Sunglasses, Boas, and Bike Rides

Hard to believe it with the current, crazy-low temperatures we're experiencing now, but there was a day that felt like Spring a couple weeks ago!  We had planned to go to the park after I picked the kids up from the sitter. 

Surprise, surprise, Cade did not forget our plans.  He had talked non-stop about riding his scooter to our neighborhood park.  He put his helmet on, I strapped Reesie into the jogger stroller, and we began our trek (about 2 blocks) to the park.

100 feet from our house, Cade decides he's not sure he can make it there on the scooter (I was skeptical as well) and he'd rather try his tricycle.  We head back, open the garage, switch out the scooter for the trike, close the garage and proceed.

100 feet from our house, Cade decides he's not sure he can make it there on the trike (I was skeptical as well) and he'd rather we switch to the double-stroller so he can ride. 

Change of heart.  Up-hill pedaling is a challenge.

Will we ever get to the park?!

 

So we head back, open the garage, switch everyone to the double-stroller, close the garage and proceed.  Again.  Lesson learned.  Campaign for the double-stroller from the start. 

 

We did have a very nice time at the park which was actually not as crazy-busy as I expected it to be.  It was fun to see so many people out taking advantage of the nice weather.  We will look forward to our next trip to the park...which will be whenever the temperature warms up about 50 degrees from what it was today. 

 

I tend to run a little behind at times...or all the time.  I have a very unrealistic estimate of how long it will take me to get ready.  Every. Single. Day.  I've always been like this so now with 2 other people to get ready, you can imagine my morning time management is exponentially worse.  I was the last one to get in the car to head to church last week (and always) and noticed that everyone else in the car was wearing sunglasses.  Pretty cute.  Good work, Dad.

(Yes, this is what Cade wears to church.  He insists that wearing jeans instead of workout pants is dressing up, and since he's just playing in the nursery, I'll take the jeans.)

This particular weekend, I was able to sneak away to Manhattan to attend the Woman's World Conference put on by Manhattan Christian College.  Had so much fun with these gals and really enjoyed all the speakers at the conference!  Thank you, Mom, for insisting we all attend...and take a photo! 

No idea why I'm posed like this. #WannaBeRockstar

 

Can't complain about a week that held nice weather and good time with friends!

Disney Junior Live

Many months ago, Cindy alerted me that the Disney Junior Live show was coming to Independence.  We purchased our tickets and waited until it was finally close enough to tell the boys about it. 

They were stoked. 

And then...Cindy and Lukas got sick and couldn't go with us.  Devastation.  I didn't know how to break it to Cade.  I had to fake a call from Cindy on the way to the show because I hadn't yet had the guts to tell Cade that they couldn't go. 

But good news for Reesie and Matt.  They were called up. 

 

Reesie was just a little bit too little for the show.  She was squirmy and loud and I wanted to tell all the people around us that it was Plan B to have her there with us. 

Just as promised, there was dancing, singing, pirates, and princesses.  Cade really enjoyed it.

Waving goodbye to Micky and Minnie...see you in July at Disney World!


The gang...and Cade's $16 sword.  We are such suckers.

 

Tuckered out, take us home! 

 

Definitely not the same without Lukas and Cindy, but a fun little show.  Reesie is glad she got to go...I think.  Makes us that much more excited for Disney World this summer!

Word of the Week: Random?

Can't even come up with a common word of the week for this one...Conferences?  Visitors?  Talk about exciting, attention-grabbing titles!

Cade and I were honored to attend Reegan's 4th birthday shindig at Paint, Glaze, and Fire.  What a neat idea to have them do this together!  I was a bit nervous as Cade is not really a lover of crafts...but luckily they had a ceramic dump truck to paint.  We were in business.

And...then he was done.  The girls hung on to paint a couple items each.

But Cade branched out a bit to the toys and coloring area when he was done painting his pottery.

 

They were so cute together!  And of course, I had a good time too!

 

Fast-forward through the work-week.  Three days with students, 16 hours of conference time (maybe 2 hours of actual conferences?!), day off on Friday.  Thank you, G-Mom for coming to watch the kids on these long days!  Sorry we did not take your picture!

