It was actually dinner by candlelight, but who would correct a sweet little boy, excited about a family "moonlight" dinner?
I haven't quite figured out how to take a non-blurry picture in dimly lit rooms with this new camera of mine. When I use the flash, you can hardly get a taste of the ambiance in the room, but here's one taken with the flash anyway.
...when the weather keeps her indoors! I'm not much of a crafty person, but I had fun making these to hang over the girls' play kitchen area in their room.
I found these garden lantern lights at WalMart. I covered them with cute gingham fabric from WalMart's $1/yd. bin and hid the rough edges with ribbon. No sewing required!
I watched Lily eat a corndog yesterday and it fascinated me. She peeled the breading off of her corndog while saying, "Kkk! Kkk! Kkk!" Which, in our house means, "Gross! Disgusting! Yuck!" And then she licked the remains of the breading off of her fingers and said, "Mmmmm."
...the feeling I get when I've helped them get a high score on a video game. Wow! They look at me like I'm a super hero or something. Now I feel like I can do anything!
My kids love this book! The last time we read it, the boys decided that we should play hide mommy's white mitten outside in the snow (although, it's really a glove). 
Can you spot the mitten in the snow? Caleb said he was going to "stay inside and watch from the window to make sure Jared is safe and sound," which is what the boy's grandma in the book does.
Jared went on a field trip to a children's dentist today. He had a wonderful time, and can't wait to go back--good thing! He mostly enjoyed the video games in the lobby and the fact that the kids get to watch the movie Cars while someone else brushes their teeth.
*cribs
*high chairs
*bottles
*teething
*pack 'n plays to tote around on vacation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But this does mean...
*tea parties
*crayons
*and a bin full of princess dress-up clothes!
Will Mr. Groundhog see his shadow tomorrow morning?
Jared says, "No"
Caleb says, "Yes"
Gracie says, "No"
Lily says, "No"
Well, the day has finally come! Our girls are no longer able to take their nap together. I guess I should be thankful that they get along so well and enjoy playing together, right? This has actually worked out well for us, because Caleb no longer naps on my bed. Now Gracie can take her nap in my room, and Lily can stay in their room.
Phil and I decided just last night that Caleb probably doesn't need his nap anymore. He'll be 4 in a few months, and on top of that, he's been staying up later and later in the evenings. Last night he was up chatting with his stuffed animals way past 10:30. We've graduated him to "Quiet Rest Time" with brother. We'll see how quiet and restful they can be together. So many changes with these little guys. I keep thinking that I need to write a book if I survive the next few years.
We had a good morning together. We went to the library and came home with lots of good books. The video and DVD section was stripped because schools have been out all week. Why did I wait until Friday to go? Jared was disappointed that Spot the Dog was checked out. It was good to get out of the house anyway, even if the video selection was a little sparse. Is it bad that 2 of my 4 children head straight for the videos as we enter the library?!
I made this pillow for a little sweetie who just turned one.
And "P" is for Prayer
Here's a great prayer calendar that I found over on one of my favorite blog sites. You can click on it to enlarge it.
We HAD to get out today! Okay, I had to get out today. With all of our regular family activities (church and school) cancelled, we've been feeling a little cooped up here at home. Since schools are cancelled for the week up here, I thought it might be a good idea to have some school activities on hand. We tried a few this morning, and here's how it went...as I had Caleb on my lap helping him with something, Lily let out a scream because Gracie had grabbed Jared's scissors and was stabbing the top of Lily's head with them. By the time I was able to get Caleb off of my lap and reach across the table to grab the scissors from Gracie, she had opened them and was trying to cut the hair off of the top of Lily's head. This is one of the many reasons I discourage myself from homeschooling.
Mmmm...snow! I do feed my children.
Can you see Lily's little head as she trots up the driveway?
*sitting on my couch, staring out the window at all of our snow
*playing games with my boys. Our favorites are Guess Who?, Clue Jr. and Sorry
*organizing the basement with Phil, while the kids play around us
*folding the day's laundry in the evening while sipping Good Earth tea
*driving in the snow--especially when it seems a bit dangerous. It gives me that "driving on empty" kind of feeling
*when sunshine pours through my kitchen windows
I got this for free from our Christian bookstore today!
It didn't take the girls very long to catch on...they started dancing as soon as they saw Gigi in her tutu. 
At one point in the movie, I noticed Gracie on the floor trying to do the splits like Gigi. That's when Phil ran to get the camera.
I also got this for free:
So we'll start working on the Fruit of the Spirit during our devotional time after dinner.
One of the things I love about Phil is that he has a big heart, and he's always willing to help others. The snow just hasn't let up, so he went outside to shovel several of our neighbors' sidewalks and driveways.
Here he is two houses up the street, practically in their backyard shoveling the snow.
Jared watches from the window. What a fine example his daddy is to him.
Come visit anytime, but call ahead so we can be sure to shovel a path up to our door.
We've had so much snow within the last 24 hours that our church services were cancelled this morning. We had our own little Sunday school class here at home instead.
First the kids listened to a story about a brother and a sister sharing with each other.
Next we had our Bible story about the little boy who shared his lunch of bread and fish with Jesus.
The kids made these baskets with fish and bread for craft time.
Then Mommy shared what was in her lunchbox--goldfish crackers and slices of bread. (Yes, I'm still in my jammies!)
Then we were off to play outside in the snow! Phil made a great hill for sledding out of our old snowfort.
