SNOW

I could not be happier to tell you I was wrong then right now. We have snow. Actually it is still snowing at this hour. This is wonderful. It is not the perfect snow but there are zero complaints coming from this house.

All the freezing rain under the snow has made for a very slushy snow but hey snow is snow and at the end of March I am not going to be picky.

The kids had a great time sledding today. Lucas sent Addi Jo down the hill over a dozen times, she loved every trip. Here is a picture of Lucas taking a turn. Addi just loved the snow hitting her in the face. I even caught her a couple of times taking her mitten off to catch the falling flakes.

Lucas broke out the snowboard for one last time this season. It seemed like a lot better snow this time, after a few trips down with the sled it was nicely packed and super slick. In fact it may have been a little too slick. Here is a crash. A few trips down and he was doing much better!

As promised we built a snowman. It was perfect snow for a snowman. It just rolled up right up into a ball for us. This may be the fastest I have ever built snow people.

I will finish by saying shoveling stinks. I wanted to do a nice deed for Jeremy. I figured since he was watching the MU game that I would go ahead and shovel the drive and sidewalk for him. Think about it shoveling provides great exercise and I can use all the exercise I can get. I even got moments of assistance from Addi and Lucas. There were certain things I did not think through or know before I started. I did not know that our shovel alone weighs at least fifty pounds. Honest that thing is huge and has to be made out of steel. I did not think through the fact that I already knew the snow was wet, very wet. Meaning shoveling is more than just scooping down the drive, it forms into solid clumps when you push it. We have a three car driveway, this resembles a football field when covered with wet snow.

I start, every good intention in my mind. Twenty pushes doubt sets in. Thirty pushes into it I decide to go for the easy victory, the sidewalk. Once completed I head back to the driveway. I look up at it. It looks horrible, absolutely horrible. By this point Addi has gotten out the rake. I think even her mini shovel was wearing her out. I know at this point I can't leave it. Jeremy would get to many laughs out of this one and our neighbor Brett would never let me live it down. I put my head down and get back to work. In the end I did not get it all done. I was defeated. I hate to admit it but it is true. I did not do the bottom strip of the driveway from the sidewalk to the street. I did not shovel behind Jeremy's truck. I will not be heading out again to finish either. I will be looking for a new snow shovel at the start of next season. Figure it is either that or steroids to build up my arm muscles.

SUPER HAPPY SNOW NIGHT TO YOU!!!!

Spring Storm

I wish I was writing to tell you of the hours we have spent playing, sledding and shoveling outside. However, there has been no hot chocolate and no outside time. The storm has been nothing but a bust.

Currently it is thundering. According to the highly qualified weather forecasters this is to be the time we are getting thunder snow. This event was to add significantly to our snow totals. We have not one flake of snow so far. We have had sleet and freezing rain.

I don't know how much ice we have but you can still see our pretty green grass. The deck

is pretty much solid sleet.

As there is no hope left of snow we have moved on to other activities in the house. Jeremy has made chili. The kids have cleaned their rooms and now Addi is napping. Lucas is watching a movie with dad. I guess really it was too good to be true. One last snow storm for the year, one last day to play and get all bundled up. Oh well before I know it we will be planting flowers and playing in the sun.

Hope you are having a great day at home or are being extra careful on the road!!

Updates to past blogs

Here are a few updates on some prior blogs.
First, Jeremy was my hero tonight and went to Price Chopper for me. Man he is awesome!! He told me the entire parking lot was full! On a Friday night that would have made me nuts! Man I love him.

Second, Goodnight Moon has been found. All is well again in the bedtime routine. Amazing what you can find under the kitchen chairs.

Third, the weather. Watching the news at 6 still has some doubt on the exact snow fall total. Nothing is ever sure with the weather in KC. They are now saying for sure that sleet or freezing rain will start before the snow. That is a total bummer. Can we never get just snow? I still hope it will be a beautiful white afternoon, cross your fingers for us. Jeremy already said he would make chili if it snowed. He is my rock star. Snow and a day without cooking, what else can a tired girl with horrible allergies in spring ask for?

