Fashion Forward

On Thursday Aly was getting ready for preschool...it is always such a process.  This needs to match that and so on.  She came downstairs with this dress on and the belt in her hands.  I thought she wanted me to tie the belt on the dress...the way it is supposed to go.  She informs me that she wants it in her hair....and demonstrates the headband look. 

As I was following her instructions, she says...you know mom belts can be used for other things...they are like an accessory...gee who knew.  CERTAINLY not the one who almost NEVER gets dressed before I pick them up at noon.  I asked her where she learned all this fashion advice.  She says - no joke "At school, you know it is not all about learning your ABC's or 123's."

Apparently we are currently enrolled in the fashion preschool of Lansdale. 

How nice it is...

It hit 60 today...the girls thought it was summer.  They wanted to eat lunch on the deck, put on flip flops and parade around in their bathing suits.  Don't worry I only said yes to lunch.

It was nice because everything Jackson threw on the deck...the birds would eat.  All was well with the world until the boys next door came home from school.  At 7,9, and 11 apparently 60 felt like summer to them to.  They started playing basketball in the driveway and soon their shirts were off.

This resulted in an all out battle.....Aly and Bri were watching the game from our deck and they wanted to take off their clothes too.  In fact, they also wanted to play basketball with their shirts off. 

Eventually the prospect of Dora on the big screen took priority over the boys.

He just may be the end

Look at that smile....pure TROUBLE....  I have little experience with boys..I can tell you all about raising little girls.  I can name the princesses, know about matching hair bows to dresses, how they love their stuffed animals and dress up. 

However, this boy is going to be the end of me.  Emptying cabinets, pulling out entire book shelves, climbing stairs, you name it.  He beelines for my bike, outlets, and the dogs water constantly. 

On Friday, I asked Aly to feed the dogs, while I was getting some things put together for dinner.  As I was packing things up and the kids were getting coats on, I noticed that Jackson was gone.  He was sitting in the mudroom with the dogs, right by their side, eating the dog food. 

Moving Forward.....Making Progress

So this morning we were flipping through old pictures of the girls....Brianna loves to look at pictures when she was little...she will often climb into my lap and say...lets look at pictures of me as baby.. like this...

It is hard to believe how fast they grow...onto the real point of this:

I came across our 2009 new years resolutions....one of mine was to "like running more".....I laughed.  I think it will always be on my resolution list.  I like the feeling when I am done.  I certainly like the benefits it provides me, but man the actual task at hand I do not often like. 

 I have worked hard all winter on my running and this morning I had a run on my schedule....all the kids are home, so it meant that we head to the gym so I can use the treadmill.  While the treadmill usually epitomizes boring...it was my only option and I have found myself there more often than not this winter. 

Drumroll...it was actually okay.  Still no comparison to laying by the pool in Aruba, but during the entire run I felt good and I never once thought "ohhh how I hate this"  which did happen hundreds of times during my 1:40 run on the treadmill on Sat.

Progress...little by little...

 

Oh she makes me laugh.

Is it possible to get kicked out of church....we may find out.

This morning I took the girls to Jr. Choir practice for 9 am.  We then stayed for the 10:15 service but in my head I knew that that was a LONG time for Brianna to sit.  I even asked her before we went into the church to sit in the pews if she wanted to play in the nursery, she replied that she is NOT a baby...

Ryan was home with Jackson since it was just going to be too much for him to try to skip his morning nap.

Service started....the girls colored, had a snack, and FINALLY got called for the Childrens message.  All went well, they talked about favorite things.  Someone said they liked dogs...someone else replied they were allergic to dogs.  Aly pipes up and says - well you can never come to our house then we have dogs..all in the spirit of sharing...

Anyways, the minister dismisses them and all of the kids start walking towards to exit...except Brianna.

No Joke - she stands up and starts dancing.  No music - just the minister she is totally busting a move.  He quietly walks over to her and lets her know all of the other kids have gone downstairs for Sunday School.  She lets him know she is not done dancing...

So there she is entertaining the whole congregation with her moves.

Strawberry Pizza

So I have been trying new recipes this week.  Last night I made a whole bunch of kinds of pizza, tomato and veggie, spinach and feta, ham, bbq chicken, and cheese.  Aly was so helpful - she is going to love the kitchen like I do I think.  I had some more dough, so tonight we made a dessert pizza, strawberry. 

The verdict was YUM.  I thought it was too sweet, had it been chocolate I would have eaten a whole lot more.  Everyone else loved it, Ryan thinks I should make it without the whole wheat dough - go figure.

Brianna would have eaten like this if we let her

Chinese New Year, 100 days, and Sumo Wrestling

This week has been BUSY.  We celebrated the chinese new year this morning in school.  The year of the rabbit.

We also celebrated 100 days of preschool.....in true Brianna fashion

Meanwhile Jack was brushing up on his Sumo wrestling technique.  Man he is a bruiser.  My money is on him that ends up in the emergency room first.   No fear, total determination, and big siblings...enough said.

Wordless Wednesday - help at home

Fueling our family

Groceries are on the rise.....no joke

This week Ryan and I sat down on a couple of occasions to work out our 2011 budget.  While he is all into predicting the year 2014, I can only grasp the present.  Love, love, love being married to someone who knows where our every penny goes - riiiight.

In 2010, he finally commented that I pay cash for my occasional coffee out - totally caught.  Here I thought I had another year in the bag. 

As we looked through our budget and worked out where we were going to add or subtract.  I was amazed at the average spending per month in 2010 for groceries...our family is really growing.

