Boom Boom!!

We have only made it to a couple of parades this season.  The first was the Polka Dots.  William's teacher, Mrs. Tara, rode so we made her a sign!

We were all pumped to attend the first parade.  We were having dinner with friends and walking from their house to watch.  Early in the day, I got a phone call from SPS that Daniel had a tummy ache.  I asked to speak to him and told him on the phone that if I came and got him then he could not go to the parade that night.  He agreed so I retrieved him. Not surprisingly, he later claimed he was fine and could attend the parade.  A battle ensued.  He shed lots of tears, but I stood firm.  So unfortunately, only Chris, Philip, and William attended this one.

Saturday night we took all four downtown to watch the MOMs and following parades.  A good friend rode so another sign...

The boys had a blast!

Chris and I managed to get everyone in bed and reluctantly headed out to our only ball of the season.  We ended up having a great time...it's that leaving the house at 9:00 that is hard!!

Then Tuesday brought William's parade at school.  There was even a special boy in the crowd!

Such a fun morning.  But that's all for us.  We are leaving this weekend for a trip to the mountains!  Can't wait.

John Is Like a Box of Chocolates...

You never know what costume you are going to get!!

Had to share all of these...all but one taken during a period of 24 hours!!  Love this kid.

Valentine's Day with My Boys

Not many girls can boast of having five Valentine's.  I feel quite lucky.

Valentine's Day is not my holiday.  Chris and I are not gift givers and we tend to think dollars spent on a Hallmark card are just wasted.  It works for us.  I will admit that I sometimes fear we are setting our future daughter-in-laws up for disappointment.  Hopefully, there are some girls out there being raised similarly!

Field trip with Daniel to the nursing home to deliver Valentine's!

Our celebrations (as usual) revolved around the kitchen.  For breakfast, we had John Besh's Nutella stuffed French toast cut out like hearts and some oatmeal with heart sprinkles!

After getting Philip and Daniel off to school with special Valentine's lunches...

I rushed home to make these cookies for William's party.

I was running so behind when I realized that John's cards did not have his name on them.  I asked William to please sign "John" to ten cards for me.  He happily did so and I giggled to myself wondering if some two year old's mother was going to be self-conscious that my two year old could write his name so well!!

All of this excitement wore one little friend out.  He clearly fell asleep standing up!

Once home from all the activity (that included a six week check up for Philip that went well), I prepared a delicious family meal of filets, pureed butternut squash, and salad.  No dessert...these guys had had enough sugar!  It was a fun day spent celebrating in the kitchen.  I hope I showed how much I love my five boys by fixing them great meals!!

We capped off the weekend with a family night out on Saturday.  We took everyone to see the new Lego movie.  It was a first for William and John and both sat wonderfully through the show. 

Mom, we love that you take pictures EVERYWHERE we go, but the sun is killing us!

We finished the night with dinner at Mellow Mushroom...a rare out to eat for this crew.  Everyone was pretty well behaved.  A fun night!  Church and then a family dinner with Cameron and Heather Sunday night.  Couldn't have asked for a better weekend!  Hope yours was great too!

Super Bowl Party 2014

If you remember (and if not, read here!), we had a family fun Super Bowl party last year.  It was a first for us and while it was fun I didn't realize that it was going to become an expected tradition.  Funny the things that they latch on to.

So at the boys frequent requests, I intended to have a repeat.  But then we had the ice storm, followed by the stomach bug, followed by Chris' weekend at the woods alone.  I was pretty tired and just not too enthused.  I was about to let it go on Sunday morning but I could tell I was headed for big disappointment.  So after church, with Chris home from the woods, I headed out to the store to get the preparations.

We had fruit and cheese kabobs...(a big hit..gone before I even got one...gone before kick-off)

veggies and hummus...

smoked chicken wings...

and a healthy take on seven layer dip that was really good!

William got in the kitchen with me to make some yummy football cookies.

not my best icing job...I was tired at this point!!

We even had a special visitor!

I didn't watch much of the game.  Between the cooking, cleaning, and visiting with Aunt Susan, my attention was not on the screen!  Oh well, glad I could keep the tradition alive for the boys!

Recovering

In addition to the ice storm, we all have been recovering from the stomach bug here.  I won't give you the details, but everyone in the house has been affected in some form or fashion.  So the three days off of school in the middle of the week were a real necessity here.

Daniel seemed unaffected and by far had the most fun in the ice.  He played hard outside and loved every minute of his time out of school.  Then he fell to the bug Thursday night thus ensuring himself of another day off from school.

I enjoyed having him home on Friday.  He and I get little time alone and so I was thankful when John when down for a nap and it was just him and me.  After finishing up a little housework, I asked if he wanted to snuggle and read a bit.  (Snuggling and reading was Philip and I's favorite thing to do when he was out of school.)  He politely asked if we could do a puzzle together instead.  I don't know when my mother brain will stop trying to push his peg into a hole fit for Philip!  They are so alike and yet different...I sometimes forget!

This weekend brought Chris' trip to the hunting camp alone, and I was thankful for yet some more days at home for us to completely kick this bug.  The boys and I have taken it easy and it's been nice.  Have I ever mentioned that we really don't get tired of being at home???

Friday night brought pizza and popcorn and a movie.  No pictures...sorry.

Saturday brought more puzzles....(Daniel started something!)

and a walk/bike ride around the park.

realized that he could ride his bike in his brace...what can't he do??

and then a rare moment of frustration when Mom wouldn't let him walk all the way around the block

All in all fun times with the boys.  Thankful for our slow days that pass too quickly.

Snow-a-poolza 2014

Or maybe I should say Ice-a-poolza 2014!  Either way, we had a blast playing in the winter weather.  The boys were out of school for three days and we didn't leave the house.  Here are some of my favorite shots from the storm!

First, Tuesday during the action!

  Warming up with hot chocolate and a fire in the fireplace!

Surveying the scene the next morning...

And then time for more playing!

So much fun to experience with the little guys, but I was glad to see everything thaw out in a couple of days.  This nervous Nellie does not like driving on ice!