Sleepover Time

 Colin had his first sleepover this week with his cousin Andrew. 

Andrew lives in Texas, but will be moving to KC with his family very soon!

The kids didn't have too much time to play on Thursday night, but they had lots of fun!

 Colin and Andrew



 Eating some spaghetti dinner (I never claimed to be a gourmet cook!)

 The Lego table was a hit.

 Watching a movie, munching on some popcorn

 An impromptu dance party at the end of the night

 More Legos in the morning

Playing in the kitchen

Brian had Friday off so he was able to meet the rest of Andrew's family out at a park later on in the morning.  We heard those silly boys giggling in their room until almost 9 pm, which is really late for Colin to be awake.  Brian said he was pretty crabby during the day, so we're not sure how much they actually slept, but they had a wonderful time together.



Maggie tried hard to keep up with them for a while, but just couldn't do it.

We love cousin Andrew!

St. Patty's Day weekend

 We had a fun-filled, jam-packed weekend.

It flew by, they always do.

On Friday night we had some friends stay over to watch the kids so we could head to Topeka to get a jump start on the moving process.  We met my mom up at the bowling alley, headed out for a quick bite to eat, then tried our best to get a good nights rest before a busy day.

It took us about 3 hours to pack up the Uhaul.  Not bad for just a few people helping!

We then did the 1.25 hour drive to Peculiar.

It took us 30 minutes to unload the Uhaul.  It's amazing what not having to deal with stairs can do!

Brian and I got to see Mom's place for the first time.  It was really nice!

I think it will be just what mom needs.

We can't wait to go back and help unpack some more.  That is the fun part, making the house a HOME!

We got done moving mom just in time to make church (just the 2 of us, it was so nice!) and were back home to put the kids to bed on Saturday night.  Boy were we wiped out.  

We had a pretty lazy Sunday, but got quite a few things done, 

like...

We finally got rid of that OLD mattress in our spare room.

Seriously old.

Like my mom's grandparents slept on it (or something like that!)

Yuck-o!

 I made some yummy St. Patty's day mix with popcorn, pretzels, green M&M's and lucky charms marshmallows.  So good.  Very addicting!

 We did a little finger painting at the house.

This is the first time I've done finger painting with them, and I'm not sure they've been exposed to it anywhere else, so it was pretty fun watching them.

Neither of them got very messy, and they both wanted their hands wiped in between colors.

Towards the end I convinced  them to dip their entire hand in for a handprint on the paper.

I know, don't get too crazy now!

 Colin being so neat with his painting...

 So much fun!

I'm sure they'll be much more creative next time around.

 My little cheesy Maggie.

We just weighed her this morning.  Almost 2 years old and only 22 pounds.

She's a little peanut.

 Silly face Maggie!

The kids with their tired Daddy.

After dinner we watched Wreck It Ralph (for the 2nd time that day). We rented it from Redbox after watching the trailer for it every night at bedtime.

It really is a cute movie and the kids loved it.  I'm sure we'll be adding it to our home collection pretty soon.

So happy to be home all week due to Spring Break.

Had an unanticipated test thrown my way on Friday though, so that's something I have to look forward to working on all week.  

Just keep plugging along!

Spring day

Only one more class until I am "officially" on spring break.  I totally need a break right now.  Not that I won't be working on school stuff all week, but at least I won't have to make the drive to Lawrence.

Brian is currently working at the Big 12 Tournament at the Sprint Center.   His company requires the workers to sign up for different events throughout the year.  Too bad he had to work a normal day, then do the Tournament, which was a 4 pm to midnight shift.  Yuck!  

At least he'll be having a good time watching some fun basketball games (we can hope!)

The kids and I played outside the whole night (minus coming in for some yummy pancakes I made for dinner!) after I picked them up from daycare.  

It was beautiful out there, in the 60s and sunny!

We pulled out all the toys and had fun.

Colin kept rolling this toy down the driveway and running to catch it.  Seriously, he did this for 30 minutes.  

It was great entertainment.

 Making the trek back up the driveway

 So much fun for this kid.

He's really starting to get quite the imagination, making simple tasks like this into a crazy game of some sort.

 Maggie and I were being silly.

I tried to snap a quick picture of us, not bad really!

 Maggie spent her time swinging this whiffle ball all around the garage.

It was originally put up to give Brian an indicator on when to stop pulling forward in the garage, but now it's just for entertainment purposes :)

 Pancake face!

I found a beautiful purple flower in our front yard.

Brian and I are going to do some major planting here in a few weeks. 

We tore up our entire front yard in the fall, so now we have a blank slate.

We can't wait!!!

Tomorrow is supposed to be even nicer than today, in the 70s.

We'll be heading off to Topeka to move Meemaw this weekend , but the kids will be staying here having a blast with Brett and Andy.

Hopefully Brian isn't too exhausted from his long night tonight.

Trouble

How is it March 10th and I haven't taken a single picture of our comings and goings for weeks?

Who knows...

We've been keeping busy just doing ordinary day stuff.

I only have 10 more weeks of school left this semester, and yes, I am definitely keeping a count down.

Brian and I went on a date on Friday.  Just the two of us.  And it was wonderful.

My mom got us a giftcard 2 Christmas' ago and we have yet to use it.  Thankfully it didn't lose any value over those 2 years, but we finally redeemed it.  A girlfriend of mine came over to watch the kids for a couple of hours.  They love her.  In the morning, I asked Colin if he missed us, and he replied, "no, I miss her."

So sweet.  

