what would make a southern sister visiting her sister’s very much frozen neck of the woods smile so much?

of course!  a bowl of brownie mix!

if feeding her brownie mix is what i must do to thank her for a bit of sanity and company during this unbelievably long, cold, snowy winter, i can handle that!

too bad she must return the south tomorrow. 

this picture totally cracks me up.

how many kids would cradle and loving glance down at their toy combine as if it were a precious baby?

apparently my son is one of the few.

he sure loves those things!

through a student edge function brad and i were able to finally have the movie date we’d been desiring for so long.  okay, so most wouldn’t call it a date when you have 30-40 others along with you, but we take what we can get.  for us it was a much needed date.  we went and saw to save a life (which i totally recommend).  it was during the movie that i had one of those “only in the movies” moments.  you know, what i’m talking about.  i’m mean seriously how many guys would spread sod in the back of their pickup, stick flowers in the sod, and then have a picnic basket and blanket for a picnic – all this while the truck is parked on the beach and you’re watching the waves.  i mean seriously!

let’s side track for a minute and take a look at just how curly my hair is (trust me, it works into where this is headed):

curly.  and what works for perfect curls one day – leads to a mess of frizz the next.  it can be rather frustrating.  although i’m not a “i hate my curls” kinda person, it’s nice to take a break from them every once in a while and straighten them.

so, moving along.  i woke up yesterday (friday) morning to sounds of jilly ready to join us in bed.  eventually she was grunting and pointing at something, and blind me (-11.5 contact strength) reached for my glasses to see what she wanted.  only, there was something on my glasses.  it was a note.  a love note.  followed by a clue as to where i should head next.  although my husband loves me immensely and never leaves me guessing about how much he loves me, romantic scavenger hunts are not a daily/monthly/yearly occurrence around here.  next i headed to the sugar container.  then the heating unit.  then the 1/2 bath.  and finally to the guest room.  he had surprised me with a Chi hair straightener which i had fallen in love with when using my little sister’s over christmas.  my immediate response was “we aren’t doing valentine’s gifts!!”  to which he responded, “i know, that’s why you’re getting this today.”  stinker!!  my stinker.  i love my Chi, but i must say the 5 love notes might be a little more loved.

guess things like that don’t happen “only in the movies”.

(now i just have to decide which one of these i want.)

i spent the morning with nater’s preschool class.  it was pajama day.  it made me  miss being in the classroom.  ugh.  i hate the feeling of being torn between wanting to be with my kids as much as possible and craving being in the classroom teaching.  i also won the worst mom award from nate due to forgetting he was suppose to bring his favorite lovey along with wearing his pjs.  i was the only mom who forgot.  go figure.  i told him he could bring hobbes for show and tell on tuesday, but he keeps telling me he wants to bring him on pajama day. 

more snow.  2-5 inches more.  i’m really hoping for the 2 rather than the 5.  we’ve had so much this winter and we still have 2 more months where snow is a very valid threat.  i just hope it doesn’t mess up our plans for tonight and tomorrow evening.  i really and looking forward to a couple of chances to get out.  (one of which times is without the munches!)

if you are friends with me on facebook, you might have seen my post about potty training jilly and whether i should go ahead with it.  she has totally shown an interest and goes every time you put her on the little potty.  although i’d love to have her potty trained at 17 months (crazy, i know), i’m going to hold off until july-ish for a few reasons.  one, she doesn’t have the verbal stills to tell me with words she needs to go potty.  i would be left to interpreting grunts, whines, and out noises.  two, she is to determined.  in the 10-12 times she has gone on the potty since saturday or sunday she has pooped all but one of those times.  one might think, “great!”, but i’m afraid she’s going to hurt herself.  she seems to think she must go poop every time.  three, when i potty train i like to move straight to underwear, and i don’t think she’s at that point yet.  i plan to talk about all this with our pediatrician at her 18 month check, but i’m thinking we’ll use the potty occasionally but not stress it yet.

wow, i don’t think i’ve done that random of a blog post in quite a while.  i’ve tried to be more focused and to the point lately, but sometimes there’s just too many things to say.

Fever Boy is no more!

Judging by what Nate set up on his own with no knowledge of hurdles, could it be that we have track and field in our future?  He had a blast going back and forth hurdling the pillows.

Brad and I have talked about avoiding getting the kids too into sports because of the time and money commitment it has become nowadays.  It still amazes me that sports trump Sunday worship.  Seriously?!?!?  Anyways, we’ll stop heading down that road before we go too far and people start getting wound up.

Let’s return to that adorable picture of an almost 4 year old having a blast hurdling pillows in his living room.

(Mom, he loves his Valentine’s Day pajamas!  Thanks!)

what is it that keeps them going?

them = sick kids

when i’m under the weather, i’m under the covers.  sad, pathetic, and quite content to stay there as i wait it out.

naters started saying at the end of dinner last night that his stomach hurt.  he didn’t make to big of a deal of it though when we let him play wii until bath time.  he slept through the night just fine.  problem was he started out his morning by saying his stomach still hurt.  he was acting and playing as if nothing was wrong.  i figured he was fine and continued getting everyone ready to head out the door for preschool and bible study.  for a change we were ready to head out the door early this morning – this never happens!  i excitedly told the kids to head downstairs to get coats on and head to the van.  for some reason i decided to feel nate’s forehead and make sure he didn’t have a fever.  he was burning up.

change of plans.

i explained to a teary eyed three year old that even if you say you feel all better you can’t go to school with a fever.  lucky for me brad was willing to stay with him so i could still go to bible study.

the thing i don’t get though is that even though he’s running fever, he’s still non-stop play and action.  i had to remind him a few times that he needed to sleep today during quiet time.  he finally did and still is.

wish when i was sick it was so much fun.

Monday Words of Wisdom:

(too bad it’s not Wednesday, it would so so much better)

Do not let your family’s ironing pile up for a month.

Jill: 1 item

Nate:  5 items

Myself:  7 items

Brad:  13 items

At what point in life can we afford to send such tasks off to the cleaners????

i love when they learn to love.

she loves books.

why is it that my boy had way more hair at 17 months than my 17 month old daughter?  i can’t even explain how eager i am for her hair to start doing some major growing.  i brush it a lot, but it doesn’t seem to be making a difference.  oh well, i suppose i’ll continue to field questions from random strangers in walmart regarding how i get “that bow to stick to her head”.  some day . . . .

{curly naters 16 months 24 days}

{pulled staight naters 17 months 3 days, moments before his first hair cut}

{jilly mae 17 months 1 day, won’t need a hair cut until she’s 8 at this rate}