Visit

Papa and Granny stopped by last night to drop off a Christmas present of Drew's that was too big to fit in my jeep on Christmas Eve.  The kiddos couldn't wait for Steve to come home from work and put it together.

So Steve tackled this while I fixed dinner.  Can you guess what it is?

Ta Daaaa!!!!  Air Hockey!  The kids love it and have been playing all evening.  Nothing like a new toy one month after the Christmas toy excitement has worn off.  (Yes, that's Kate in a bathing suit.  She was playing swimming pool while daddy put the air hockey together. hehe)

Tonight's dinner:

(Something I want to start posting with pictures just to keep a record)

Parmesean Crusted Baked Tilapia

Fried Potatoes (I've been fixing these a lot lately...yummy)

Corn

Biscuits (We have biscuits a lot for dinner...something I got from my dad)

and strawberries.

Usually I take a pic of dinner and send it to my best friend, Vivi, but of course in the rush of getting the air hockey finished I didn't.  I did take a pic of the potatoes but everyone has seen fried potatoes before, right?  No?  ok then...

yummy!!!

Steve said we should invite his brother John over for that meal... :-)  Now that's a compliment!



Coupons

I am determined to start using coupons.  I cut them out and put them in my purse (sometimes) and then before you know it they are expired because I have forgotten about them. 

Today I cut out close to twenty coupons out of the Sunday paper of items that are on my weekly grocery list.  I AM GOING TO USE THEM. Ha!  It's my goal this week.  Wish me luck!

Hammer and Nails

I get A LOT of inspiration for play with my kids from a preschool teacher named Teacher Tom.  He is a Seattle, WA cooperative preschool teacher at Woodland Park Cooperative PreSchool.  You can find his blog here.  Most, if not all, of the learning (thinking) which takes place at Woodland Park is playbased learning.  Woodland Park's philosophy is children learn through play and real life experiences.  I try to incorporate as much of that philosophy along with many of his ideas with my own children.

Teacher Tom has a woodworking center with real tools at the school for children as young as two.  I thought we would start with the basic hammer and nails and we began hammering. 

We talked about safety (especially since I forgot safety glasses) and just as Teacher Tom recognized, children are especially cautious when you allow them to have real tools.

Kate said she wanted to build a lemonade stand when she got bigger and Drew said he was going to help.  They did very well and even though they missed and hit fingers they continued pounding and learning how to use their first real tool.

Two days in and both are still very interested in going hammering.  Who knows what these two will build one day.  As Teacher Tom says, "As humans we have being alone, we have talking face-to-face; for everything else we use tools. The more tools we know how to use, the more experience we have using them, the more the world opens up to us. It's really that simple."

Remembering Challenger

25 years ago today the Space Shuttle Challenger did not make into space. I was in my high school library when it came across the television. It was the first American tragedy I remember living through and although a teenager interested in mostly boys and cheerleading, I remember mourning with the rest of the country and realizing how a country comes together in difficult times. To the team of the Challenger...thank you for your courage and dedication to America. You are remembered.

Not Night Terrors

The past two nights this little guy has kept me up screaming for hours.

Normally, he's a pretty good sleeper.  But the past two nights...screaming, tantrums like crazy. 

I thought for sure he was having night terrors at three like Kate did when she was two.  But then, in the midst of all of the crying he held his ears and said my ears hurt!!! 

He has been sick the past week (we've all had the flu) and it hit me he could have an EAR INFECTION!!!  After waiting three hours in the waiting room at urgent care, it was confirmed.  Severe! ear infection.  Poor guy.  Now, if I can just get him to take the medicine...

Winter Wipeout and More

There is one show our whole family looks forward to every Thursday...Winter Wipeout. It's pee your pants funny. I've never seen our kids laugh so hard. And it's all in good fun.
ABC Thursday at 8pm. Try it. I promise you'll have some good laughs. Here's the promo...






and Drew says, "Mom, I'd try all that stuff!" and Kate says, "I wouldn't mom." (of course) Hehe.
It's so funny hearing them laugh so hard.

******************************************************************************
We are sick again. Influenza A. Thanks winter. This is the worst we've ever been sick...ever. It stinks!

Thank goodness for happy mail I received today...Pottery Barn, Ballard Designs, Hanna Anderson, Mini Boden...something to get me past the crying, coughing, mommy I need this and this and this...
and more snow our way...Yay!!! We love snow...but not sickness.

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Snow snow snow

We woke up to this gorgeous-ness!  (I'm still learning my camera settings...sorry!)

So this immediately followed...

Then this...

and Steve was a gem doing this...

and I stayed inside tackling this...

All before 9am!!!  Victory!

Winter Games

It was pouring the snow yesterday and way too cold to go outside to play so I decided to bring out the board games. Thankfully, Santa brought A LOT of board games (ten, I think) for us to play on cold winter evenings.  During the other seasons, my kids are outside playing well past dark so winter evenings are a bit of a challenge to keep them occupied and away from the tv.  Board games are a fun way to entertain them and also learn how to win confidently and lose graciously.  It's not always smooth but for the most part they take turns, play fairly and have fun.

