Love, our girls and Ice Days.

As always, I love the pics I get from their school. 

"I love my mommy because she plays with me," was his comment on love. I need to remember this at 6am on Saturdays when I am grumpy and attempting to play Baby Cheetah or football or whatever he wants to do. 

Anderson gave Sports valentines (shocker) with pencils (I had a lot of them from a clearance binge on the Target OneSpot about a year ago.)

Max gave Paw Patrol ones with M&Ms. 

They both brought home a pretty nice haul, most of which is still on my counter now that I think about it. 

Lily spent the night with us and we had SO much fun! I cannot even believe that my sister and I both have kids and that they are old and hang out with each other and have sleepovers. 

This is the best case scenario. 

Anderson was so excited about Lily spending the night that this is how he decorated his Valentine's man at school. 

On V day, we met up with the Brimer's to make a heart craft thing at Lowe's. I got zero pics of the outing, but did snag one of them in the car on the way to McDonald's after Lowe's. 

I love the girls' enthusiasm, Anderson probably telling a fart joke and Max's indifference/borderline annoyance with the world.

Then we hit up the library. 

Is there anything greater than my 20 month old saying, "Go to the library! Yay!" when we pull up? I mean, he is a terrorist when we are in there, but I love that he knows where we are and take a tiny bit of hope that this means he might be a reader. 

Sissa Selfie!

Lily is so big hearted and so crafty and so smart and so many wonderful things! She made these notes for us  just out of the blue.

Then....it starting icing/snowing/freezing/below freezing. 

And, we were trapped at home for a really long time. We pulled out every single game/activity/random hoarded thing/what can we make out of this random stuff/etc that we had and still had about 5 days to kill. 

Sometimes, I document from inside. 

We really did have a fun time. Our power was out for the better part of 2 days, so that time was touch & go, but we enjoyed lots and lots of bonding. 

Here is what I learned when our power went out: 

 -my kids truly do not watch tv and nobody missed electronics  (not my choice)

 -most of what we eat does not require a lot of cooking 

-even when it was 52 in our house, my kids still were half clothed

-I will never again put off vacuuming because you never know when you will not be able to and it will drive you crazy

It would warm up to about 28 or so during some days, but it got a little chilly at night.

We spent a lot of time outside because I have boys and that is what they love.

*Contrary to his expression, Max did love it. 

See??

Also, this looks like there was not much to sled on, but it was all ice, so we would fly down the hill. It was super fun. 

Brandon even joined in on the fun when he got home from work. 

Every time that the ride ended, Max would yell, "Do it Again!"

We did borderline start to lose our minds, so when the roads were semi clear, we made a priority stop to get brunch. 

The boy always, always needs a digger. 

"Bobble Cole, digger?" ha ha. 

Poor Marisa has a non sleeper in the cutest little package of Kennadee. Having a non sleeper myself, I know how hard it is when you are ABOUT TO LOSE YOUR MIND because your 1 year old sleeps 8 hours total in a day-on a good day! 

Basically, we like to hang out with her as much as possible because she is so cute!

We even managed a play date/lunch at Noni's with the Brimers! I love that they are just a staple in our lives. 

I was literally about to lose my mind with these little people, no power and being trapped in our house and one day I walked in to Max's room and saw this. 

These boys are determined to beat me every time. 

3 things that are needed for a successful ice day:

1. A baby in a clearance snowsuit

2. An awesome sled given to use by the neighbors because we sled so much the first few days that we broke ours

3. A ditch with steep hills basically as an extension of our yard

We did all kinds of random Science things/destruction of things in an effort to kill 5 minutes. 

Gabbi LOVES the snow. It is truly her favorite thing ever. 

It is really never too cold for a popsicle/push up. 

Marisa & were texting back and forth about so many days off and we pledged to support each other through the days. Hence, the walk over to their house in 5 inches of snow. Ferg is always up for an adventure. 

Anderson spent the night at Noni's before one storm hit and we decided to stay and play in her snow a bit.

Love. 

My mom is the best teacher.

Then, because she is amazing, Clare invited us to Jump Jam with her free passes!

That orangish blur is Anderson. Isn't that the kind of pic I should have at a jump place? Just a blur?

Lucy really keeps these boys in line for us. 

We made many trips to stock up on food. Costco (with my mom's card) made for a perfect and cheap ice cream outing. 

