More Snow???

We're still clearing out from the last one! These pictures are taken from last Sunday. The snow had finished falling but it was hard to play in it since there was so much.

Megan helped clear the walkway.

Then just layed on the snow pretending to get a suntan.

Zach tried to do some sledding but it wasn't working out so good.

So he resorted to beating the shovel with a baseball bat.

We really weren't out very long at all. Of course we came in and had hot chocolate, my favorite part! There was no school on Monday for the girls but no one wanted to go outside to play. Zach had a dentist appointment in the morning and then Lauren had an indoor soccer game that evening so at least we got out for a little while.

This morning the girls didn't have school again but Zach and I did have preschool. Kristin and Megan came with us to help out. I love the fact that where I work is so family friendly, they are fine with everyone's older kids coming in.

Kristin was making "cupcakes" out of playdough with the kids.

I'm not sure what Megan was making but she drew the attention of all the kids.

Here's a picture of Zach helping vacuum.

Megan was playing dress up with some of the girls in the dramatic play area. It looks like she was playing by herself though.

The reason Zach was in my class and not in his was because he had a skin rash and was complaining that his knees hurt. After checking him out he preferred to stay with me so I had him for the last hour of the day. Like I said, they are a very family friendly place to work for. Very accommodating.

After work I took him to the doctor and he is now diagnosed as having a penicillin allergy. He was having a reaction to an antibiotic he was on last week that affected his skin and joints. My poor little guy could barely walk by the time I left the doctors. He's had a dose of medicine and is feeling much better now. He still looks yucky with the rash but at least he's acting like his normal self again. I'm so glad this didn't happen tomorrow!

SNOW!!!

As I write this it's still snowing outside. 21 inches so far.

I took Zach out this morning for about 15 minutes but it was just way too cold with the wind blowing snow in his face. Plus he just throws himself in the snow and ends up covered from head to toe. I don't think he'll be going back out until the snow is done which I guess won't be until tomorrow.
After taking Zach inside I was shocked to see Lauren all dressed and ready to go out. She hardly ever goes out in the snow anymore. As Paul was snow blowing the driveway Lauren started shovelling the front walk. I could have told her that she didn't have to since Paul usually uses the snow blower on it when he finishes the driveway but I just let her do it and snapped her picture.

Paul asked Lauren if she wanted to use the snow blower so here he is explaining how to do it.

And Lauren clearing the driveway by herself.

Lauren stayed out and helped for quite awhile but eventually had to rest.

She also went with me to walk Megan to a friends house. When Megan asked me if she could go play at her friends house I said sure, why not. The girl lives in our neighborhood just one street over, normally a very quick walk. Our development had been plowed earlier this morning but they haven't been through since. We walked right down the middle of the street and it was still tough going, especially when we turned onto the next street and had to walk through drifts. I really dread going back and getting her in a couple of hours. It makes me wish I had some skis!

I think we'll easily reach 2 feet of snow by the time this storm ends. Yikes! No way will these kids have school on Monday (or Tuesday or Wednesday...). It's going to to take many days to get all this snow cleared.

Yes, we're still around...

I know I've neglected this but I've simply been busy the last couple of weeks. With work I subbed a couple of times on my off days plus there was an open house not too long ago which I spent time getting ready for (extra hours to tidy up the room). Then when I wasn't working at the preschool I was attempting to clean out and organize different parts of my house. Cleaning out the storage area of the basement was just so much fun (I'm being sarcastic) but I got rid of so much stuff, either trashing it or donating it to Goodwill. I've still got more to do but at least I made a huge dent in it. It's amazing the amount of stuff that I've accumulated over the years. Stuff that I just don't need.

So anyway, we haven't really done anything I would call "blogworthy" but I've got to put something on here right? So I guess I'll ramble about the following pictures. :)

I love decorating for Valentine's Day so I had Zach and Megan decorate some hearts. I used to do this with the one-year-olds when I worked for MBNA and we've also done this with the two-year-olds at preschool. What I call "box painting," putting your paper and a blob or two of paint in the box then rolling a ball (or orange, marbles, etc.) So an easy project that also looks really neat when finished.

Of course I neglected to take a picture of the finished project but trust me, they look neat.

Here's just a silly picture of Zachary eating his ice cream sundae. Paul was making milkshakes for the girls and whichever friend was over that weekend but Zach wanted a sundae instead.

Zachary got to play with Lehlan a couple of days last week. I can't believe how big Lehlan has gotten! Here's a couple of pics of them playing together.

Zach got sick last week too. He was already on an antibiotic from the week before when he got what seemed like a really bad cold and a fever. His fever got a little high one night so here he is with a cold towel on his head to try and bring his fever down. He didn't mind it even though he looks miserable in this picture. (The blanket was to cover him up since he wasn't wearing anything except his underwear!)

I bought everything to make Rice Krispy Treats and Kristin made them all on her own. The only time I went near her was to snap this picture. I love the fact that she likes to cook!

