Annoying things when it snows......

Okay, so here is my rant... I really do love the snow, but as a mom, there are some major hang-ups... so for my sanity I thought I'd share my thoughts.

The FIVE most annoying things about snow....

1. the kitchen floors... why take the time for your regular cleaning schedule to mop and vacuum your floors? On snow days {when you've had NINE in a ROW}, it would seem purposeless to try and maintain any level of cleanliness when kids {and husband}, are tracking in dirty snow.

2. WALMART and other places that don't take car of their parking lots.... yesterday, after being at the doctor with a sick kid, we of course, had to go to Walmart to pick up a much needed prescription. Well, much to my dismay, when pulling into the parking lot, it looked like a 12-yr-old had plowed the parking lot... no joke! The snow piles took up the FRONT 25% of stalls from one end of the store to the other; they decided that dumping the snow in the shopping cart holder spaces would create more room. WRONG, it just created a massive shopping cart dilemma for those good patrons who were trying to return their cart into the designated area and didn't have a spot. And lastly, it didn't even appear as though they were shoveling the snow, because they had waited to long, it had been packed down and basically they were just trying to scrape off the top layer, thus leaving slushy, nasty, 2 inch deep grossness to walk through... yuck!

3. the car.... now, I'm not sure why, but is seems as though this time of year when getting out of the car any child under the age of five feels as though rubbing up against the dirty car, in their clean winter jacket, seems to be the most obvious thing to do while wandering their way into the house. We've had numerous conversations about how "we don't need to clean the car with our jackets, lets walk 'around' the car, not up next to it." But much to my dismay, the "neat color" it leaves on your coat sleeve {according to Peanut}, is just to much to pass up.

4. shopping carts in the snow..... shopping carts fall into the category of the old-school red razor sleds which were meant for packed deep snow.  And if you've ever used one of these old-school style sleds, when you sit on them, you are a little disappointed that the sled sinks to the ground, thus making it more of a hassle to use. Which is my point with a snowy parking lot and shopping cart, you get the same result. It would be better to try and carry your toddler, while holding your three-year-olds hand, and carry all your belongings, than push a shopping cart through a snow-covered lot!

5. the garage... I really enjoy having a clean garage. I know this may sound funny, but its one of the random things that my husband and I share some common ground on {regarding cleanliness}. He is what you would call a "city person" in the garage category. We like to park our cars inside, and we like the floors of our garage to be somewhat clean. Which is a tough thing, when you live in the country off dirt roads. So, when the snow comes, per my husbands request, before pulling into the garage, I get out of the car and knock excess snow out of the tire-wheels area. {Yes, I know, I'm a pretty great wife} Well, with the cold, cold weather we've had, there have been a few days, I have not fulfilled my snow-knocking off duty... thus resulting in nasty, pond like floors in our garage... sorry honey!

So, there you go. If I lived in a place where winter lasted much longer than it does here, we'd be in trouble!

Snow-klahoma, it just keeps falling, and falling!

So I have to admit (of course, most of you know it), Oklahoma is not the most known state, nor is the little town we live near (Colcord). In fact, there are many who are native Oklahomans who have not heard of our little town,  SHOCKER... there is a post office, and school, nothing else. But much to our surprise, we made the news, along with Siloam Springs, Ar  (our neighboring town), we made the front page of yahoo, weather.com and numerous others for the SNOW. Yep, proud to say it! We received over 26+ inches in a mere 24hrs. It was amazing. I'm not sure if J-man or I have ever seen this much snow at one time (with out being in the mountains). Here are some pics!

Thank goodness for Mr. Brian, if he had not shoveled our road and driveway, well, we'd be stuck for at least 3-4 days (did I mention is supposed to be 50degrees this weekend). Peanut and I played for a few minutes outside... or at least to get some pictures... it was below 20degrees... chilly for a 3-yr-old.

And we had lots of fun on this particular snow day, because even daddy got to stay home! So we watched the bulldozer shovel snow..............

We made an obstacle course out of our living room furniture............

Painted dinosaurs while the Big Guy napped...................

Road our trucks.................

And watched several episodes of Elmo's World!