This is the message that continues to pop up on my computer today.
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
Winter Storm Approaching, Heavy Snow Expected
A Winter Storm Warning for the Kansas City metro area for Saturday has been issued, with heavy snow expected for much of the day.

It seems almost certain that we are going to have quiet the snow storm tomorrow. I say almost because living in Kansas City there have been several morning where you awaken after promised snow to nothing or worse yet, ice. Given this history we have not spoken a word of possible snow to the kids.

At our house we are hoping for snow in the over 12 inch range. I can only imagine how awesome that would be. Jeremy said he is not shoveling if it is close to 12 inches. I will be making a giant snowman if we get that much snow, I figure regardless of the type of snow it is if you have that much you can surly get a snowman out of it.

There is only one problem with my desire for snow. We have no food at the house. Obviously that does not mean the cupboards are bear, breathe mom breathe, it just means I would have to scrounge around to come up with food at this point. Of coarse this means a much dreaded trip to the grocery store. I am going to Price Chopper v Wal-Mart because everyone and their brother is going to be out and when that happens I would much rather be with the calmer folks of Price Chopper than the crazies of Wal-Mart. Really I just want someone at Wal-Mart to tell those people we are not going to be snowed in for a month and buying everything on the shelf is just plain stupid!! Lets remain calm folks!

Here is a serious up side. Tomorrow is the weekend!! This is an upside for several reasons but for this blog purpose it means no long trips to work to bear! I will brave the store tonight anytime so I have hot chocolate and a drive free day tomorrow!!

I will make sure to post pictures if the snow does in fact come. I can only imagine what fun Lucas will have on his snowboard!! I see some serious snow packing in my future. I better get to thinking the best way to do that............maybe I will call Snowcreek.

Story time

This is one of the fun moments to share on the blog and a big reason of why I decided to start it.

I was putting Addi to bed tonight and always read her two storied. The first is a flip book about animals hiding in the house. She loves it. The second is Goodnight Moon. This was one of Lucas favorite books when he was 2-3. Last night the books ended up downstairs and tonight I could only find the flip book. At this time I still do not know where Goodnight Moon went to. We spent a good 20 minutes searching listing the entire time to Addi saying "where it iz, where iz it?"

I read the flip book and then decided to wing it on Goodnight Moon. After all I was sure I had it memorized reading it no less than 200 times in my life. I had Addi lay down and started to recite it to her. She popped up in bed and said where's book? I said it is in my head. Wrong statement. She began to pull apart my hair looking for the book. It was all I could do not to laugh. I tried to reexplain, no such luck. I finally had to give up on Goodnight Moon and went to the next choice, the duck book.

I am happy to say that even though there was no Goodnight Moon Addi was still able to fall peacefully asleep.

SWEET DREAMS TO ALL!

The machine

Tonight was the first

baseball practice for Lucas.

Machine pitch

competitive ball this year.

This is a very big step and one that has caused much debate. We opted for competitive partly due to the fact several kids from the football team wanted to play baseball together. The debate back and forth was pointless because when he got to practice tonight he was great. He stood right in front of that machine like he knew exactly what he was doing and hit the first ball out of there. I was shocked but there was nothing but pride across Jeremy's face.

This is their first year playing machine pitch for all the kids so there is certainly work to be done don't get me wrong but it is nice to leave your first practice knowing that your kid should not leave every game sad because they got slaughtered. I think when we left tonight I was glad to know that I no longer have to answer the question that has plagued me every game for the last two years. Mom, why do they say it was a tie? No way it was a tie we totally won or stinkin lost (depending on the game.)

How many dads does it take to set up the machine for practice?

Dad woking the machine during practice.

Addi is going to have enough practice time logged to play college ball before she gets to tee ball. She does love watching them play. They thew one ball back just so she would have something to play with.

I know games will be Wednesday nights and will mainly be double headers.
Once I know dates and times
I will let you know!