Here's another craft I had Megan and Zach do. We do this at preschool which is where I got the die cuts for this project. You simply take a piece of paper, use whatever die cut you want then put clear contact paper on one side. On the sticky side the kids can put sequins, glitter, tissue paper or whatever they want. At school we would just run it through the laminator but at home I covered the finished project with another sheet of clear contact paper. Megan is making a heart...

...and Zach is decorating a snowflake.

This past Wednesday morning we woke up to 2 inches of snow so after putting Megan on the bus Zach and I went out and shovelled the driveway and played for a little while. He was so cute helping me with his little plastic shovel. If I hadn't been busy shovelling myself I would have gotten a pic or video of it. He did eventually put the shovel down and drag one of the sleds out.

Yes, he put the sled on the already shovelled driveway and had a ball just laying in it. Whatever! At least I was able to finish the driveway.

I went to the grocery store later that day and bought ABC noodles that were on sale for a $1. I thought he would like looking at the letters and at least trying to find the letters in his name. Instead what he really liked to do was make "Alphabet Soup" by using tweezers to pick up the letters and putting them in a bowl. What I thought was going to be a letter recognition activity turned into a fine motor activity.

One last picture. During Zach's conference with his teachers they mentioned that he is very good at putting together puzzles. I have some puzzle but they've been kept in the storage area of the basement so while he was sleeping one day I brought a bunch of them up so he could play with them. He wasn't the only one that wanted to play with them.

That's about it. Exciting wasn't it? Maybe after getting 2 feet of snow dumped on us this weekend I'll have something else to post about.

Naptime at the Grocery Store

This will be a super short post but just wanted to share a picture of my little guy that I took this morning.
Of course he didn't fall asleep until right before I checked out, I had to put up with Whiny Boy until then.

Pajama Day

That was what Zach and I had at preschool today so we got to wear our jammies to school. I had Megan take our picture this morning before we left.

It was kind of weird walking through the parking lot with pajamas on, especially with my bright red Mickey pants! But once inside I changed into my slippers and was oh so comfy.

As a treat the kids had pancakes for snack. Pajama day and pancakes, the kids should know their letter P after today. I don't know if it was the syrup that hyped them up or what but my two's were just off the wall. I was literally counting down the minutes until they left. I really do like them, they're a great group, but today...let's just say no more syrup for them!

As I'm writing this I'm still in my jammies and so is Zach, though he's taking a nap. Why not? It's comfortable and I'm not going anywhere. In fact after this morning I might even take a nap!

Another busy day

No school for the girls today so I had to keep them busy somehow. Our day started with Lauren's orthodontist appointment at 10:00. Her appointments are always quick, they even take her back early a lot of the time which is what happened today. So by a little after ten we were done so we hopped over to Longwood Gardens to explore a little. We had plans to go eat lunch with Paul which left us with a little more than an hour to check things out at Longwood. What a beautiful day it was too!

We headed to the conservatory because even though it was such a beautiful day it was still a little chilly out and this way we would be inside. At first the children's garden didn't have any of the fountains going, someone that worked there said it was being worked on and should be up and running in 10 minutes. Well, it's no fun if there's no water to play in so we left there to go see the rest of the conservatory.

Some of those rooms were HOT, it made me wish I was back outside. We found some neat waterfalls in the Cascade Garden (though you can't tell it from the picture.)Before I could stop him Zach had his one arm in the water trying to get the big rocks at the bottom. Half his sleeve was soaked before we even got to the children's garden to play.

Kristin was enjoying taking pictures of flowers with her cell phone. She would stop every few feet and take one. Megan was wishing she had a camera too so when she said she liked this flower I took a picture of her in front of it.
So finally we end back up at the children's garden and find the fountains all working.
It was crowded with more adults than kids but we did manage to see most of it, that is until Zach practically fell into one of the fountains. Lauren was standing right behind him, I think she pushed him. :) I made a beeline out at that point. After all it is still winter and we do have to go outside to walk to the car.

So we leave the conservatory and as we're walking out Zach spots this bench and says he wants another picture taken. If you think his hair is wet in that picture it is, he stuck his head in the waterfall fountain at the children's garden. (Yet another reason to leave!)So we walk a little farther and Megan is still saying how she wished she had a camera. I asked her if she wanted to take a picture with mine so everyone poses by the topiary garden for one final picture.

Can't wait until it's spring so we can go back and explore everything outside. Zach just loves it there.

Our day is not over because now we're off to meet Paul at work and have lunch with him. Depending on how we feel we either go out to a restaurant and eat there OR order food and eat in the conference room. Well today was an eat in the conference room day. It takes a certain amount of energy to deal with all of them out in public, a certain energy I was lacking today.

I guess it was a good thing we stayed and ate in the conference room or I wouldn't have gotten any of these pictures. Here are my goofball kids:

And this is why we only go have lunch with daddy once or twice a year!

Oh, I forgot to mention that before we ate lunch one of Lauren's new brackets fell off her teeth. I called the dentist and asked if we could stop by after lunch to have it put back on. No problem, they are so accommodating and nice. After eating we had a few minutes before we had to leave for her 2nd ortho appointment so Lauren went right to work helping her dad out. How sweet of her.

