Snow Day...Again!

 We are a family who LOVES snow days! Ben has had a stretch of 4 in a row and I've had 3 in a row. Altogether we each have had 7 snow days and it's not even February! Love and miss our students, of course, but I cherish these days as I get to act like a stay at home mom!! Dropping Luke off at preschool, picking him up and seeing him playing with his little buddies and getting to chat with his wonderful teachers, taking Ellie to her swim class, eating a quick lunch, then enjoying the daily open swim at Goldfish (LOVE!), cuddling with books before nap, then an ALL family nap...sigh. Ben has loved taking the kiddos to Bloomer to go down our sledding hills! There are 3 courses and Luke has decided that the first course is too bumpy because last Friday Ben took both kids on the sled and it kicked snow in their faces. Both kids love it!

Love Michigan. It is so beautiful in all 4 seasons!

 

 

 

A glimpse into a weekend day with us...

A friend had asked me what we had planned for Saturday. "Nothing really," I replied. " Just spending time with the family!" But then I got to thinking about it and I thought on top of breakfast, am snack, lunch, nap, pm snack, dinner, bath and bedtime...What does a typical Saturday look like for our family at this stage in the game??? See below for the answer...

 

After breakfast it is drawing time! On the windows that is with the spiffy window markers.

 

 18 month check-up!

Our sweet Ellie will be 11/2 years old tomorrow! How does time go by so fast?!

Here are her stats:

Height: 31 1/2 inches, 50th percentile

Weight: 23 lbs., 50-75th percentile

Head circumference: 18 1/2, 75th percentile

A few little Ellie quirks that I want to always hold onto...

1. Ellie hates when a blanket covers her feet. When rocking her I will put her blankie on and she will tug her blankie off her feet. If she can't get it she will whine, "Stuck," and then when she gets the blankie off she says, " There,".  

2. When reading to her you know that she is really comfy and settled in when she puts her right hand behind her head. If she is really relaxing both hands will rest behind her head.

3. She LOVES Mickey Mouse and calls him hot dog because of the hot dog song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

4. I love when she grabs a book and will come over to you and just plop down in your lap.

5. Ellie will melt anyone's heart. Everywhere I go she captivates everyone's attention and she eats it right up. We were in the Meijer line and a very serious face man stood in line behind us. Because Ellie was sitting in the front of the cart while I was putting groceries on the counter she sat there staying at the man. " Oh great," I thought because I knew Ellie wouldn't stop staring at him until she oogled over her. Sure enough a few minutes in of her smiling eyes staring at him he gave in. " She is so adorable!" and then went on to tell me all about his own kids.

 

 

 On to playing around...A favorite right  now is pulling Ellie around on the sled. She is so chill she just lies there and goes with it.

 Lukey's swim lesson and this kid is a fish! He is swimming underwater 1/2 down the swim lane, turns on his back, turns back and swims back to the edge.

 Almost 1/2 way...Proud of you little dude!

 Mom and Elle are off to Meijer and the boys were off to Ben's school to help package food for homeless families! Luke was the youngest volunteer and Ben said he rocked it. He worked for an entire hour "on the line" before asking for a break. :)

 Luke wanted to do some work in his Daddy's office before leaving for the day...

 Up from nap, fed, and dressed for the Ice and Fire festival downtown Rochester!

 Brrrrr...It was really cold out there.

 Wrapping up at the bottom of the tubing hill! Luke and I rode a double tube down the slope and had fun bouncing off the sides. Luke giggled the whole way down. He loved it BUT it wasn't as fast as our own Bloomer park sledding trails!

 Cupcake Station after the bitter cold...

 Ending the night with the Fireworks! We watched them from inside the car. :)

 

Poor Elle wanted to go on the ride too!!! Next year babycakes!

 

And call it a night!

Two little fishies...

 Grandpa and Grandma Cooley bought the kiddos 6 months of swimming lessons for Christmas! We were so excited for Luke to start back up again because he stopped last June and we're thrilled to get our littlest fish in the pool! Luke jumped back into his lessons well and is swimming underwater by himself...for a short distance. :) He loves it and has no reservations. Ellie began last night and I was so excited to be going to her first lesson with her. Her classes are during the days so Jacque, our nanny, will be taking her on a weekly basis. However, because of our snow days and then with Goldfish's pipes freezing we were able to reschedule so I could go with her. She was completely chill and loved being in the water.

Relaxing with mommy...

Cuddled after swim lessons, flu shots at the Dr.'s, and waiting for lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you're awake! (Luke's favorite Christmas song this year!)

Merry Christmas 2013!!! We had a beautiful white Christmas this year with a lot of relaxation, seeing both families, time with friends, and enjoying our two little angels who loved every minute of it. JOY!

