Free Entertainment at its Finest

And we didn't even have to leave home! Brentwood Public Works was across the street taking down an ash tree (apparently there's some sort of bug infestation in ashes here?), and they came with a cherry picker and a chipper. Two children were never more enthralled.

That's My Boy!

We were at Denny's tonight for dinner. We had 4 free Grand Slam coupons from their Super Bowl promo...so we had breakfast for dinner. As Nicholas chowed down on his bacon, eggs, sausage and pancakes, he looked up and said "Mama. I need some vegetables!" I've been requiring him to eat all his lunch and dinner vegetables in order to have a dessert (which can be as tiny as a few jelly beans...it's really just the idea of "dessert"). I love that it's taken such hold that he requests vegetables at Denny's! I let him off the hook for the night, explaining that I didn't even think they had vegetables at Denny's, and we even went out for Maggie Moo's ice cream. Thata boy, Nicholas!

When Mama's Away...

While I was in Oregon, Tom was home with the kids for 4 days. Certainly the longest he's ever spent alone with them. They had trips to the park, a concert with Babaloo (a local kid's entertainer) and Nicholas' first time bowling.

Daddy even worked on a snowman art project with Nicholas for school. Dried banana ears and a goldfish nose? Brilliant! I have mentioned Tom's love of snowmen...

Nicholas told me all about bowling - "It's not like Wii, Mama. You don't use a remote, you use a ball. You still try to get strikes and spares. But sometimes I got splits."

They did great all by themselves. Although there were some strange outfit choices... I think I should go away more often!

60 Years Young

I went to Oregon for the weekend as a surprise to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday. I was horrible about taking pictures, but I did capture a few!

When I came around the corner at the restaurant Friday night, my mom flashed this smile. Really?? No big 'Wow, you're here' moment? Turns out she didn't realize that it was me behind the camera.

Then she realized.

We had a party the next night (also a surprise) with her family and friends. She was glowing!

Quick snuggles with my niece, Ava

I got to meet my beautiful niece, Elyse, for the first time.

My mom shares her birthday with my nephew, Henry. Just 55 years apart!

It was a fun, jam-packed trip. The weirdest thing was traveling by myself. I haven't taken a kid-free plane trip since Nicholas was born. I had almost forgotten the joy of reading (and sleeping!) on a plane. I missed my family, but had a wonderful time with Carl and Libby and kids and celebrating the birthdays. Definitely reminds me what we miss by living so far away in St Louis!

Going, going, gone

Feb 1

Feb 6 - 7am

Feb 6 - 2:30pm

Feb 7

Feb 8

So Bow-tiful

When I try to put bows in Charlotte's hair, they are out almost immediately. But when she decides she wants them...she wants all of them. She brings me the bows one at a time, walking back and forth to her basket of bows. Once they're in, she pulls them out and puts them back in her basket. This is a daily activity!

King Snow Family - 2009 edition

Tom loves building snowmen. Nicholas thinks it's pretty cool, I guess, but Tom is REALLY into it. Since it was 60 degrees out but we still had inches of snow left, after naps today we figured it was time for the year's snowmen to come to life. This year my job was Charlotte-Wrangler. She decided it would be fun to giggle...then go as fast as she could into the street (not that she ever made it that far).

Taking a break on the snow. Wow those are some dirty mittens!

Tom teaching Nicholas all he knows about the craft.

On the move!

They're done! (Yes...it's dark.)