Happy Valentines Day

I know it's a bit late to blog about Valentines Day, but better late than never. Valentines Day for us is a family event. Every year I cook crab & lobster (this is mainly for Derek & I) & then after dinner we have chocolae fondue (this is mainly for the kids & I). Delicious!! This year Derek had the romantic task of replacing the bathroom faucet (Thanks a bunch). Thanks sweetie for my new camera!! Watch out Kevin, Mike & Andrea because I have a ton of camera questions.



Abby & Lindsey were thrilled to get "the thing that helps me sleep" as a gift for Valentines.

My dad

It was 4 years ago today that my sweet dad passed away. Day's like today make me stop & reflect. It gives me a chance to think about how blessed I was to be raised in a loving home with parents who cared for me & were always there to help me. There are so many things I miss about my dad...most of all I miss being able to talk to him, he was such a great listener & always gave me such sound advice. I miss being able to give him a "bear hug", make him burnt chocolate chip oatmeal cookies,or staying up late talking, playing games & eating junk food. I miss watching the little things he would do to show my mom he loved her. I am so grateful for the knowledge that my family will one day be reunited with my dad & that our Families are Forever.

Finally...

So last night as the kids & I were eating dinner Abby yelped & started to cry. We asked what was wrong & through the miracle of not so official sign language, tears & hysteria we were able to make out that she had bitten down on her fork. Ouch!! Abby kept crying & saying her tooth hurt, then Gray being the genious that he is suggested maybe her tooth was loose. Yep, it is official Abby has her first loose tooth. Yeah Abby. She is so excited about this because many of her friends have already lost teeth. I cannot tell you how many times last night I heard, "I can't believe I have a loose tooth" or "I didn't think my tooth would be loose today." Oh the thrill of growing up. I have a hunch that this is going to be a long & painful process. Let's put it this way, Abby is not known for her pain tolerance & can sometimes be a bit of a drama queen. So we will see how this whole loose tooth things goes.
P.S. Grandpa we need you to fly to Illinois to pull out Abby's tooth!!

Pinewood Derby

Today was Grayson's first Pinewood Derby. What an exciting day for a boy & his father. Grayson wanted to make his car look like a dragon. He found this picture in a book.
Luckily, Derek is great at drawing & sketching. (This Derek Crowther original might sell for big bucks one day!!)
Grayson concentrating on his job of painting the "Shen Lung".
The finished product.
Moments before the big race
Crossing his fingers, arms & legs.
This year Gray went for looks over speed. He has declared next year he feels the need for speed.

It's haircut time

Grayson hates getting his haircut, so I thought I would do a little reverse psychology on him. Since he is such a stinker about getting his haircut I told him fine I will just stop cutting your hair. See, I thought this would work because although he hates getting his haircut, he likes it a very specific way. Well it totally backfired on me. He has had shaggy hair (although very in style) for about 4 months. I just couldn't take it any more. His hair was getting out of control so today I asked if he wanted it cut & he said yes!! HURRAY, I was very excited.
BEFORE
AFTER
P.S. I am so mad, because I took all of these great before shots & then when I was taking the after shots I discovered that the photo card was not in the camera!! UGH!
Abby on the other hand has always wanted her haircut, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to cut it. Well a couple of days ago (apparently I get crazy when Derek has been out of town for a while)I took her for a haircut. Initially I was thinking 2 maybe 3 inches. Well as it turns out we ended up cutting about 5 inches. Derek is so going to kill me! Abby was so thrilled. As soon as the hairstylist was done Abby said thank you like a million times. Abby loves it, I love not having to get all the knots out of her long hair every morning, it is a WIN...WIN. I hope Derek thinks so, he hasn't seen either of the kids haircuts yet.
BEFORE
AFTER

Wisconsin

Everyone keeps telling us that we need to go to the Wisconsin Dells. So this weekend we decided to go check it out for ourselves.
This is a ski slope here in Wisconsin. I am not sure if you call this a mountain or a hill?
This is an Ice & Snow sculpting competition that happens every year.

Marshmallow eating contest

Only in Wisconsin can you enjoy a snow sculpting competition one minute & the next minute be going down water slides. (Notice all of the ice on the door!!)

Hearty Mid-Westerners

How do we know it's cold outside:
1. You get a phone call from your kids school at 5:30 in the morning saying school has been cancelled due to the extreme cold conditions!!
2. After you take a shower you notice the inch of ice on the Inside of your bathroom window!!

3. As you drive to the grocery store to buy eggs your car thermostat reads -7 degrees. And yes that is before the wind chill!!
4. To take the trash out you bundle up like you are going to race in the Iditarod!! Unfortunately for me the garbage can ended up being frozen shut & I wasn't strong enough to open it.
Yep it's cold outside.