A Closet Encounter

At the beginning of the school year I arranged the girls' closet so that Madelyn would have access to her clothes. This had two purposes: She has always been an independent kid and likes to be able to do things herself, and putting clothes away is my least favorite part of the whole laundry process! I installed (doesn't that sound professional--it is a wooden dowel with holes drilled on either side and strung up with a rope) a second rod on one side of the closet at just her height. I then made some of these nifty labels out of craft foam and my trusty Sharpie. She loves the control it gives her and I love that she gets to put away her own clothes! I just installed a rod in Parker's closet last week and it seems to be equally successful!

Hot Chocolate Therapy

So, I really love living here in the Midwest. I like the seasonal changes. For a few months, I even like the snow that seems to fall incessantly. I don't mind shoveling the driveway, wearing 5 layers IN THE HOUSE just to stay warm, and I like building a snowman with the kids as much as the next mom, but unfortunately my winter tolerance ends before the winter season does!

This is where the hot chocolate therapy comes in. My best friend gave me this recipe years ago and it has served me well through many a winter season. I used to make it in a respectable quantity (which is the quantity I'm sharing with you), but I now quadruple the it so I can share the chocolatey goodness with everyone else I know who needs a break from winter!

1 1/2 c. powdered milk
1 1/2 c. flavored powdered creamer
3/4 c. white sugar
3/4 c. cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt

Add 1/4 c. per mug and stir in 6-8 oz. hot water.

This is a recipe that allows for a lot of flexibility; I like to try a different flavor of creamer each time. Hope this warms you up too!

The Botched Escape

On Thursday Parker hurt his foot and hasn’t been able to walk since. Parker, Madelyn, and Evan (the little boy I babysit) were down in the basement. As the story was told to us, Evan was the monster and Parker and Madelyn were trying to escape from him. In an attempt to outwit the monster (who must be afraid of heights) Madelyn convinced Parker to climb to the “safety” of the window ledge and then jump down. When they jumped, Parker landed wrong on his foot and that was the end of the game. He was able to hobble to the hallway and then Adam had to carry him upstairs. X-rays revealed that there was no break, but the foot was quite swollen. On Saturday Adam put a splint on the foot in hopes of stabilizing it, and getting the swelling down. Parker has remained remarkably sedentary, for a four-year-old, and has been crawling to get where he needs to go if we’re not there to carry him. It didn’t take Meredith too long to figure out that she can now out run Parker, and she has been using that bit of information to full advantage; she steals a crayon or car that he is using and takes off running while squealing with pure delight at finally being able to get the upper hand in life!

Maybe next time they'll try a different escape route!

Visitors, Bows, and Paint

It's been a while since I posted, but I have some good things in the works!

This past weekend we enjoyed a visit from Pops, Granna, and Beka. We know they love us because they are willing to visit from AZ even when the daytime high here is 10 degrees! We drank lots of hot chocolate, played games, and generally tried to stay warm. Within minutes of their leaving the kids were already asking when we would see them again. We had a lot of fun--thanks again for coming!

A couple of nights ago I hosted a bow-making party. I love making hair bows, but it was so much more fun to do it while sitting around with a bunch of friends! This picture does double duty--it shows off Meredith's new bows, and also the new shade of yellow on the walls. I love how the paint color looks in the kids' rooms--it's bright and sunny, which is a wonderful contrast to the eternally gray skies that make January so dull here. I'll show more of their rooms as I complete them.

Ode to the Humble Homemade Playdough

I don't have pictures to go with this entry as we are in the process of setting up our new camera to be friends with our computer, but I wanted to pass along my favorite playdough recipe.
I needed something to keep the kids entertained yesterday while I prepped the kids' rooms for painting and I remembered a new box of neon-colored food dye I purchased a couple of weeks ago just for playdough. I quadrupled the batch (I needed them to be REALLY entertained!) and with four new colors for them to squish, mold, and cut, I was able to finish the prep work! And as an added bonus for me, they didn't even get any playdough in their hair!

Here's the recipe:
1 c. water
1/2 c. salt
1 c. salt
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 T. cooking oil
food coloring

Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until it pulls away from the sides. Knead in for a minute once it cools then store in some sort of plastic.

(Note: If you're making a large batch and want to make the playdough into different colors, just add the dye when you're kneading instead of adding it to all the other ingredients in the saucepan.)

The Merry Christmas Review

Parker and Adam during a match of "Bad Guy" wherein Adam is said Bad Guy and Parker and Madelyn are the Good Guys who try to wrestle the bad guy to the ground and just generally "get" him. Parker's preferred method of "getting" involves taking a running leap and then hurling himself on Adam. The game usually ends with Adam being vanquished by the Good Guys and everyone comes up for drink of milk so they can be strong enough next time to get the Bad Guy again. We didn't have a problem getting the kids to drink milk before, but now they go through it as if we have a cow tied to the back deck!


Putting legos together.


A little Christmas love.


This was about all the Christmas photo cheer we could get from Meredith.

We had a great Christmas. We keep waiting for the year when the kids wake up at some obscene hour but so far each year it's been a very respectable 7:30-ish. We started the day with reading Luke 2 and then watching it (we acted it out the night before, which made for the start of a really fun tradition). After that, we put the cinnamon rolls into the oven and began opening gifts one at a time. The kids were really patient while waiting their turn to open presents. When I was growing up, Christmas was one big 15 minute free-for-all. I think I like this way better--we all get to enjoy seeing each present, and there's not the same aftermath to clean up!

The rest of the morning was spent playing with gifts and getting ready for the day. We spent the afternoon at the house of some of our friends and we had a lot of fun with them.

That evening we had a light dinner, meaning Christmas cookies and fruit, and then the kids went to bed. Christmas was everything we hoped it would be: a lot of time together as a family, fun time spent with friends, and total overindulgence in tasty food!

Happy NewYear!

The Makings of a VERY White Christmas!

Here are the snow angels hard at work.

Unless something really catastrophic happens in the next 48 hours to melt the 12+ inches of snow on the ground, we'll definitely be having a white Christmas! It's been snowing steadily ever since Saturday and it's not supposed to stop until Wednesday afternoon!

The kids were out playing in it yesterday, but couldn't stay out too long before they were freezing; then as a family we went out to deliver neighbor treats last night and were very brief with our yuletide felicitations!

We had to laugh at Madelyn last week. She was saying that she felt so bad for our Arizona family who didn't get to have Christmas. When we asked why she thought they didn't get Christmas she said, "Well, there's no snow in Arizona!" We assured her that Christmas does come to every place in the world, even if there's no snow! She was relieved for our family's sake.

Well, we wish you all a very merry (and hopefully warm) Christmas!