It has been very cold here lately. I'm about to go out of my mind from being stuck inside all of the time. We are having to get very creative.


Last week, I went into the kitchen and I found that Kale had taken a frosty beer mug out of the freezer. He was having a nice cold glass of water.


We have been spending lots of time at the children's museum. I am so grateful for our membership. It's a great place to go when it's freezing outside.


Kale and Liam like the veterinary exhibit. Liam likes the huge animals and Kale likes releasing the pets from their cages. They also have a section with live cats that you can adopt.


They have a sandbox with rubber pellets in it. Liam loves to play in the sandbox, but I have to watch him closely, as he also likes to eat the pellets!


Now that Liam is walking much more, taking him to the museum is much easier. He can actually play in the exhibits and is not stuck in the stroller.

Location:Winter Days

Snow Day

On Thursday night, we got our first snow of the season. This was Liam's first time to get to play in the snow. We only got a couple of inches, but it was enough for the boys to get out and play in.

Kale wasn't into getting his picture taken, so I could only get a shot from afar (when he was playing in the neighbor's yard.)

I spent about 30 minutes bundling the boys up. Liam would not leave his shoes on, so I ended up getting several pairs of my fuzzy slipper socks and putting those on him. He also has my gloves on because he wouldn't wear his.

By the time we actually got outside, I was sweating like crazy as a result of wrangling both boys. It actually wasn't that cold outside...the snow was already beginning to melt by 9 a.m.

Places around here really shut down due to weather...worse even than Houston, which is hard to believe. They had cancelled class at the college before it even started to snow.

We had to get really creative at the inside play by Friday. It had been raining nonstop since Saturday, so the boys were done with being inside. We pulled out the playdough. Kale and Liam both tried to eat it.

Liam is really into coloring these days, so he did that for about an hour.

Kale went out onto our screened in patio to play. We have lots of riding toys and other fun toys out there. Both boys love playing out there. It's the outside/inside experience. There is a lock on the door, so they can't actually get outside. Even when it's rainy or snowy, the boys can play on the patio. It's so nice.

I wouldn't let Liam go out because I thought it was too cool for him. He stood at the door and stared at Kale.

Cookie Monster

Kris' parents got cookie monster for Liam for his birthday. He plays with it all of the time. Very quickly, he figured out where to put the cookie and that it ended up in the backpack. Lately, after he feeds the cookie to cookie monster, Liam says, "mmm, mmm," just like Cookie Monster does. Liam also frequently attempts to eat Cookie Monster's cookies and give Cookie his paci instead.

Liam's Famous Look

Liam makes this look all the time. It is hilarious. Anytime he hears a funny noise or sees something and doesn't know what it is, we get this look and he quietly says, "oh, oh, oh?" He makes this face at least 20 times a day.

Bad Blogger...

Look at at adorable little tushy!!

My boys have such fun at bathtime, but it is a rather dangerous experience for us all. They literally wrestle nonstop in the bathtub. I am constantly, CONSTANTLY on them to knock it off! I know someone is going to chip a tooth (another one) or get a bloody nose. 

Liam loves his baths! He has figured out he can stand up and keeping him sitting is next to impossible. 

I just love this picture! I think it would be adorable to blow up and put in a bathroom. Liam has quite a few rolls and even has cellulite on his rear. Kale is still a skinny-mini! 

My sweet, sweet Liam. He is walking most everywhere these days. He has been healthy, but as I have been working on the computer for the past hour or so, I have heard him cough more than a dozen times in his sleep. Ugh...I have a feeling we have a new virus coming on! 

So, in other news, I have been a rather bad blogger lately. Actually, it's more than that, I have been a terrible picture taker and memory capturer lately. I'm not sure why...I guess at the first of the year all of the excitement is gone from the holidays and it seems there is nothing to take pictures of. 

We have not been up to much. Kris is in Spain right now and will return home next Saturday. I started back to work at the college on the 7th and and start teaching ESOL this week. This is actually my busiest week of the semester, with all of my classes in swing and some required trainings going on. I am working 3 ten hour days in a row (I normally work a total of 10 hours a week), and of course, this is the week Kris is out of town, so we have babysitters galore. I think this week will be really rough for my boys since they won't get to see Kris and will barely get to see me. Pray that everything goes smoothly and that Liam does not get sick!! 

In other news, I am teaching a Sunday School class at church. It's for 7th grade students...ugh! Middle schoolers--I forgot how silly they are. This Sunday was my second week and they are very sweet kids. I think (hope) I will grow to enjoy it. Kris and I also joined a small group at church, so we have been able to meet many other couples with kids the same age as ours. 

I guess that's a quick run-down of the happenings in our life. I will try to start taking a few more pictures!

Liam is Walking!

Extended Family Photos

While my parents and brother were in town over Christmas, we decided to get family photos made. I thought they turned out pretty good considering we were dealing with a 2 1/2 year old and a 1 year old. 

This is one of my favorite ones.

I was hoping to get a few really good shots of my parents with the grandkids, but Kale and Liam didn't feel like cooperating. 

Another one of my favorites.

Hands down, my favorite photo that we took! It is quite rare to get a shot of my brother was even a half smile on his face. 

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was lots of fun around our house. The boys both woke up and started wailing at almost the exact same moment. They got up earlier than usual, as a result of going down past their bedtimes the night before. It never fails...if we keep them up later, they get up earlier. 

They started out by enjoying their "Santa presents". Liam got a little Tike car and a shopping cart. Kale got a children's tablet, called a Tabeo (unfortunately, it was quite expensive and he has shown absolutely no interested in it.), as well as a mini kick scooter.

We were a little afraid Kale would go straight for Liam's car and that we would have a fight on our  hands, but Kale loved his scooter and new "hat" (which is what he calls his helmet). He is already quite adept at riding the scooter. He has much better coordination than his mother. 

After playing with their Santa presents for awhile, the boys dove into their stockings. 

Then, they began opening presents. This was literally an all day affair. Liam was completely uninterested and we ended up opening his presents for him. Kale would open a present. then he wanted to play with it for 30 minutes. He finally opened his last present at about 7 p.m. on Christmas evening. 

Next we enjoyed a great breakfast of hash brown casserole, cinnamon rolls, and chocolate croissants. Yum!

My dad has to show off his presents from David Ray. In continuing with the gag gift tradition this year, David Ray got him some toilet paper that has a picture of Obama on it and it says "oh shit." 

Kale kept insisting that we put Liam in the shopping cart. He wanted him to sit in the front part like he does at the store, but of course, he wouldn't fit. We put him in the basket and Kale drove him around the house. They both loved this.  

Poppa and Kale getting in Curious George on Christmas Day.

Liam had to model the new hat my brother bought for the boys. This is a matching one to a hat that David Ray owns. Liam is not into hats these days, so we had to hold his hands down for the picture. 

The boys enjoyed some time outside in the fresh air so that I could cook. 

Finally, we had a delicious meal of prime rib. This was my first year to make prime rib and it turned it pretty dang good! Kris had to wash the dishes, as he lost the bet between himself and my mom regarding which team would win the Iowa/Michigan game.