It is no wonder the general population eats like garbage, it is much cheaper to do so.  As a family of 5 we easily burn through 2 pints of blueberries, grapefruit, blackerries, strawberries, a half dozen apples, and two bunches of bananas per week (they are Jacksons favorite).  Some weeks I find that I am headed out midweek for more fruit.  Aly alone can eat a container of blackberries in one sitting - she loves them.  Add on the two gallons of milk,  veggies, dozen eggs, bread and meat...well there goes our grocery budget!

When I was talking to my mom this week, I was commenting on how expensive grocery shopping has gotten.  Why is it soo much cheaper in NH?  So it will be interesting to see come February if we can stick to our budget.  If not maybe we can all just eat snow....there is certainly enough of it!

Let it Snow

We got well over a foot last night...this afternoon it was warm enough to bring Jackson out.  He wasn't sure what to think but gradually warmed up to the idea.

The snow banks are just tall enough so that he can stand.  He thought that was pretty cool.

The girls climbed the big snowbanks that Ryan plowed

On Parenting

I am pretty sure if they issued licensed to parents mine might have been revoked today, or close to it.  Ever have one of those days were it is 9 am and the best thing to look forward to is bedtime.

I had to teach this morning, which meant everyone out of the house by 9.  Jackson stayed home with a sitter. Usually no big deal, however things needed to be smooth because the girls get dropped of for preschool for 9 and I had a 9:15 lesson.

Enter Aly, who comes prancing downstairs in a short sleeve shirt and water shoes, only to turn on the fire place because she was cold.  Argument ensues and she puts on fleece.  Brianna just wants to wear PJs, does not want to go to school, get dressed, eat breakfast, or anything that involves moving out of bed.  Jackson is cutting a tooth or something - we will find out at the Dr. this afternoon.  So he just wants to be held - all 25 lbs of him.

Rinse. Lather. Repeat.. . as we need to be back at the Y tonight so that I can teach again.

Reflections

This has been my view most mornings when I get home from my workouts, the sun rising and lots and lots of snow.

We got another couple of inches this morning...the kids played outside, but it was bitter cold. I am looking forward to a quiet weekend.  We have no traveling plans and the kids are slowly getting over their colds.

Jackson is growing like a weed....he is pulling up and starting to cruise.  He will not let you feed him, he wants to do it all himself....amazing how quickly gain independence.

Brianna just got bifocals...she continues to be my challenge.  She is so full of love and witty comments, she will talk to anyone and lets then know what is going on in our lives (good or bad).

Aly is currently in the Rapunzel phase, please let it be a phase.  She thinks she is a princess wants to wear a crown and on occasion asks Brianna to be the horse or Jackson the prince.

My training is going well...I try to get out in the am before anyone wakes up...4:45 am comes early though.  I am excited to run the Aruba half marathon and see where I am at. 

Ryan has been travel free for 2 months.  He heads to Thailand in a couple of weeks - boo for us.  My mom is coming for the week so that will be great.

Headed to bed...

Good Old Fashioned Winter Fun!

Mounds and mounds of snow!

Staying warm

The 7 grandchildren

For Your Own Safety

Please wear goggles while in our playroom....especially while using scissors and stamps!

Skiing.......

Today we went skiing with the girls..  The same mountain where I learned to ski, Pats Peak.  At first, I thought it might be a disaster.  My legs were sore from yesterday and the girls have never been on skis.  We went one time down the bunny hill and Ryan needed to "stretch"....thankfully it got better.

The girls LOVED it.  We worked on turning and stopping.  Brianna just wanted to fly down the hill and Aly was a little more cautious.  However, as the day wore on, Aly gained some confidence.  By the end...she wanted to go alone.

  

These came from my phone...so they are not that good.

By the end of the day I was sore...so sore. It was a perpetual squat with a 40 lb weight balancing in front of you....the girls want to go again.  

First snow!

These are from last week.....we got about 2 inches...Just enough to have some fun!

Snow Angels

They flew down the slide with their snowpants on and thought it was soo funny!

All while Jackson napped in his warm bed!

When the pantry door is open...

Check out what I found!

yes - it is still HALLOWEEN candy...this piece a day business is for the birds.  I tried getting rid of some of it and Aly wanted to know what happened to her special piece....hmmm dunno.  We looked all over for it and finally concluded that she must have just forgotten she had eaten it.

More proof that I can't throw it away..yesterday she informed me that one of her pieces was in Brianna's pumpkin...ummm really.  Aly told Brianna it must have just fell in there by a mistake.  Judging by Brianna's face there was no mistake about it.

Well girls, Jackson certainly shook things up this morning before you woke up.  He redistributed all of it!

Happy Friday....

Registered!!!

While everyone was toasting the new year..I was on the computer registering for my first Half Ironman.  I have intended to do this for a while and thought it was a good goal to have after Jackson was born.

I am using the same coach, that I used for the half marathon in the fall.  So far the training is going well - it is quite different from anything I have done before.  I have been able to get most of my workouts in before Ryan leaves for work in the am, which means that I am out of the house by 5 am. 

I am excited to take on this venture and will keep you updated!

New Years Recap

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We returned from South Carolina on Sat - it was about 11 hours from start to finish.  The kids did well in the car and they were a littly nutty when they got home....

We played at the park on Fri - I think it was about 50 out....which was a nice change from the snow and ice in PA.  

Morgan on the swing

The kids went to bed New Years eve and then the adults had dinner.  It was nice to have less chaos during the dinner.  I was lucky and I was able to run every day that we were down there. 

Here is to a great 2011