Photo of the Week - April 17, 2009

Seeing that the nice weather came in abundance this week, I had the camera out a lot. So, when it came time to choose the phot of the week, I couldn't decide, so I chose a favorite shot of each of the kids.

Thank goodness for weather-watching kiddos!

I got off to a bit of a slow start this morning and when I got up, Ian informed me that something was wrong with our outdoor thermometer because it was reading "Lo" and not an actual temperature. Alas, it is too cold here for it to register (and that, my friends, is wrong on so many levels). In any event, the wise 10-year-old-to-be suggests that Maybe we turn on the news to see if there will be a two-hour delay. I told him I had my doubts but low and behold, not only is there no dealy, but there is no school! This is certainly a record for our school district. It's our third no-school day this school year. I just had to laugh though because I told Rich it was a good thing Ian was alert because otherwise I would have been sending him out to wait for the bus! Now, what are we goint to do today . . .

I Am Not Going Anywhere!

We had a late night last night watching football (and I won't even get into my bitterness about the Colts' loss) so I slept in this morning and planned on going to 10:00 services. A big thanks to Ms. M for the phone call because church cancelled all services because of the icy road conditions. Unfortunately, due to weather and travel, it's been several weeks since we've made it to services so I was disappointed as I was really looking forward to it.

So we are here at home now. Good thing I am well stocked from the grocery store as I almost killed myself going down the driveway to get the paper. Becca and ice are definitely not a good combination!

SNOW DAY!!!!

There is nothing quite like the excitement of waking up and finding out school has been cancelled due to snow. Ian and Kyra were beside themselves (Iam because he didn't have to go to school and Kyra because Ian was going to stay home with her). We had a brief stint at the sledding hill down the street before we returned home. Ian his friend C had the "best snowball fight EVER!" and Kyra and I made some M&M cookies. It's just been a day that has brought a smile to my face and makes me glad to be a mom who gets to share little moments like this every day!

C'mon, people!

We live in WISCONSIN! Are we afraid of a little snow? Heck no!

I ventured out this morning to do my regular Monday grocery shopping for the week. Now, the meterologists are predicting a big snow storm that is supposed to begin sometime today and go through Wednesday morning. You would think by the way people were stocking their carts that the world as we know it is coming to an end! Now, I can't say that the prospect of 14+ inches of snow thrills me, but it's not scaring me one bit!

First Snow of the Season

When I woke up this morning to head out to the gym, I was surprised to see the cround covered with white stuff. It's really pretty to be one of the first ones out in the snow, but then you have to switch your brain into winter driving gear and then it isn't quite so fun anymore!

I walked in the door to Kyra squealing with delight about the snow on the ground. I promised her that after all of our errands were done, we could go out and play. I must say, having the extra incentive of playtime in the snow made her an excellent listener today! Sadly, I know this stuff isn't going to last (it was already melting away while we were out there), but I know full well that winter will be "blessing" us with even more snow than this and I know one little girl who can hardly wait . . .

I Caved In

I think yesterday turned out to be one of the hottest days this summer and I actually caved in and turned on the air conditioning for the first time all summer. I would say that making it until August 18th before turning on the air is a pretty good thing! And, I didn't cave in for that long because a front passed through around 7 and brought the temp back down. It was great sleeping weather!

Tornado Hits Home

A prayer request if you would. A tornado hit my home town of Griffith, Indiana late last night. I've talked to my mom and she and my dad are fine. My aunt, however, has some severe damage to her home as the tornado blew out all the windows on her first floor. Thankfully, she and my grandma were not in the front room at the time. It's weird looking through the pictures on the newpaper's website as I know a couple of the people pictured.

How to Spend a Rainy Afternoon

We had a lot of rain yesterday and the kids had a little bit of cabin fever. I really didn't want to throw in another movie, so we decided to spend some time in the kitchen making "Hamburger Cookies". This recipe comes from an old cookbook that my mom had while I was growing up from Better Homes & Gardens called Cookies for Kids. I believe it's out of print now, but you can still find copies at used book stores and the like. My mom actually found one for me on Amazon (because there was no way she was giving hers up). These are so simple and easy that even Kyra was able to help out! Here's what you'll need:


1 Box of Vanilla Wafers, 1 package of chocolate wafer cookies (we used Grasshoppers), 1/4 c. coconut, green food coloring.





Place coconut in a small container and add a few drops of food coloring. Cover tightly with a lid and have young hands shake vigorously. When complete, you will have lightly green tinted "lettuce".


On a large cookie sheet, place 24 vanilla wafers flat side up.



Place a chocolate cookie on top of each vanilla wafer.


Place the cookie sheet in a pre-heated oven at 350 for just a minute until . . .


The chocolate on the cookies just starts to melt.



Here's where it helps to have lots of little hands because you need to work quickly so the chocolate doesn't set before the cookies are assembled. Sprinkle each cookie with a little "lettuce" and immediately top with another vanilla wafer (flat side down). Press gently (not too hard or you'll crush the cookie) on top wafer to get the chocolate to "stick".


Take a paint brush with a little water and lightly brush and sprinkle with sesame seeds.


Let your little helpers be proud of their "masterpiece". (and, of course, immediately eat a couple!)

