This boy adores his big sister and she is pretty crazy about him too (most of the time).

After a week off for Winter Break, all my cherubs are healthy and back to school.  Sam missed the week prior to break because he had the flu and strep throat so he actually got two weeks off.  Poor guy 🙂  When we woke up this morning, we were met with about a foot of snow and for a quick second they thought that they might get a snow day! Not the case.

We had a very relaxing break but mixed it up a bit and fit in some fun as well.  We skied, went sledding,  bowled with friends and made a trip to the Denver Zoo.  It was a great week and now Mommy is ready for a break 🙂 Off to work, I go!

I love this picture of Paige.  No matter where her ball went, she always smiled and said Yes!

Have a great Monday!

Jennifer

After a very blizzardy drive to and from Breckenridge to church, we decided to stay closer to home for the rest of the day.  We headed over to the Frisco Adventure Park and found a killer sledding hill.  The best part; we were the only people there.  The second best part; all the 11 and unders are sleeping:)

For some reason that great poem from Shel Silverstein comes to mind whenever my kids get some sort of sickness.

I cannot go to school today, said Little Peggy Ann McKay.

I have the measles and the mumps.

A gash, a rash and purple bumps…….

It was one of my favorites when I was a kid.  Who doesn’t dream of staying home “sick” for just one day.  Lying in bed, reading or watching the television, maybe drinking some soda to calm the tummy.

 

Well, Sam doesn’t.  

The boy loves school. 

And he is sick. For real.  

Influenza AND strep throat.  When he gets sick (which doesn’t happen very often) he gets super sick.  

So, he hasn’t been to school all week.  Most kids would love a week off but not my boy.  He has been so sad all week thinking about what he might be missing:) Evidently, staying in your room all week watching reruns on the Ipad gets old.  Thank goodness, the drugs are kicking in and he is starting to perk up!  

Now he just has all that homework to look forward to.  

Every once in a while, I get to go away, all by my big girl self (all by myself means without a human being under the age of 12 in tow). This past weekend I joined three friends from Colorado Springs on a girls weekend to Crested Butte.  Crested Butte is this gorgeous sleepy little mountain town about 3 1/2 hours away.  We had a blast and it was a perfect weekend for relaxing.  We ate, we drank (way too much), we snowshoed, we sat in the hot tub and we laughed, a lot.  Scott was a champ and stayed home with our four babies.  He had lots of plans for the weekend but Samuel woke up sick on Saturday morning and the rest of the weekend included thermometers, Ibuprofen and bed rest.

Anyway, thanks so much to Victoria, Marnie and Lacey for a fabulous weekend away and many thanks to Scott for holding down the fort at home.

There are a few days a year that I think homeschooling makes sense and Valentine’s Day is one of them 🙂

Oh, who am I kidding!  I love making those homemade cards with the kids, all 80 of them (cards that is).  This year we mostly took the easy route, mainly because I started preparing wayyyyyyyy too late.  I started preparing today.

So, here are the “love” notes we came up with this year.  Despite my lack of planning or forethought, I think they turned out pretty well.

Sam wanted something funny this year.  He is totally not into passing out cards so this was a fun route to take with a fifth grader.  We took Alice’s version from last year and tweeked it.

Alice was on the fence until 2 seconds before she walked out the door this morning.  I gave her a few suggestions and this in the one she finally chose.  They were super easy and turned out really cute.  Another great thing, twisty straws are super cheap.

Paigie knew what she wanted on her Valentine’s Day cards like a month ago.  Pencil grippers.  Pencil grippers?!?!?!?  How do I make that into a clever, crafty card?  Well, after a bit of Pinteresting, I found a perfect saying to go with a pencil and gripper.  She was thrilled.

Last but definitely not least (actually we made his first while the other kids were finishing up homework) is Mason.  Mason’s Valentines were the easiest by far.  Bubbles.  Print off the labels, add names and adhere sticker.  That is my kinda crafty.

So there you have it.  Valentine’s Day 2013, look out!  Again, I really must give all the credit to Pinterest.  There are so many great ideas, just waiting to be found.

One last thing that I have to add.  Our elementary school does not have Valentine’s Day parties. They invite the parents to lunch, pass out their cards, watch a movie and go on about their day.  I like it.  A lot.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you and yours.  May you receive piles of chocolate and may you eat every last morsel.

Good night.

Jennifer

 

Mason and Daddy

Scott took our two girls to their first ever Father Daughter Dance last night.  The night before the big dance I stood outside their room and listened to them discussing the name of the dance.  Is it a Father Daughter Dance or a Daddy Daughter Dance?   They were so excited that they could have gone on forever talking about it. I love those sometimes rare moments when they are being sweet to each other and just talking like best friends.

FDD or DDD? I assured them that they could call it whatever they chose:)

Each of the girls got a new dress, shoes and a hair accessory (Thank you Target).  They both looked darling and were crazy excited to spend the evening with Scott and their friends from school.  Scott came home looking a little dazed and confused. I guess being at a dance full of 5-10 year olds all evening made him a little loopy! After the dance, some of the girls and their dads went out for a treat at our local froyo place.  By the time they made it home, everyone was hyped up on sugar and fun.  Everyone but daddy that is…..he proceeded to sit down and fall asleep:)

Scott refused to haul my big ole’ camera to the dance so all I have are the before pics.

 

Strong, courageous and proud…that’s what little girls are made of.

So, today, instead of manning the front counter at the Frisco store, I am home with a sick(ish) little girl.  My Paigie has a sore throat and seems to have lost her voice. I am praying that is isn’t the start of something worse.

I am taking this extra time at home to do some laundry, pick up and get some stuff done around the house.  With four kids, a husband and dog there is always STUFF to pick up and laundry to be done.  Anyway, while I am home for the WHOLE day I thought I should take the opportunity and blog.

Sunday, after church we went downtown Breckenridge to check out the snow sculptures.  Last year, we waited too long and after the summer like winter we were having, those babies were melting fast.  It is pretty cool to see what can be done with an enormous block of snow and some gardening tools.  Teams come from all over the world to compete.

 

Snowing here today, under a winter storm watch.  Snow is good because we are in a serious drought not to mention people like to ski on SNOW.  Bring it on Mother Nature. Bring it on.

Jenniffer

There are definitely some things that are tough about living in a small town (i.e. everybody knows your business, no fabric store, lack of culture and diversity).  As I have posted before, we are really enjoying this quieter, small town way of living.  Don’t get me wrong, we loved living in a bigger city as well but this has been a good change for us.  Last night was one of those times when we fell in love just a little bit more with Frisco.

The Spontaneous Combustion is one huge gigantic bonfire.  I know right?!?!?  I am getting excited about a bonfire?!?!?  Well, give me a PBR and a flannel, I am embracing the lifestyle.

The town of Frisco collects everyone’s Christmas trees for a month, piles them up and burns them at one big town party. Don’t be too worried; the fire department was in charge of throwing (and dumping with a front loader) all trees into the fire.   Adults are chatting and kids are running around, sledding on dirty snow piles, making smores on a separate smaller fire (smore fixings are provided by town) and just having fun.  This is something that (I hope) my kids remember forever.  We missed this event last year and I am quite sure we won’t miss it again.  After about an hour of “burning”, the town sets off fireworks from the marina.  After the fireworks, we bid our friends goodnight and walked home.

Aside from being covered in ash and smelling like a campfire until 2020, we are all in agreement that we won’t be mulching our tree ever again.

Jennifer