I tried to get this picture of the kids racing into Jenn and Nates basement on the hunt for easter eggs. The fear of self preservation took over and I got out of the way!!! Although the snow prevented us from having a traditional get together in Spring, with flowers blooming and green grass... aaaugghhhghhh!!! I'm not bitter, the snow will melt and it will be spring again...
I'm so glad that Jeanette was able to bring the chicks for pictures this year. I love the little fluffs of feathers and the kids' excitment and nervouseness when they are brave enough to hold them. The yellowest chick kept pooping on Chloe and she decided she was done and would rather jump on the tramp any way! 
Dan came home from work with some of these for the kids:
And some of these for Me:
It seems that every holiday is a huge celebration now that Chloe is in kindergarten. She gets even that much more excited. She had so much fun passing out her valentines and when she got home, her friend Emma needed to play for a bit. They went through their boxes and read who each little card and treat was from. Giggling girls!!!
So Chloe came home from school spouting all of her new found wisdom about groundhogs. Apparently there will in fact be 6 more weeks of winter. Sad.
She also brought home her Ff artwork that she painted with feathers!
Dan guessed it. His parents bought a cabin!!! It is the most beautiful and amazing cabin ever!!! They gave all of the kids a navigational system for Christmas and then gave us the coordinates to a "rented cabin" for a new years eve weekend. This is where we arrived! They have a bedroom for each of their kids with a loft area just for Josh. When we arrived Sue was putting her new rustic cabin dishes in the cabinets. They told us to look around and find our room ~ it had an ornament with Santa Claus riding a morotcycle in it! In the family room in the basement were boxes and boxes that had the makings for 5 sets of bunkbeds, with trundles and fifteen twin mattresses. Sue has been shopping and had all of the bedding for the beds in the cabin and rustic theme. Each room has its own set of color coordinated towls. Our bedroom is going to be the fishing room! I can't wait to decorate it... Chloe was so excited because she has always wanted to sleep on a bunk bed and she did really well ~ as far as I know no one fell out! Since Dan and I arrived first {SHOCKING, I KNOW} he set out to put his bunk bed together. He did it wrong and had to fix the dang beds three times, his brothers loved this!!!
We had a great time sledding up and down the lot and then Grandpa brought out the Rhino's and took those that wanted too all over the neighborhood. We had great food, played card games and did puzzles. We preteneded that it was midnight at about 8:30 on new years eve and blew horns and wore party hats. Most of the kids couldn't last much later than that and Seth even slept through the excitement.
Just a few more things to do before we go to bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads. Chloe got some reindeer food/sparkles to sprinkle in our front yard to attrack donner and blitsen so they won't miss our house. I also made Dan's favorite breakfast ~ oven baked french toast. They soak all night long, YUM!
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
We got together with Dan's family at our house on Christmas Eve. We had dinner and each family shared a favorite story, song or game. These boys had so much fun dressing up in Seth's super hero outfits. They are so wild and crazy together, it is fun to watch them!!! 
She loved to collect little owl figurines and liked the simile "wise as an owl". 
He then passed out gold dollars to all of the kids. I think it was Jared who chuckled under his breath that when he was little he thought Grandpa made these in his basement!
Chloe got to have school lunch today! She has been so excited for days. They even made their own place mat for the Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast.
We were at Walmart today buying even more lights!!! and a new extension cord for the tree. This morning while I was trying to finish the lights they kept turning off. I would jiggle the cord but it kept flicking off. I finally shimmied under the tree and the cord was so hot and starting to get melty... Hopefully we will be able to post a new picture of a slightly sane mommy with her decorated tree ~ with lights!Seth is still too young to get the concept of free candy. He thinks it is all too much work! Last year he made it through about 25 houses but wanted to be carried from porch to porch. This year, Seth had his choice of outfits. We have the incredible hulk, spiderman, batman, darth vader, a pirate, a cowboy and even a fireman. Gathering manly dress-ups has made this halloween season a snap! He kept changing his mind and at one point he said he was going to be a fisherman. No problem ~ we have everything we need, already. We put the finishing touches on Chloe's Dorthy costume and we just kept waiting and waiting for the time when we would actually have to dress up for Seth to make up his mind.
Mo Mo Man was a hit in the neighborhood! He loved wearing his helmet to all of the parties but the bike was pure genius from house to house. He would gladly ride it to the porch steps of every house, yell out "trick-or-treat" then race back to his motorcycle to Zoom down the driveway:
Chloe was still faster and probably will be for some time but they did take turns ringing the door bell. She would run ahead and stand there and wait and wait and wait. The weather was so nice and we visited as many neighbors as we could until we stopped and our friends Andrea & Jeff's house for an evening of dinner and games with a bunch of families. The kids played together downstairs and the adults, well we laughed the night away. I haven't played spoons forever! So much fun!!! But sadly, my kids couldn't keep their eyes open past 9 pm even with all the candy their hearts desired. Thanks again, Andrea!!!
