Happy Valentine's Day!

So, eventhough I'm a little late, Happy Valentine's Day!

Here are the fun crafts I did for the special day:

I embellished Bebe's shirt - she did the embroidery on the heart in the middle. I made the skirt using an online pattern and her hairbow was just a fun inspired thing.

Mamu rocked a "Love my mom" shirt that took me FOREVER to brainstorm, but I once I thought of it, it was done in a snap.

These were the kids' presents they got on Valentine's morning. They were both super excited!

These are the treats I made for the kids' teachers and Jason's work people. I was quite tired of cutting out hearts for the 4 dozen sugar cookies that I made. As Jason says "She just doesn't know how to make a small batch of cookies."

Again, sorry it's late, but here's the love!

Well, she's definitely ours!

Guess who got glasses?

We're just surprised it took this long - with both my eyes and Jason's eyes being so bad, we were sure the kids would just be born with glasses on! Bebe is very excited to sport her new glasses and is super excited that she can see! Her frames even have butterflies on the side of them!

Snow Days Number 3 & 4

Yes, I know. I'm slow. Sorry. Now that the snow has actually melted, I've got to go back to work. But I still want you to know what we did!

:) We knew way early on Wednesday evening that we wouldn't be going to school on Thursday. The temperatures hadn't gone above 20 or so and the ice wasn't melting. Wahoo!

On Thursday, we continued our 'not fun / fun' mentality.

We tackled Bebe's room - not an easy task.

We had our usual fun-ness of Sesame Street.

We had a Barbie fashion show.

Complete with spotlight operator.

Then we had a real fashion show - Bebe, Mamu, and me. Sorry - no pictures to document the loveliness I put on over the 4 layers I already had on. Bebe changed every time, but Mamu stayed true to his Woody the Cowboy costume. Jason was definitely entertained by our fashion show.

We watched VeggieTales.

I used the snow to chill our drinks... :)

We wished the snow/ice/freezing cold would go away.

Ok - I wished that (not that I wanted to go to work, but because I wanted to leave the house and NOT be in 4 layers of warm clothes and I was scared to drive Bessie on the ice).

We did have a fun evening though - Jason picked up Auntie and brought her over for our usual Thursday night dinner. It was so fun!

We also found out early Thursday evening that we wouldn't be at school on Friday since it was due to snow early Friday morning. Thursday evening, I decided that we needed a purpose on Friday or I would go crazy. Our house was tidy. The only area that needed organizing / cleaning is the garage, and uh, no. I'm not going out there in the freezing temps to do that.

I came up with Super Fun Craft Day. I raided our craft cabinets and got out all sorts of goodies. Water paints, playdo, clay, crayons, markers, jewels, everything I thought we could use to have super fun craft time. I even wrote on Bebe's Glow Dome to surprise them.

I got a great surprise in the fact that Jason didn't have to go to work the next day. His company decided to open late and close early, and his boss said it wasn't worth him trying to come into work. (I so sent that man cookies the next week!)

The next morning, we awoke to a beautiful blanket of snow, with it still falling! I remembered that I had a snowsuit in Bebe's closet from some friends. It was about Mamu's size, and his favorite color, so he was at least a smidgent suitably suited up. The kids and Jason went out and played in it. I took pictures and got pelted with snowballs.

Bebe was determined to build a snowman, but the snow wasn't good packing snow, so she just got a lump.

Then Super Fun Craft day began! We started with playdo, moved to secret painting (you write in white crayon and then paint over it), and then went back to playdo. Mamu made a party hat! Jason and Bebe braved the weather (he does WAY better on ice than me) to get us lunch. That was so nice that I didn't have to cook.

Then the guys took a nap, while Bebe and I read books in the living room.

After fabulous naps, we had another round of fashion show, but I didn't participate this time. Well, I sorta did - I was the announcer.

Luckily, the sun came out in the afternoon and started melting the ice and snow away. We ventured out on Saturday to Hobby Lobby and Target. Ahhh... that was nice. I even got a new J for my collection!

I enjoyed spending the time with my kids and getting my house all cleaned up, however, being cooped up in our house for 4 days was a little much. Now, today's high was in the mid 70's. Gotta love Texas weather!

Snow Day Numero Dos

So, on Wednesday of this past week, we had still had ice on the ground and school was closed. The roads were pretty much solid ice in the neighborhoods and weren't too much better on the highways. Jason went in late to work that day, so it was nice to have him home for just a smidge more than normal.

I am not your typical snow day hibernator (is that even a word?). I don't sit around well. Now don't get me wrong, I can be a couch potato right along with the next guy, but with Bebe and Mamu around, I feel the need to be productive.

