Snowed In

I'm pretty sure I heard the girls all singing the Hallelujah Chorus as we pulled out of our somewhat icy driveway on Thursday afternoon for our first trip out of the house in over 5 days! Just to get out and play in the fluffy turned icy white stuff required 30 minutes of dressing, after which the girls happily played for 10 minutes max. So with no school, no play dates, and weather so cold that it was not fun to stay out for more than a few minutes at a time, we had to get creative to entertain ourselves indoors.



We watched several good movies. Despicable Me, Toy Story 3 (my favorite), Eloise at the Plaza on DVR, and Ramona and Beezus (the girls' favorite as evidenced by the 100 times they asked to watch it within a 3 day period) all made the cut. Incredibly, the girls didn't ask to watch the television unless it was to see one of the above movies, and we only watched Ramona and Beezus 5 times and the others once each.



The girls "helped" me in the kitchen where we made homemade pizzas, fresh french bread, banana muffins, homemade pancake syrup, and massive amounts of waffles which are now filling our freezer.



They painted, spent hours and hours playing with their homemade play dough, colored, made princess bead jewelry, and drew life sized creations on very large pieces of cardboard.



All of the above were important in keeping us sane while stuck at home, but the most important thing that kept the girls going strong this week was their wonderful imaginations. I am so grateful that they all seem to be blessed with fantastic, creative little minds!



One night 3 of the girls were in the bathtub and one was resisting. There really isn't room for all of them to bathe at the same time anymore, so I didn't mind. I went to straighten up the kitchen while the water was running. When I came back a minute or so later, I overheard the fact that the tub crew was performing a c-section on a poor, unsuspecting mermaid bath toy. My non-bather was "assisting tub side" on the delivery. There was more giggling and laughter than I'm sure is allowed in a surgery suite, but otherwise they cracked me up with their "doctor" language.



Another favorite imagination game they love is to pretend to be mamas. They like to take turns being Aunt Kari and several of her friends who have young babies. They nuwrse their babies, change diapers, play with them, and babysit for each other while they take turns making trips to the grocery store and many other more outlandish places.



When the snowy weather arrived, I was so grateful that I hadn't put away the Christmas cards we got this year just yet. At least once a day the girls dug through the stack of photo cards and drew out a family... usually one with babies or small children, and then they pretend to be that family. Many a day was spent telling and re-telling them our friends' names, their children's names, their pets names, if included in the card. Because we still keep in touch with friends from the other places we've lived, there were quite a few cards with families that the girls just don't remember so those were always favorite picks during the "Chwristmas Card Game", as they called it. I loved it because the game often entertained them for hours, and it also gave me a chance to introduce them to people they don't know or were too young to remember.



When I finished cleaning up from lunch one day I walked into the living room to find Kate in the recliner with Ella standing over her, wearing latex gloves, and poking around in her mouth. As I entered Ella was saying, "Hummmm... it looks like you need to do a better job with your flossing young lady!" Playing right along Maggie looked up from behind her little make shift desk and asked if I was there for my appointment with Dr. Barrett.




Early in our snow captivity their creative little minds decided that we should attempt to "super glue Daddy to the wall so he won't have to leave for Afghanistand". That didn't work out for us, but I can say that we've more than survived this past week. I am super duper ready to get back into a daily routine... particularly one that involves not being in the house 24/7, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the time the five of us girls have had to spend together this week.


***This post would undoubtedly be better with photos, but getting out of my blogging groove also means that I now find myself with a new computer and trouble inserting my SD card. From half way around the world Scott can't help me. I'll try to add some pictures tomorrow from my laptop and erase all this nonsense about no pictures.***

Snow Day

Kate preferred riding her tricycle to sledding.

Uncle Joe stopped by to see what was going on. Scott was in charge of getting the winter things out of the attic and came out with that huge wig. The girls thought it was hilarious!
Ella was happiest when she could keep the snow out of her face with her umbrella.

Sarah just before she found the perfect spot for a snow angel.

Maggie was sad that the sled wasn't quite fast enough.

I feel a little bit silly showing how giddy we all were to receive our 2 to 3 inches of snow the other day when our friends in DC are experiencing record snowfalls.

Our measly couple of inches was just the right amount for us. It wouldn't have mattered to the girls if we had another foot of snow. Suiting up took longer than they stayed out to play in it, and I doubt that would have changed.

**Oh, and I found the reason Sarah felt I was crushing her hopes last week.... Cinderella's stepsisters "crush her hopes" when they destroy the dress that her sweet friends made for her in one of the 15 versions of the Cinderella story that we have here in our house. I should have known it was one of the fairy tales.... Sarah lives in a fairy tale kind of world!!

Play Date

We had a great time visiting with Lawson, Jessica, James, Luke, and Mr. & Mrs. B over the holidays. Ella and James were fast friends. Maggie, Kate, Sarah, and Luke tolerated each other the way 2 and 3 year olds tend to do when no one is on familiar ground. We adults were able to have entire conversations without much interruption.... which was a stark contrast to the last time we were able to all get together.

We had holiday play dates with several other buddies planned that never took place because the girls were all sick, but hopefully the cold germs are on their way out and we'll be able to reschedule soon!