Cousins of fun

Lucas and Addi are very lucky to have two cousins that are very close in age. They were able to come over last night for a bit.


Taralyn and Lucas run into issues being the oldest of their respective families and having the same dominant personality but this also allows for many of creative ideas that I am just sure no one else could come up with!!



Addi just loves Hunter to pits and pieces, after all they are only a week apart. Addi refers to him as Huntie. It is cute although I am not sure he loves the name. He is a very good sport about the entire thing which works out well as Addi puts her own spin on assertive.



A few minutes outide. Too chilly to stay out much longer.




A nice indoor race in the evening. It had to be called early due to the crash. Thank goodness no injuries!







Even Uncle Jeremy got to join in the fun. Nothing like a marathon puzzle session.



A nice Wii session to end the evening. Look at that face. Guilt written all over it.

Ribbit Ribbit

Growing up I never knew what it would be like to have an older brother and really I never spent that much time thinking about it because by the time I was old enough to think I wanted one I was old enough to know I liked being the oldest. Watching Addi idolize Lucas has brought up the thought in my head having an older brother has some serious advantages. Don't get me wrong I have seen first hand that it has a ton of disadvantages also.

I will let Jeremy make his own post of the disadvantages of being the older brother as I am sure he has many of memory to recall upon.

Lucas will teach Addi anything, I mean anything. All she has to do is expresses an interest in wanting to do it. This ranges from blowing bubbles into your milk glass, throwing your shoes from the grocery cart to coloring with the sharp end of the crayon and my personal favorite-using the bathroom.

The other night after reading her a book about frogs he taught her how to play leap frog. We are not sure she got the entire meaning of the game but she sure loved the ribbit ribbit part.

Watch out Aunt Carrie there may be another frog lover coming.

It was nice to see him take his time in teaching her exactly what they were to be doing.

St. Patrick's Parade

Although it is not the great green day yet there are a lot of parades around us. Today we went to a little town close to us, Martin City, for their annual parade. It has really grown over the years. This was the first year we have gone that they actually ran out of candy!! This was serious disappointment in Lucas world as he understood what a parade meant. Yes, we were on the closer to the end of the route so very very little candy and trinkets for us.

Yep, they should have thrown us candy.

Another bummer float.

All was not lost though. There were lots of saddle clubs in the parade and we all loved seeing the beautiful horses in the parade. There also seemed to be a large number of dogs in the parade, far too many of them dressed in clothes, but that is another post.

A nice walk back to the car. One would have thought Addi would have taken a nice nap after this walk...............

so such luck in our world. Still up and going strong.

HAVE A HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!

A good cleaning

Do you hate little specs of dirt? Do you worry that you might get caught with dirty toes at the worst possible time? Are you afraid to try on sandals or other shoes in a store if you have to take off your socks? Well then I am your girl.

I take pride in having the cleanest toes in town. That's right if you sit still long enough I will even come over and clean your toes for you. You don't even have to ask or act like you like it. Keep in mind my toes do come first and it can take minutes and minutes to get mine perfect but I am more than willing to take a look at yours also. My charge is a nice Hershey's kiss or a piece of Dove chocolate. I can also work in exchange for a good finger/toe nail polish. I am free most evenings and weekends.

Here are some pictures of my self work. As you can see I am very through in my work.

I take my time and my mom and dad will confirm I do this every night so I am as close to a professional as you should be able to get at 2. And yes every job does include the use of 2 high quality Kleenex. Your toes deserve the best!

Home Time

This was our first Sunday in many of months that not a thing was written on the calendar. What a great day it has turned out to be. I love a nice relaxing Sunday. We started the day out with a trip to my fave brunch location, Nick and Jake's. What a special treat for a free day.

We have been home every sense. I was able to put away a weeks worth of laundry, clean the upstairs. Jeremy finished the books for Ducks Unlimited. The kids were able to find a way to have fun in their day also:

What verse of Happy Birthday were we on?

Me first okay now your turn mom

Hope you were able to find some time to lay around today......