Ice Storm

Last week was glorious and beautiful. The temps were in the upper 50's. We spent much of the week outdoors soaking up whatever Vitamin D we could get. We went on several walks, to the park, flew a kite, kicked the soccer ball around and Luke showed me how to ride a tricycle. It was a.m.a.z.i.n.g.

But, we all knew that would never last. Not in Cleveland. The same thing happens every year. 

It's okay, at least it was a nice break during this long winter.

Yesterday Matt was on call. I took the boys to church and came home after sacrament because Luke was not feeling well. Later I thought I'd take him out to get some fresh air, it wasn't too cold. We bundled up and off we went in my beloved Bob (seriously, I think Matt is jealous of my Bob.....jk). Less than 15 minutes later we quickly returned home, covered with a layer of snow. Luke had no idea we had even left, he fell asleep before we left the garage. I felt like an awesome mom, taking my sick child out into a freezing snow storm. And now Devin has the same yucky stuff. Apparently everyone is passing it around out here.

So, last night after a little snow, we got slammed with a lovely ice storm. Until I moved here, I had never seen anything like it. It is so awesome! I took these pictures several hours ago, and it looks just the same out there. Everything has a layer of ice on it.

Even this squirrel, frozen mid run.

Just kidding. That's gross.

I love it! It is so cool.

What's not so cool, are all the trees that are breaking and fall to bits out there. We have huge limbs lying in our yard and everywhere else that are just breaking off because of the heavy snow. Our poor little bushes in the back look like this.

But, it's still cool right?

Baby Love

I don't think I need to say much in this post...

My little baby boy is just SO adorable.

I can't believe (I know I say this every monthly post I do on him) he's almost 6 months old! He is just growing so fast. It is so much fun to have a little baby in our family again. And I think parenting and doing it the second time around is a million times easier than the first time. Oh how I just love all my boys!!!

V-day

Lukey's Balentine's day, as he calls it, started off with some pink, heart shaped pancakes.

Then we decorated, putting hearts on the window, blowing up some balloons, putting up a streamer and my unfinished wreath. (Here's the tutorial for that).

I let Luke open my valentine I got for him and he was sooo excited. I love how the little, simple things are enough to make kids happy. At least my kid!

 We were going to go to a Valentine's Day party at the library, but after Devin was loaded in the car, I realized I didn't have my keys (they were in Matt's pocket with him). About 2 seconds after this realization, Luke slipped and fell into a puddle, which completely left him soaked. Even through his 2 pairs of underwear that he decided to wear that day.

I made a yummy Chinese-themed dinner (Matt's favorite) making sweet'n sour chicken and veggies and fortune cookies for dessert. But of course he didn't get home until 7:30 or later, so Luke had left over pancakes, while I ate the chicken. It was really romantic, let me tell you.

When Matt finally got home, he took us out for ice cream at my favorite place, Mitchell's.

Hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day!

My latest favorites

In the past week I've found some awesome deals and new favorite things around my house...just thought I'd share (that's how excited I am about them!).

Don't you just LOVE this face?

Besides Devin being among my favorites, this little beanie, 50 cents! My boys have rather large noggins so he's in a big kid one and Luke is in an adult one...

These bowls. A.d.o.r.a.b.l.e.

49 cents!

  

Wait, it gets even better...

The adorable bowls were wrapped in these sheets of paper, which kept my 3 year old occupied for at least an hour.

Awesome? I'd say so.

Last week I threw my good friend a baby shower and used some of the cute bowls (I just couldn't give them all away) and filled them with chocolate covered pretzels as the prizes for the games.

Cuteness.

Then at JoAnn's (I haven't been in forever, but I'm starting to get my craft back on) I got this fabric for $5.00 a yard (50% off). I am SO excited to make curtains for my boring kitchen.

Speaking of crafts. I made this cute pillow for the love day. The best part was I had everything to make it!

I found it online somewhere...but not sure of the site.

Another favorite...these girls. At Marilyn's baby shower, we had a grand ole time, until 1am...gesh!

Still going....

This vegetarian (I am not vegetarian btw!) stew....so good! You won't be sorry. Here's the link.

And the girl that I got this delish recipe from, also gave me these super cute vintage alphabet cards. Love them!

I've struuuggled with decorating Luke's room, but it is very, very slowly coming along. 

I found this pig at the dollar store (for yes, a dollar) and it has inspired me for his whole room, strange? Maybe.

One of our favorite things is to hit up the after-holiday sales...where we usually just get way too much candy, but this time I found this too! A cupcake stand for only $2.50!

On the big V-day, I made these fortunate cookies. You heard me right, I made them! Here's the recipe for those. 