 

My Valentine is so sweet!

It's okay, I know the balloon was mostly for the kids anyway.

 

Another perk of having G-Mom here, we got to go on an actual date for Valentine's Day.  We saw Gravity in 3D.  My pick.  Not a great choice considering we NEVER get to go to the movies anymore.  I could've used something less intense...with more closure.  But that's just me.

 

Did some shopping with my mom and with the introduction of Reesie's pigtails comes the need for double the bows.  Never fear, G-Mom is here!  She even MADE some of the bows.  What an over-achiever!

 

Enjoyed our 4-day weekend!  Totally got this idea from Rebekah's blog.  The kids loved it!

 

 

Anything that brings this about will be attempted again at our house.

We are so glad that Gentry and Scott spent some of their extended weekend visiting us as well.  It was fun to have them here, even if they did beat Matt and I at pitch. 

That wraps up this random week!  On with the next 4-day work week!  I suppose the over-arching theme of February could be "very little working!"  Which does account for the plethora of blog entries. 

Happy President's Day and have a great week!

 

Word of the Week: SNOW

The week started out a little rough as sweet Reesie's temperature spiked up on Saturday and Sunday.  She acted fine--didn't seem like anything was bothering her--but her eyes seemed to lose their sparkle and her forehead was hot, hot, hot.  We camped out at home, missing out on church and Super Bowl fun. 

We're still experimenting with the pigtails.  The swedish look?  Or is it more like Japanese anime?

Tunnel time

Still trying to capture pics of the hair...

It became apparent that Reese's fever was not going down and we'd be staying home on Monday.  Matt was traveling so by "we" I mean me.  I love extra time at home with the kids and extra cuddles with Reese...but making sub plans...
Making sub-plans is the worst.  Making last-minute sub-plans is really the worst.  Thank you, Mr. Belko (a frequent sub in our building) for returning my call during the Super Bowl. 
I knew I was going to have to go to the school, scrap current plans, go back and forth from the copy room, move out different supplies, etc.  All things that would take exponentially longer with my kids in tow.  Not to mention that I often am nervous about letting middle school kids access much of the equipment in my classroom, let alone toddlers!  So I brought the DVD player in the car, left them locked in with it running right outside my classroom and I went out to check on them every 5 minutes.  Is this illegal?  They were fine.  Every time I came to check on them they looked at me like, why do you keep interrupting our movie?  Took me about 20 minutes to get everything ready and we headed back home.  Phew.
Little did I know that I wouldn't return to school until Friday! What a great work week!

Mother Nature came through just as predicted allowing not one, not two, but three snow days!  Woo-hoo!!

We celebrated our snow days by making cookies using our new letters and numbers cookie cutters.  I'm excited to use them to create some birthday traditions around here.  Bust out that number 2 cookie cutter soon.  Number 2 like, the actual number...not like number 2 like...nevermind.

I had to loosen the reigns and just kind of let them do their thing...

Sanitation violations all over the place.

 

Lab points being deducted left and right.  Good thing they are cute!

Our cookies are nearly gone...and I've eaten the most by far. 

As the snow days wore on we tried to wear out the kids in any way we could.  Running laps around the living room?

 

All the furniture was moved out since we were scheduled to get new carpet on Wednesday.  Clearly that didn't happen with all the snow, so we got to move the furniture several times.  Notice below that Cade is standing where the couch usually sits...see the lines of dirt in the carpet?  Ewwww.

 

Living room furniture in the dining room makes Reese confused and angry.

 

Cade embraces it as a reason to party.

 

What can I say...these are my people.

 

Matt and I did take the opportunity to send the kids to the sitter for the morning of the THIRD snow day so we could attend Cade's parent-teacher conference and hit up Starbuck's.  Yes, please. Also, let's just say that I believe our very first parent-teacher conference (as parents) deserves its own post.  I need to document and forever remember the words she used to describe Cade's preschool adventures... 

 

Hoping this snow doesn't stick around until March...but there's so much of it that it very well could.  Will be sitting on the "teacher" side of Parent-Teacher conferences this week.  My time home with the kids last week makes working so much this week seem a little less painful. 

