Stuck Inside

If you've read my blog for any amount of time, you'll soon figure out that I DO NOT like winter. At all. Ever. Period. My least liked season. I hate being cold. And it makes it all that much worse that we live in Ohio. Where the deep freeze has apparently set in for the rest of winter. If you're not aware of the current deep freeze… 1) you must live in a warmer climate & therefore I'm jealous of you & I probably don't currently like you; 2) don't you turn on the tv? read a newspaper? talk to people? 

So, it's about -20, or -50 degrees or something like that with the wind chill. Which means, even if I did want to send the kids outside (which I don't in the winter - cause I'd have to go out with them & I don't do that), I can't because it's seriously dangerous to be outside. A friend of mine sent her dog outside yesterday, only to have it come back with drool frozen solid on its face. Seriously. It's friggin' cold. 

What to do with the kids? I'm all for pj days, which I try to practice at least once a week. Ahh.. being lazy the entire day, hanging out in pj's, watching movies, napping… my dream come true in the winter. 

Last weekend though, the kids asked to do a craft. Sure. Okay. I can do that. I'm a fun mom, right? Well, sometimes I am. So even though I had 2  quizzes I really needed to study for, 3 research papers hanging over my head, a case studies I'll need to present to my class that I haven't started, a pamphlet I need to create about an awful disease…. (overwhelmed yet? cause I am!)  Anyway, I decided to let the kiddos finger-paint. Can I say how much I love Crayola Color Wonder? No mess. None. Give the kids some fun gel paint & special paper. And the only thing needed for clean-up is a quick hand washing! Right up my alley!! LOVE!!!! 

And the kids had fun for almost an hour. Without bugging me or arguing!! Love it when that happens!! And aren't they getting so big?? Where are my babies?? 

Have a happy deep freeze!! I won't.

Snow Day, Take 2!

Milo LOVES snow

A lot

He was super excited to go back out & play in the snow again today!

Being the hater of snow that I am (unless I can view it from inside my snuggly-warm house, and it disappears as soon as I need to drive somewhere)...

I neglected to buy the kids snow boots.

As much as their regular shoes cost, and as quickly as they go through them, I just can't stomach shelling out more money for something they'll really only wear a couple/few times a year. 

Bad mommy.

So, even though I bundled each kid in layers of clothing to keep them warm...

the snow got in under their jeans.

Oh well.

It's good for them, right??

I went to a flea market the other day & found a gorgeous chair that I had to have!
It needed a new seat, so I combed through Pinterest & found a tutorial I thought I could handle.
And voila!!
I have a new photography prop AND a new chair!!
SCORE!!

Before anyone gets upset with me,
Xandra only had her jacket off for about 2 minutes while I shot these pictures.
And I threw it right back on her as soon as we were done! 

In the process of making a snow angel...

Snow Angel!!

A constant sight at our house...
Milo loves following Xandra around & doing whatever she is doing.
Ahhhh, siblings!

Can you tell which one loves the snow & which one doesn't??!!

Painting Pottery

A friend of ours mentioned that she was planning on taking her son to the pottery painting store near us. She was really excited because she'd never been there before, and was looking forward to "getting her craft on!" I told her that I had taken Xandra there a few times before, and we both loved it. So, she invited us to go with her. Woo!

This was Milo's 1st experience with painting pottery. So, it would be totally appropriate that on this particular day, that I was really excited about, Milo actually decided he'd take a real nap. GAH!!! In order to get to the store before they closed & have time to paint, I had to wake him up from a dead sleep. He wasn't really thrilled with me. And he was kind of "out of it" for at least half the time we were there. 

Oh well. He still had fun.

"What exactly am I supposed to be doing here?"

Finally getting the hang of it.

Here's my professional crafter at work.

Our friend Deidra & her son Devon (the 1st-timers!)

Take a wild guess which football team Devon roots for!!

Xandra chose the octopus statuette & an ornament. I chose 2 small ornaments for Milo. (I didn't paint anything that day, cause I was too busy taking pictures)

Once he was done with painting, Milo signed that he was thirsty. He ended up drinking 5 cups of water!! We barely made it home in time to change *that* diaper!!! 

Anyway, after he was finally done with the water, he started playing with his cup

*There on his chin, you'll notice the remnants of his tumble down the stairs from last week*

"Look at my cup!!"

"Hmmm... I wonder what it would look like with blue paint on it..."

We get to pick up our pieces after Christmas. I'll have to post pictures of the finished products then.