Too Cold

It has been way too cold. So cold that we haven't done much of anything except stay home and eat donuts. It's never too cold to eat donuts.

We made our own mini-donuts on Saturday morning with our new gadget we got for Christmas.

Taylor applying the sprinkles to a mostly already gone donut!

Chase showing off his creation.

After donuts we did much of nothing. By early afternoon we were all bored out of our minds, but not willing to venture outside. Taylor, however, was ready to go. She is always ready to go. She tries to leave with anyone who will take her. She wore her coat and hat around for more than 2 hours until we finally broke down and took her on an exciting trip to Best Buy. She was thrilled.

Taylor finally made it to church with her hair-do intact! This was the first time the pigtails didn't get pulled out during the 1.5 minute drive there. Here she is excited to go!

She did pull them out about 10 times before we left.

I was more persistent (this time).

Today was still too cold so we stayed put again.

Here are the boys "just checkin' their email."

Then we made a mess, I mean cookies.

Hard at work.

Hair-do post-pigtails, a little crazy.

Eating chocolate chips.

Eating chocolate chips.

Eating sprinkles.

Admiring his work - he couldn't stop looking at it!

The finished product!

And the logical next step after making cookies...

a bubble bath topped with foam soap!

Poor Chase was just introduced to bubble bath this weekend.

He thinks it's the greatest stuff ever.

Not Taylor.

She fears nothing, except bubble bath apparently.

Recently

These two boys have become quite the buddies recently. They play so much nicer together and have hilarious conversations. I will have to try to get a video. The other day they had a debate as to whether Santa was at the mall or the North Pole.

Taylor, however, still enjoys stirring up a little trouble. If you notice in the background she has just dumped out all the crayons and she is quite pleased with her work!
Oh wait, she's an angel. That's what we keep telling ourselves.

A group hug.

If Bryce looks a little worried that Taylor is about to rip out his hair, he is - and for good reason.

I'm SURE she read each of these books as she took them off the shelf.

This look says maybe not.

My friend Melinda came down from New York to visit for the weekend. She thought it would be fun to take the kids to the park since it was "warm." I told her my kids think the park is closed in the winter - can't imagine who told them that!? Anyways, we did it and the kids thought it was great and I thought it was, well, cold.

One good thing about the park in winter: not crowded!

Here we are. I never thought the fur would actually be useful.

Swinging. I love that her nose matches her hat and jacket!

This child refuses to wear gloves. We finally left when his hands stopped working!

Chuck E. Cheese & Random Things

Last week Dave and Chase saw a commercial for Chuck E. Cheese's and a promise was made that we would make our first visit there this weekend. For the last 3 days Chase has asked each time we get ready to leave, "Can we go to Chuck E. Cheese's now, pleeeeeease." Well, the time finally came this morning and it did not disappoint!Taking it all in when we first got there.

Taylor cruising with Chuck.

A little memento for Dave's desk.

PaPa and Chase racing cars. We won't say how many times PaPa was caught in the race car without Chase. He was having too much fun.

Dancing.

Like I said, the big kids had fun too.

Three kids trying to jump the same "rope" did not work so well.

Totally into the "live" Chuck E. Cheese show.

I think this is cheating?

and maybe this is too?

We couldn't get Chase to try this one, but we latched Taylor in and started it fast. She didn't cry, but she definitely didn't smile either!

Wondering where exactly we're sending her off to.

Chase hit the jackpot!

Collecting the tickets. The kids pooled their tickets together and each managed to get a cool blue wristband with a basketball on it and a sucker. Good times.

The highlight of Friday was buying new toothbrushes.

Luckily this was before Chuck E. Cheese so it was exciting enough.

Taylor picked out the princess brush and Chase got Spongebob.

And Chase picked out new animal toothpaste to top off the trip!

In keeping with our exciting week, we got a package a few days ago and I let the kids play with the packing peanuts. I would not recommend this. We will still be finding pieces of peanuts for years to come, but it was loads of fun.

Chase and his fun face.

The best part was breaking them in half and then they would stick to you.

When three kids leave the room at the same time and then an unusual quiet falls over the house, it's usually not good.

This particular day I caught them having their own "storytime."

It was a pleasant surprise!

And finally, Taylor styled her hair at lunch the other day using caramel apple dip. This picture does not do the damage justice.

But, nothing makes three kids happier than a bath!