Check This Out...

Our front yard faces North, so our snow might stick around for awhile. However, the front yards across the street have thawed quite nicely! Ahh...Spring will soon be here.

We've had a few sunny days in the 40's, so the snow up here has just started to melt this week. If you click on the picture, you'll notice that one of our neighbors has already mowed his lawn. At least with all of that snow piled up on our front lawn, Phil has an excuse not to mow for at least another couple of weeks.

Hmmm...

Look what I found when I lifted the lid off of the butter this morning!

Hello out there...

I feel so out of touch! Our computer crashed last week, so I've bee using Phil's laptop to catch up on reading blogs. The only problem is I lost everything in "My Favorites," which contained all of the blogs that I check regularly.

If you have a blog that I visit, could you please email me at philovesjen@yahoo.com or leave a comment with your blog address so I can add your site to my favorites again? Thank you very much!

What a Morning!

Although very rare, I love it when we have at least 20 consecutive minutes of calm. Usually when things are quiet around here I need to investigate. This morning I noticed Lily running through the kitchen, headed straight for the couch with our basket of the Fruit of the Spirit. "This can't be good," I thought. The girls like to sneak off with the basket to take bites out of the plastic fruit.


I was pleasantly surprised to find Jared sitting on the couch reading our Fruit of the Spirit book to Caleb, and Lily, close by, pulling each fruit from the basket as Jared read about it.


Things went from good to better as Gracie joined them.


And then...WOW! Could it be? All 4 of them getting along in one room without me? This picture was taken from the doorway of the kitchen. Ahhh...it does a mommy's heart good!

Jared's Ice Skating Adventure

Jared's class went ice skating this morning. He loved it! I did, too. It was much easier on my back than the last time we went.


This skating arena had little bars for the kids to hold onto. Just look at him go!




We played around on the ice for little while, and then his class had a skating lesson.


Toward the end of the lesson, the kids were told to push their bars away from them and skate back to their bars. These bars slide easily on the ice, and Jared gave his a BIG push. The nervous mommy in me wanted to skate over and move it a little closer, but he did it! He skated all the way back to his bar. He got a strawberry milkshake with lots of whip cream for that, of course!

A Treasure Hunt!

Aunt Corinne sent the kids a fun treasure hunt in the mail!


Each envelope contained a flashlight and a clue.


Caleb's clue was in the pantry.


Down to the basement they go...


Aha! Found it! Jared used the key attached to his flashlight.


The boys received Diego rescue packs, and the girls received Dora backpacks.

Emily's Here!

My friend Emily came to stay with us this weekend! The kids have enjoyed her visit. She's such a good sport to read book after book (after book), and play games of bingo and checkers with them.


We spent the day snowshoeing up at Mt. Spokane. Phil was sweet to send us on our way with Clif Bars, bottles of water, a thermos of hot chocolate, mugs, Sweet Tarts and Dove chocolates.

Almost One Week!

It has almost been one week since I've posted anything! Just to update all of you...I was able to go on my church's ladies' retreat this past weekend. I had a wonderful time getting to know several ladies in my new church. The retreat was up north a bit at a beautiful lodge. I was able to try snowshoeing for the first time!



Look how big Gracie is now! I had to buy her size 3T jeans (she turned 2 in November). I have to roll them up a little, but her size 2T jeans were getting way too short for her.


Jared is reading so much now. Often I find him somewhere in the house reading to Caleb.

Our Nice Romantic Evening

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day with our kids this year! We exchanged our family valentines after dinner, and then headed to Baskin Robbins for dessert. My Aunt sent each of the kids a card and $2, so Phil thought it might be fun to take them out for ice cream.

When we got home Phil built a fire and we all snuggled in front of the fire in our jammies for a bit. When my sweet Lily sat down in front of the fire, she belted out, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus..." ("There's Just Something about That Name"). Phil's request was "Kumbaya," of course, and mine was "Little Red Caboose." We could not have asked for a better evening!

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day Party

When I taught school, this was probably my favorite day of the school year. I love school Valentine's Day parties! Jared had his first one today. He made this little pouch to hold his valentines and it was taped to the back of his desk chair. When we got home, he and Caleb opened each one and split the candy. What are your plans for Valentine's Day?