We finally get home to find that there was a package delivered by the door. Lots of huge bubble wrap inside that Lauren grabbed. She did share and give Zach one strip of it. I grabbed the camera but I haven't been having much luck with the video setting on it lately. I don't know why it's making that noise. I guess it's time to get a new camera?!?! Plus I was having a tough time with Movie Maker so I wasn't able to cut it down. Sorry, it's a minute and six seconds.

Oh but our fun for the day is not done yet, Lauren had an indoor soccer game that evening. Her team won with a score of 5-1 with Lauren not scoring but she did assist. Here's just a little of her playing, I wasn't able to cut this one down either, it's 49 seconds long.

So that was our day. I'll be glad when they're back in school tomorrow! Of course when they're off it does give me something to write about on here.

We have a winner...

Megan won honorable mention in her school's Reflection contest! She won it for one of her visual arts entries.

This years Reflections theme was "Beauty is..." There were 5 different categories that you could enter: literature, visual arts, photography, musical composition and film production. Megan had entered something in literature, visual arts and photography.

Her visual arts piece that won was titled, "Beauty is... a ladybug" and had a ladybug made out of felt on it. Here's her principal announcing her.

Megan is short and sweet when it comes to describing her piece. Some kids were going on and on, not my Megan! It was like pulling teeth to get her to say anything.

One of the many pictures I took of her afterwards. Zach and I had a great seat, right up front.

Everybody that won today will have their pieces go on to the state level and then those winners go on to the national level, it's a PTA thing in case anyone is wondering.

Maybe next year she'll enter the musical composition and film production categories too, they actually seem easier than they sound! The theme next year is, "Together we can..."

What an active child!

Oh my! Look what kind of child I have to deal with:

There was a commercial on that was playing music and he was doing this weird kind of dance where he would jump around and then flop on the floor then repeat it. Of course by the time I thought about getting my camera the commercial is over and the Flyers game is back on. It didn't stop him dancing though.

This past Friday we woke up again to snow. The girls all went to school on time though I think they should have had a 2-hour delay. Both Lauren's and Kristin's busses slid, Lauren's slid into the main road after leaving our neighborhood and Kristin's bus almost hit a car that was parked in one of the developments! Thanks to texting I knew what was going on. They both got to school safe though, just a very interesting morning.

After putting Megan on the bus Zach and I shovelled the driveway then played in the snow a little bit before going in and getting hot chocolate. After Christmas I had picked up a Lightning McQueen mug and Mater spoon that was on clearance. Coming in from the snow was a perfect time to try it out. We had some extra Snowman Soup so I gave one to Zach to try out.
He loved adding the marshmallows and Hershey Kisses to it.

He added the stir stick (candy cane) to it but instead of using it to stir he just wanted to eat it.

Finally it's ready to drink. Yum!

Zach enjoyed putting together his Spiderman bear today that Santa brought him. It's a bear that you have to stuff first then add the costume. I really don't know how little kids could possibly get that stuffing into the bears hands and feet since the opening was so small so I did that part. He just stuffed the main body of the bear.

Then we added the costume and voila, there was Spiderman.

One more video to end this. Sometimes I don't know why I bother buying toys, just give the kids a box, some paper or even bubble wrap and that can entertain them.

Happy New Year! (plus odds & ends)

On Dec. 31st we woke up to a coating of snow. I went out to clear the driveway and Zach, being the great helper that he is, came out to help too. He used his dollar store shovel like a pro. Maybe next year he can move up to the real thing.

That evening, New Year's Eve, we were invited to a party so Paul and I along with Zach and Megan went. Kristin was being a party pooper and opted out and Lauren wanted to spend the night at her friend's house. With Zach being with us we weren't sure how long we would be staying but amazingly he stayed awake and was good and we made it to midnight. He crashed in the car though and slept through getting his pajamas on. Here he is on our couch after being carried from the car.

Zach organizes the cereal
If we don't make anything for breakfast than Zach will usually eat cereal. He knows where it is and goes and picks out which one he wants. This morning he pulled out every box of cereal and lined them up on the floor.

Can't forget the ones in the back. He kept telling me to not take his picture.

Finally...a new fish

Zach's other fish all died, the last one dying a few weeks ago. Yesterday Paul took him to the pet store to pick out something new and here's what he got:

It's a male betta fish so there can only be one in the tank. I love the blue coloring of it. I don't know what he named it, when he gets up from his nap I'll ask him and post later.

Other miscellaneous pictures:

This is a picture from Kristin's last band concert. Her friend's mom took it and sent it to her.

In this pic Kristin had been awake for over 24 hours. She slept Friday night and woke up, let's say around 9:00 am on Saturday. There was a lock in at church for the youth on Saturday night where if she did sleep it was only for an hour or so. This pic was taken at 6:15 pm Sunday evening.

Another one of our desk drawers broke and Zach was being too cute saying he was going to fix it. He got a flashlight...

...then pulled the broken piece back up until it was even and said, "all done!"

Would've been nice if it had been that easy. He is interested in how things work so it wouldn't surprise me in a few years if he doesn't start fixing things for real around the house.