Heard at our House...

While taking a quick before-bed shower with Landon tonight I hear him say, "Mommy...I'm peeing." I look down to see him holding his little "junk" and indeed he is peeing...right on my feet! (Is it weird that I take a shower with my just-turned-two year old son?)

Diary of a Snow Day

This is a diary of our day at home on Wednesday, March 23rd.

For all my fellow Minnesota readers, you can all relate!

For my California blog readers, this one is for you!

This is what I woke up to Wednesday morning:

I know, right...I should be cheering and happy. Not so much. A snow day in March? The week before Spring Break? Nothing to cheer about. Now we have to make up this day in June. Ughhh!

This is the view from our front door. Keep in mind that this snow was virtually all gone when we went to bed on Tuesday night! We were getting so close to NO SNOW!

Bring on the day home with my kiddos! First, we had cranberry orange muffins for breakfast. No lie...Landon ate 9 of them. Yes, I said NINE! Oinker, as we say around this household.

It just so happens that Wednesday was also Addison's 8 month old birthday! It's getting harder and harder to take her monthly pictures these days. This is the best we could do!

While I was downstairs with Addison doing her photo shoot here's what I was hearing come out of Landon's smart little man mouth as he was laying under the kitchen table...

"I want to go to the park...we can't today...there's too much snow." Ohhhh heartbreaking!

So instead of going to the park, we:

played with trucks...

played with Sammie (our lone surviving shih tzu),

played multiple games of Candy Land,

made Easter cookies,

bounced in the jumper castle,

and practiced hitting the basebal in the basement with Landon's new batting tees,

I'm fairly certain that my kids were saving up all week for this day because I changed more poopy diapers in that one day than I do all week. This picture was taken mid-way through the day. Add two more to this pile by bedtime! Yes, I'm too lazy to walk them ALL the way to the garbage can so I just throw them in the garage and Darren picks them up when he gets home. I know.

I decided to be brave and take the kids outside. After all...this might be our last storm of the season. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be true! It was a disaster from the get-go! This is how little Addison felt about getting all bundled up to go outside:

We made one loop around the house in the sleds before I decided that enough was enough. It was too windy and Addison's nose was running like a faucet. So, after getting Addison inside...try getting a two year old to come inside that's having a ball shoveling the driveway. Meltdown city! (Not sure how our daycare mom Jenny manages to take multiple kiddos outside when I can't even handle two! I give her major credit.)

After meltdown recovery, we enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies:

This little gal was so tuckered out from our long day that even Cheerios couldn't keep her awake!

After a nice dinner of chicken tortilla soup and bread, we enjoyed some play time with Daddy, baths, and early bedtime! What a fun day! We can't wait for next week when we get to be home together all week.

A Future Goalie?

Not if this Mama has anything to say about it!!!

A Sad Sad Day

Carter

November 26, 2000 - March 16, 2011

Yesterday we had to make the very difficult choice to say goodbye to our beloved Carter. He was our 10 year old, 30 lb., cuddly shih tzu. We discovered yesterday after many tests at the Emergency Vet Hospital in Eden Prairie that Carter had high blood pressure, diabetes, as well as either kidney failure or Cushings Disease. We were told that the combination of all of these problems would be a long road for our poor guy and that even though he looked okay on the outside, he was a very sick boy. Darren and I knew what we needed to do, it was just a matter of ultimately making that decision and going through with it. During our final moments with him we told him that we would take him to the cabin one more time and take one more boat ride. (We intend to bring his ashes there this spring.) His ears perked up and we knew that he was happy to hear those words "the cabin." I am at peace with knowing that those were his last thoughts before he peacefully laid his head down and left us. I am happy that I got to be there with him as he left this world, just as I was with him as he entered it over 10 years ago.

