Winter Blah! Cont...

Here is the rest of our Winter Blah story...
Every once and while you just need something sweet. Well I have learn from past to always keep cookie supplies on hand. Now the hard part deciding on which type of cookies to bake. We couldn't decide so we made two. No-Bakes and chocolate chip cookies. Here both the kids are helping to make the no-bakes.Our sheet of cookies. Notice one is gone! (so is daddy with Madelyn.)Brendan's whole reason to make chocolate chip cookies...licking the mixer & spoons.Half our cookie mix...Brian and Madelyn taking a break from cookie eating to surf the web. (Lulu likes to call that "Nani's seat")
Cute morning cuddle bugs.
Madelyn and her dough nuts. The kid go nuts and will only eat them if she sees that we have them. (new lesson learned)Brendan wanting me to take his picture but hiding at the same time.

Winter Blah!

Okay we are in the middle of winter and it doesn't seem like we are doing that much out and about. It may be due to the fact that this past weekend was really, really cold. Highs in the teens to single digits.
Anyway, here are all the funny things that have been going on in the past couple of weeks. (I will break the post up so it is not so long)

First we have Java Jungle. Our indoor play park. The kids love it.
Here is Maddie playing on the kiddie slide.Here is the Large play area with Brendan in there somewhere.
Here are the kids playing their new favorite game. Huballuba (something like that). It is like twister but they have to follow directions on where to go next. Brendan is really good at following the directions, Maddie just likes to dance on the pads.
This is what our Mighty Hunter does while at home. Some hunting dog.
Dipping Chocolate. This is Brendan's favorite dessert. We serve it with 4 sides and the popular options include: strawberries, grapes (yes weird but good), bananas, graham crackers, marshmallows...Here is what the kids look like afterwards.....

Banana Bread Cake!

Last week Brendan & Madelyn helped me make banana bread.
Well Brendan thought it was a cake so after I got it out of the oven the two of them put candles in is while I was doing something. Well since the bread was still hot, the candles started to melt.
Also my kids are cleaning fends! You get out the feather duster they go nuts. Some times I can't get Madelyn to give it back!

Ice Skating

Brian took Brendan ice skating on Saturday morning while the girls stayed home and had bubble baths & pedicures.
Brian said that Brendan was a quick learner and by the time they left he was able to skate will very little help on balancing.
Here are the photos from the boys day out....
Brendan watching the Zamboni....The Zamboni....Brendan skating....Brendan getting better at the end....

Flash Back!

Okay, Madelyn has decided that our Winter Break was just too boring. Let the drama begin.
Background story-when I was young I broke the end of my pinkie finger in a closet door.
Drama-Wednesday Brian went back to work and we had planned on going out to Jungle Java to get the kids sillies out. While I was getting both the kids and myself ready Madelyn closed the closet door on her pinkie finger! So we call the doctor and rush over and have her finger looked at and if she was older they said she would need stitches but were afraid of her playing with the stitches more than just a band-aid. But they did think it could be broken. So we go to Beaumont to have a x-ray taken. The tech was just so impressed that I could explain to Maddie so she could understand what she needed to do and how she needed to move her hand for each x-ray.
Well thankfully it is not broken but still needs to be cleaned and recovered twice a day.
Here is our little Drama Queen (I wonder where she gets this from?).....Her poor little finger......So we weren't able to go play on Wednesday so we went after school on Thursday.

