Snow, Snow and More Snow

Sometimes I feel like this winter will never end. Every time our snow melts and the temperatures get above freezing, I get my hopes up- only to have them dashed by these silly white flurries.

We've tried our best to enjoy the snow and have fun, but we are ready for spring.

This was the scene we woke up to on Tuesday. Well it snowed on Sunday but then Monday it got above freezing and started to melt. Then Tuesday morning this storm hit. 

It wouldn't have been so bad but we had about an inch of ice come down too. The ice shut down the school and we've been house-bound ever since. 

We decided to find some ways to entertain ourselves.

We made some Valentine's day cards the grandparents. The kids love the toilet paper heart pictures.

And yes, my kids are in their underpants because I didn't want them getting paint all over their clothes. Who doesn't enjoy some good underpants crafts?

We also made some more tapioca pearls to play with in the warm tub. This was perfect because it was so freezing we didn't want to leave the house, but the kids were going crazy. This kept them happy, entertained and warm. 

This picture makes me smile. 

Then yesterday we made "snow paint". This is nothing more than water with food coloring in squeeze bottles, but the kids were thrilled. Super simple and fun activity!

Isn't my artwork beautiful? Lol. Bailey was thoroughly impressed. 

In typical "Tanner fashion" he was hard at work with a masterpiece. 

Sometimes their artwork was a joint effort. 

Love these kiddos but I seriously cannot wait for Spring. I'm ready to plant flowers, play in the grass and go on picnics again. 

Valentine's Picture Fun!

I really was going to skip doing Valentine's Pictures this year. I was trying to save money and frustrations. Then I got an offer from "Shutterfly" for 10 free cards and I just couldn't pass that up.

We only spent about 15 minutes  taking these and I love how they turned out.

Even though my kids may hate me later for this picture, I have to say that I LOVE IT. 

This is probably one of my favorite outtakes. Bailey was not a huge fan of all the kisses.

I kept trying to get them to just pucker and lean in close together- but it always resulted in full on mouth kisses.

Bailey loved her dress so much. She loved twirling and showing me all her ruffles. She's such a camera hog. 

Tanner was a good sport, but I think he feels like he's getting a little too old for these pics. 

I love this picture too. Such sweet kids. 

I just love Bailey's hands in this picture. She was being so cute. 

Bailey being so coy. 

One of Tanner's favorite poses. This boy cracks me up. 

Just for fun I thought I'd share some of our past valentine's pictures.

This is Tanner's first Valentine's Day. He's almost 6 months old here. Love that rollie body!

I guess I missed the year when Tanner was 18 months, which is a shame because Tanner was super fun at that age. 

This is Tanner at 2 1/2 years and Bailey at 6 Months. You have got to love Bailey's little body. I think 6 months is the perfect age for baby pictures. They are so chubby and cute

Then this was last year- Tanner 3 1/2 and Bailey is 18 months old. 

So I know most of you are thinking how crazy I am, but I love these pictures and even though I'm pretty sure the tradition wont last much longer (at least not with Tanner- he's too cool), I'm glad I have these to look back on. So funny!

Our First Visit to the ER

I really thought our first visit to the ER would be with Tanner. I figured my wild 4-year old would have us there much sooner than my sweet baby girl. Well not really a baby anymore. Bailey will be 2 1/2 next month. 

Anyways, Saturday night Bailey spiked a fever but she didn't have any other symptoms. No cough. No runny nose. Her tummy was fine. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. We dosed her with Motrin and alternated with Tylenol and she was ok. Then Sunday, after church, she started telling us she had to go potty about every minute. We would have just gotten her off the toilet and then she'd tell us she had to go again. But then she would wouldn't go and she'd tell me it was "hard" and that she couldn't go. 

That had me worried. After talking to my Mom and doing some research online, I called the doctor "on call" at our pediatrician's office to see what I should do. 

The doctor told me it sounded like a urinary tract infection and because of her high fevers she told me to take her to the ER right away. 

So we rushed across town to the ER and got checked in.  She was acting fine and happy. I'm sure everyone there wondered why I had my daughter at the ER. But I was just following orders and I figured I'd rather be safe than sorry. 

I had to convince Bailey that the face masks were super cute in order for her to keep hers on. But once she was convinced it was cute, she kept it on the whole time. I worried about the flu, viruses and other sickness at the ER, so we both wore masks and sanitized our hands every two seconds. 

Bailey was so patient and happy. We just sat together with some of her favorite toys and watched "My Little Ponies" on my kindle. 

