Spring Break

How awesome is it to be on spring break when the weather has been so gorgeous!! I know it's not going to last long, but we've been enjoying it.

Laura & Sam have found our local Casey's sells donuts, soft serve ice-cream, & slushies. We've been taking bike rides there almost daily during spring break to get a treat. It's over 2 miles to get there and back plus there is a giant hill on the way home. The kids always take GREAT naps after those adventures so everyone wins. 

Spring weather always puts me in the mood to paint. I decided to paint horizontal stripes in Sam's room. I love how the stripes turned out! I'm totally in the mood to do some more projects before I head back to work. I haven't shared this with Eric yet, but I'm sure he'll be thrilled to hear it. ;-)

The neighbors have asked that we take care of their guinea pigs (at their house) while they're on vacation. Laura and Sam are all about it. Yesterday they were "shown the ropes" and as we were leaving Laura told the owner that her house was really messy. Like Laura's never seen a messy house before?! I wanted to crawl into the guinea pigs' cage.

I told the kids I would break out the swimming pool after their naps today. I better get the pool out of the basement and find the hose. Can you tell we're eager for summer?

Paperwork

Laura's kindergarten registration is on Thursday night. The registration form is 8 pages long AND I still need to get her birth certificate from our safety deposit box and call the doctor for her immunization records. Is she going to kindergarten or leaving the country? Sheesh!

This week Laura brought home a heart she made at preschool. She said she only needed help with two words. That's my favorite kind of paperwork.

Gingerbread

True confession: I don't like to bake cookies. I think it's messy and at the end of the day I always eat way more cookies than I'm planning to which leaves me feeling bloating and bad. With the busyness of December and my said feeling about baking, I never got around to making Christmas cookies. Thinking of the dozens and dozens of holiday cookies we made growing up, the metal tins we'd store them in, and keeping them in the walkout freezer (the porch); I couldn't help but think I was robbing my poor children of Christmas memories. Laura just wrapped up a unit in gingerbread in preschool so I decided on January 10th (better late than never, right) to make gingerbread cookies with the kids. It was messy but the kids were eager to help and taste! I had already put away my Christmas cookie cutters with the rest of the Christmas decorations so we used stars and hearts cutters instead. Laura and Sam used toothpicks and their imaginations to turn the hearts and stars into people. They may have eaten their weight in cookie dough too, but we were making memories. 

The things the kids said while we were making cookies were so much more delicious than the actual cookies themselves.

Sam: Oppees, not again! (when a cookie would fall apart).

Laura: Be careful, Mommy! She's fragile.

Sam: Can I eat this?    Me: No    Sam: Can I just lick it?


And to think, I almost didn't make Christmas cookies this year.

Colorado

I don't care how well you've planned, the location you are going, or the number of gadgets you bring along, vacations with kids are a lot of work! Nevertheless, the kids are what made the vacations memorable. We had a great time in Winter Park, Colorado and the kids are skiing machines now. I can't wait for the day to come they're going down blues with me. (Or maybe I can wait, I can't decide.)

Grandma Green

My top ten list of what will always remind me of Grandma Green

10. Special K Bars

9. Pleasures perfume

8. Toliet paper on seats of public bathrooms

7. Solitaire 

6. Homemade applesauce

5. Beanie Babies

4. Gold Coins

3. Stamp collections

2. The smell of perm solution

1. The song, "Unforgettable" 

Advice

I've been coughing all week long. One day as I has hacking in my bathroom getting ready for work Laura said, "Mom, if need to cough, cover your mouth so you don't spread germs. And if you need to throw up...(sigh)...just swallow it."

If you need any advice, just ask Laura. She's full of it.

Long Grove Christmas

My sister, Heidi put together a little video montage of Christmas in Long Grove and I can't top that. See below. Here are the top 5 things I will remember about 2014 Christmas in Long Grove.

5. Sam packing his clock and toothbrush 2 days before heading to Long Grove.

4. Sam and Laura's squeals when they recognized we were in Long Grove.

3. Laying in GG's bed watching Toy Story  3 with GG.

2. Getting sick and thinking to myself, When was the last time I puked at Mom and Dad's house?

1. The kids playing in GG and Papa's bedroom and wanting "privacy". 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg1dQDgVMMA