One of their favorites is Zingo.  This game is age appropriate for both my three year old and almost five year old.  It's a bingo game with a twist.  You simply match the picture/word to the picture/word card.  Easy enough. 

Another favorite is Twister.  Drew received this game from my sister number four on his November birthday.  It's been a hit ever since.  I modified it some since Drew is just learning left and right but boy do they get a kick out of playing.

We ended the evening with some other classic games including Guess Who (Disney Edition), Hi-Ho Cherry-O and Don't Break the Ice.

It was a fun way to spend a cold, snowy evening inside!

Le Creuset

I'm in love...

Sister number three (I have four and a brother) re-introduced me to these awhile back at a local department store.  I've been longing for one ever since.

I just love the cassis (purple) one but I would welcome any color.  There are also a lot of different sizes but the 5 1/2 quart looks to be just my size.  :-)

You'll notice in the post below, Pioneer Woman is carrying a beautiful green dutch on the cover of her cookbook and I think one would fit just perfectly in my kitchen. :-) I can just imagine a nice warm soup or a wonderful pot roast coming out the oven. MMMmmm...I can't wait!

There are also other Le Creuset pieces including a cast iron skillet and stoneware I'd like to eventually add to my kitchenware.  You can check out all Le Creuset has to offer here.  Soooo dreamy!

French Breakfast Puffs

I received The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook for Christmas (thanks mother-in-law) and love it!  You can check out Pioneer Woman's amazing website here.  She is the wife of a real cowboy and LOVES cooking for him.

I tried the French Breakfast Puffs first, mostly because I had all the ingredients and I love all things cinnamon and these puffs are covered in them.  I had a couple of helpers...

Perfect with coffee...mmmmm!
You can checkout the recipe here.  Enjoy!

basketball

Drew had his first biddy basketball game Saturday.  He's on the RED team.

He was soooo excited and so were we.  The church gym was packed with parents, grandparents and a bunch of little kids.  It was kind of overwhelming for Drew.  He was very nervous...checking everything out before he headed out on the court.  Then he asked me to go with him...

So I headed out there with them (in front of all those people..gheez!) and walked him through the warm-ups.  Then his dad came out.

and when Drew noticed him he ran over to him.

and asked him to "go over there and sit down."  Drew was ready to tackle this big space all alone.  I about cried my eyes out.  He's growing up.

Learning the rules...we noticed Drew look over to the girl on his left and put his hand on her shoulder.  Teammates! :-)

Holding hands and praying before the game.

Here comes Drew up the court with the ball.

Drew ended up making one basket and missing two.  He had a blast and keeps asking if he can "go play basketball for real again." 
We all had a great time.  I can't wait til next Saturday!!!

Where is he going?

We are BIG West Virginia Mountaineer football fans here.  My husband attended WVU in the late 80s and competed in track and was an invited walk-on for the football team.  I can remember rooting for WVU for as long as I can remember.  Big news came down today about the former coach of the Mountaineers...Rich Rodriguez.  It's all the buzz here in the Mountain State.

Rich left the Mountaineer football organization abruptly three years ago to join the Michigan Wolverines during a time when the Mountaineers were at the top of their game...Fiesta Bowl/Sugar Bowl wins, many other bowl appearances and several NFL draft picks.  His leaving caused, to say the least, a bad taste with most Mountaineer fans.  Rich is a West Virginian, born and bred.  He played football at WVU and when he first took the WVU coaching job he said he planned on remaining at WVU, coaching football for a long time.  Fans embraced him, loved him and depended on his dedication to his alma mater to lead the Mountaineers to national prominence.  He left.  Abruptly. Wanting more money and organizational demands than WVU could promise him.  It was a betrayal WVU fans will long remember.

He lost his job with the Wolverines today.  Losing to Ohio State three years running he just couldn't get the momentum at Michigan up to Michigan standards.  WVU fans are commenting he's getting what he deserved.  He left his home state and alma mater for an impossible reach.  Some sports columnists are suggesting he may take a job as Pitt, WVU's biggest rivalry.  I say take the job Rich.  Wear the team you so long loathed, played and coached against.

As for us, we remain strong and true to our Gold and Blue!

Go Mountaineers!

Soup anyone?

i still can't shake this crazy sickness... hoping tomorrow is better.  steve goes back to work, kate back to school...back to real life. hopefully the soup will help. :-)

Hello 2011

after weeks of cold temperatures and lots of snow we welcomed the new year with a warm, somewhat rainy 61 degree day!  The kids were so excited when i asked if they wanted to go outside and ride bikes.

steve stayed the course and was here most of the day...thank goodness.  it's my least favorite holiday task.

all in all...a great start to the new year.  we are ready!