The Rock sale

one afternoon - we were selling our old craigslist furniture for another set of craigslist furniture and the kids were playing in the garage. 

I went out when it was time for dinner and found an amazing Rock Sale they put together. 

I took a deep breath and didn't worry about all the little scraps of paper and tape and rocks all over the floor and instead looked at how much fun they had. 

they made a line of rocks on our front steps so you wouldn't miss it. 

there were signs, amounts, names and all the rocks were colored!

it kept going and going...

so cute!

only issue is that the rocks came from our neighbors yard. ha! so we returned them and were thankful it was going to rain that night and the marker would wash off. 

love how creative these kids are! 

May 2nd Snow Storm!

I woke up this morning to Bill saying “ Steph, you have to see this!”.

This was at about 6 am this morning. I instantly checked to confirm Charlie’s school was canceled. Yet – another snow day.

By 7 am we lost power (thank the Lord the coffee was made at 6 am!). The kids were terrors and I was sad that my coffee was cold and I couldn’t heat it up (baby – I know). So I loaded the kids up  (shoveled some of the HEAVIEST snow ever) and headed to the RAC at 9 am only to find out they were shutting down for the day. I almost cried.

I was about losing it when Becca called and said she was totally stuck in her house. I then had the BEST idea. I told her I would load up the kids – put a movie on in the car and come over and help her shovel. So that is what I did. I got a killer trap, back, and arm workout shoveling some massive drifts and boulders and got my car out of the middle of the road and helped Becca finish her drive before heading home for lunch. I will upload pics that she took after that. See Becca had her home inspection scheduled for this afternoon – perfect right?

So during naptime we got 2 great visitors – Nolan and Becca.

Ellie and Claire were delighted. Becca moved Nolan to her lap for a bit and Ellie instantly said “me hold!”.

Also post naps – Ellis & Miller came over. Charlie and Miller were downstairs playing intensely the whole time and Ellis helped set up things for Ellie & Claire.

Ellie is serious about her accessories.

So is Claire.

Claire being a goofer.

E

Charlie before bed with a sign about how much snow we got today. 14 or so inches and the kids didn’t even go outside to play because I gave away the snow gear already! classic.

CRUSHED

Check this out! I am going to be the next QVC crazy lady raving about these space saving bags. I have never tried them before, but decided that I wanted to see how they would work for storing my beloved throw pillows and down pillows. I thought they also might revolutionize my packing for NZ.

I tried them tonight and had GREAT results! Below you can see a (fuzzy) thin bag. that is 2 down throw pillows squished out.

This is what I sucked down tonight. 6 down pillow throws and 2 down pillows. say it with me “NO WAY!”

they don’t even fill this box when stacked. I am sure you are all running out to buy some. worth every cent – when you store things you want to keep. ok – my infomercial is done, but just so flippin’ excited about this packing solution.

attempts

the kids were looking cute and I thought I should snap some shots of the 3 of them. check them out – I don’t think I got one with all 3 looking. classic.

claire needed to have the bag of “kahkoos”. charlie needed to have his birthday party invite with him. ellie needed to have a random walmart bag with her nalgene.

here comes the tiger.

now the smiles are starting – but I don’t spy any eyes.

yeah – pretty good!

love kindercare’s smile.

 

losing them.

these kids are such goofers. hopefully as time goes by we can master an open eyed smile.

a little pre-bedtime dance

eleanore and claire love to bust a move. when they hear music that is upbeat they instantly shoot a hand up and move it up and down. they shake their bodies a bit, but the best part is the arm. when putting them to sleep we do a little youtube video of “scrat from ice age” or “maximus from tangled” and they almost always answer with the same response (which I can’t believe – and they do change their opinions each day). the best part about the scrat video clip is that at the end of it there is a little dance music that plays. claire always shoots her hand up and rocks it. lately, ellie has been joining her. it is so precious.

bill was home tonight so I decided to snap some pictures of the scene so I can cement it in my brain. e&c are growing so quickly and when I hold charlie I realize how quickly they will be too big for me to cuddle them and have them arm dance.

video starting.

this is right before the music starts. claire prepares by putting her arm up in the air. then once it starts she jukes and jives it. ellie wasn’t feeling it tonight, but that is probably because she had already arm danced during dinner.

 

whoever is putting them down reads some books and then they pray. here the girls are showing how they fold their hands. love this.