Four day week, I can handle it. 

Fun with J & D: Fan Girl Edition

My favorite foodies and I took in Alton Brown's Edible Inevitable Tour as he made his KC stop at the Midland Theater on Friday night.  The ice kept us from our dinner reservations at the Drunken Fish beforehand, but nothing could keep us from AB's show!  We totally purchased our tickets in August. 

  

 

It was difficult for the double-fisters in the crowd to get their tickets from their pockets...

   

 

I found this little recap of his St. Louis show which proved to be pretty accurate.

 

The reviewer wasn't all about AB's singing.  But to us, self-proclaimed Alton Fan Girls, he can do no wrong. 

 

It was an entertaining couple of hours for those who love food, science, and Alton's sense of humor.
    

Alton and his MegaBake Oven, which by the way, involved an audience voluteer who is a local high school teacher.  She was a good sport, but clearly Alton missed the boat by not picking super-fan, Jamie.  She had fresh nutmeg in her pocket, for crying outloud. 
 

 

Notice how amazing our seats were? 

 Dang you, glare on AB's face.

AND, AB himself tweeted back to DeAnna after the show.  Big time, I know. 

He always tweets in the form of sticky note pics...I think.  I am #twitterlessjana after all.

 

As always, Fun with J & D lives up to its name.  Fun with J & D & AB was a blast!

 

And the Beat Goes On...

January has become February...which will soon become March, no doubt. 

The beat goes on...and many days that have seemed so uneventful have passed by so quickly.  Maybe even too quickly...I've been trying to do weekly (or so) recaps but they seem like the most BORING posts ever.  Ever.  It's okay, we can all admit it together.  But as the days roll on, even if they're uneventful, I hate to miss out on documenting them somehow!

We finished up January with a weekend visit from G-Mom and Papa (my parents).  Just as I was contemplating cutting Reese's hair myself...

 

My mom swoops in and introduces us to pig-tails. 

Sure makes our sweet Reese seem so grown up...

 

 

Our kids love to end their day with a "pallet" of blankets on the floor so they can "watch a show." 

 

G-Mom and Papa were ever-so-kind to join in.

 

As per usual this time of year, we hit up a couple more MNU games.  I must say, Reese sure is learning to work the crowd.  Every time I turned around she was on the lap of someone new making them read a book to her.  I promise we read to her at home!

 

 

Recruiting a cheerleader on "red out" night (photobombed by Uncle Todd.)

Then moving on up to Uncle Todd who came to town to catch the game.

 

And then the cheer coaches...keeping in mind, that I often do not know the people she is making read to her.  She's very good at helping us all make new friends, I suppose!

 

I also got out and about for "Fun with J & D" on an icy Friday evening to take in the Alton Brown Live show at the Midland Theater. We purchased our tickets in August.  Clearly this deserves its own post...coming soon.

 

And, don't worry, we saw Frozen one more time at the theater.  This time the sing-along version.  Holly talked us into this one but we're so glad she did as the kids loved it!  And, luckily, they don't understand how this photo booth outside the movie theater works. 

 

February is set to be a busy month so it's nice to start out in a holding pattern due to the weather.  Unexpected days home and cancellations are always welcome.  Bring on the big breakfasts, tent-making, movie-watching, and laziness. 

I currently have no pics of these snow day shenanigans because my phone is telling me it has reached capacity.  Yes, it's a sad, sad day. 

I have over 3,000 pics on my phone and just can't bring myself to delete any of them.  (I know, I have a problem).  I transfer them over to monthly albums in my shutterfly account using the shutterfly app on my phone...but what if I need the pic on my phone in the future?!  I make shutterfly photo books every year and 2013 is already made.  Does this mean I should just delete the pictures?!  It seems so wrong to delete those captured moments...the kids change so fast...

I've never utilized the iCloud before so I set that up and am currently "backing up" my phone.  14 hours left it says.  Reason enough to hope for another snow day tomorrow? 

What do you do with all your pics in this digital world?  Where can I safely put them so I feel confident deleting them from my phone?  Help cure my sickness!!