The Sunshine State

Every winter we head to Florida to visit Papa and Grandma Heimer. Its a nice break from the cold cloudy winter months! This year we enjoyed visiting the turtle sanctuary, Animal Safari, feeding the seagulls, and walking along the beach. The Big Guy really enjoyed the travel to and from Florida, when he could gaze out the windows of the airport at all the planes and trucks. I think he might have preferred this activity over other things!

Go Delta!

Looking out the window before take-off

We visited the Turtle Sanctuary, which is free. They have great turtle tanks with windows looking in, so kids can get an up-close look. This was lots of fun!

And then we went to the Drive-thru Safari! This was lots of fun. We went mid-morning, so the animals were still eating (they put the food near the drive). After the Safari, there is a mini-amusement park (perfect size for little kids), and a small zoo, which was lots of fun. 

Big Guy LOVED the train ride, we fed goats
(they were rather aggressive), and enjoyed a day in the sun!

We had lots of fun with Papa and Grandma Heimer

Lastly, we visited the beach! Fed seagulls (well, Peanut ate the bread....), put our toes in the ocean, watched the boats go by, it was the perfect weekend to get a little sun, and warm weather in the middle of winter!

our little bread eater!

J-man and Big Guy at Juno Beach Pier

Putting our toes in the ocean! 

Winters Favorite Things

Here are some of our favorite things right now:

For Christmas Big Guy received a motorized Thomas the Train set, and they have occupied a lot of his time (and his sisters) since setting up the track. He has mastered the skill of putting them on, and then letting them go. Round and round, until he sits or steps on part of the track and becomes desperate for it to go back together so the cars can continue the merry-go-round of fun. Most of the time he will come and find me, saying, "elp, elp, choo-choo, choo-choo".... meaning, help me mom, my train is stuck.

Drool and all, Percy is the train of choice around our house!

And performing is another favorite of our Big Guy's. Yes, he crawls onto our bean table, its a daily thing, and performs "the wheels on the bus", and you can see below, he is very dramatic when in motion of making the wheels-go-round!

Peanut "I love to be a princess and dance, dance, dance, thats my favorite thing." Besides being dressed up everyday (wearing a crown and carrying a scepter), she tots around her Rosie Gina train(named affectionately after her sweet cousin Rosie Jean... whom she insists will go by Gina), and her Princess Blythe Bear (we're not very original at naming things) who is always dressed like a princess too. And then each day, during lunch, while daddy is home she performs at least one song and dance a day.

Little House in the Big Woods

   NO, this is not actually our house, for those of you wondering; however, during the winter months, I refer to myself as Laura Ingalls Wilder. Why? Because we live in the country and use a wood burning stove as our source of heat. We have a wood pile out back, its filled each year and we haul wood during the winter months to heat the house. So my job most days, is to keep the fire burning. Now, as a city girl born and raised in a home where you flipped the switch and your gas log fireplace comes on, this was a change. I always thought that fireplaces were more for ambiance and not actual function, so I digress.

The most important things we have learned about wood burning stoves are:  having your house at a certain humidity level keeps the heat in (thus meaning we boil a pot of water on the stove 24/7, and there are humidifiers in every bedroom), flipping a switch on your ceiling fan to make the blades rotate the opposite way sends warm air DOWN, and having a skill to build a fire that lasts for 9 hours is priceless (or very valuable, if I was a contestant on SURVIVOR).

This is Pole #15, the view from our front window; seasons come and go by pole 15, but this is one of my favorite!

After getting about 6+ inches of snow (which is a LOT here in the south), we spent most of the day cooped up inside due to the cold temps (15-20degrees), but did try to venture out... or should I say, Peanut made it out for about 10 minutes.

We made Chocolate Chip Pancakes, a must on a snow day!

Big Guy enjoyed his favorite DVD

Puzzles, puzzles, and more puzzles

Peanut outside!

And then last but not least, it is important at the end of a snow day to make some sort of snow concoction. Snow candy, snow food, snow slushes, so since we couldn't go to SONIC, we made slushies! Apple juice to be exact.

COLD and yummy!

This is what a non-napping 3-year-old looks
like at the end of a long cold day!

