Another last snowstorm

This morning we woke up surprised to see a blanket of snow on the ground. I thought we'd already had our last snowstorm. Lucy was thrilled I was wrong. She begged at breakfast to go out and play in it and I couldn't help but give in. She got on all her own snow gear and didn't care that no one else was going out with her. 

What I love about watching my kids play, is they have no qualms about falling into audible dialogue with whatever imaginative world they're in. They step in the back yard and suddenly they're in Narnia or Disneyland or anyplace their minds can take them. They talk to themselves and narrate everything as they play, and I sit as a captive audience soaking up their little minds at work. 

Please stay small for a whole lot longer. 

Three things

We went to story time back at the library today, and my girls ran right up to the rug and participated without any prompting. Progress! Way to be more brave, kiddos!

I came home from the store today and found Adam pretty proud of himself... he figured out how to watch three different March Madness games at the same time. Ha ha. Relax, honey, you deserve it. 

But speaking of Adam, he does anything but relax. Now that he has all this non-school free time, he's been doing so many projects around the house and it's been so nice. Today I found him deep cleaning the carpets. I love this husband of mine. 

Lucy's Necklace Party

Lucy said she wanted to have a necklace party with Dad when he got home. She came up to me and said, "You're not invited to my necklace party, sorry, Mom!" She left Jenna out too, so we had our own ring party instead.

When Adam got home Lucy gave him the necklace and invited him to her party. He was thrilled. But it was too late that night to do anything, so she ended up going to bed partyless.

The next day Lucy was all bummed that her necklace party hadn't happened. She came to me with the spare necklace and said, "Mom, will you come to my necklace party?" How can you refuse? So she set everything up and I was so thrilled and impressed to come to the party.

I came in wearing my necklace, and she took me first to the book station. First, we were supposed to read books with the Mickey Mouse Smart Pad and hit all the matching buttons.

Second, she had us hit balls with a stick around the room (somewhat like a crouched down version of golf). 

Third, she turned on music from her mailbox toy and we danced. 

And lastly, she told us to throw "calm balls" (her term) to each other across the room. 

It was all I could do to keep from laughing the whole time. She was so sweet and thoughtful and I love how carefully she planned out and orchestrated the whole thing. 

I finally talked her into letting Jenna have a necklace party with her. There was a little more competitiveness and arguing, frustrating Lucy. Ah, including vs. enjoying your idea... which is more important to teach?

Love that little creative Lucy of mine. She has such an imaginative mind and it's so fun to watch it work. 

It wasn't until later that night that I realized, she was probably copying Blake's creative story time from a few days ago. It pays to have imaginative friends. Love it all. 

Homemade Oreo Cookies

Homemade Oreo Cookies

Cookies:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa (or Hershey's Special Dark)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar. While pulsing or on low speed, add the butter and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of the dough (yes, just a teaspoon. these cookies spread a lot while baking) and   roll them into equal balls, then place them 2-3 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Slightly press down the rounds with your fingertip, and then refrigerate the sheet for 10 minutes.
4. Once the dough is chilled, bake the sheets for 5 minutes. It's okay if the cookie looks slightly underdone, it will flatten and harden as it cools. Let cookies cool on sheet for five minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack. The cookies will crisp up sufficiently after cooling.

Frosting:

2 cup shortening
2 lb. powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
6-12 Tablespoons milk

1. Beat the shortening in a mixer until smooth.
2. Add vanilla and mix until combined.
3. Add the powdered sugar in three additions, scraping down the sides after each addition.
4. Add a Tablespoon of milk at a time and mix together until you achieve the consistency you like.

When cookies have cooled, spread desired amount of frosting on one cookie. Find a similar sized cookie and put it on the other side of the frosting to form a sandwich. Enjoy!

(cookie recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen, frosting from Bakerella)

St. Patricks Day

I told Adam the night before St. Patrick's Day, I bet all the cute moms have fun little treats all planned out for their kids to wake up to tomorrow... no such luck here. Someday I'll get my act together and make St. Patrick's special. But for some reason, that's the holiday that always gets a little forgotten at my house, and definitely simplified. 

We did all wear green to church though (except Adam who forgot, and got very pinched by two little girls). Owen never sleeps at church because he won't sleep in my arms. He wants to be swaddled, flat and in a dark place. I was in the Primary room today setting up my visiting teaching and got talking to some friends. Owen was losing it, so I swaddled him and pushed him under the bench in the back of the room (thinking it would appease him until I went to Sunday School/Relief Society). He totally fell asleep! And slept like a dream! What a trick. Even when all the kids came in from their classes and made a bunch of noise and had singing time, he still slept through all of it. I didn't dare move him, for fear of waking him up, so I hung out in Primary today and sang along (Jenna and Lucy were so thrilled to look back from their sunbeam class and see Mom in the back). It sure is a crazy season trying to help a usually-napping baby stay happy during church. But I'll take whatever solutions I can find, if it means us coming every week and consistently trying. I feel like half the battle in life is keeping the habits. We may not always have the most spiritual family home evenings, the most nutritious dinners, the best calorie-burning workouts, but the point is to keep at it. As the habits are in place and we're trying, then I feel like it'll pay off in the long run. Hence, we will keep showing up to church every Sunday, even when the going is rough. 

Adam had meetings all day (typical). But I came home and made some green shamrock pancakes for the kids. 

It may not be pinterest-worthy, but it elicited a "You're the BEST mom!!" from Jenna. 

Enough. 

Owen even celebrated with us with green peas and a green spoon.

Lucy Jane

Jenna makes this face all the time. Cracks us up. 

I think sometimes the simple is plenty good enough. 

Painting Progress

On the first Saturday that Adam didn't have a thesis to work on, guess what he did? Sent me downstairs to make sure I could have some time to paint. "Now that I'm done with my masters, we need to invest in your talents and education." I love that about him. He's been my biggest support. So, I took him up on it and painted and painted the morning away. So fun! Oh, how I want to be better. Practice makes perfect, right?

Later that night, we even went out on a date-- to a movie in the theater! Do you know how long it's been since we've done that? We were finally the last people on earth to see Les Mis and wow. We loved it. Adam didn't know the story and hadn't seen any versions before, so it was fun to him to discover it all for the first time. He's sold. That music got both of us. Great show. Great date. 

Family BBQ

Tonight, my dad had some friends coming in from out of town, so he invited us all over for a family BBQ. I've always loved how social my parents are and how they've held on to friends from high school and college and every place they've lived since. I love watching them entertain groups and make people laugh and I've always been so silently proud of them and how fun they both are. It's because of their example that I've grown up loving to host parties and stay in touch with friends from every chapter of my life. So fun. 

serious pre-dinner discussions. sliced pickles or whole? chips in a bag or bowl? decisions, decisions!

mine

best picture ever, right? What do YOU think of the BBQ, Jaden?

Courtney worked with my dad years ago and our families have become good friends. I remember when all these tall boys were just babies. Crazy. 

speaking of my babies... love this.

ha ha, Nick

It just so happened that my friend Lindsey asked my sister Julie to babysit tonight, so she and boys came over for dinner too. Jenna and Lucy were thrilled to have their friends there (they're usually the only kids). The more the merrier! We're all family, right?

Friends add such a great richness to life. I feel so lucky to have so many of them (including all my family members who are some of my very best friends).