Hello February!

I have to say I'm happy to see January come to an end.  January brought two broken teeth for me- first my permanent crown cracked, then the temporary one broke in half which meant lots of trips to the dentist. A car accident.  A frozen and then burst water pipe (thankfully it was underneath part of our house so there wasn't any damage inside our house). And two sick boys.  I know they are all pretty minor compared to what a lot of people deal with on a daily basis, but I'm still happy to start a new, fresh month.

For Christmas I got Mike a year of dates.  At the start of each month he gets to open the envelope for that month and we choose a time to go on the date that is inside the envelope.  All the dates (except one) is to a place neither of us has been to.  Some are restaurants, others are more adventurous.  Our first date was to The Mill in Hershey.  It was a last minute decision to go on the date since Adam had been sick.  We couldn't get a reservation so we sat at the bar, but it was still a lot of fun.

This morning he opened his February date which is a trip to Troegs Brewery.  Neither of us has ever been there so we're excited to check it out.

There are some really fun dates coming up and I can't wait!!!

Growing up my dad would make us an ice skating rink in the winter.  He'd pull a trailer up to the ice rink and put a kerosene heater inside so we could warm up when we got cold.  I have so many great memories of skating on that rink.  It's where I learned to ice skate.

This past fall, Mike ordered a HUGE plastic tarp in hopes of making the boys an ice rink in our yard.  This past week he set it up and the boys were able to try it out today.

Chong was so happy to have all the activity outside.  He wanted to join in the fun and even tried to go onto the ice.

This afternoon while Owen was at soccer Adam and I made cookies.

I can't believe he will be 5 years old in 11 days.  I wish I could freeze time and have him stay 4 for a long time.  Mike and I both agree that 4 is such a sweet age.  We thought the same thing with Owen. 

A Day in Our Life...

We've been enjoying life lately...

Celebrating a special friend's 4th birthday

Loosing more teeth (that's 7 total teeth lost for this guy).

Spending special 1 on 1 time with grandparents

Building a snowman

Lots of playtime in the snow with friends and cousins

 

 

 

 We loved spending time with Ella, Sam, and Paige!  We took the kids to the Top of the Hill.  Paige and I loved walking up there when we were little.  Lots of fun sledding memories on the top of that hill too!

 

Unfortunately I was in an accident last week.  I was stopped while an oncoming school bus was letting kids off the bus and they were crossing the street in front of my car.  The car behind me never stopped (or braked) and hit my car from behind.  It was scary, but thankfully I was alone in my car and other than a few sore muscles I am fine.  Moral of the story- put your phone down when you are driving.  I think we all need reminded of that!  I tried to see the accident as a blessing in disguise.  Had my car not been there, the driver may have run over the kids crossing the street.  I must say I am super impressed with the insurance companies involved.  They have been so kind and accommodating and efficient. 

Headrests popped out. 

 Back to the good stuff...

Like lunch dates with little squishy, huggable, smiley cousins...

 Doing puzzles with brothers

 And running in crazy races in 8 inches of snow (well, just one of us was crazy enough for that!)

Mike and his good buddy ran in the Frozen Snot race.

It was 15 miles up and down really steep mountains.  This race has the second most vertical gain per mile than any other race in the country!  There were about 200 people in the race.  Mike and another guy were in the lead and then they both got lost for about 15 minutes.  Once  he got back on track he was in 25th place.  He ended up finishing in 5th place.  Pretty amazing!

And the best part- after the race, he shaved:) :) :)

Back on the wagon

In the past few months I've kinda fallen off the blogging wagon, but I'm trying hard to get back on!  Mike mentioned to me the other day that he'd like to post some things now and then.  We're still in the negotiation stages of that:)  I wouldn't mind him being a guest blogger now and then.  Maybe that's just what this old blog needs.  Some new, fresh ideas! It's hard to believe I started blogging in 2009.  That's 6 years of blogging!!!  Click here to read my very first post.

I think part of my absence from blogging is due to my Instagramming.  It's quick and easy and I guess it quenches my urge to show my close friends and family a little of what's going on in our simple life.

I realize that many of the pictures I post on here I also post on Instagram so if my blog wasn't boring to read before, it's probably definitely boring now that you are seeing pictures for a second time. 

We had a pretty coating of snow on January 6th.  I don't think this view from our big kitchen window will ever get old. 

 On this particular night Owen told Adam, "I'm going to read this to you just like Mrs. Kalbach reads to us."  Mrs. Kalbach is his awesome school librarian.  She was also the librarian when I went to the same school more than 24 years ago.  I am crossing my fingers she'll still be there next year when Adam is in Kindergarten (Adam calls her Mrs. Coolback and I think it's fitting). 

Mr. Adam bites his nails every time someone starts reading him a book.  Strangest thing.  Most people bite their nails when they are nervous, but he bites them when he's relaxed. 

This past weekend the boys went to a bowling birthday party for Beatrice.  Owen and Adam are better at bowling than I am.  I told them they must have gotten Nana Ways bowling genes.

Here are the 4 sillies.  Teddy was scratching, not picking.