And if you've made it this far, and really want a good picture that captures the vast wide open space where we live, enjoy the pics below!

Beans, Penguins and Snowflakes

This month I thought we'd take some time and learn about the letters P and S. Seeing that its cold outside, the snow has fallen, it is only appropriate that we highlight and talk about whats happening outside our windows! So we started off the month talking about Penguins; where they live, what they look like, we checked out some books from the library, and even a DVD (which was a huge highlight) for Peanut. We typically do any sort of learning time when the Big Guy is down for nap time (he is more destructive these days). We talked about snow, snowflakes, and the importance of only eating WHITE snow, not yellow, brown, or any other color!

Peanut came up with the following
P words: Penguin, Purple and Peck (the last, I was a little surprised by!)

S words: Snow, Snowflake, and Stop (which had nothing to do with our project, but rather reflects her backseat driver ability, when she points out every red traffic sign saying, "theres a red octagon stop sign, are you going to stop mom." And for those of you wondering, YES I always stop for the stop-signs. I must confess it may not always be a complete stop.

To help and highlight what we've been learning, we've been reading some of the following books.... One of my favorites, Bear Snores On, so cute, captivating, and funny! And some of our others include, Fancy Nancy, Diary of a Fly, Click, Clack, Moo, and the all time favorite Tickle Monster. Which is best read by the J-man, so Peanut tells me.

Beans.... yes, this is the month where I find beans in the toys, beans on the floor, beans in pockets and it all goes on and on... but I just deal with the hassle of it all, for the sake of playing with new textures, filling and dumping, measuring and building, and sometimes, crunchy things in the mouth!

I got what is actually a an outdoor sand-table last year and instead of sitting it outside, we use it inside during the winter months. It is filled with beans i got for $10 from wally-world, yes, they have lasted two years now... the nasty ones we have dumped, but for the most part, they are as good as new. This provides endless hours of entertainment, and takes about 15minutes to clean up every day.

Mom's Day Out

Taking Two! 
Yesterday marks the first day that I officially dropped two kids off at Mom's Day Out. Our Big Guy has been on the wait list since last semester, and much to my delight, I got a call saying he had a spot this spring! So I took my first full-day to myself yesterday, since Nov 9th, 2007, and let me tell you, it was great! 

Big Guy's First Day

Big Guy is the crier in our family. We do stuff on a regular basis that involves childcare, ie, weekly Bible Study, Church, and MOPS... HE CRIES! Each and every class at drop off. Big tears, and now that he has quite the vocabulary, it now involves, "Mommy,  nooo, Mommy No!" as I lead him into his respective room. But as all moms know, the second I round the corner, the tears stop and he is his normal, playful, happy self.  

STUFF... it takes lots of stuff, two lunches, two coats,
two nap mats, two backpacks, two changes of clothes....
and thankfully, only one set of DIAPERS! 

On my first day off, I went to Borders and read. Yes, I read books... actually books on parenting to be exact. I've found myself wanting to be more intentional and constructive with how we parent Blythe, Lord knows we need it! Being pregnant with #3 and a mother to a three-year-old and a nineteen month old is HARD! My patience is thin, my body is tired, and these are all the lame excuses I use when responding to my three-year-old, in my BEST three-year-old way... I take comfort in the wise words of other moms who have three....

"Having three is easier than being pregnant with one, and chasing two around..."

I've read lots of books on parenting, partially due to my education in Early Childhood (now is when I can toot my own horn!); but, lets be honest, most of the books I read in college well, I was more idealistic about the way I would parent and an expert in "how to parent" so to say the least, we've been learning things ALL OVER AGAIN! But this is one of the books I'd recommended, 1-2-3 Magic. Now after reading Love and Logic, Conscious Discipline, Bringing up Girls, The Five Love Languages for Kids, you get the picture... I really like the philosophy behind this book. The steps are simple, and you get results... and did I mention J-man read it... yes, he's kinda great like that! Anyways, for those of you who have read it, or may pick it up we jokingly call it 1-2-3 Miracle... it is not written from a Christian philosophy but we decided that if it was, that would be the title! So if you're looking for a quick, insightful good read, try it!