Monday, February 29, 2016

Around Here

It's been business as usual around here.  Hannah had her February break two weeks ago (I am so sad that this was her last one since we are going to the traditional calendar next year).  I hosted a little Valentine's Party for Hannah and a few of her friends.  Evan was a big helper setting up the table.


Evan and Nora were excited that they didn't get kicked out for the party and were allowed to participate.  We had chick dil a for lunch and cupcakes and then played for a while before making some valentine's for their little red mailbox.


We took a little trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City and went on to Manhattan, KS to visit Barry, Megan, Blaine and baby Clara.  Hannah LOVED holding and taking care of baby Clara.  She is a little mommy.  Scott was trying to hold her and Hannah told him that she is babysitting and that Clara liked her better.  Then she told him what the baby likes, so that he can do it.
We took the whole family to the KU vs KSU basketball game while we were there.  This was one of those things that sounded better in theory!  Nora can NOT sit still at all! I saw maybe 5min of the game.  and spend the rest of the game running loops around the stadium.
When we got back to Megan's house Evan told her that we went to 2 basketball games.  He was confused, because of half time!

Trying to climb up and down the chair
At least she looked cute in her KU outfit

We have had some beautiful Spring weather lately, which makes us ready for some more!
She loves to put her brothers helmet on and get on the four wheeler.  She will push the gas with her hand and we have to be really careful
Kids like to get in on our work outs. 
Hannah likes to work out with me and she is actually really good at burps!

Dressing up and dance parties are always a favorite.
Evan had to dress up like a fairy tale character last week at school.  So, we decided to make a sword and a crown…….not sure what he was, but maybe Prince Charming :)
Hannah made herself a little crown too.  She can really get into  "Queen character" and most of the time its not a nice Queen, but a very bossy queen.

A trip to the Amazeum is always fun.  Hannah made some salt art.

Evan is becoming quite the artists too……I think he just likes the messiness




And then he started playing in the water area and got completely soaked.  He was trying to take his pants off in the middle of the exhibit.

These two have been fighting a lot more lately.  But then I catch a moment like this and the world is all good again.  There is nothing better than seeing your kids be nice to each other.

We played a round of pie face last night and I don't think Nora was a fan.
Her "cheese" face before she got a pie in the face

















Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Favorite Moments

I am sharing some of my favorite moments from our last few weeks today.
Scott and Hannah have started to watch "Master Chef Junior" lately and they came up with the idea to have our own cooking challenge.  So, one Sunday afternoon we decided to have a dessert cooking challenge.  It was Scott and Evan on one team and Hannah and myself on the other (Nora helped wherever she could. Ha).  We all went to the store together to get our three mystery ingredients for the challenge.  After we opened our box we had one hour to come up with a dessert using all three of the ingredients.  Scott's ingredients were orange juice, oats and marshmallow creme.  Our ingredients were Mango, Cocoa Krispies and Peanut Butter filled chocolate chips.  Hannah and I baked chocolate chip cookies and made ice cream sandwiches out of them.  The vanilla ice cream had the cocoa krispies in it and then we made a whipping cream with Mango puree in it.  Scott and Evan made homemade rocky road ice cream that had the marshmallow cream and oats in it and they made an orange whipping cream with that. We had to come up with what we wanted to make with the ingredients first, but then were able to look up a recipe.  Here are the final products.  No real winner was determined, but we had a fun afternoon.

Scott and I went away to Colorado to go skiing for a few days and left the kids with grandma and grandpa.  I get so nervous leaving the kids even though I know they are in great hands.  I was fine once we left and enjoyed the trip and the kids did great!
We stayed in Breckenridge and had a couple of really cold (negative 23 wind chill) days of skiing.  I love to ski and the snow was perfect and the slopes were empty.  It was the perfect little  getaway for us.




This is what was going on at home while we were away……Nora messing with Evan and getting ice cream with grandma and grandpa.

The day after we got back from Colorado we met grandma and grandpa and aunt Allison and Uncle Josh in Eureka Springs for the afternoon.  They had the Mardi Gras parade that day and the kids enjoyed getting some beads and candy.  It was a very spontaneous and fun afternoon trip.


Hannah wanted to make a Valentine's box for school and we decided on making a castle.  Of course Evan wanted to make a castle Valentine's box as well.  So, Evan and I worked on his one morning while Hannah was in school and this is what Nora was doing with her biggest cheese face…….it was worth it to have a few uninterrupted moments with Evan.
Evan's final product
We worked on Hannah's in the afternoon
The morning of Valentine's parties at school
At Hannah's Valentine's party……she was excited I didn't show up in my work out clothes and actually wore a dress

Fun chocolate fondue…..
Just a little Valentine's surprise for our little Loves…..
All three kids enjoy going to horseback riding lessons. Evan got to help get Lady ready last week and then Nora tried to chime in as well…..
Last Friday afternoon we had a bit of excitement going on when a little bird got into our house.  Here is the thing I am slightly terrified of birds.  I am not sure why, but birds really creep me out and I wanted to get that bird out of the house as fast as possible.  Evan was a big helper and came up with lots of plans and great ideas on how to get it back outside.
He really enjoyed sitting on our living room fans and the really high window ledges.
Once he was sitting somewhere he didn't move, so we finally decided to throw balls in his direction to get him to move.  We opened all windows and doors and were just hoping he would make his way out.  Morgan was here and helped me chase the bird, she wasn't afraid like I was.  Even though one time he scared us all when he flew out of the kitchen towards us.  He spent some time on the chandeliers in our dome as well and on the fan in our rounded room upstairs, but finally he found his way out.  This made Evan's day, he thought it was super funny and exciting.
Morgan in action…...

Hannah is a Daisy Girls Scout this year and is so excited to start selling cookies.  It is her first year and she is very motivated :).  So, if you are looking for some Girls Scout cookies Hannah is your girl.  I am making her do the actual selling and she has done really well going to some friends houses and calling family.
Ready with her clipboard!


I also wanted to document a few of my favorite Evan quotes.

He was in the pantry on the other day and said "Look Mom what I found.  It is one dead raisin"

Hannah is out of school this week and we wanted to do something fun yesterday.  I gave the kids the option of going to High Rise to jump or Fast Lanes to play some games.  Hannah and Evan couldn't agree and were arguing over where to go.  We were already in the car and drove by a an empty field that has a lot of election/campaign signs in it and Evan said "Those signs are telling us to go to Fast Lanes".  Hannah still didn't agree to go there.  Then Scott said that we would go to the Mall and look for a coat for him instead. Hannah heard coke and said she would like a coke (hahaha) and then Evan responded "OK Hannah you get one coke and we will go to Fast Lanes".  Pretty smart negotiating by a three year old.