And...Storm #3 brought 5 inches and more days off!

Aunt LoLo sent some goodies for Anderson's birthday that kept them busy!

And, we pulled out an old favorite in the form of his planetarium projector from LoLo. She gives the best gifts!

Max kept losing shoes in the snow. I love him. 

He is this cute in person. 

Noni & Bop helped us keep our sanity. 

And, in the end, I just gave up. 

The snow days won. 

A few reasons why Anderson is awesome.

I love this kid. I took off work one day to hang out with them and we did go to the Muse (I got zero pics) and ran a bunch of errands. The highlight of his day was picking out new shoes. He was literally giddy when we pulled up to Dick's and sprinted, giggling, to the shoe section. He chose a really subtle pair of neon colored ones. 

He made this super cute book of the family at Noni's house. She can occasionally get a craft out of him, while I just fail every time I try. 

He had his last basketball game and we are going to miss watching him play.

He does all thing intensely. This trait is exhausting now, but will hopefully pay off one day. 

His Valentine's Day mailbox. 

I cannot make this up. 

He just loves sports. So much physical energy. I am just tired thinking about weekends. 

One of his favorite things EVER is cracking eggs so I bought him a 6 pack of his own one day as a surprise. He was so excited. 

Numbers. All of the time. Exhausting. I did find this board game that involves adding/subtracting basic numbers and it is about the only game I can get him to play. 

He will turn anything into a football and recruit anyone around him to play a game. 

He is always so brave and wants to try everything, hence the broken bones a few months ago. 

I love this kid. 

A few reasons why Max is awesome *and exhausting

I now realize that God gave us Anderson first so that we would not miss a beat when this Mr showed up and destroyed everything. Honestly, instead of being annoyed, I am usually just humored at his adorableness. Mainly because the first born was like this AND wore an eyepatch all day AND required even less sleep. 

Here we have a few glimpses of an hour with Max:

-turning the faucet on and pouring water all over the floor, 

-destruction of everything in the bathroom (he can pull the drawers out and has ripped the toilet paper thing off the wall, as well)

-drawing everywhere with everything

He will keep us on our toes all hours of the day. I love it. 

And, this is why we keep him. 

Destroying things at Anderson's basketball game. I took this pic because it reminds me that he calls traffic cones, "Pine cones" and it is so adorable. 

He loves to read all of the books that have pictures of family members in them. 

A lot. There are a lot of these in my house. It is the hoarding/documenting gene. 

Also, "never" is the answer to, "does he ever have pants on?" question. 

Doing a little reading with the Goose in the church nursery. 

*I have now become an official volunteer in the church nursery because Max screams/cries so uncontrollably that they will call me because they cannot calm him down. Also, if mom is not at the Y and I go work out*, I will get 10 minutes in because that is how long they let your kid cry uncontrollably before they come and get you. They will even change the movie and give him special attention because they love his grandma, but he is a persistent one. 

*Once. I have worked out once this year. 

I love their preschool because they do awesome things like Photo Booth pics for Valentine's Day. I also love this kid because this is one of the pics that I get of him. 

HOW AWESOME IS THIS KID?

"Mama! Mama!"

"What, baby?...Oh. What did you do?"

"I draw right here."

"I see that. What did you draw?"

"I draw car. Go fast. Vroom!"

He seriously was so proud. 

He was looking at pics on my phone one day about a week after he did this (trying to find pics of Reese) and he saw this and said, "CAR!" 

He really thinks he drew a car. 

He got invited to a party for a kid at school and had fun playing in the foam stuff. 

He loves stools and jumping off of things. In this version, the landing is pillows, so this is encouraged. Chloe, the supervisor, is always in the background. 

This boy LOVES his mama. I mean, I am his champion, for sure. He cries hysterically the second we turn right out of our neighborhood and he realizes we are going to school, cries so much at the Y and church that I volunteer with the kid areas and cries every single night at bedtime, yelling for me. The few times he takes a nap (SOMETIMES HE NAPS! I can occasionally get a good 30 minutes out of him and I feel SO victorious!), he will also cry hysterically for me. 

How can he not love me, we look so much alike. 

Always, he is always reading a picture book. 

Frozen is not really his thing, apparently. But, I will, of course, make him pose anyway. 

Max just wins at life.