My girls got to play in the snow!

The day after Christmas, we packed up and headed to Illinois to spend time with our families. The girls were super duper hoping for snow. They wanted to watch it fall, they wanted to play in it, they wanted to go sledding. We arrived in Pekin on Friday, December 27th and it did not snow gobs until the day we left, January 2nd. So, while i packed up the car to leave Illinois, the kids bundled up and played in the snow.

It was the first time Vivian had seen or played in snow. She was surprisingly very excited.

 Why does your Vivian have a sore on her forehead, you ask? Because she likes to rub her head against walls. Completely normal...

 How cute are they all bundled up?  We have zero reason to bundle up like this in Texas. Zero. In fact, yesterday, it was 76 degrees.

 What kind of boots are your girls wearing in the snow, Virginia?  Oh, pink cowboy boots. Matching ones. They're the only boots we own...

 What I loved is that Ethan and Owen were so excited for the girls to see snow. They wanted it to snow just as much as my kids did just so they could all play in it together.

And, because they are awesome, Nina and Papa had the toboggan ready just in case it snowed enough. They came over in the morning and took all 5 kids sledding down the hills on the golf course behind Kyle's house. 

I'm very thankful that the girls got to experience a white Christmas. I do miss the smell of snow and how glittery and pretty it is after it has freshly fallen. However, I will say that there was a part of me (a large part, right around pancreas) that is so very glad that we do not live where it snows. Dude, it is cold up north.  Like, painful to breathe in cold. And, you have to scrape your car and warm it up. There is so much to make sure you have to avoid your children turning into popsicles like gloves, scarves, hats, big coats, all clothing fleece, tall socks. We took up an obscene amount of room in the church pew due to having to take off all the layers. I do not miss those parts of winter. 

See? I keep telling you all, the longer I live here, the more Texified I become!! It's in the water, I swear it.

Friday Chit Chat

January has been rough on us health wise. Since New Year's Eve, at least one out of the five of us has been ill. It is really hard to catch up on cleaning the house from Christmas and a trip to Illinois when you are either lying on the couch trying not to vomit or so stuffed up your head is going to explode. But, the last two days I have felt almost 100% better and so I thought I would start the year off right by blogging....17 days into the new year...whatever.

These pictures are from November, but I haven't shared them yet and I need to share them with you all.

 There is a picnic area on Ft. Sam that the girls call the Turtle Pond.  It is not a pond, nor does it have turtles, but it's one of their favorite places on post. We took a picnic lunch and enjoyed the balmy November weather.

 One of the things I'm trying to focus on this year is simplifying. We're not very high maintenance people, but it is very easy to get caught up in things and activities. I have a plan on going through our house room by room, closet by closet, and purging things we don't need or don't use. I'd like to spend more time home together just hanging out. No specific bullet point goals, just a simple Simplifying Goal.

 Ooh, I totally forgot to tell you all my book reading goal!  I'd like to read at least 60 books this year and plan on the books I've read each month here. I got the idea from my friend Sarah who did this on her own blog last year and I LOVED seeing her book reviews at the end of the month. I have added quite a few she recommended to my own "to read" list. One of the nice things about forcing my children to love books or be kicked out of the family instilling a love of reading in my children is that Elisabeth is at a reading level where she and I can share books. She flew through The Hunger Games and is currently on the third book of the Divergent series. She's going to lend them to me when she's done and can not wait to discuss them with me. How fun is that? She has her own bookshelf in her room that is brimming with books she's bought or received and she was talking to me about getting another bookshelf for her room.  Yeah, as great as that idea is, there is zero room for another bookshelf. I told her that I might be able to make room on one of my bookshelves for her  book overflow.

 I received 4 cookbooks for Christmas this year. Do you know how excited I am?? One is a slowcooker cookbook, which is awesome because I try to use the crockpot weekly and I am always looking for new recipes. I got the 2nd and 3rd cookbooks from The Pioneer Woman, which is freaking awesome because I do love her food (although Evan is worried I will lose my mind and use gobs of butter like I did when I bought her first cookbook and forgot that we are not active cowboys on a ranch who will burn off those calories before lunchtime). And, lastly, I got the 2nd edition of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking which I am completely geeking out over!!!!  I big puffy heart Julia Child--the girls and I watch her first season of her cooking show on Netflix, I've read a few books about her and how she became this iconic chef, and basically have a cooking crush on her.