New Year's Day

We have more snow. Well the snow we had before melted but now we have a good 5 inches of snow for us to go sledding again.
After our first trip sledding and me being nervous about popping Brendan's sled I went to get a larger one. I was able to find a two person one! So Brendan & Madelyn got to ride down in our laps this time. The first time we went she was nervous about going (saying no, no,no...) but being the kind parent that I am took her anyway.
Here are the photos from the sledding trip:
Walking to the hill....Brendan & Mommy testing out the new sled....Madelyn watching not really wanting to take a turn....Mommy & Madelyn getting ready to go down...Daddy & Brendan getting ready to go down....Last of sledding: I tried to zoom in as much as the camera would go to show how much further you go in the tube sled, Brendan & Brian are in the middle closest to the trees. We went far, fast.
Once Madelyn went a couple of times she really liked it and even got upset when Daddy left her to take Brendan down.Also to help celebrate the New Year I wanted a special dinner and BBQ ribs sounded really, really good. So Brian agreed to smoke some for us for dinner. Did I mention the 5 inches of snow that we got. Here is the smoker cooking in the snow covered backyard.

New Year's Eve

Brian & Brendan took Mojo out hunting in the morning (Video's on Brian's blog) and the girls were left to play.
Miss Madelyn got to get crafty with finger-painting. This is her first time being set free with finger paint and she loved it. We just used one color as she got used to it.When the boys got back from the woods poor Mojo was just pooped out.We had of course Pizza for dinner.
Here are the kids being silly.Then we went over to the neighbor's house and played cards. Madelyn made it up till about 11pm, Brian made it till 11:20, Brendan was up till 11:35, and I was the only one awake when the ball fell. Oh well.
Happy New Year Everyone.

Opening Presents (Videos)

Okay, I was a bit slacking on the photos this year. I took video at Grandma and Grandpa's house on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning, we were all in our pajamas and all too excited to get out the cameras. But, here are two videos of the kiddies opening presents. One of each.

First Maddie:



Next Brendan:

Toys, Toys & More Toys

Okay, now that Christmas is over our house looks like a Toys'R'Us testing facility.
We have toys in every room, on every flat surface and Brendan still has some money to spend!

If any of you know Brian & myself you know we had to go shopping the day after Christmas. We went to Michael's (boys went to look at Best Buy) & Target. It wasn't as bad as we thought it would be.

Anyway here are the photos of our toy covered down stairs....
Madelyn next to some of her toys...The boys working on Pirates....The front door...In front of the hiding space under the stairs...The toy box....

Christmas Day

Christmas morning the kiddies didn't get up until 7:30ish (and yes I was up!) but of course we had to open presents before breakfast.
Later that day (after Lulu's nap) we went to Jim & Sharon's house to have dinner with them & Sharon's large family. Santa even made a guest appearance.
Here are some photos...
Madelyn after she stole mommy's chair...Brendan & Madelyn being surprised when Santa & Mrs. Claus came down....Brendan with Santa....Madelyn wouldn't sit on Santa's lap by herself so Sharon helped...

Christmas Eve Photos

We used the video camera more than my camera but here are two photos that I did get.Here is Miss Lulu.
The boys playing.

BIG Snow!!!!!

We got LOTS of snow last night. It is hard to tell exactly...in some places it is around 6 inches, in other places it is about 14 inches or more.

Here is Brendan and Mojo out in the backyard.


Here is Maddie checking out the snow through the front window.


Of course, as soon as I shoveled enough to dig the cars out, we had to go sledding.

Here is the first video of Brendan going down, and then Maddie going down. The sledding hill we go to is straight down on one side, and has two hills on the other. The snow was not packed down enough, because usually with a good shove, Brendan can make it down both hills. Here, he kept getting stuck, and needing a second push.

Poor Maddie.....her first time down I was trying to control her speed a little. Her rope got tangled in my hand, it turned her sideways, and she did a face plant.



Here is one of Maddie making it down without an issue.



And, here is Jen trying not to pop Brendan's sled :)

Wayne County Light Fest

Friday night we went to the Wayne County Light Fest. They close down a few miles of road, and have many light displays set up all along the way. At the end, there is a place with refreshments and a Santa Claus for the kids.

We made a video of this one. I tried to edit it, and keep it short. Only showing the highlights of the lights, the kids in the car, and of course, Santa. The background noise where Santa is at makes it a little hard to hear the kids.