All Boy!

I bought some groceries and had put them by my stairs so that I could take them downstairs. Later that day, I heard Grant playing by himself and came to check out what he was doing. He had found the ketchup and was pretending they were "guys" and having them bash each other and attack each other. I was fairly disturbed by this, but also realized that I was glad he could use his imagination!

An organizer?

We have been calling Alyssa "the hurricane" because she's at that fun age where she makes a mess and then runs to make the next mess. It's constant destruction. Yesterday, I decided to let her begin to empty my pantry and see what she did. She started lining up the boxes and when I asked her to help me clean up, she put everything back where it belonged. I'm wondering if she is really just an organizer, and not a hurricane??? Or maybe she just knew I needed a break yesterday. :)

Thanks Aunt Stacy!

My sister, Stacy, just sent this cute outfit to Alyssa. She is quite the dancer, so she'll be getting down in it soon.

Daddy Daughter date

Every year, our school puts on a daddy-daughter dance and Hailey is so lucky b/c she doesn't have to share her dad with anyone. This year, the theme was "Under the Sea". The dads were asked to wear a blue shirt so that they were like the water and the girls could dress how they wished. Hailey opted for the casual skirt look, but curled her hair and even put on some lipstick. She was SO excited.

I love this picture b/c it clearly shows how much a dad will do for his little girl. Hailey wanted to do an "octopus pose" and asked Chris to sit down like this. Between the two of them, they had 8 "legs". Chris thought it was so weird, but went along anyway. She totally has him wrapped around her finger. I'm glad that we have another girl coming up so that there is a little more balance.

Getting ready to head out the door.

Blizzard of 2011

With all of the hoopla surrounding the big storm coming to Chicago, I wasn't sure that I actually believed that it would materialize like they said. However, it started to snow on Tuesday afternoon and didn't stop until Wednesday. Overall, it dumped about 21" (although it is hard to tell b/c the wind was HOWLING and created such huge snow drifts). On Tuesday night, I was praying that we wouldn't lose our power as I saw huge flakes coming down, heard the wind roaring through the chimney and experienced lightening and thunder during a snow storm. The whole thing was a little overwhelming. Needless to say, school was cancelled and I've spent a good portion of the day shoveling while the kids played (1/2 of the snow came from the plow that was kind enough to keep shoveling it back on our driveway once I was done shoveling).

Grant "sledding" on his tummy on one of the hills of snow by our driveway. Later on Wednesday, the sun came out and it was beautiful.

Carter's boots sticking out of his fort that he built. He got himself all the way in and is trying to convince me to let him sleep out there tonight (not a chance).

And what snack would you choose while playing outside in the snow? Of course...a popsicle.

Carter emerging from his fort.

Andrew outside with me this morning at 6:30. We were digging out for 2 1/2 hours all the while thinking - "it is still snowing-we're going to be back out here again in an hour!!"

This is on Tuesday when the storm started. They each put on 10 pairs of socks to keep their feet warm and had a blast jumping while the snow came down and the wind whipped them around. Overall the storm was a lot of fun, although I'm a little miffed that school is cancelled again tomorrow. Isn't 1 day enough???