And A Good Time Was Had By All (Except Maybe The Chicken)

This morning we woke up to snow. It just so happened to be the perfect 'wet' snow, great for snowballs and sledding. (This was before we got a layer of ice pellets) After locating approximately 92 pieces of winter clothing and real matching pairs of gloves (!), the kids and I headed out to play. We got the sleds and headed off to the greenbelt. When we were almost there someone ran up behind us yelling. It was Jeff trying to scare us. He had thrown on his snow clothes and followed us. We had so much fun!! We had both a saucer and a toboggan at our disposal and I think we sledded in just about every configuration possible. Jeff and Tyler, Katie and James, me and Katie...you get the point. We had the hill all to ourselves and we made the most of it. Jeff accidentally performed a pretty sweet stunt. He was flying down the hill on the saucer and hit a bump. He flew up in the air, did a 360 degree flip, landed and kept going. Tyler went down solo in the toboggan and hit Katie, who fell over onto the sled and flew down with him. While Jeff and I had loads of fun sledding, it appears that we exceeded the weight limit on the saucer and it met its demise.  We decided to tempt fate and ride down together on the toboggan. It remained unscathed, but we ended up landing in a patch of brambles where I managed to cut my finger on a thorn. To add to the injury rate, James got a bloody lip and Tyler's little ankle got rubbed raw from his snow boots. Hey, we had a 40% safety rate...that's good right? We spent the rest of the day playing in the yard, and doing fun crafty projects and baking inside. Oh, and we took the chicken sledding. I think the only reason she stayed on the sled was because she was scared of the snow. I can just imagine someday when the kids are older, sitting around saying 'Remember when we took that chicken sledding...yeah, we sure did some strange things to entertain ourselves!' :)

Tractor Square Dance

 

This was my favorite event of the farm show. Who ever heard of tractor square dancing! We actually got there about half way through the show, but it was still awesome. A caller calls out the moves and the tractors follow. Some of the guys had skirts hanging from their tractor seats like they were ladies dressed up for the dance. It is amazing how close they stay to one another without a collision. In the first video, you can see they formed a big 'X' for their finale. After they finished, the caller said 'Now they don't know I'm going to do this to them, but they all need to turn around and do that the other way.' They all shook their heads and then did it anyway. They all made tight little turns and faced the opposite direction in formation without crashing into each other.

Tyler and Wasabi Peas

Jeff brought some wasabi peas home from work yesterday. Tyler wanted to try one. He made a really awesome face when the heat hit him, then chugged on his sippy cup. Then he went for another, and another, and another. He must have eaten at 20-25 of them. After each one, he would take a drink and then slam back another one. It was so funny (and unbelievable) that we had to take a video.

A Questionable Way To Entertain Your Children

It's even more fun when you can roll Dad in the barrel!

Chicks

Jeff's Latest Shenanigans

Jeff Tries To Run Me Over

Especially For Uncle Phil

James riding his two-wheeler

Record Snow and Lots of Fun!!

Exported Videos

Our Latest Form of Entertainment....

Why is this so funny?????

Jeff and I have watched this video so many times and it never stops being funny. Even though it really shouldn't be. Our poor kids. By the way, the video size is a lot bigger than I normally post and I'd like to know if y'all are able to see it. Our new camera has a different format which we haven't figured out how to edit yet.

Just because its funny...

Kids' Shenanigans and S-C-O-R-E!!!

It was warm enough yesterday to play in the hose!; James and his outfit of the day

Katie in her cowboy gear; Saying Cheese!

Orange Smile!; Sharing an orange

And cha-ching! We caught the groundhog that plagued my garden last year. He actually stayed away from most everything, except my entire crop of peas and several cilantro plants. Who knew groundhogs liked cilantro?! He will be moving on to some greener pastures far away from my garden. Coming to a neighborhood near you! (Just kidding! I think.)

When Good Birds Turn Bad: Rabid Robin Attacks

Since Saturday, a crazed robin has been attacking our vehicles, primarily our truck. It flies at the windows and as an added side effect, poops all over the doors. It will sit out there, all day, and fly at our windows. I hadn't seen him for the last two days, but upon inspection of the truck, it appears that the bird continued to be hard at work. There are so many scratches on our windows, I can't imagine the bird has any beak left. Hopefully the scratches will come off; and hopefully the bird will come to his senses soon and find something more productive to do!

Our Week in Photos

James wanted spiky hair. How stinkin' cute!

I love big cheesy grins.

Blueberry goatee...this doesn't come off very easy, FYI.

Hello, feet, is that you guys down there?

You are becoming but a distant memory.



Green! We planted seeds this week, and already we have tiny little broccoli and basil sprouts! Yeah-hooray, as James would say. Spring is coming!!!

And a crumby, but humerous video. This is what happens when I leave for 15 minutes to run a quick errand. Jeff turns on some questionable music and the kids get to dancin'. I'm going to go out on a limb here and postulate that James may have a little bit more dancing talent than either of his parents.

Pictures, and a Hidden Camera Video....

The 'chapters' are back in vogue, at least for a day:

Misc. Katie Pics:

The C@rs cake I made for a friend's son. That's a lot of red food coloring!!!

Whenever I bust out the camera, James clams up. Therefore, when he was lustily belting out a song from Veggie T@les this morning, I secretly positioned the camera to catch his antics. He is singing the song 'Because I Love My Ducks,' and it is clear that he only remembers one line from the song. Enjoy!

A few short clips of...drumroll please...Katie WALKING!!!!!

A Warm Day = Fun Outside!

Today the temperature got all the way up to 56! Way better than the low thirties and even twenties we've been having. Tomorrow is back to the usual, so we had to make the most of it. As soon as James learned it was warm enough to go outside for a while, he wanted to ride his bike. He was a maniac! He flew back and forth on the patio, narrowly missing the tree and our neighbor's fence. Katie and I followed James on his bike as he rode down the sidewalk. Katie held onto only one of my hands, and walked the entire time without falling or sitting down!! We walked two houses down from our house and back! How exciting is that!?!? To top off James' afternoon o' fun, when Jeff got home they got out our bin of 'Yincoln Yogs' and built an elaborate house. James was thrilled!

One more thing to watch out for when you have kids...