Snow Fun!

After how many days of snowing, it finally got sunny out, so yesterday we went outside to play. Well, Daddy shoveled, Rylan played, and Mommy took Mackenzie for a sled ride around the block. But then I couldn't help but play with Rylan in the snow, it's still fun, no matter how old you are!

Mackenzie chillin in the sled. I promise, we do let her see when we're outside, but the hat just works its way down. And Nick took this picture, so I'm blaming it on him. (but I love you honey)

Rylan has to crawl through it to get anywhere, or he gets mad when he sinks.

He was jumping off the rock for a while, but it was more fun if I threw him in!

After I threw him in, Ace jumped on him and got his face full of snow, so Mommy to the rescue to get it off.
I couldn't help it, I had to do it too. The first time I just jumped backward, but Nick told me I looked like a spaz and that I had to do the Nestea Plunge. It was really scary, but I did it, and when I landed, Nick couldn't even see me in the snow anymore, I was buried.

Goodnight My Sweet!

My sweet little girl right before bed, snuggling her baby.



She seems to be feeling better, although she was barfing again this morning. She slept a lot today though, so that's good. Nick is sick too, so I'm the only one who hasn't gotten this little bug. I've been disinfecting like crazy!

And thankfully, it's finally stopped snowing! It's still blowing though, and the Interstate is still closed. I lied yesterday when I said we only got about 6 inches. I'm pretty sure we got almost 2 feet of snow. It has drifted a lot, but we definitely got more than 6 inches. Nick said that out at his work, there are 16 foot drifts! So I'm glad it's the weekend and we haven't needed to go anywhere.

A VERY white Christmas!

I'm not supposed to be doing this now, I'm supposed to be with my family, but alas, the weather has not cooperated, and we never even attempted the drive. It's been snowing for 2 days now, but the wind really picked up today so it's not good. I think we've only gotten around 6 inches, but with the drifting, it looks like much more. We have Nick's family in town though, so we still all got together and had a good time.

Mackenzie is not feeling well though, she spent the morning throwing up. Both her and I have changed clothes many times today. She finally stopped throwing up around 11am and fell asleep and took a good long nap, so that was good, but she's still not 100%. Poor girl! Rylan had this all on Tuesday/Wednesday, but still is not eating well and now Nick went to bed early tonight because he didn't feel well either, so pray that I don't get it!!! Who will take care of everyone if Mom gets sick?!

So needless to say, it wasn't an ideal Christmas, but we're thankful that we're not more sick and that we are safe in our nice warm home. We still ate too much today and got to spend time with family, so it's all good. Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus!

Here are a few pictures from yesterday. First is after the Christmas Eve church service. (We took it at Steve and Lisa's house because their tree looks better!) Thanks for the awesome meal Lisa, we had a great time!

I took the kids sledding because even though it snowed all day, there was no wind and it was 25 degrees, so it was perfect for playing outside. I don't think Mackenzie knew what to think about being all bundled up, but she smiled the whole time we were out. We walked to the dike but only went down twice because I couldn't trudge up the hill one more time pulling 60 lbs in the sled. We had a blast though, and we all took good naps when we got home!



Mackenzie thought it was funny to keep falling out of the sled. Thank goodness she was so bundled up that she only got snow on her face a few times.

New Songs

I'm a little late getting Christmas music on the blog, so be prepared, it might be here for awhile. I LOVE Christmas music, and I really love when the radio stations start playing it 24/7, it's awesome! My playlist consists of some of my favorites. Enjoy!

Kids in a Bin

We should have gotten them a rubbermaid bin for Christmas, because they have been having so much fun with this. Other than just sitting in it, Rylan's favorite thing to do is hide underneath it, and he's really good at sitting quietly until you find him.

Sweetest Little Boy Ever

I think I do have the sweetest little boy ever. He can really drive me crazy sometimes with his stubborn-ness, but he's got a heart of gold.

