Snow Day Indoor Fun

Whoops! I am behind on blogging again. It seems that after two weeks of being snowed in--when the weather got better--we hit the town! We haven't stopped...this is Thursday and I think this may be the first time I have sat down at the computer this week! Oh well--I am ready to catch up! Last Tuesday and Wednesday Matt got to stay home due to the snow and we had lots of fun! It is always such a great surprise when we have extra time with him. (: On Tuesday we made playdough. Reid liked helping stir--as you can see in the picture he took it very seriously!

Lilly helped too!

Helping mix it all up. The recipe we used we got from this KNWA blog post.

The kids (all three of them--hehehe) had a great time.

Reid mainly tried to eat the playdough cutters but Lilly loved using the scissors. She kept saying, "I cut it!"

Team work!

Concentrating!

We also made snow ice cream using this recipe from the KNWA blog. We used the one without sweetened condensed milk because we didn't have any!

I had to use some extra snow to get it to the right consistency but it was YUMMY! Need proof??

Here you go!

So good!

Then we made baked ziti for dinner. We substituted turkey and turkey sausage and used whole wheat noodles to make it as healthy as possible and is was still delicious.

Then, there was a lot of this!! Our new thing is pillows and blankets on the floor.

And some couch snuggling. If you can look at Matt in this picture, you can tell that he is 100% content and LOVING every single second of it!!

"Bouncy Place" & MORE Snow!

Tuesday morning we met some friends at what Lilly excitedly calls the "bouncy place". We knew we were getting more snow and wanted to get out a little bit before it came!Lilly was happy to be there. I seriously could not get Reid out of the car fast enough.
Cilla was there and man can she get these plastic horses going! I have no idea who the little boy beside her is but I just love him because he kept making all of these cute faces at the camera. I bet he has been in a picture or two before. (:
The funniest thing--we were sitting around talking and watching the kids run like crazy and Lilly starts walking over to us like this. She walked all across the room with her pants around her ankles. I don't know why....
We went to a place full of bouncy houses but these little horses got plenty of use!!
There were four of them. Cilla lined them all up--she was so proud of herself. It was hysterical. She was on the middle pink one and then had one leg on the other pink one and one leg on the blue one and was rocking all three of them. Too funny!! She would've gotten the fourth one if she could've!
This picture is terrible but it was the only one I got of sweet Brody and I didn't want to leave him out!
The water fountain was a big attraction too. I had to move the stools because it was freezing outside and I didn't bring a change of clothes for the children.
My sweet boy!
Brayden--he is so sweet. He would stop playing and come up and hug me for no reason. I would have bought him a pony if I wouldn't have had to do the same for my children!
Look at the air Lilly is catching!! Not too shabby for someone who wouldn't step foot on anything "bouncy" a couple of weeks ago. I am so glad that we went there because we were supposed to get 4-8 inches of snow but we got 18-20 inches!!! (This morning it was NEGATIVE 18 degrees...that is not with the wind chill...on it's own it was -18 degres!!!) Here is what our backyard looks like.
This was in the morning--it snowed several more inches after this.
Covered cozy coupe, snowman, and stroller.
Our tree house. Notice the big flakes still falling?

The view from our covered front porch...covered...that whole walkway is covered people!
Matt's car!!! (This is when the snow had finished.)
Our landscaping.
The swing set. Don't worry about us though because we have had the best couple of snow days together (inside). I will post pictures later of what we have been doing!!

Snowed In

Well...as I reported last...we have been snowed in.......and have stayed snowed in. We were supposed to get a "dusting" yesterday that ended up being another 4-6 inches. So what have we done?? Ate. Daddy brought some mini red velvet cupcakes home from Sam's. (I think he was craving them after the AWESOME ones that my friend Melissa made and gave us last week.) Reid stuck almost the entire cupcake in his mouth (hence the puffed cheeks). It was hysterical.

He had THREE. I figured "Why not? It's a snow day." In case you are wondering, he did not eat a good dinner a couple of hours later.

Lilly, on the other hand, is more interested in the icing. The girl loves the icing.

Daddy bundled up the kids Wednesday and took them outside for all of 15 seconds. Within that 15 seconds Reid had managed to take off his boots and his gloves and since it was negative degrees with the wind chill....it just wasn't worth the effort.

We did get two pictures though. I think Reid is ready for the beach.

We have started limiting their pacis to just their cribs. We started Tuesday. By Thursday--they were in bad shape. I said, "You can have your paci in bed. Do you want to get in your bed?" Yes, as a matter of fact, they did! They stayed in there for a whole hour. It was like a bonus nap time!!

I managed to clean Lilly's room and the playroom (which NEEDED it since it was day 3 in the house).

On Friday a couple of friends came over so that we could have a playgroup. Which really translates to "us Mom's needed to talk to other adults" time. It was so good to see other people. For all of us.

Then after naps, we made some lovely art work for Daddy with stamps, markers, and stickers. Beauty-mus!

