Cookies and Cuties

If you know my children, you know who made which cookies.

The cookies on the top plate were decorated by Abby and the bottom were decorated by Jenna:) Both spent a lot of time getting their cookies just the way they wanted them!

Cookie decorating fun!

Jacob's first visit with Santa.

Abby snuck the Snow White sunglasses on him. So cute!

Twinkies:)

An Escape to the Tim Horton's Parking Lot

I'm trying to think back to before I had kids or even to when I just had one kid (which I thought was so hard then, but now realize it was a breeze). What did I do with my free time? Really . . . I remember watching Lifetime movies all afternoon or spending as much time as I wanted to in a store. I think I even used to talk on the phone for more than five minutes at a time without someone screaming or needing me for something.

So today, I had some free time. I had the privilege of taking Abby to her dance class by myself. That's right people. No lugging the baby carrier into dance class. No arguing with Jenna that she has to sit through the WHOLE 45 minutes of Abby's class. Nate stayed home with Jenna and Jacob and I had a whole 40 minutes or so to myself.

What did I do? I went through the Tim Horton's (Western New York's cheaper version of Starbucks, which I love because it's cheap, but still really love Starbucks), ordered a doughnut, okay, two doughnuts and a hot chocolate. I parked my car and sat in the parking lot and talked on the phone to Tamara for a whole half hour. This was nothing short of a blissful experience.

There was this teenager parked next to me and after a few minutes on the phone, he knocked on my window and asked if I could pop my car hood because he needed to jump his car. I obliged, all while carrying on a conversation with Tamara. Then I noticed him scraping his icy windshield with his cell phone. Really? A cell phone? I rolled my window down again and asked if he wanted my ice scraper, but he insisted that his cell phone was working fine. I'll be sure to remember that next time I have an icy windshield and no ice scraper!

Forty minutes of doughnuts, hot chocolate, an uninterupted phone converstion, and the amusement of watching the teenage boy scrape his windshield with this phone was just the break I needed today.

This Is How We Roll

This is how Jacob rolls in the winter . . . isn't he so cute? When the girls were babies, they lived in warm weather climates, so we never had to worry about keeping them warm outside. Thank goodness for the Bundle Me fleece sack! I just pop him in his car seat with a hat and off we go. When we go outside, I just zip him up. No snowsuit, no wrestling with carseat straps . . . super easy!

Snowy Days

If you've been watching the national news or read any Internet news page lately, you probably saw the story about the storm that hit Buffalo and the horrendous freeway backup that left people stuck in their cars for over 12 hours. Yeah, that highway was pretty close to our house. People here in Buffalo are upset with the way the highway problem was handled and never want to see something like that again. I hate that it made national headlines . . . just adds to the bad press that Buffalo gets about weather and makes it seem like no one can live here.

That highway stoppage was awful and we get a lot of snow in the winter, but I still have an unexplained love for our new town. I love the four seasons. I love that we get to look forward to a new season every few months (although by February I am ready for the snow to be gone). I think I like the weather here because I grew up in a similar climate. It kind of feels like home to me.

And snow? The more the better as far as I'm concerned. If it's going to be cold, there better be snow. Buffalo does an excellent job keeping the roads clear when it snows, so we rarely feel stuck inside. So I'm one of those crazies that actually likes the snow. It certainly has kept my kids busy.

We had two snow days last week. One snow day is awesome, but two is pushing it. Kids in school are good:) Here are some pictures from the last week.

Making a sled train--being pulled by one of the neighbor girls.

Woods covered with snow. So beautiful.

Our back steps with a lot of snow. It ended up being about a foot and a half.

Family movie night. He's already being subjected to Barbie. Good thing he's too young to protest!