V-DAY

I love celebrating this holiday even more now that I've got 2 little girls to get into it with me. We had a blast making these awesome edible crayons to pass out to Ky's class and give to neighbors. My friend Mandy has an amazing blog with some great recipes to try with kids and I've been dying to give these a try. If you get a chance check out her blog, "Gourmet Mom on the Go", the link to it is in my list of favorite blogs.

The girls had a blast giving Daddy plenty of kisses with these lips.

I'm hoping he will be their only Valentine for a long time. We were having some conversation and Sky said, "Ky who is your favorite boy?" Her reply was, "you DAD" May it stay this way for a very very long time!!!!!! Our Valentine came through...Ky wondered if Dad would bring roses to his girls again and he didn't let her down! He also shocked them with red spray painted messages in the snow and a trail of little treasures they had to dig out. We lived it up as we had extra time to prepare with our snow days which many of you can relate to.

On that note I heart Target clearance sales and have bought quite a shlew of V-day items for next year! I love having a Target only 5 min. away but our credit card may not. Happy belated Valentine's Day to all!

Will school actually return?

Looks like tomorrow school will actually resume. After 9 days of school being cancelled out of the last 10, I finally didn't receive a phone call from Josh Davis Director of Transportation...my night didn't feel complete without one. I've dusted off my alarm clock and am prepared to deal with Lexi's tears in the morning once she realizes Ky has gone back to school.

I'm thankful for routine and despite all the fun we have been having there have been plenty of hair pulling moments. Not just me wanting to pull my own but the girls going at it! Ky has always been my one seeking constant entertainment which I just can't provide anymore. However, we do a pretty dang good job and I must give one more shot out to the neighborhood for coming up with some creative ideas keeping us all entertained...mothers included.

MOVIE NIGHT at Miss Lexie and Todd's which you can see was a huge hit. For all you wondering, our Lexi had at least 3 bowls of popcorn and still lives up to her reputation of the snack queen which everyone around here has learned as well!!!! :)

Miss Lisa came through with a fabulous Summer in February bash and everyone was delighted to pull out some summer clothes. She even had the heat turned up to encourage the shedding of layers. We all know how much little Lexi loves her swimsuit so there was no convincing needed for her to put it on but a little disappointment when she realized she wasn't going to really put it to use.
Lastly, a darling Valentine's Party at Miss Lexi's since we thought the girls were going to miss out completely on the celebration at school. Kylee thought turning our popcorn pink was the coolest thing ever and from now on when I make it we are to do a different color each time. Lexi on the other hand couldn't keep her hands out of it....

Crafts, snacks, games, scavenger hunts...just our kind of thing! The girls enjoyed performing their princess dance which has been practiced several times over the last 2 weeks (I'm very glad I stumbled across this treasure at the end of a DVD)

*It definitely looks like I need to step up to the plate. Conveniently, I in passing mentioned I would do something on President's Day but hey we actually pulled off a make-up day of school and I'm off the hook. Now don't forget all that snow building outside!!!!! :)

I can't leave out the Dudes which have provided hours of entertainment. I am often amazed at the random things that do the trick at times. These "DUDES" as the girls call them have been a huge hit. We've acquired quite the collection and have taken several trips with our quarters in hand to Harris Teeter for a "DUDE COLLECTION" run. There are even a few lost somewhere in the house that Ky desperately hopes will turn up soon.

THE FINISH LINE....we took the offer!

The LONG journey actually is going to come to an end....can it be! Many of you may have heard by now but I thought I would officially announce that Skylar has accepted his first official job as a Pathologist in the Virgina Beach Area. Yes that is right, we will live within about 30min of the BEACH! Hopefully this will bring many of you to us for a visit. We are just ecstatic that after 13 years of school and training Skylar will have what we can call a real job! We are thrilled that he has made it to the end. His hard work and dedication have paid off and I hope he knows how proud we are of him.

