SWINTER

We've been ready for spring for weeks now. We thought it was right around the corner. Mother nature, however, has had different ideas so instead of tulips and grass and blue skies, we've had "swinter." (That's winter when it's supposed to be spring, according to Nick and Liv.) In the last two weeks, we've had four of the worst blizzards I've ever been in. And coming from a Dakota girl, that is saying something. School has been cancelled more times than we can count....Liv will now be in class until the middle of June in order to make up for all the snow days! So how exactly have we been keeping ourselves busy? The photos below sum up the last 14 days really well.... Thankfully these three are really best of friends so they can play hours together and be perfectly content..
Dreaming of warmer days and creating detailed maps for our summer travel plans. Doesn't every kid love rolling in snow and then jumping in hot water to burn off his or her skin? No one can survive a blizzard without baked goods, no one.

32

I am 32 today. Finally. I got a little mixed up somewhere and started thinking I was 32 several months ago. Not that I feel old though. I still think I am some young 19 year old chick with a flat stomach and tight rear end.....

My thirty-two years have served me well and I can say that today really is a celebration for me. Every birthday is... I love my life! I am blessed and happy and really wouldn't change a thing if I could. I have been working on a list, "MY 32 FAVORITES" as kind of a gift to myself. Somedays I need something to remind me of all the wonderful things in my life and this list will be able to do just that. Here it is and, after the first few items, the rest is in no particular order.

MY 32 FAVORITES
1 Christopher, My forever best friend and lover. You get me and love me anyway.
2. My little kiddies, complete with sticky fingers, dirty diapers and sassy faces. I could not love you more than I do.
3. Prayer. I know mine are answered by a loving Heavenly Father who knows me better than I know myself.
4. Parents who are eternally devoted to their family. Thanks for your example.
5. Snow storms, especially the really bad ones. It's the perfect time to clean and make soup.
6. The color green.
7. Every delicious piece of chocolate on earth. I will find you and eat you.
8. Good friends.
9. People Magazine
10. A Sunshiney beach and a good lounge chair. And a virgin Pina colada.
11. Playing games with my kids.
12. My education and the opportunity to see tiny newborn miracles every time I go to work.
13. Cooking with Nick.
14. A brother and sister who are the smartest, funniest, greatest people to hang out with. I love how    much we laugh together!
15. My sister's closet. It always has cuter stuff than mine.....!
16. Watching Ben sing.
17. Cheetos.
18. And Snickers Bars.
19. Pedicures
20. Target
21. Christmas Cards
22. Holding one of my kids while they sleep.
23. Weight Watchers
24. Walking Charlie-dog
25. Organizing stuff
26. My daily workout. The day always goes better if I've done a little sweatin'.
27. Wrestling my brother every time I see him.
28. HGTV
29. Beautiful shoes.
30. Surprising the kids
31. Holidays, every one of them!
32. Chinese food

NAUGHTY LEPRECHAUNS By Olivia

"Every year on St. Patrick's Day, the Leperchauns mess up our house. Sometimes they throw shoes out onto the floor and hang our barbies and teddy bears from the ceiling. The couch cushions have been tossed around before and last year they made these spider webs out of tape in our rooms and we almost couldn't get out! And once they wrote my name on the wall with a marker that wasn't washable! I don't know why they come to our house, but they do. Nick thinks they like to do tricks on us. This year, I woke up and looked at my mirror. It has the word "FOOL!" painted on it with green paint! I went into my bathroom and there was writing all over my mirror and colored water in the sinks and toilet! I woke up Nick and we went out into the living room where there were more words like "GO GREEN!" and "I LOVE GOLD!" and four-leaf clovers painted on the windows. There was a note for us on the table from the leperchauns. It said, "Dear Kiddies, This is your friendly leperchauns. We did not make a mess this year because this place is already a pit. There are 20 gold chocolates hidden around for each of you to find. Good Luck! Love, Your friendly Leperchauns P.S. It's cookies for breakfast!" They left us four-leaf clover cookies with green sprinkles on them. We got out the milk out of the fridge and it was dyed GREEN! And then, when I got to school, my teacher Mrs. Barlsou told everybody that the leperchauns threw papers all over our classroom! Our teacher had to pick them up! So there it is- the story of our years of mischief!"

BEAST

We used to call him Ben, buddy, brother, buffalo....now it's BEAST. Beast has had a stellar week of getting into absolutely everything. I swear I could work for HASMAT doing distaster clean-up. Aside from dumping videos & games, biting all the apples in the fridge, and stripping off his diaper to pee in the kitchen, Beast has started to "color color" and he's taken it to grandma's walls, doors, and fireplace. Quite liberally, I might add. Rest assured this momma buys washable art supplies and Mr. Clean Magic Erasers so no home or child has been damaged due to unleashed creativity.

Thanks to Beast, Chris is becoming a very handy plumber. Yet again, We had the opportunity to completely remove a toilet in order to retrieve a flushed item. Last time it was a princess cell phone, then it was the top to a one of the kids' water bottles, and who knows what it was this time around. I have a feeling that if it happens again, Beast is gonna get the flush because poppa ain't a fan of poop. Note the safety goggles he's wearing.... So Ben was introduced to the "Naughty Spot" this week. The "Naughty Spot" is the little red chair we use for time outs. At first, I thought for sure he got it (SEE TOP PHOTO), but then he started laughing and naming body parts...

Toilet, take 2 ( take 1 was in our old house...)

Toilet, take 3