Happy Retirement Grandpa!

Dear Grandpa,

Now that you are officially retired and won't be at work on weekends will you....

Take me out on your boat?
Help me fly a kite?
Come to my house sometime
And watch me ride my trike?

Can we go on a hike at Piney?
I'm getting big enough you know.
Or maybe kayak down the Buffalo
If only all the snow would go!

My daddy will need help with building my swingset
Oh and can we go find those raspberries again?
How about a camping trip?
And I'd love going to the creek to swim.

You want me to cook your breaky? (Emily word for meal)
I'm quite a chef these days
And we can color pretty pictures
And play with playdough ALL day!

How about a trip to the zoo?
Its funny when the elephants poo.
Now that you've got lots of time
I'll show you how much I love you!

Happy Retirement Grandpa!

Love, Your Little Angel Emily

Mommy note***We had snow again when we got up yesterday morning.  Here's what she decided to wear.  Wishful thinking I'd say, but I think before its actually time to wear a swimsuit we are going to need a bigger size...She didnt leave it on very long because it was cutting into her shoulders.

A Much Needed Break

I've always been told that God will not give you more than you can handle.  I thoroughly believe that is why we had such awesome weather last week....the week before was literally about all I could take of winter.  Being cooped up inside all the time is one thing, its a totally different thing whenever you have to do it with a 2 year old, and two almost 2 year olds.  They loved the beautiful weather, played outside for hours this week, covered themselves in mud (all that snow had to do something!  We'll take the mud)  and had lots of fun.  But since we were having so much muddy fun, I didnt have my camera out, and I didnt have time to post.  So pictures from the week before, will try to get some more soon (maybe this afternoon in the 70s!)

On the spring note...does anyone know where you can buy a spiral slide locally?  I have found the swingset I want, but I want a regular and spiral slide.  I have found it online, but it costs $120 to ship it, so if I could find it locally, that would be great!

Good vs. Evil

Evil seems to be winning:)  Snow is evil.  Now, I admit, a good sled ride can be fun and watching Emily make snow angels (which she calls Caillous) is great, but I believe it was something like 4 1/2 weeks ago when it snowed.  Under normal circumstances I might be tired of looking at it, but when you run a daycare out of your house, snow, especially in quantities that come up to a two year old's waist, is very evil.  And I have a small group....an almost one year old and then two 1 1/2 year olds and Emily who is 2.  I've heard the phrase climbing the walls....that is their new hobby.... climbing the walls.  They go about it using the toy shelf or changing table or couch, but they are literally climbing the walls.  They have excess energy.  They need fresh air.  I need fresh air. They need to run.  I need the sun.  So I'm very optimistic looking at the forecast hoping tomorrow to find a waterfall running down my driveway and off my back porch.  Warm enough to take Emily out to play (snow at 50 is doable)  and soon to have NO MORE SNOW!  But that isn't really where I was goign with this when I sat down.  As a family we have several DVDs, but very few that are actually ones I sit down and watch.  Emily has one that is still in its wrapper, and I'm perfectly ok with that, so this week I totally shocked myself whenever I switched gears on getting Emily's valentines gift (ok so the adorable outfit I'd already bought was mostly for my benefit)  and bought her "Open Season" on DVD....no, on BluRay 3D.  Neal has been getting lots of overtime at work, taxes look like they are going to come out ok, so while it was on sale for a very good price, we purchased a tv and I decided EMily needed something to watch on it.  (Ok, so maybe I'm trying to broaden her horizons because I'm getting really tired of Caillou!)  Well, we'll see if she likes it or if she still will only watch Caillou.  Meanwhile the TV has arrived and is sitting in my entryway, probably light enough I coudl get it in place, except I think the box is taller than me.  So the statement I've always made about tv being evil, I havent given up on, I'm just trying to keep my sanity! 

Ok and I have to admit some other evil....well, something somewhere was evil with this anyway.  I have a pair of jeans I love...very well broken in (as a matter of fact, ALL my jeans could fit that category) and lets jsut say that I still occassionally wear clothes from high school and I think all but one pair of my jeans date back to college, so the jeans were probably not the best shape.  I bent over this morning in my well loved jeans and lets just say, it got breezy!  The whole backside from teh pocket to teh knee ripped open, luckily there were only little girls to witness, but EMily did try to "fix it"  She came up behind me and held it together...with VERY cold hands!  And now, off I go to clean, laundry, dishes, I hope Emily and Neal enjoy the new TV because I dont really see time for me to watch it in my future!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Happy Birthday Grandma!  Emily made you a sign and took pictures and then had to do video.  Her hair was somewhat out of control for the video, but she was ready to sing Happy to Grandma:)  (not the traditional one, the one they sing on sprout:)  And isn't the pink dress cute...my $1.50 was well spent at the thrift store for that one:)  The blue dress..think it was a garage sale quarter....and yes, I realize the high today was 13 and we have over a foot of snow on the ground.  It was too cold for her to get out in it, and she was at least dressed in the blue dress:)

12 Hours

Ok, so I took a picture out my back door every hour yesterday, just to see how the snow was piling up.  YOu have to look more at the deck and bbq grill (notice the legs shrinking) becuase it was blowing and didnt pile up at all on the rail.  And yep, very glad I'm not in Clinton, Warrensburg, Osage Beach....they REALLY got hammered:) 

 7:00 Am

 8:00 Am

 9:00 Am

 10:00 Am

 11:00 AM

 12:00 PM

 1:00 PM

 She should have listened and gone out at 7:)

 2:00 PM

 3:00 PM

 4:00 PM

 5:00 Pm

6:00 PM

It had stopped snowing completely by 2 am this morning when evidently Emily was thirsty and needed some apple juice.  Still very cloudy out and a little windy and very COLD!!!  but the snow is over.  Now if they would only put a temperature above freezing in the forecast!

 So we stayed inside and played babies.  Very intently giving it a bottle...of course this baby doesnt stop crying until it gets all it wants from the bottle (thanks grandma!)

She looked up after the flash.  Oh and yes, she dresses herself, many many times throughout the day.  At least it was a long sleeve dress but still must've been cold cause she went back and put pants on under it:)

I'm happy just reading about it!

I've always loved the little house books.  As a child I spent countless hours in my dress and bonnet and I even had a nightcap imitating scenes from those great books.  And I enjoyed reading about the Christmas snowstorm in "Little House on the Prairie".  I enjoyed "The Long Winter"  but I am no longer 10 and I can enjoy a good book without having to live it out.  When I opened my back door a few minutes ago to let my poor short little puppy out to go pee (I cleared a small spot for her and told her she could go on the porch) I thought of those two things.  Really, I'm ok with just reading about it.  Wouldnt it be wonderful if I coudl just curl up with a cup of hot chocolate and read those today?  Nope, decided I'm gonna get my house clean and if I get enough done, maybe naptime tomorrow.  Although in all honesty I've probably read them enough times I coudl just think about them and replay the entire books in my head.  So for those of you keeping track, our snow is currently coming down fast enough to turn a gray schnauzer compeletely white in under a minute and is at a depth of belly heigh to a schnauzer. I've been takign hourly pictures I'll post them whenever this whole mess is over and my hubby is safely home!