Now a lot of people are sick of the snow. Me? I don't mind it. Don't get me wrong, I think I called or texted almost everyone in my phone Friday for some conversation. I have missed my socialization time! Another reason is probably because my sweet hubby gets us out of the house for a few minutes so we don't go stir crazy. The kids were beginning to climb the walls. (Have I mentioned that they spilled a bottle of pepto bismol in two different spots of the living room carpet? Thankfully, with LOTS of work, I was able to get it up.) Also, I should note that Friday I gave up on the paci thing. I will try again when we are able to leave the house during the day.

Both Thursday night and Friday night, we bundled the kids up and headed to the mall to eat and just walk around. (I just had to get a picture of these bunny boots.)

Here we are on our way Friday...there is road under all of that snow...somewhere! We blazed the trails at a whopping 10 miles per hour! It took us 45 minutes to get to a place that is 5 minutes away.

Friday night we even met some sweet friends up there! The kids ran around and had so much fun. We could let them since we were the only people in the mall. The rest of the world was at home because it was still snowing the 6th extra inch of the "dusting".

Today we are having a heat wave of 34 degrees! Wahoo! Seriously, after 0 degree weather (and lower), I could've been outside without a jacket. Anyway, the snow was PERFECT for a snow man!! So we built one. Lilly wasn't sure what was going on until I put the face on him and then she got REALLY excited. She went over and wanted to "cheese" with him.

Bubby wanted to sit in the Cozy Coupe car (on top of snow). He just hung out in there and watched us build it, yelled and laughed at Tank running around, and just relaxed in his car. Actually, he has a "boy" one...but this is the one he wanted to sit in. We don't care. There is no gender stereotyping in this house. Half of the time he is running around with the flowery sippee cup and Lilly has the dinosaur one.

My sweet family! Notice Lilly has Matt's gloves on. So cute! Also, she wanted to sit in the baby stroller for the picture. I don't know why. We just went with it.

Reid kept hugging the snow man. How adorable is he?? (He wouldn't keep his gloves on. Refused.)

Then we came in and got ready for naps. This was Reid's hair when we took the hat off.

The back. He is in desperate need of a hair cut but the weather cancelled his appointment.

All in all, I have enjoyed the snow this week. Watching snow fall just reminds me that God is with us and in control..and while it might be a tad inconvenient-it sure is beautiful. I guess it is a good thing since we are supposed to get another 10 inches this week! (I do have to confess that when I heard that on the news, I started to feel a little twitchy...but the twitch has passed and I am ready for it now!) Did we move to Colorado??

Random

Ok, so I will start with two prayer requests.

1. Please pray for my grandma (on my Mom's side). She has just been taken to the hospital and has had a stroke. She is awake but doesn't really recognize anyone. The right side of her body isn't really moving right now. Pray for her health. Pray for her spiritual life. Update: She has had a small stroke. She also has pneumonia. They are running tests for something else...but apparently they didn't specify why (?). She will be at the hospital for at least tonight and probably until the pneumonia is gone.
2. Also, please pray for my friend Sarah and her family. She just found out she has a brain tumor. She is around my age with two small children. She is just a really awesome person and her and her family could really use prayer. Click on the link above to see amazing faith during a trying time.

Now, yesterday started with a little bit of ice-- I think maybe a 1/4 inch?? Don't quote me on that b/c I really am guessing. Followed by SEVERAL inches of snow. Several for Arkansas is somewhere between 5 and 9...depending on where you live in NWA. I didn't go out and measure because it is BITTERLY cold outside. This is the front of our house. This plant is pretty big and it is mostly covered with snow. Our backyard and swing set. Notice the balls are mostly covered up with snow. Of course on a day with temperatures at 0 degrees, my little Lilly was walking around repeatedly asking for Popsicles. I guess if you are wondering when it is too cold for Popsicles...the answer would be never. Reid concurs. Since we knew the "snow-pocalypse" was coming, we got the stuff to make turkey and black bean chili in the crock-pot because nothing beats chili when there is snow on the ground! I thought I would share the recipe since a few people have asked. It is one of our favorites because it is healthy, high in protein, easy to make, and (most importantly) tasty!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs turkey
• chili seasoning (I use Williams Chili seasoning. It comes in a packet. It is good and there is no salt--which I appreciate.)
• 1 can of tomato sauce (15 ounce)
• 1 can of rotel
• 2 cans of black beans (or 1 big family can)

Directions

1. Brown turkey.
2. Put in crock-pot and add the rest of ingredients. Cook on low for 4-6 hours...or really however long. Also, if you don't have that much time then you can make it on the stove in a big pot and just cook it for at least 10 minutes once you add everything in. As always with chili, the longer it cooks the better it tastes (in my opinion). Today we are on snow day #2. Yesterday Matt was off and today he got to come home early so that has been awesome. We love extra time with Daddy! The kids are getting into everything! Including the drawer under the stove where I store the cookie sheets. Lilly heard Punxsutawny Phil didn't see his shadow so she is practicing mowing for springtime. (BTW--Phil, I am a little sceptical right now.) All in all, we are enjoying our snow days and I am trying to be productive!