Cute Candids and Charlotte's Birthday Party

A random smattering of pictures. Jesse was away for a while at the beginning of the month. I try to email him a few pictures of the kids every day so I end up with lots of phone pictures.

All snuggly after bath. 1/11/14

Elliott is so excited when he gets to hold Lucy. She is really starting to light up when he is near her.

My munchkins!

Smiling in her MamaRoo.

The alarmingly random scene in our driveway one afternoon. Apparently there was an accident on our road and a roadblock just up the street from us. My neighbor went through the roadblock and sped up our very icy driveway. A cop followed and this happened. I didn't even know it - just kept telling the dog to stop barking. Quite the surprise when I looked down and saw the wrecked cop car, tow truck, and another cop car!

We love Charlotte's birthday parties. Last year and this year, Charlotte's party has been at Rolly Pollies, a great kid's gym. I took a ton of pictures last year with my nice camera. With two kids and only one parent this year (though there was a superb amount of communal parenting), I left the big camera at home and only got a few shots. Penny in the foam pit.

Elliott has had an aversion to frosting. Part of me winced when he chowed down on the pink sugar bomb but most of me rejoiced that he seems to be getting over his frosting issues. He's my son - he should like frosting!!

Ned loved the frosting, as he did last year.

Yum!

Lucy's party dress. Have I mentioned how fun it is to dress her??

Wearing her super cute Christmas jammies from Coco. Just like Elliott in his Santa jammies, these will not be reserved for the holiday season.

Elliott has been very interested in wearing his headlamp. It's all fun and games until he blinds me with the light.

Another day, another dress. It really is a dress. I promise. It's just all bunched up in this picture. She's working on her baby crunches.

The headlamp help with the sound block puzzle, a Christmas gift last year from Uncle Esteban.

Blizzard of 2014

On January 7th, we had our first official blizzard in 20 years. For those of you who don't live in this area, you might think we have blizzards all the time. I encourage you to look up the true definition of a blizzard. With an ominous weather forecast, I decided to hunker down with the kids at my parents' house rather than be stranded at home for several days. I'm so happy we stayed in Elma. The storm resulted in driving bans for over 24 hours, subzero temperatures, and high winds. I drove home to gather a few supplies at the beginning of the storm and experienced the worst winter driving of my life. It's no fun to stop the car and try to find the road before going again! Don't get me wrong, blizzards are fun. There is something novel and adventurous about hunkering down and riding out a storm. My inner child rejoiced with "snow day!!!". The concept was a bit lost on Elliott. He associates snow with playing outside. I had to tell him that it was too cold to play outside. We have now added "blizzard" to his vocabulary. Here are photos and videos from our snow days.

Lucy went for a ride in the little doll stroller that Penny and Elliott have been playing with.

Elliott LOVES doing puzzles. We are all pretty impressed with his puzzle skills.

What do you do with a toddler with pent up energy? Put him on the treadmill!

Treadmill fun.

Elliott loves bathtime in Coco's big tub. Here he is telling Poppy all about the boats.

On to the submarine and Nemo.

The blowing snow stuck to cobwebs around the house, making for some eerie scenes.

Post-bath, naked puzzles.

"I did it!"

Lucy is very talkative these days!

Poppy plowed the driveway during a break in the storm. Temperatures were still well below zero.

What's worse than a stir-crazy, house bound toddler? A stir-crazy, house bound 9 month old puppy! I had to take Dutch out for a while. He had a blast playing in the snow.

I came back in to find Lucy watching Coco knit.

Lucy was clearly very interested in the knitting. 

I love her blizzard outfit!

What is the most offensive piece of mail you can receive in the middle of a blizzard? The Athleta swimsuit catalog.

I traced Elliott so he could color.

Drawing his hair.

Cozy baby after bath.

The snow stopped blowing, the sun came out, and we had a stunning day after the blizzard. The temperatures were still very cold so the snow stuck to the trees. I drove home before our driveway had been plowed and captured the pristine scene.

Blue sky.

The mini lives in a garage space that is enclosed on three sides. The car was coated in snow from the storm.

A beautiful horse pasture near my parents' house.

Making the Most of Winter - Sledding, Skiing, Cozy Sweaters

We are in the depths of winter here. Warm days are 35 degrees. Cold days are -5 degrees. Fortunately those cold days are few and far between. Elliott loves the snow ("It's no-ing out!") and Lucy is oblivious and cozy. Here are some pictures from early January.

Playing with his new Thomas chopsticks, a Christmas gift from Levi, Tucker, and Lincoln.

Piggy boody!

Hanging out with my girl. Lucy is wearing a sweater that was handknit by Coco.

Sleeping baby - in another Coco sweater.

This was our usual dinner scene while Jesse was away. Lucy sat in her bumbo in Jesse's spot.

We had some great cross country skiing weather in early January. My parents watched the kids a few times so I could get out with Dutch. This was in the Erie County Forest.

Lucy's cute outfit was a gift to Penny from her Grandma Peg.

The day after our trip to the Erie County Forest, Holly and I joined Tim and Laura to ski at Emery Park. The conditions were not ideal and Holly took a tumble at one point. She wasn't the only one to fall that day but she was the only one caught on film. Being the good sister that I am, I took pictures of her when she was down.

But she got right back up!

Tim and Dutch watched from above.

Post-ski with Tim.

Penny was all smiles when we got back to the house.

We returned to find Elliott and Ned out sledding with Poppy and Mike. Elliott wasn't sure at first. 

(There are some special effects in these pictures. I'm not sure if they will show up in the email version of this post so you might have to visit the actual blog online.)

And he's off!

Elliott was ALL smiles!

Sherpa Mike pulled Elliott back up to the top.

Ned had a blast.

Ned's trip.

Another Elliott sled - off to the right.

I cannot get over how big Ned looks in these pictures.

Seriously, who is this kid?

He loved it.

Dutch and Humphrey had fun in the snow, too.

Elliott was excited to shovel. Poppy tried to teach him to ride down the hill on the shovel but Elliott didn't quite get the concept.

Head to toe in LL Bean. I'm thinking of sending this to them.

Now with special snow effects!

Side note: I honestly have no idea how to apply these effects. Google decides which pictures get special effects. There is probably a way to figure it out but I couldn't (didn't care to) figure it out.

Without prompting, the boys starting rolling down the hill.

Rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling.

Lucy stayed snuggly warm inside.

Pretty girl in her pretty party dress, all the way from England thanks to Tuppy and Hugh!