A Moment of Fun in the Sun

July has finally brought some warm weather! After Kyra's nap yesterday, I decided to get industrious and finally set up my Target bargain from the end of last season. Ian kept Kyra occupied while I inflated the thing and once I was finished, the two of them could not wait to get out there! Admittedly, it is quite baby-ish for someone Ian's size, but he found ways to have fun nonetheless. Alas, the inlfated dolphin ended up biting the dust by the end of the afternoon due to an industrious collaberation of the two of them but for only $7, I couldn't really complain. Of course, they were bugging me this morning already to set it up, but considering the temperature has dropped into the low 70s with a very chilly wind, I think the sprinkler is out of the question for the day. But, here's a few more pictures of the afternoon:

Ms. Kyra in her "rainbow".

Silly big brother on the soon-to-be deflated dolphin (but it wasn't the weight that did him in!)



Have a great day, everyone!

Seriously? This is June!

Aaah, tomorrow is the last day of school! Time to don our shorts and begin a carefree summer vacation. Yeah, I forgot, this is northeast Wisconsin!

Tonight Ian had another baseball game at one of the parks nearest the lake. It eerily resembled a scene from a Steven King novel. We had mist. We had fog. We had seeping into your bones cold! I'm still trying to warm up!

Take THAT bad weather!

We woke up today to cold temperatures and blowing snow. What do you do when the calendar clearly says spring and the weather isn't following suit? Well, we headed to Blue Harbor Resort. Actually, Ian's scout pack had a family outing there planned for today but it was a great way to escape the nasty weather outside. I actually took quite a few pictures today - here are a few:



Ian spent most of the day in the pool with the floating and lily pads. It was fun to watch him "battle for position" to stay up on them.



Kyra's favorite by far was the small kiddie pool and slides. She got really good at going up and down all by herself.



And this fun picture - well, shortly after I took it, Kyra decided she had enough of the lazy river. In getting off the tube, Rich turned in a weird way and banged his finger on the bottom of the lazy river. Well, he ended up breaking his right middle finger. Once again, it has not been a good year for fingers in our house!

Will it ever stop snowing?

Yes, I know I live in Wisconsin.
Yes, I know it is cold here.
Yes, I know it is supposed to snow here.

BUT I AM SICK OF SNOW!!!!!

Thank you for reading my whine.

Snow, snow go away!

When we moved to Wisconsin in 2003, we were actually kind of sad that we didn't get more snow. We always pictured it as a Currier and Ives winter wonderland. Even when we moved to NE Wisconsin last year, I was surprised we didn't get more "lake effect" snow. Well, I am hereby placing everyone on notice that I AM SICK OF SNOW!!!!

Bring it on, spring!

Timing is everything!

Well, yet again Rich has somehow managed to go out of town on business when we get a snow storm. Luckily, the snow so far is of the light, fluffy variety, so I was able to get out tonight after the kids went to bed and clear the majority of the driveway and sidewalks. We also have a neighbor who I owe some cookies because they kindly snowblowed the entire block's front sidewalk - gotta love those random acts of kindness!

That's one way to wake up!

So I have been going on my morning walks since May and it's a routine I have perversely come to enjoy. Actually, it's 50-60 minutes that I have all to myself even if I have to get up at the crack of dawn to do it.

Anyhow, in all this time of doing my morning walks, I've only been rained out once which is a pretty amazing record. This morning I woke up to discover it had rained during the night, but aside from being a little windy, it wasn't raining so I headed out. I made it about a mile and a half when I felt a drop or two but determined it was the trees spitting on me. About 5 minutes later, I was caught in a torrential downpour!

I turned around and went home where Rich had a towel waiting for me. All in all, it wasn't that bad, but now my shoes need some major drying out!

Tackle Me Tuesday

Ok, so maybe it's the fact that yesterday at this time it was 85 degrees and sunny and today it is 63, rainy and dropping quickly, but I just can't seem to get motivated to do anything today.

I did, however, finish this layout which I began on Sunday:



so it is something tackled (at least technically speaking).

Tackle It Tuesday

Since I never "updated" last Tuesday, I will have to tell you that my grand ribbon organization project is still under construction. I just didn't like the way it turned out and to tell you the truth, if I were to have photographed it, you wouldn't have been able to tell that I had done any organizing at all.

With that being said, I am moving out of my scraproom this week to a more "manageable" project of the front foyer closet. Since we haven't had snow in two weeks, I am thinking we may actually be entering into spring. Thus, it is time to go through the coat closet and move the winter coats/hats/mittens/boots into storage in the basement and make this closet look at least a little more organized.

So, here is my "before":

and now here is my after - I so enjoy when an organizing project gets completed. I should do a Tackle It every day!

How do you explain this to a 17 month old?

Yesterday we were blessed with an absolutely gorgeous day for March in Wisconsin. It was bright and sunny with temperatures in the upper 70s. We spent a good majority of our day outside checking out the community park and then going for walks around the neighborhood. Kyra even decided that it would be a good idea to see what dirt tastes like.

What a difference a day makes! The wind is really blowing hard and it is cool and grey. Now, I am thankful it isn't the freezing weather that we've had for the past few months, but I feel so teased! Kyra keeps standing by the doors waiting to go outside. Spring fever has officially hit our house!

The thaw is coming! The thaw is coming!

As I sit here in the basement, I hear the drip, drip, drip of snow melting and flowing down the downspout. The best news of all is that is may hit 50 this weekend meaning that this glorious snow is finally going to melt away. Don't get me wrong, I love a nice snow, but I am really tired of the 5-foot mountain of snow/ice/salt at the base of my driveway. Of course, the rapid warm up will mean that we will soon have a lake in our back yard. C'mon spring!