I Looked Out the Window and what did I See...

A HUGE mess!! We have had sewer problems since we bought this house 6 years ago. We have had to call Roto-Rooter out 5 or 6 times. Last year we replaced the sewer line from our sidewalk to our house hoping that would take care of the problem. Last Friday we realized we were having the same problem- Roto-Rooter came and couldn't get their camera in. So we called the guys that did the job last year to come and see what they thought. After digging into things they decided that we should replace the line from the sidewalk to the mailbox. We have had a few delays in the process because the Blue Stake people didn't stake a spot where some fiber optic telephone wire were- so Qwest had to come out and fix them. When they got the old pipes out they found that in part of one of them was a huge tree root! We are cautiously optimistic that this will solve the problem and we won't have to deal with this mess again. However, the gals have quite enjoyed the process and talking to Perry and Tom- the 2 taking care of the problem.

What do You do in the Wintertime?

The gals were so excited last Saturday when they woke up to a Winter Wonderland and about 12 inches of snow. We had to put snow clothes on and get outside- fast! They had a blast! I knew we weren't done with winter and we were just being teased with Springlike weather. But we made the best of it and had fun in the snow.

The snow day was also my mom's birthday. We had a fun party on Sunday- the gals LOVE to blow out candles. And they sure adore their grandma!

Yesterday was Dr. Suess's birthday. Brooklyn's school was having a weird dress-up day. She chose to dress up as one of her favorite storybook characters, Fancy Nancy. She sure looked fancy and played the part well!

Evening of Art

Several weeks ago, Brooklyn came home from school with a note explaining that there was going to be an "Evening of Art" (our school changed from a PTA to a PTO this year and this is to replace the Reflections contest.) Brooklyn told me that she wanted to draw a picture and enter it in. The theme for the event was "Treasure" we talked about what different types of treasures were and I told her to think about what she wanted to draw. She immediately told me that her best treasure was her family. Sniff Sniff. She came up with that by herself and I am so proud of her for realizing that over her toys, her DS, her scooter, etc. her family is her greatest treasure. She sat down to draw the picture- she started over once- and came up with her piece titled, "My Family is my Greatest Treasure." Thursday night was the event it started at 6:30 and at 5:30 she tells me that she is going in to get dressed in her Christmas dress because she needed to look really nice. I told her that I thought that what she wore to school would be just fine, but she insisted on her dress. She got all dolled up and then patiently waited for her daddy to get home from work so we could head up to the school. She found Grandma and was beyond thrilled when we found her picture and she noticed that she had purple ribbon- she has ALWAYS wanted one. Her other incentive for entering was that every child that entered received a free meal from Texas Road House- she was ecstatic to get that also. Texas Road House was there serving a lite meal. It was such a great event and I am so proud of Brooklyn for wanting to take part in it!

I love this picture- it shows the pure joy on her face

Her purple ribbon

"Family is my Greatest Treasure"

2 of my greatest treasures

Fun in the Snow

What do you do on a day that daddy has off and Brooklyn doesn't have school? We forget all the things that we need to do around our house before May and the baby arrives and play in the snow! We enjoy spending time together and by choice of the gals have some fun at the Fun Park.

Brooklyn going to get Sean with her snowball

Sean getting Brooklyn with his snowball

Sean and his gals

We kept trying to get a picture and Sandy kept running in the shot

Valentine's

Today has been such a great day!! Sean and I decorated the house last night to surprise the gals when they woke up. They were so excited to see the balloons and streamers. We had a fun breakfast of pink, heart-shaped pancakes. We have had so much fun with the Valentine's envelopes. The gals have been so excited every morning to see what was in there and it was fun to go down memory lane and write some of my memories to Sean and his to me. This morning the gals got to get their last Valentine item and their Valentine from Sean and I to them. They opened their presents and got a new sweater to wear. At Brooklyn's school, they have a Valentine's tea every year and so she was so excited to get all dolled up for that. After school, Brooklyn had dance and then we came home for a fun dinner that we had planned. Thanks to the Dollar Tree I had gotten some fun plates, glasses, and napkins. We got a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphey's, had strawberries, and red Jello jigglers. Sean and I were lucky enough to go out on Friday and celebrate together. This year has been one of my favorite Valentine's- it was so fun to see how excited the gals have been. In the words of Brooklyn, "Best Valentine's EVER!!"

Little stinker- I was telling her to smile and this is the look I got. On a side note- you can't really see it in these pictures and I tried taking a picture of it, but Gracie has a lovely black eye. Her and Brooklyn were super hyper on Saturday and we had told them to settle down more than once. Well they went running into the front room and Brooklyn pushed Gracie out of the way and it cause her to fall into the couch. Right off her eye started going black. So we will just add that to the list!

Our fun Valentine's dinner. Sean bought me a rose and the gals each a flower. A tradition I hope he keeps up. My dad sent my flowers every year and it was always something I treasured!

Poor Grace

Poor Gracie has had a rough couple of weeks! She has been sick for 2 straight weeks. She ran a fever and after the 3rd day of 103 I took her to the doctor. He and I were both hoping she had Strep. Kinda sad when you are hoping your child has Strep, but at least it can be treated. It came back negative and he said she would start with a cough and runny nose. Well she didn't get it for several days and was starting to feel better so I thought we were lucky and had bypassed that. But no such luck! It hit full force and she is miserable!! Her poor no as she calls her nose, lips, and chin are all so sore and chapped. And to make matters worse, I was making some rolls one night for dinner and had the big bucket of flour sitting on a chair. She climbed up and was playing with it and helping me. She managed to get it everywhere, but was having so much fun. I walked into the other room and heard a nasty thud, it was one of those that you knew was not going to be good. She started screaming. I ran in and could not see that she was hurt anywhere- I loved her and got her happy again. She was in the kitchen again climbing up the drawers and I told her she needed to get down or she was going to get hurt. As I said that she fell and hit her chin on the counter. Of course she started bawling and said she had hit it again. I didn't think anything of it until that night I noticed something on her chin and went to clean it and found this lovely bruise! Poor thing! The next day or two it looked even worse, but I didn't get a picture. (We are hoping to have all illnesses out of the way before May arrives.)

She did like the way that it looked like a rainbow

Kinda a random picture, but grandma got all the gals matching dresses for Christmas. We finally had them all wear them on the same day and this was the best picture we could manage. They looked so cute though.

And our lives would be pretty dull without this firecracker!

Valentine's Envelope

My sister came across the cutest blog called The Crafting Chicks. On this site there was the cutest idea for Valentine Envelopes. The gal that made them saw them originally in Pottery Barn Kids and made her own. So my sister and I decided to make them for our families and I am so happy with how they turned out. It is kinda the same idea as a Christmas stocking. We put little treats or dollar store things or notes in them. The gals are so excited to wake up in the morning and see what they have gotten for the day. In Sean and I's we decided to write little notes to each other or favorite memories. It has been so fun so far and I am excited to have this be a new tradition for our family.

This is how I have them hanging. I made one for our nameless baby and decided that I better do all 3 the same so I didn't have to hear any complaining over whose was better. :)

Also hanging on the shelf but hidden is this impression of the gals hands. My good friend Rory owns a darling boutique in Logan called A Child's Touch and they do these impressions. I love it! I can't wait to get one with 3 little hand prints on it.