And what's Valentines without our favorite sugar cookies???

Oh and another favorite thing, I found some Van Huessen (sp?) zipper ties for Luke at JCPenny...for $2! Score. He looks so handsome too. Sorry no picture.

What are some of your favorite things?

Happy little Devin

I have been meaning to (and tried a few times) to post a video of little Devin. Since none of my family or friends have ever met the little cutie. And he is so fun and giggly. So here is a little video of my little pumpkin!

I'm five months old.

I love to jibber jabber and squeal and squawk.

I am getting use to rice cereal.
I love to smile.

I can roll over.

I love to grab my toes and play with my feet. My mom says it's the cutest thing ever.

I love jumping and bouncing in my exersaucer.

I love tag blankets.
I can almost sit up all alone, sometimes I crash.

I have lots of toys that I like to play with.

I'm usually very happy.

I love to laugh.

I'm very ticklish.

I love to hug my mom and attack her by eating her shoulder, when I get really excited.

I like to grab at faces.

Sometimes I suck my thumb.

I sleep a lot. 

I like having an older brother.

I still have to be swaddled when I sleep.

I like to suck on a pacifier when I nap.

My mom still uses cloth diapers on me (most of the time).

I've started wearing 9 month-sized clothes.

I'm a big boy.

I'm healthy.

I'm chunky and tall for my age.

I have strong legs.
I roll all over the place, get rolled up in blankets and end up in funny places like half way under the couch or 3 feet off the run onto hardwood floor.

I like to hear my mom and Luke play "name that tune."

I like music and bright lights.

My mom loves having a cuddly, little 5 month old baby around the house.

Everyday a Snowday

The great thing about having young children and being a stay-at-home-mom is that I usually don't have to go anywhere if I don't want to. Especially if it's a blizzard or in the negatives outside. We can sleep in, stay in our pj's all day if we want to, bundle up and go out to play in the snow, have hot cocoa and snug under 5 blankets to watch a movie afterward.

Cleveland winters really don't seem a whole lot different than Utah winters. The only difference is the sun seems to shine more often in Utah, especially after a storm. That makes a big difference too. 

This winter has been so much better (I can't believe I'm saying this!) than the past Cleveland winters I've experienced. I think not being confined to a 2 bedroom apartment and having a car, makes all the difference. 

Almost every day Luke and I go out to shovel or play in the snow, sometimes 2 times a day. Devin takes 3-4 naps still. We don't stay out too long, but it's so nice to get some fresh air. Playing in the snow for 30 minutes will wipe him out and sometimes I get lucky enough and he'll take a nap, or be a completely exhausted cranky-pants the rest of the day with several melt downs.

We've experienced some bitter cold days, so windy and in the negatives. On those days we stay inside, and my old windows do this...and I think it is so cute! I hear it's bad for your windows, but it reminds me of old Christmas movies or something.

We haven't had any snowman-building success yet, the snow is just too fluffy, but we have built a giant "mountain" according to Luke, for us to sled down in our backyard. These pictures were taken several weeks ago, so the mountain is much bigger now. He thinks it is so much fun. Now it goes about to my shoulders.

 

When it was just small I put Luke on top and he couldn't get down. He didn't want pictures taken so he chose to throw snow at me as I was taking pictures...which resulted in this...

Don't worry, he was only out there for seriously less than a minute. I had to wipe off my camera and take it inside.

We seriously need a fence back there, it's so ugly!

Winter hasn't been bad, but I'm ready for a change.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

is what we call them.

Having two boys is so much more fun than I thought it would be. And I know, it will get crazier, more wild, more messy, more everything, but this phase is so sweet and fun.

Luke seriously LOVES Devin and Dev loves watching and laughing at his older brother. It is so nice to have Luke around to entertain Devin (not that I don't, but a little extra entertainment is always nice). Every time I lay Devin down on the ground Luke likes to hug him, tickle him, talk to him in baby talk, read books to him and tuck a blanket around him when he thinks he's cold. But don't get me wrong, even though he loves him and is usually a great big brother, he's still a three-year-old and occasionally will do little not-so-nice things to him.

Here are some more adorable pictures of my two cuties.

Love those dimples!

I seriously do not coach Luke on how to pose or to do this or that for pictures sake. Most of the time I just sneak up and start snapping pictures because they are being so cute.

In a recent post, I mentioned how Luke is really into taking care of his animals. Well, here he lined them up to put them to bed (on the hard floor). He insisted on him and Devin in the line up.

Jeff the giraffe, Sam, Chip, Lucky the penguin, Bruce, Goose the moose, Eeyore, Ted, Sal the duck, Devin and Luke.

Story time...

followed by a little wrestling...

What funny boys.