No Pictures Today...

...only sweet memories

* of Jared who is bursting at the seams with excitement for his school Valentine's party tomorrow.

* of Caleb who woke me up from my nap with hugs and kisses.

* of Gracie who came with me to WalMart to pick out a new pink pacifier. Nothing turns her head like the clothing section of a store. The toy aisle means nothing to her.

* of Lily who poured me pretend water from a toy pitcher while rambling on about her day. I wish I could understand her words.

*of Phil who read to the kids on the couch and colored with Gracie at the Children's Museum.

I am blessed.

Intriguing!

This kind of stuff intrigues me! These paintings were stolen from a private art museum in Zurich by 4 masked men.


Degas' Ludovic Lepic and His Daughter


Monet's Poppy Field at Vetheuil


van Gogh's Blooming Chestnut Branches


Cezanne's Boy in the Red Waistcoat

"Our" Shopping List

Gracie wanted to add a few things to my shopping list this morning.


I could hardly read what I wrote when she was through adding her items!

Me...1952...Really?

I found this quiz over on this blog. I really wanted 1984. Oh well. I lived it once. I guess that was enough. If you try this quiz, leave a comment to share what year you belong in. To take the quiz, click here.

You Belong in 1952

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

What Year Do You Belong In?

Happy Reunion

Gracie and Lily were asleep last night when the boys arrived home, but they had a sweet little reunion over breakfast this morning. The kids love each other so much, and they're thrilled to be together again.





Caleb is giving Gracie a kiss and Gracie is kissing Caleb's hand.

Little Munchkins and Mini Muffins

Wow! What a day! I never realized how much I depend on my boys to help out with the girls. They do such a great job entertaining and distracting Gracie and Lily so I can get things done around the house.


Before bedtime the girls helped me make muffins for the morning. This involved taking everything out of a kitchen drawer and tapping the muffin tin with each item. I'm not sure which girl thought to do it first, but they seemed to have a little system going. I did, too: let the girls empty the drawer, because then they won't notice that I'm cracking eggs. Eggs get a bit messy when there's grabbing involved. Measuring cups seemed to be a better choice.


I'm sure Lily was thinking, "Will Mommy notice if I sneak a bite?"


When it was Gracie's turn to stir the batter, she reminded me that I had forgotten to put on her apron.


Ahhh...the fruit of our labor! This sure made me miss my sweet Caleb, because he so enjoys our "Special Time" together on Saturday night.

Just the Girls

Phil took the boys to Idaho to help some friends shovel snow. They left this morning with their Leapster games, plenty of snacks, and their snow suits. Jared and Caleb are planning on sledding while Phil works.


I stayed home with Grace and Lily, because they still have coughs. We played Bingo, practiced ABC flashcards, ate lunch and then played doll house for about an hour after lunch. I told the girls to start cleaning up for naptime, and Lily decided that she wanted to take her nap out in the living room. If you look closely, you can see something white next to her head. That's a doll pillow. Then she asked Gracie to cover her with the doll blanket.


I found these after I put the girls down for their nap. I noticed that Gracie took off with them while we were cleaning up. When she wasn't covering Lily with the little blanket, she was driving this "family" around in one of the toy cars. I guess they pulled over to take a nap on one of our throw pillows.

Polka Dot Pottery

I went to a great little place here in Spokane called Polka Dot Pottery with my friend, Brooke. We had fun talking and painting while watching the snow fall outside. We didn't know at the time that this snow storm would cancel all of Spokane's schools the following week.

I just picked up my piece tonight. What do you think?


I thought our Sweet Tarts from Halloween looked cute inside.

Fast Feet!

Today, while out and about, I found this great set of Disney Princess roller skates with knee and elbow pads for only $2! Here I thought I was getting this great deal, but now I realize that I'll have to find another set or two. Four children and one pair of skates don't go over too well in our house...oops!


All four kids loved trying out the new skates, but Gracie, who refused my help and didn't want me to touch her, was the only one who balanced well while skating off of the carpet. She even put the elbow pads on all by herself!


What do you think of the camo jammies and the princess gear?