In my world all moves bring excitement with plenty of worries and scares. I'm sure you can all imagine that I'm panicing over picking the right city to move to..neighborhood...schools....will we make great friends...and on and on. Luckily it is only a 3 hour drive from where we are right now so Sky and I will be down several times researching the area. We have gone once so far before accepting the job to make sure it all felt right. We hope to go again soon with the plan of narrowing down which city we should live in. We actually might not have as mad of a daughter as I thought we would when we move again as she is pretty delighted to know that she will be within reach of the BEACH!

*One thing we were shocked to see in a few peoples yards were these darling little palm trees. This got Sky and I both very excited as you can imagine. We will be giddy little kids as we purchase our first palm tree...you better believe we are determined to have one now. I can't believe I will be figuring out how to keep our own palm tree alive.

6 Days and Counting....

Kylee will be home AGAIN tomorrow for another snow day! Something that has become common, as it will be her 6th day of cancelled school in the last 2 weeks. Last week she was home for 4 of the 5 days due to 3 different snow storms but just the week before was home one day due to rain...yes that's right RAIN. We were found doing things like this on her RAIN DAY...

Dancing and singing in all sorts of attires at Kylee's friend Lara's house. Later in the day we rode bikes with our neighbors in 50 degree sunny weather, in the school parking lot none the less. Kylee cheered her good friend Lydia on as she learned how to ride a 2-wheeler!

Then just a few days later we were home again but doing something totally different...this.... and still ARE!

In the 1st of 3 storms Skylar built the sweetest snow cave that we had the entire neighborhood playing in over the next couple of days. It eventually had 2 openings and a slide going in from the top. The plow left a perfect mound right across the street that he just couldn't let go to waste. Watching Ky and her friends imaginative play around the snow cave over the next few days was just priceless.

From this 10 in. storm and then another 4 in. a few days later Ky was home most of the week. We are so thankful for such awesome neighbors and a street full of kids to play with. I would have gone crazy without them but instead we spent hours upon hours outside and I often had trouble even getting them to come in for lunch.

Alexis was found constantly laying in it, patting it down and trying her hardest to keep up with Kylee which she has gotten pretty good at. She was right there climbing up every mound she could and only going down the sled on her sisters lap. She freaked out the 1 day Ky actually did go to school and was even found streaking the neighborhood as she insisted on waiting for the bus with Ky and I was unaware that she had taken her nightgown off as she followed her out. (an entire different story)

Kylee has spent more hours than I can count in our neighbors back yard sledding, exploring and doing "snow bellies" (heading down the hill on their stomachs). They have made some crazy belly trains and she is constantly found with her mouth open from pure excitement or laughter! I don't know what she is going to do when she actually has 5 days of school in 1 week again. It will now be over a month when we add in Martin Luther King day and the upcoming President's Day. So our one day back was Thursday but we were then home again on Friday and still will be tomorrow due to how long it takes VA to fully clean up from the latest giant storm which hit this weekend. I think we got about 18in. this time. I can't believe I was afraid we had missed our only good storm as we left right after it hit for Christmas. Our snow clothes have gotten quite the mileage this season and we've got getting dressed and undressed in the gear down to a science!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today's snow acitivity was a snow castle for the girls. Sky and I are getting known for being the builders on the street. They each had their own seats and enjoyed sitting in their thrones while sucking on icicles.

BEING A KID IS JUST AWESOME!

*All in all: 3 new storms in 9 days- together dropping around 30 inches!

*Conclusion from all this: MY GIRLS LOVE THE SNOW!

In addition to all these great outdoor snow moments I'm also thankful for the following during this crazy snowy time.....

*the cocomotion

*still having our electricity

*so much family time

*Papa John's buy 1 get 1

*convenient play dates for the girls

*a nice break from nursery for 2 weeks now

*watching home videos

*watching Sky enjoy his JEEP to the max

*the beautiful scenery

*staying in comfy clothes over and over