I am confident that our big boy is enjoying his time in heaven. I'm sure he's having a great time

~playing in the water at the lake

~catching sunfish off the dock

~sitting in the front of the pontoon feeling the breeze on his face

~running up and down the dog beach in Huntington Beach, CA

~chasing chipmunks at the lake

~riding in the car with his nose sticking out the window

~getting his belly rubbed

~lounging spread eagle on the couch

~wrestling with the other puppies in heaven

~eating lots of doggy treats, especially Pigs in a Blanket

~sneaking table scraps and ice cubes to eat

~going for lots and lots of walks

We love you big guy and will miss you always!

A Few Fun Projects...

So when you've got a sick kid at home for a week and many of those days are spent watching Dora and taking naps, a mom has got to have some projects to do, right? Well, I took full advantage and accomplished three projects on my list!

1. I wanted a "message board" of sorts for near my kitchen. You know...thank you cards, birth announcements, that type of stuff??? Well, I had seen one I LOVED on etsy, but for 70 bucks I knew it wouldn't go over well with D, so I bought this cute little metal one at Crafts Direct right before Christmas. It served it's purpose, but it just WASN'T what I REALLY wanted. So, I set out of make my own like the one I had seen on etsy.

First off, I needed a large old frame to repaint. I found the perfect one at The Porch, which is a VERY CUTE shop in Downtown Buffalo. Last weekend they were having their monthly sale and I was so happy to find just what I was looking for! I repainted it the same burgundy red in our kitchen and (thanks to my friend Allie at proverbs31girl.com) I was brave and tried a little "distressing." It turned out soooo cute!

Then, I found some corkboard in a roll at Menards for the backing. Super easy to measure and cut!

Lastly I needed to find some cute material to match the color scheme of our house and I found the perfect one at Hancock Fabrics in St. Cloud while I was in Cloudy Town with Addison on Wednesday for her flu shot booster. YAY!

So, I hot glued the fabric to the corkboard and then used my handy dandy staple gun to attach it to the back of the frame. I love it! It's just what I wanted in the first place and I couldn't be more proud of myself for saving the 70 bucks!

2. Landon's room was in major need of three things: a night stand, a step stool, and some shelves. So I found the night stand at The Porch and the step stool at a little shop in town called Second Hand Rose. Both were painted "Gumball Red" and distressed (again, thank you Allie!). They both turned out adorable and I love how they seem to bring his room together. I had these old white shelves laying in my room that I also repainted red and distressed.

3. If anyone has little girls, they can probably relate with me on this one...

It was driving me crazy having all of Addison's headbands laying in a big pile in a basket on her dresser. The flowers were all getting smashed and I could never find what I was looking for, not to mention that they were getting tangled! Annoying. So, I used an empty oatmeal cannister and covered it with a cute pink fabric that I had and VIOLA! A headband rack!

So I do have a few more projects on my to-do list, which will hopefully get accomplished soon.

A. paint two walls of the downstairs living room blue

B. make pillows with the leftover material from the message board for the upstairs living room

C. paint the kids bathroom

D. paint the guest bathroom/powder room

E. start reading my "Vegetable Gardening for Dummies" book that Darren bought me off half.com. I am telling you, our veggie garden is going to be bursting at the seams this year!!! (Can you tell I am excited???)

Oh yes, I forgot to add to my list of projects that I accomplished this week...

4. Disinfect ALL the kids toys with sanitizer wipes. That was fun.

A Big Big Boy Bed

After only a few short months of the transition toddler bed, we decided it was time for Landon to move up to a "big big boy bed." The headboard is still the back of his crib...I love that! I had my eye on this quilt and shams from Pottery Barn for over a year and found the coordinating sheets at Target. I wanted to keep the blue/brown/white theme going from his crib bedding but also bring in some sports to the look. I still want to find some more pillows to complete the bed. He got a protective railing that tucks in between the two mattresses to hide it when not in use, which I love.

Can you tell he likes it? He always wants to go see his bed and calls it "amazing!"

(Thank you to the Ramseys for the mattresses!)