We ate at Red Lobster and the food was delicious.  We went shopping (and only bought stuff for the kids, of course).  We held hands, Brian opened the car door for me, it was magical :)

Totally needed that.  Now, we are ready for Spring and for some warmer weather and...

For baseball season of course!

Oh, and I can't forget...

Here is a video of Maggie singing Trouble by Taylor Swift.

It's pretty boring until about 50 seconds in.
We just love the chorus that she sings.  I tried to edit out the other stuff, but couldn't figure it out.
Please excuse us from singing in the background.

Trouble

She doesn't have very many moves just yet, but we think she's got the vocals down :)

Sledding, movies, and bathtime fun

 There has been no lack of snow playing time around here lately.

Especially since Daddy went by and grabbed a sled from Grammie & Grandad's house yesterday before the snow storm.  We have some awesome hills in our backyard that are perfect for a little one's first sledding experience.

We headed outside when we first heard our neighbor clearing our driveway for us (so nice, I know.)  Don't worry, Brian gave him some beer :)

Then the kids spent a few hours outside sledding and building forts.  The snow was really wet and heavy and perfect for sledding and building.

Colin loved going down the hill with our neighbor Ethan.  

Ethan is 7 years old and Colin thinks he's pretty awesome.  

 Woo hoo!  Ethan loved the sledding, too!

 Colin went solo for a while, he just needed some help trekking back up the hill, the snow was so deep!

 King of the snow mountain, Colin!

 Brian is such a good dad.  He spent all afternoon out there with Colin, trudging around in the snow and making some awesome memories with Colin and the neighbors.

Maggie and I got all bundled up and she made it about 3 minutes before she said "I go inside".

So, I obliged.  We walked in the door and she said "that was fun!"

What a goof.  

Maggie and I watched some movies today while the boys were freezing outdoors.  

Her new favorite movie...

The Little Rascals

She especially loves Alfalfa and his spikey hair.

 The "real" Alfalfa and his funny hair.

She saw the cover of the movie and immediately made the same face herself.

So, we recreated the cover in the bathtub tonight...

 Maggie Alfalfa Teson

 Can't get by without a "cheese" picture from Maggie

 These two have so much fun in the bath tub right now.

It's super sweet to see and they will stay in there for hours if we let them.

They practice their bubbles, make lots of "hot cocoa" in the tub, and just splash around.

We probably won't have any more snow days for the year...

but they were fun while they lasted.

Now we just need this snow to melt off and give us some moisture in the ground!

Ugh! More Snow!!

Brian and Colin went outside on Sunday to finish shoveling off our driveway.

In the process, Brian started building a "fort" in our front yard.

It had a tunnel, a slide, and an igloo.

There was SO MUCH SNOW!

They were out there forever, but were having  a great time because it was almost 40 degrees outside.

 Crawling through the pile of snow...

about to slide...

 Wheeeeee....

 My 2 favorite guys...

 Crawling through the tunnel...

 Maggie made it out there for a few minutes before her poor hands were too cold

 Trying out the slide, it was a big hit!

 My sweet little lady

Love this girl (with a scraped up nose from taking a tumble at daycare)

We are supposed to get another HUGE amount of snow tonight and tomorrow.

Brian and I will both be off tomorrow to get more snow playing time.

Another 12-15 inches maybe?!  Yikes!!

Snow days...

 The meteorologists were right this time...

we got snow...

and lots of it!

Brian and I both got days off work on Thursday and it was awesome!

The kids just love it when we can all relax and spend time together.  We watched movies, did some cleaning, worked on our main hall bathroom (will explain more later), and of course, did some shoveling and baking and eating!

My beautiful flowers...

they look so pretty right now!

 Maggie wanted to smell them, and instead, just kindof shoved her face in them!

Oh well, I'm sure they smelled lovely!

After the kids got up from their naps, we spent the next 20 minutes getting them all bundled up to go outside.  Colin was so excited to help Daddy shovel.

I pretty much just stayed inside with Mags, but the boys ventured out for some fun!

 I'm not sure what our official amount was, but it was WELL over 12 inches deep.

This picture was taken after the first round of snow, there was still 2 more storms coming.

Brian got out there a total of 4 times to shovel during about a 12 hour span.  His poor back...

 The boys tasting the snow...

 Attempting to shovel out our driveway

 Maggie and I pretty much just stood in the garage and supervised.

Good job boys!

 Colin ventured out into the wilderness that was our front yard. 

Luckily his snow boots stayed on and didn't get lost out there.  It would probably be June before we saw them again!

 Then, as luck would have it, our neighbor runs outside and offers his help with his snowblower!

We love our new neighborhood and our friendly neighbors.

Aaron and Brian knocked out the driveway in about 40 minutes.  There was SO MUCH SNOW!!

Then, to my surprise, my work let us stay at home today too!

So, guess what we are working on...

Yep, we're attempting potty training with Mags.

So far, she's doing pretty well.

Only  a handful of accidents this morning, and I think she's getting the hang of it.

Had to interrupt potty training this morning for a quick trip to Minute Clinic cause Colin's right eye looks terrible.  He's had a runny nose and he keeps wiping it across his face.  Some of his snot must've made its way to his eye and now it's infected.  Yuck.  Now we have eye drops to mess with.

I'll taking some pictures of our hall bathroom soon.
I was looking for a "before" picture on my camera somewhere, but haven't found one yet.  

Let's just say we got rid of the striped forest green, gold, and creme wallpaper for some neutral beige paint.

It looks great.  We'll slowly get this house out of  the 80's and into the 21st century! :)