Winter Wonderland - and almost May!

We arrived home from WI Sunday night to lots of snow! We left a nice green lawn and returned to a complete white lawn. The snow (for the first time all winter) was actually snowman material so the kids rushed out and each made a snowman.Madison's snowman. Cute kids and a cute snowman - that makes the snow worth it for . . . 1 second!
Here is Isaac's little one! Isn't it cute?
It was kind of a drag to have snow again - but it was nice for the kids to be able to play without being so COLD. With the cold, cold winter we had they didn't get much snow time.

Of course if good snowmen can be made so can good SNOW BALLS!!

"AAAAHHHH, you got me!"

Playin' the Day Away

Looks like Hannah thinks it is pretty funny when Isaac climbs into her car!

Isaac has outstayed his welcome and and she wants her car back. Or maybe she is jealous of his yummy sucker. Of course, Isaac is oblivious to it all because he is too busy posing :-)

Who knew a laundry basket could be so much fun! It keeps them busy and Hannah loves to climb into it also. The trouble comes when Isaac gets out while Hannah is still playing and she tips over or when Isaac wants to use it when I'm using it and dumps all the clean clothes out of it. Oh well just gotta pick her up (or them up it its the clothes) and the fun continues :-)

"Are You My Mother"

Isaac loves to "read" this book and he especially loves it when he has an audience! Lucky for him Hannah loves to listen! She sits pretty good too and is quite interested!

"Good Job Isaac - you're the best big brother! When we're done reading maybe you can show me again what you are going to do to anyone if they are mean to me!!"

Our Sweet Little Girls

Hannah was so cute with Madison she just kept snuggling with her. Hannah gets so excited being with either of the kids, she follows them around and smiles her big cheesy smile when she sees them :-)

Here is another video of the walking girlie! She can walk quite a long way now, although she doesn't walk exclusively yet.

Taking after Grandpa . . . again!

Isaac is a huge talker! He talks to anyone and everyone. The other day we went on a walk and he was on his bike. I had the hardest time keeping him focused so he wouldn't crash because he was waving at so many people (none of which we knew) I kept asking him, did they wave at you Isaac. He always said they did (whether they did or not I don't know) :-) We have wondered where this talkative streak (and constant friendliness) has come from because neither Brock or I were like him when we were young (according to our moms) A friend pointed it out one day - he is like my dad!! My dad is a huge talker too! So we have discovered another way Isaac takes after grandpa (my dad) - he falls asleep anywhere. Here are a few examples (if I had more time I could dig up many pictures of my dad to go along with these in the various places we have seen him sleeping in)

This was Saturday night - he had played outside all day and had missed his nap because we were at friends. I looked over and there he was - totally zonked!

This is from September 07 - we had been out to a friends cabin and gotten lots of exercise and fresh air!

Here he is May '07, yes he is sleeping!!!

Farewell Tooth #7

Madison has been working on her loose tooth for a while now and finally is making some progress. We have been prodding her along because the permanent tooth that belongs in this spot is already half way up!

Watching and twisting :-)

Time to bring in the big guns! Isn't that funny how she is covering her eyes? :-)

No tears but lots of blood! Brock had her count to 3 and pulled it out on 2 and she said it didn't even hurt :-) Now she is off to write a note to the tooth fairy - she want to ask "it" if it is a boy or a girl :-)

BEWARE!

Brock has been teaching Isaac what it means to be the "big brother" and how he will need to protect Hannah. He asked Isaac today what he would do if someone was mean to her. We almost died laughing when, instead of answering, he demonstrated. I was hoping that if I ran and got the camera and asked him again he would demonstrate again. Sure enough, he did.

Yeah! Daddy's home!

Time to swarm around daddy now that he is finally home (all day at work can feel like a lifetime to a kid) :-) Hannah went right over to lay by him and was so happy and smiley. Isaac
quickly headed over for some "daddy time" too!

Hannah has learned something new today - how to climb up so she can play with the kids. She sure is proud of herself :-)

Loving Spring

We are all loving being able to go outside and play, go for walks, ride bikes etc. Hannah still likes the Becco a lot. I need to try her on the back to see what she thinks of that :-)

Isaac loves to ride his bike and cruises right along.

Madison found two "ski poles" and likes to pretend she is skiing. She is loving her roller blades and wants to do it all the time - inside or outside :-) She is getting pretty good on them.

What's for dinner?

We have been loving this recipe that I adapted from allrecipes.com. It is so easy and we all like it (which is a plus with picky kids!)

Chicken Wraps

INGREDIENTS
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 pound bacon
1/2 of a fresh pineapple, cut in chunks
tamari sauce (or soy sauce) & sesame oil

DIRECTIONS
Cut chicken into bite-size pieces. Wrap with about 1/3 slice of bacon, thread onto toothpick, and top with pineapple chuck. Marinate for 4 hours or longer in tamari sauce/sesame oil mixture. I just pour it on - probably four tablespoons of sesame oil and 1/4 - 1/2 cup tamari. Use enough to cover the bottom of the container. When I marinate it I flip the container over every hour so all the pieces get to soak in it for a bit.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F .
Place marinated pieces on a broiler pan (or normal pan if you don't mind all the bacon grease) and bake for 20 minutes, or until chicken is done and bacon golden brown. We like to eat it with rice and salad. Yum!! Enjoy!

Brock is not a huge cooked pineapple fan but he really likes this (although not as much when I used canned pineapple) :-)

Green Beans Anyone?

Hannah doesn't like to eat much - here is her first try with raw green beans. Fortunately, she loves bananas and sweet potatoes so I can get her to eat things she doesn't like by mixing them with one of those two. She likes to pick up food and eat it so we are trying lots of different things, hopefully we will find a big hit so eating isn't such a drag (for her and me)

Counting our "Blessings"

The Lord bless thee and keep thee
The Lord make His face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee
The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace
Numbers 6:24-26

Enjoying a beautiful day

It was such a nice day today - low 50s (okay so maybe that isn't warm for some of you but it is like summer to us after such a cold winter) :-) I wanted to snap a few pics of the kids before Madison changed into more appropriate outside clothes. It was just so nice for the kids (and us) to be outside and enjoy the warmth of the sun!

I had fun experimenting with some of the editing features on my Picasa - now if only I had photo shop I could really have some fun :-) Although I am sure it would be one more thing that I have to discipline myself with so I didn't spend too much time with it :-)

Hannah looks like she has something on her mind - hmm I wonder what it could be