Today, I had to make a trip to Target. I don't normally go on weekends (especially this time of year) because it's way too busy and it's never quick. But, we needed stuff, so I went. And, I took the kids because Nick was working on the house. Rylan has always been a great little shopper, staying close to me, happy to help pick out the things we need, and only admiring all the "cool" things, but never begging. Lately though, he has a bad case of the gimmes, wanting everything in sight and throwing fits when I say no. Would it be easier to just buy him these things? Yes, it would, but he needs to know that he can't have everything he wants.

I'll spare you all the details, but our trip to Target was over an hour long and included 2(that's right, TWO) all out, on-the-floor-kicking-and-screaming, tantrums, with many whiney comments about how he was "never going to get that". I kept my cool the entire trip, until we got in the car. He suddenly started screaming about how his hands were cold. I asked him where his mittens were, because the last time I saw them, he was wearing them in the store. They were no where to be found, so I yelled at him for losing his mittens in the store. We hadn't left the parking lot, but I was not about to unbuckle both kids and walk another mile to get in the store to maybe find these lost mittens, it wasn't worth it. We drove away while I was lecturing him about how he left his mittens in the store and now they were lost. He kept saying, "I din't leab them mommy, I din't."

While waiting at the stoplight, it dawned on me that I never checked my purse for the mittens. Sure enough, there they were, tucked inside my purse. When I pulled them out, he said, "see mommy, I told you I din't leab them in the store." I felt terrible. I turned around, looked him right in the eye and very sincerely apologized for yelling at him. In his happy, sweet little voice he said, "it okay mommy, I will always lub you." I burst into tears right there in the car. That boy makes my heart melt.

Construction!

Here are the latest on the house! Windows are all in, just waiting for doors and siding, then it will look drastically different.

A few on the inside.


And a little of our own construction on a gingerbread house.
Papa helped too!

Thanksgiving Bowling

I totally forgot to post these pictures. Over Thanksgiving at the Ranch, we found a great little bowling alley in a nearby town. Nick and I took the kids and Rylan had a blast! They put up the bumpers for us and had a perfect little ramp for Rylan to use.

However, he was more interested in waiting for the ball to show up in the ball return. He didn't really care about the pins.
Okay, we got him to wait a few times, but it was okay that he didn't care that much, because it made him really frustrated when he didn't get any down. (yes, even with bumpers, it's possible to get a gutter ball, right at the end)
Daddy, with perfect form!
Mackenzie thought it was great fun to toddle around the lanes, but eventually got mad that we wouldn't let her walk down the alley, so she was relocated to the highchair with a snack.
Mommy takes bowling very serious! :)
After a while, he wanted to roll the ball on his own.


I didn't know bowling shoes came this small, aren't they cute? He was disappointed that we couldn't take the shoes home.

The Ranch

For Thanksgiving, we headed out west to the hunting ranch, and had a great time. The weather was beautiful, Katie and Brian were able to come and we had lots of good food! Here are some pictures to prove it was a great weekend.

The mighty hunters.

Plus some tag-a-longs :)
Kenzie and I seeing how close we can get to the cows - not very close.
Rylan feeding Taj an apple.

The whole fam-damily in the hay loft.

Playing in the straw
Sneaking in a kiss when we can.
Beautiful sunrises/sunsets
The entrance the guys built, it was awesome!

Little of This, Little of That

"Why yes, I have an older brother, how did you know?"
I tried these boots on her the other day, and she LOVES them! It was harder to walk and they are a little too big, but she thought it was soooo cool!

Rylan playing with cars on his train table. We had to search the whole house until we found enough to make two lines all the way across!

Mackenzie got her new glasses! They are AWESOME! They are so light and durable, hopefully they'll fare better than the first ones. (which, by the way, have been ordered again, since they were officially broken this past weekend, thank goodness for a warranty!) Oh, and notice the little "purse". She has been carrying this Dr. Suess bag around, and loves it! She's more likely to fill it with cars and trucks, but it's a handbag none-the-less!
And aren't these SUPER cute!

Here's the adorable case and little cloth that came with them.

Christmas Card - Take One

We attempted some Christmas card pictures this past weekend, and here are some of the out-takes. Obviously, Rylan was the uncooperative one. I guess we shouldn't have taken them so close to the park, he was not happy that he couldn't play right away. Here's the best of the worst.




We did take a time-out to do some playing though.




And here are the good ones!