 I have been finding books for Evan to listen to in the car on his commute to work. Not only is it fun to try to find books I think he will like, but sometimes I will read the same book (if I haven't read it yet) or pick books that I loved to see how he feels about them. It's kind of like having a spousal book club. I'll tell you what, though, he just makes me want to stay married to him forever every time he says, "Hey, I need a new book, I'm almost done with this one. Can you pick one out for me?" Swoon.

 We took the girls to see Frozen last weekend. Not only was it a cute movie (in that I didn't want to pull my eyeballs out), but it is the first movie that Vivian stayed awake through without trying to escape!  This is a huge milestone for her!  She is not the most patient of children and when she is done...she is DONE! But, with a whole bucket of popcorn within her reach, she was golden.

 Today I went to the Y for the first time in over a month. Thankfully, I did not forget how to use the machines, but I have embarrassingly backtracked in my workout abilities. I am thinking about actually participating in the free classes they offer (I know, novel idea, right?), but first I want to be able to be on the elliptical for 45 minutes again without wishing to cry. I hate how easy it is to fall out of good habits and so easy to pick up bad ones again. Why is it that I must convince myself to get into the car and drive to the Y, but that once I've worked out I am so, so glad I did? I kind of thought these habits would get easier as I age, but presumably not.

 The longer we live here, the more I find to appreciate about Texas. Now, don't get all concerned, I have zero desire to ever (EVER) make it my permanent home, but it is nice to be able to be outside almost all year long. Today, the high was in the upper 60s. The girls played outside the majority of the day in perfect sunshine and light jackets. It stays lighter longer and, even though it gets mother effing hot way too soon, we've lived here long enough that we've grown accustomed to the heat and the girls will gladly play outside in anything under 100 degrees.

I can't believe I just typed those positive words about Texas...

Zoo day

You guys, we are on day three of Croup-vasion. No leaving the house (except the urgent care visit Monday to see if maybe we could get some medicine to help Vivian continue breathing through the night since she struggled to do so during her nap that day), no adult interaction, watching my sanity slip through my drafty, drafty house.

Did I mention my house is cold?  Yes, I know, I live in Texas, how cold could it possibly be?  Cold!  Like in the 40s-50s during the day and 30s-40s at night!  My house is like an igloo!!!

I can hear you people in Illinois and farther up north laughing at me, but I can not help it, I have been Texas-ified.  I no longer can handle cold and it is embarrassing, but true.  When we travel up to Illinois next month, I'm pretty sure we're all going to lose fingers and toes to frostbite.

So, November was jam packed with activities and visitors.  If I had my act together, I would have given you a play-by-play quickly after it all happened, but I do not have my act together.  I often think about blogging, toy with ideas I want to chat your ears off about, and then get lost in a world of Peppa Pig, homeschooling, cooking meals for the people I am legally obligated to feed, and reading too much fb.

This month we ventured to the zoo.  I know you know my love of zoos is immense, and i am happy to say that I am properly schooling my children to love them as much as me.

I forgot the name of this guy, but he was uber cute and I wanted to pet him until Elisabeth read he was poisonous, so I just decided to take his picture instead. 

 Evan hates snakes, which I find so odd because I find them fascinating.

 How cute are these two?

 Julia is really taking off with her reading.  She read a lot of the captions about the animals and is trying to sound out long words. The other day she was reading what I was typing in a text and then I realized that maybe I should not write swear words down in her presence anymore...or put text standing up where she can't see what I'm typing.

 There was a brand new baby monkey!!!

 I kid you not, this tiny tree kangaroo was playing his tail like an air guitar right before I took this picture.  I was belly laughing and probably cause some people to wonder about my sanity, but come on--a kangaroo using his tail as a guitar?  Hilarious!

 In between these steps is water with no kind of net or anything:

 Vivian wanted to walk with the big girls on it and I called out, "OMG! How deep is that if she falls in???" Evan looked at me and said, "Maybe 2 inches." Oh.  I guess there is no need to fear the zoo would allow an area where people could fall in and drown.  Pretty sure Evan contemplated my intelligence and whether to continue our marriage after I yelled that out so loudly.

Well, my sick children are whining at me to pay attention to them and attend their needs. Guess I best go and parent them for a while. Thank the Lord that Evan comes home early today because I am scidaddiling out of here to do some last minute pre-Thanksgiving grocery shopping and time away from prison..er...home.