Wordless Wednesday- Did Somebody Say Snow?!?

Well, not exactly wordless.......
Not sure what the look on her face was about, but Ella has had this fuzzy, cotton candy pink, coat, hat, and hand warmer set since she was born.... literally (thanks Gamma, by the way). She has been putting it on periodically these last few days in anticipation of snow. We haven't seen any yet, but here's hoping she gets to use it some before she outgrows it!!

Missing Daddy

I decided I better put some new pictures up here or Scott might go into withdrawal from not seeing his little gals.

This first picture was supposed to be a close your eyes and then we'll do 1, 2, 3, open and say cheese shot( I was really trying to trick them into all looking in the same direction at the same time).... nobody opened their eyes for 3 even though they counted it out with me.

I never could get everyone to look in the same direction.... thanks Kate.

Then we had to have a shot of the dance party that was taking place. Every time the girls are in a performing mood they eventually insist that I get out my camera.


Sarah says, "Hi Dad! I miss you!!"

Kate can't stop dancing long enough to say anything.

Ella sat down to say, "Huwee home dad, cause we miss you too much!"

Maggie said, "Mama Mia, I too shy to talk.... "

Under the Weather

We have all had head and chest colds for a couple of weeks..... probably since this picture was taken at the first of December when we had our first little snow.

However, we've had an extra helping of sickness for the past week. Ella was not feeling great and didn't go to school on Monday. Tuesday she had a fever, but by Wednesday she was feeling well enough to go to school for the Happy Birthday Jesus party. We all went.

On Thursday Maggie started running a fever. It has been in the 103, 104 range pretty consistently since then, so I took both her and Kate, who woke up with a fever, to the doctor yesterday morning. Their chests and ears were fine. Neither of them has strep or the flu. So it must be just a terrible virus. This afternoon Maggie's fever reached 104.7, and that was with an ear thermometer and just in time for her next dose of alternated Tylenol or Motrin.

They feel terrible and are not sleeping great, to put it mildly. I told folks today that I think I've been sleeping in 20 minute increments all over the house at night whenever I can grab a little shut eye for the last 2 nights. Thankfully Mimi and Donna took the girls this morning after I dosed them up with their fever reducers so that I was able to sleep for 2 continuous hours.

The worst part about it all is that I remember being sick as a child. All I wanted was my mommy. I am sure that is what the girls want too, but they are having to share. Nobody wants to have "just a leg", they want "the whole lap". And Ella and Sarah, the two most demanding of attention, are really suffering because of the lack thereof they are receiving since they are not feverish. They have been aggressive, pouty, and just plain grouchy.... much like their mother, I suppose.


Here's hoping this will pass soon as I'm not sure how long one can survive on caffeine and the kindness of others!!

On the bright side there's a little giveaway over on our review site for $10 Bear Bucks card to the Build-A-Bear Workshop. Check it out!

Things I've Heard Lately : Part 4

These are just a couple of snippets of the funny and thoughtful things coming from Sarah these days:

After chatting with Scott via Skype on the computer a few days ago Sarah looked up at me and said, "Now, let's go to Iraq and see my REAL Daddy!"

She pointed a crooked little finger at me yesterday morning and adamantly said, "Mom, you need to give me some Ty-nol.... cuz I MEAN!!"


Sarah now has her "one size fits all" answer to every WHY question that is asked in our house- Maggie wanted to know why the Christmas tree was green, and Sarah said, "Be-cus that's how God made it." nevermind that it's artificial Ella asked why Honey Nut Cheerios are sweeter than plain, and Sarah said, "Be-cus that's how God made them." um....okay?!? Kate asked why Sarah got to wear the pink shirt one morning, and Sarah said, "Be-cus that's how God made me." ... finally one I can agree with

And the final tidbit is not only Sarah material, they all acted this way. After the big hoopla with the small pink tree that the girls decorated themselves, when we finally put up our big family tree this past weekend, the girls eagerly greeted everyone at the door to tell the good folks about it. They would say "come see our new Chismas tree, it's GREEN".... because, the color green (even for a tree) is such a novelty in this house. ha, ha, ha

Winter Coats

Sometime last week I decided it was finally time to get out the winter coats and see what we had that would work. It was a good thing I did too because the thermometer supposedly dropped down into the teens one night here recently.

I knew that we had a multitude of warm winter coats in storage, but I was a little bit concerned that there would be problems with everyone having to choose an appropriate coat every time we left the house. I even considered looking for four matching winter coats to avoid any issues. Fortunately, my fears were unfounded, and since the very first day they put these coats on, the girls have each claimed the coat they are wearing in these pictures as their very own.... no small feat in this household. We took the rest of the collection to our church so that others who might need them can have them.

I can't imagine growing up with 2 or 3 sisters the same age and nearly all the same size. I suspect in just a couple of years Maggie, Kate, and Sarah will catch up with Ella and they will all four wear the same size! Oh the fighting that will take place here over who is wearing who's jeans, shirt, shoes, you name it.... (who is talking to who's boyfriend, yikes)!! For now I'm just grateful that they each have their own style and favorite colors. As you may be able to tell in these pictures, they also insist on dressing themselves, and some do better than others. Ahem.