Then after 3 hours of waiting, we finally got called back to see a doctor. After analyzing her urine sample, the doctor confirmed she had a UTI. He said the bacteria count was pretty high and he was surprised with how happy she was acting.  She really liked her special hospital bed. She really was a champ the whole time. I think I was more of wreck than she was. 

Unfortunately, the doctor prescribed a shot in her bum.  Bailey was less than thrilled with the nurse who was giving her the shot. She cried and cried and kept asking "What are you doing to me?" It broke my heart. 

But after some apple juice and a little more "My Little Pony" we were all set to go home. We were told to go see her pediatrician in the morning for a follow-up.  

We saw her pediatrician yesterday and he put her on a 7-day course of antibiotics. Bailey is doing great. Her fever is gone and she seems like she's feeling much better. She's still doing pretty good going potty on the toilet so I'm glad her UTI didn't ruin her potty training. 

Anyways, I'm glad to have that milestone out of the way. Hopefully we wont have anymore ER visits for a long time.  But I have to say, it was way less dramatic than I expected. Yeah, we were at the ER for a total of 4 hours, but Bailey was such a sweetheart and so well behaved the whole time. I'm so grateful for my sweet girl and so happy she's better!

January Happenings

Well the month of January has mainly consisted of us trying to not get sick. The flu, several different viruses and colds and strep throat is sweeping through the area without mercy.
Our defense mechanism- stay away from everyone and avoid sharing germs. Oh and lots and lots of oils. LOTS of oils.
The week after new years we got hit with another snow storm. School was, of course, cancelled.

We spent most of these snow days inside because it was so cold. With the wind, it felt like -23 degrees outside. Crazy! 

We made snow ice cream one day. The kids loved that. We dyed it blue and added sprinkles. 

We also made these awesome colored ice marbles. Basically I filled water balloons with food coloring and water and then waited for them to freeze. Then we popped the balloons and got these little marbles.

True to character, Bailey only wanted to play with the pink ones. 

Tanner had a lot of fun with these marbles. We stacked them and rolled them in the snow. He liked it when I filled his arms with them. Love this sweet boy.  

My kids both got coughs and because I'm paranoid, I kept us home from swim. They didn't have fevers or running noses but I wasn't taking any chances. We just stayed in our PJ's and took it easy.
Bailey was feeling pretty good. She loves just playing with her toys and snuggling. 

She's totally her momma's girl. Shes always telling me "Say Cheese Mom" and "Look at the camera."

Love her!

Tanner didn't feel 100% and was more than happy to snuggle on the couch. Poor little tired eyes. 

Bailey is totally in love with her "My little Ponies" she got for Christmas. It's adorable. 

Finally, about a week after the snow, we got some decent sunshine and heat and the snow melted.
We hadn't seen the ground in so long, my kids didn't know what to think. We went to Daddy's work to have a "picnic at the cafeteria" with him and then we came home and played for a while. 

Tanner actually asked me if we had a backyard. It had been that long....

We might have been a little surprised to see the sun in the sky. It's been a hard winter!!!

When the weather turned cold again, we decided we needed some new indoor activities. So we tried yoga.

Oh how I laughed. My kids have my complete lack of coordination and Chris' complete lack of flexibility. 

But they look pretty cute doing yoga. 

One Friday night we ordered a pizza and watched "Despicable Me 2". It was super cute.
But then Chris told me he had never seen the first "Despicable Me". So we planned a movie night with a themed snack.
How adorable are these little minions? I love their goggles. Seriously.
The kids helped me make these and they couldn't wait to eat them. 

So that night we watched the first "Despicable Me" and ate our cupcakes. Don't mind Bailey's pantless state. Pants aren't required... 

This past Monday we were struggling. We've been trying to limit our tv now that the sun is out and we can play outside a bit more. But Monday it was too cold to play so we were inside again.
We busted out the dice. Tanner was enthralled.
No joke,we played with these dice for 2 hours. 

We just stacked them and made them into towers over and over again. We did work on some counting and we picked out our favorite colors. Tanner loves his dice so much. 

Then we had a tea party. My kids  crack me up. They totally make all the appropriate sounds when eating.
But Bailey was the funniest. She would say "Now take a drink. Now eat your sandwich. Now take a drink"

She was quite the bossy host. 

Pretty much, Bailey loves having tea parties and I think we might have to have a real one soon- with real food because I can only pretend to eat for so long. 

Anyways, we still have the occasional freezing cold day, but we are surviving the winter pretty well. The kids haven't been really sick yet. We just keep fighting off coughs but it never really progresses. I'm so glad. I think our complete isolation helps.
I'm so ready for Spring. No more sickness!!!!