Our fish has put us through quite the emotional roller coaster lately.  On Saturday he spent most of his time on his side, but as soon as you would tap on the bowl or go towards the bowl he'd start happily swimming around.  I spent WAY too much time staring at the darn thing and Snapchatting it's wild behavior to my cousins. I finally decided it was demonstrating attention seeking behavior so I ignored it.  Adam was very sad that Freddy could be on his way to fishy heaven. 

On Sunday, Freddy took a turn for the worst and wasn't responding to my tap, tap, tapping anymore.  Guess it wasn't behavioral.  So the fish doctor drove over to our house and I gave him Freddy (in his bowl) and he took him to to the fish hospital to try to make him better.  He's going to let us know if the special medicine he gives him helps him or not.  Yes that's the real story I told Adam because I didn't have the heart (or energy) to tell him that I really flushed him down the toilet because he would just cry.  Just looking at Freddy was making me sick to my stomach (part because I felt badly for him, part because I had the stomach bug).

Sunday wasn't a good day for Mike and I either.  We both had the stomach bug at the exact same time.  Not just a little overlap.  It was awful and gross and all we did was moan because we hurt so much.  I think we may have scarred our boys, but they were soooooooo good.  They had to fend for themselves all day long because we were quarantined in our room other than the few times we would try to yell to them to bring us water or Gatorade.  Thankfully it only lasted 24 hours.  The boys earned a small Lego set for being so well behaved and not fighting once (miracle).  This was Adam's first Lego set that he made almost all on his own by following the directions in the booklet. 

He was sort of proud.

We are trying to find a home for this sweet cat that showed up on our deck a few weeks ago.  Mike named it Chong (since we already have a Cheech), but then realized it's a girl (don't know how he can tell, but he says he is sure).  She wants attention and desperately wants to come inside, but we made that mistake before and Cheech let us know loud and clear that he will be the only pet in our house.  I really hope someone adopts her and gives her a new name.  She doesn't look like a Chong to me. 

 But this guy...

He definitely looks and acts like a Cheech.  And yes, that is a cat on his back.  Adam said he "wikes it a wot when I do that".  And now I'm turning into a crazy cat blogger- I have to stop.

A teacher at my school showed me how to hand knit and it's my new obsession.  I'm almost finished with my first scarf.

Adam and I started doing puzzles.  If any of our family members that read this have any 100-200 piece puzzles we can borrow- send them our way.  I feel like you should be able to check puzzles out of the library.  Maybe you can?  Once we do a puzzle we don't really want to do it again so I hate to spend money buying them.

 

And I found this note in Owen's backpack.  Gotta love his second grade humor!  He said he got the idea from Mrs. Kalbach. 

 Happy hump day!

Happy New Year!

We had such a great Christmas break and new year at home.  It was so relaxing and restful and fun.  Just what we all needed.  A small (very small) part of me was ready to go back and get into our regular routine.  I knew I was going to miss my boys though.  After I picked Adam up he told me he had a good day, but he "really miss-did me".  Once we got home both boys snuggled with me on the couch- Cheech included.

Here are a few more pictures from Christmas...

We opened gifts at my parent's house on Christmas Eve before going out to my aunt and uncle's house.  Adam fell asleep in the car on the way and even after taking him out of the car he continued to sleep on me.  Eventually, I transferred him over to my dad and he continued to sleep.  So sweet. 

Bea is only 2, but has no trouble hanging out with the big boys.  She was picking out rubberbands so Owen could make her a bracelet. 

One night over break we went bowling with Mike's mom.  She won both games.  She's good!  Afterwards we had dinner in the restaurant attached to the bowling alley.

We loved being able to spend some extra time with Caleb.  Owen had a great time feeding him at Lala's house (and I think Cal loved it too!).

 Adam got a gem digging kit for Christmas... big hit.

 This was the first year we did something for New Year's Eve.  We went to dinner with a few families and then back to p-a-r-t-y at a friend's house.  We left around 10:30 and all of us tried hard to make it till midnight, but no luck. 

 There is a stray cat that has been coming to our back deck a few times a day.  Mike named it Chong (since we already have a Cheech).  It's super friendly and would love to come in, but Cheech would NOT like that (and neither would I).  I never should have given it food, but it's hard to listen to a cat cry outside knowing it's hungry.  It has an owner because it has a flea collar on, just don't know who that owner is.

 I ran home today to get some things for a dentist appointment and I noticed our fish was floating on its side on the bottom of the bowl.  I knew the boys would be really upset (they LOVE Freddy), but I didn't have time to flush it.  My dad went over while I was at work and got out a spoon to get it out and flush it and he noticed its gills still moving.  He changed the water (which was a little dirty) and fed him and Freddy started swimming around.

 

This isn't the first time he's revived a fish.  We had a goldfish growing up that lived to be 18 years old.  It had a close call and almost died and my dad blew bubbles into the water with a straw and it lived for many more years.  True story.  He's the fish whisperer. 

 And now I must get back to my guilty pleasure.  I've been waiting for Farmer Chris!

Happy New Year!!