Since we cleaned part of the house the day before, I felt the need to continue the cleaning excitement! We had a motto for the week: "Do the not fun thing first, and then we can do the fun thing." So we'd identify a "not fun thing" to do and then pick out our "fun thing".

Today's not fun thing was tidying up Mamu's room. It wasn't anywhere near top level 10 on the messiest room scale; I'd give it about a 4 (which is why we hit that room first - Bebe's is at least a 9). It took about an hour for us to tidy it up; ok, mostly me tidying it up and them helping me when I could find something for them to do and we hung a shelf that's been in there, oh, I don't know, since he was BORN! (or close after) Mamu really wanted to get involved when I got out the toolbox.

We hung the shelf that was Jason's when he was little and turned it into his dress-up clothes holder. I also hung up his bulletin board (that I've had forever!). I also took his changing pad off of his table -- now, he's not been in diapers since he was almost 2 (and now he's almost 3) and yet the changing pad hasn't moved.... till now.

All I have left to do is sew his curtains for his room!

Then we did our fun thing: Watching Sesame Street!

I made macaroni and cheese with hot dogs for lunch and then Mamu took his nap and Bebe took her 'quiet rest time'. This time, she rested in my bed reading her books. At 2:00, she watched Super Why and her other 'shows'.

Then we played and made dinner - can't really remember what that was, so you know, it was fabulous! Maybe that was beef stew day. Nope. Pretty sure that was Tuesday. Who knows what nutritious items I put out for the family. ;)

After the kids went to bed, you think I'd have slowed down, right?

Umm... no.

I apparently get some sort of energy boost when my phone rings at 5 pm to tell me there's no school again for the next day and I decided to clean my bedroom.

It needed it. Like a momma needs 'quiet rest time'. So I got that done and caught up on my NCIS and NCIS LA. I actually sat in the recliner in my bedroom! Usually, that's not possible, since it's filled/piled/submerged under clothes. I'm taking bets on how long it stays above ground, before the sea of clothes takes it back.

Then, I'm pretty sure I went to bed. I had still sported my lovely 4 layer outfit, but my hair wasn't as wild as Tuesday. I sure wasn't a super cute fashion plate, but I was warm!

Snow Day!

So today we had a snow day! Wahoo!

Last night I anticipated having one (aka, the weatherman forecasted the snowpaclypse and ran the radar on the screen all night) so I made a list of the things I wanted to get done while we weren't at school.

I got about half done and I'm pleased with that! We've got another one tomorrow since the windchill is in the low teens and there really wasn't any sun, so I've got one more day to knock those items out!

Oh! Before I start that, I have to let you know how 'fabulous' I looked today. I always am cold during the winter and when I'm cold, I don't want to do anything except sit under the blankets and watch TV. I was bound and determined to get things done today instead of laying around like a bump on a log (not that there's anything wrong with it), so I layered. And layered I did. I have on a tank top, a flannel shirt, a sweatshirt, a pair of sweat pants, and a pair of pajama pants. My toes have wool socks around them and I think I'll need to double up on those tomorrow (although my feet are always cold!). Of course none of this matches and the one time I had to run outside, I shoved my feet into Jason's work shoes (mine didn't fit because of the wool socks). Boy was I a sight! To top it off, I was tired of my hair being in my face, so I have it in a ponytail right on top of my head. I also have a ponytail in the back to hold the rest of it out of my face too. I look like a demented Pebbles from the Flintstones.

Here's what we did get done today:

Jason didn't go in until 10 (thank goodness for that!) and he got Mamu up. He showed him the snow outside and Mamu immediately went and got his shoes. He was ready to go outside!

We did go outside for just a smidge because it was super dee duper windy. Bebe wanted to make a snowman, but it wasn't good packing snow - more icy snow. She settled with throwing a snowball. Mamu has been reading a book called The Biggest Snowball Fight at school, so he was eager to join in. I luckily didn't get hit this year!

We cleaned the living room and reorganized some of it. I also made beef stew for dinner in the crockpot and homemade chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

I worked on tidying my sewing area and made a sewing machine cover (my plastic one just wasn't cutting it) and a cute magnetic bulletin board!

We finished off the night with a rousing game of CandyLand (Mamu won) and after Mamu went to bed, we played Life (Dad won). Bebe cried because she didn't have any kids this time. Yup. Cried. Not because she lost, but because she didn't have kids. We'll probably have to play tomorrow for her to hit the twins square, the boy square, and the girl square. Although she's not too devastated if she doesn't get the boy.

Tomorrow is more cleaning and organizing day. And probably some more board games with a movie thrown in for good measure.