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! 

fried food, dessert and more...

So, during the summer months (May-August), we have the pleasure of eating at the dining hall during camp season. Now, if you're up for it, you must like simple dishes, dessert at most meals and french fries, they are a staple! I decided to document a day of meals, so as to catch a glimpse of what we enjoy! Did I mention you can get to-go boxes?

taco salad bar

turkey, mashers, corn, roll and stuffing

we live in the sticks...

I have finally come to enjoy living in the country... About 2.5 years ago we moved to Oklahoma to live on-site at a Christian Camp and Conference Center. We moved from a metropolitan location, where our home was walking distance to the local coffee shop, gas stations were within a 1/4mile radius, and Target had 6 different locations to choose from, all within a 15 minute drive of each other. From this bustling traffic-jammed city, to northeastern Oklahoma we moved. Our local Starbucks is now a mere 45 minute drive, it is next to Target, the mall, BB&B, Olive Garden, and many other choices which I don't have time to mention, but you get the idea. And then there is the sweet little nearby town with limited options... We have Wally World, a local grocer, Pizza Hut (where we've never eaten), 15 different fast-food restaurants, a variety of Tractor Supply Co type places, and local coffee shops. So we live in the sticks and we live differently now, than we did back then, in our city days. We now fill up with gas before returning home, during pregnancy I no longer satisfy my cravings during the mid-night hours at the local fast-food joint, we haven't potty-trained our two-year-old, simply because it is inconvenient and the list goes on and on.
But this is the life we've chosen, as a result, we've changed,  we've simplified, and that is good.

the horse pasture at the Ranch

the road I run down, its most scenic when the sun is rising.

and then there are the never ending mud puddles!