Luke's Berenstein Bear's book Christmas Tree (same book from the last post) made him extra excited for decorating the tree this year...like jumping out of his skin excited. He kept saying, " The bows, the bells, and the bright colored balls!" 

Daddy teaching Ellie how to hang an ornament...

...and she got it!

My little munchkins all in black decorating the tree because this was my 3rd and final attempt to take our Christmas card shot. It flopped SO we'll just use the cute beach pic from the cottage. :)

They are pretty cute though!

We were so proud of Lukey for volunteering an hour of his time to ring the Salvation Army bell downtown Rochester! He worked the 7-8 pm shift with his Dad and it was all setup through his preschool program. Great job helping others Luke! 

 We had fun playing with the Polar Express this year from Auntie Nae!

A dinner with Grandpa and Grandma to kick off the Holidays!

It's so cold outside that Luke wanted to soak in the tub. :)

Ummm, Luke looks like an old man with his shirt unbuttoned and greasy chest...nice. Both of the kids have such sensitive skin that I coat their faces with Vaseline every night before bed to help with their dry cheeks.

Bob Thomas, our family's Elf on the Shelf, came for a visit about a week before Christmas! Every morning the kids would wake up and run around the house trying to find him. We found him on top of the potty (with green water inside), on the bookshelf, in Luke's stocking, on the Christmas tree, on the kitchen counter, hanging from a light, and in a Lego castle built by Lukey himself! Below is when Ben and Elle found Bob Thomas sitting pretty in the castle! 

We had our 2nd annual Christmas Movie Night! Both families are invited and we go to our church's Christmas service. Then it is back home for dinner and a movie! This year we watched Rainmaker in our pj's while snacking on popcorn and movie candy!



MOVIE!

Church service with my beauty!

 

Luke was watching his own movie and Auntie Nae went in for a snuggle. :)(

Christmas Eve...Ahhh, my favorite night of the entire year! Candlelight service and Mom and Dad's church, dinner and Christmas back at their house. xo

Getting ready...

Luke found all of Grandpa Cooley's candy bars hiding in the Christmas tree!

Happy hubby and kiddos!

Life is just a little bit easier now that Little Miss can go up and down the stairs all by herself!

SO, Luke found all of the candy in the tree and now he found all of the Lotto tickets! We won 2 bucks out of all of them.

Christmas Eve dinner...

Time to open presents!

 Ellie was so cute dancing on top of her gift!

Still cute lying on her gift...a new sleeping bag! (such a big girl!)

Lukey's turn...a book!

Sweet little moments with Auntie Nae...

Elle's ladybug rider!

And she can hardly believe it...A Mickey Mouse that sings the Hot Dog song when you press his white button! 

Ellie can say Brother now! Still working on Luke...but then again Luke is still working on Luke too. We still have a 'w' sound in place of the 'L'. :)

 I am showing mom and Janae their gifts...I made a Cookbook with all of Grandma Johnson's recipes scanned in. :)

Luke has been asking and waiting so patiently for his....CASH REGISTER! 

My sweet girl.

Just 2 ladies walking out of Christmas Eve service...

Little lady.

Luke was just having a little bit of a good time at Grandpa and Grandma Cooley's house!

Christmas morning! Santa came and he was a hungry little bugger!

 



The kids each got their own grocery cart, groceries, and grocery bags to play store with their new cash register! Luke also got a cleaning set from Auntie Megs and a toaster, coffee maker, and egg mixer from Santa! Elle also got a new wardrobe from Auntie Megs and a new little rocker for the living room.

SO much love.

Mixing the whistles in Ellie's stocking! (making scrambled eggs)

We were able to celebrate Christmas with all of our family at Grandma Budd's this year! It was such a special day having everyone back in the house together again!

Above is a pic with our family...The four of us, Auntie Meg, Grandpa and Grandma Uitti, Megan, Paul, and Kate!

 The kids had fun opening presents...

All of the excitement tuckered Ellie right out. She snuggled on top of Lukey to get comfortable. :)

Another big excitement was that Ellie and Bella were meeting for the first time!!! These 2 sweeties are only 2 weeks apart in age but because their family lives in D.C. this was the first time they have met. We are looking forward to many more holidays together and watch them grow up together! 

Happy New Year 2014!

We all went to dinner with Grandpa and Grandma Uitti at Camp Ticonderoga...yummy!

And then came back home for a champagne toast!

We ended this Holiday break with a big snow storm....Snowmageddon they were calling it. We went over to Bloomer Park and had fun sledding down the hills. The snow was beautiful blanketing the grass and trees... It was our little winter wonderland to enjoy our last days of break.