevin managed to get out briefly today to replenish my soda supply and bring me a Sonic drink, but I have not left the house at all for FOUR days! That is definitely a record for me, and I would like all of my family to know that I've not had one single meltdown, thank you very much! We got more snow today, and according the most recent weather, there's lots more to come. I'm very thankful that we don't have to be anywhere, and we are safe and warm. My only concern is that I'm afraid we're going to run out of milk by tomorrow and I'm not sure how the little man is going to handle that. Kevin went to three stores today and all were out! I started the week with four gallons. I thought I was more than prepared.

And Day 3

We baked some delicious French Breakfast Puffs that I saw on someone's facebook page yesterday. It's a Pioneer Woman recipe that was delicious. I get extremely distracted when trying to bake with children, so I accidentally doubled the amount of milk, which then required me to double the entire recipe. Therefore, I have double the number of these sweet, sugary pastries sitting around my house to tempt me. However, the kids had a great time helping out, and everybody was happy with the sweet breakfast treat. I forgot to upload the picture, but we did also try out Skylar's new crayon maker she got for Christmas. It's been nice to have time to help the kids enjoy some of their Christmas gifts that we hadn't previously had a chance to check out.

Lincoln entertained himself for a few minutes emptying out the bottom drawers. He particularly enjoyed the rolling pins, and I'm open to whatever works at this point!

We ended the night by playing a few games. Overall, things haven't been too bad. We've managed to keep ourselves entertained so far. I am all out of baking ingredients, but we've got enough real food to get us by, so we're good. I think this has to be a record number of days that we have all been home together without anyone leaving the house for anything. It's been a little weird, but nice. I am, however, ready to return to normalcy.

Blizzard-Day 2

Well, it was a fairly uneventful day, and we didn't really do much, but it was a nice day. I did realize that we were very well prepared for this storm... for two whole days. The problem is that it looks like it's going to be a little longer than that. It is amazing how much food we can go through when we are all here all day. This is the view from our back door. The snow drifted over the kids picnic table in the back.

I tried to make Londyn sit down and write some thank you cards from her birthday. That didn't end so well, and she didn't get much done. We'll try again today, and then I'll probably give up. If you came to her birthday, please know she's thankful!

Lincoln loves to read books, so we spent some time today entertaining him with books. It's funny though, he doesn't really let me read to him anymore. He steals the books away and flips through the pages himself and makes some noises and then slaps the book shut and claps. It's pretty cute.

We, of course, had to have hot chocolate again by the fireplace. I think this is the girls single most favorite thing to do. It cracks me up.

I cleaned my kitchen. One of the things that drives me crazy about all of us being home is the extreme difficulty of keeping the kitchen clean. It's breakfast, clean, lunch, clean, dinner, clean, and in between, all I seem to want to do is bake. It was completely free of food stuck to Lincoln's chair and the mess surrounding him on the floor, free of countertop clutter, and milk splatters on the cabinets. I really enjoyed it for about 3.7 seconds and then it all began again!