SNOW!

Yesterday and today we have had a dumping of snow.  First snow of 2012!  It is actually pretty wild, we have SO much snow and it stayed cold all night and all day so it didn't melt at all.  The kids loved it!  It was pretty cold so they went out in shifts, followed by hot chocolate breaks.  Lots of hot chocolate and lots of clothes in the dryer.  Big Bad Baby Emmett and I stayed nice and warm inside and watched the fun through the window. Luckily Brett is home tomorrow so he can play with them while I continue to stay nice and dry in the house. :)

J coming to visit E.

A face-off.

My snow angel.

Emmett loving the show.

Eating and mesmerized.

B coming to visit E.

Throwing snowballs at the window.

Loving it!

Snow buddies.

So cute.

A blizzard!

Not going anywhere today.

Wednesday

Oh Wednesday, how fun you turned out to be!  Apparently, if you run full speed with speed arms (your arms trailing behind) and then bite it, at just the right angle, right in to the door frame, you too can get this on your head:

Ugh.  I'm a little guilty because I was the one chasing him.  Oops.  Socks and hard wood floors are not a good mix.  Lesson learned.  He bit it hard.  Smacked the door frame, then the hard wood floor.  He was just laying there inhaling.  I picked him up and he started screaming, hitting and kicking.  I knew it was going to be something bad.  We sat down together on the couch and he looked at me...it was then that I had to give myself a pep talk.  Don't freak out Tamara.  He rapidly wiped the tears from his eyes and said, "I not cry.  Firefighters don't cry."  Brainwashing does work.  I was literally watching the bump grow but was trying to not freak out because I didn't want him to freak out.  Brett was working so I snapped this quick pic on my handy dandy archaic cell phone and sent it as, "how big is too big for a bump on the head?"  He responded with, "don't panic...but go ahead and get the kids to the ER."  Sure, don't panic.  So, I took a couple of deep breaths, explained the situation to my herd of toddlers and halfway through Brooklyn starts yelling, "HE'S GOING TO DIIIEEEE!"  It took several minutes to get her calmed down while Jameson's only concern was if he was going to get a sticker at the doctor's office.  Seriously?!?

All calmed down and armed with boatloads of snacks we were off.  Thankfully the Monroe ER was super efficient and got us in right away.  The doctor poked and prodded J's head, thoroughly checked his neck, eyes, back of head, etc.  Brett showed up mid-visit and was pretty surprised how big the bump was in person too.  I was so thankful that he was able come from work to help out with the kids, and, well, lets face it...me.  :)  After a bit it was determined that he probably severed a small vein in his forehead when he smacked it and that is why the bump got so large, so fast.  We needed to apply pressure to the outside of the wound to help it spread and give him some Tylenol for the pain.  Totally doable.  And, rest assured, he did get a Popsicle and a sticker.

This adventure started at 6 p.m. so by the time we were headed home, it was bedtime.  We snugged up the kids and had Jameson sleep with us so we could keep an eye on him.  All was fine!  Now he has a wicked, multi-colored bruise on his forehead.  He thinks it's pretty "manly."  I have a sneaking suspicion that this won't be our first visit to the ER with Jameson.

Here are some more photos, it was pretty hard to catch the monstrosity of it:

Tired Popsicle Eater.

Side shot.

Baby Maeve's Party

Today we headed up the hill (literally) to Baby Maeve's party.  This was my first solo outing, to a new place, with the three kids.  I am not afraid to go places, I more like to preserve the friendships that I have by not unleashing my wild monkeys in their homes.  I guess I should probably lighten up.

Let me back up a bit, before we headed up the hill it had started to lightly snow.  We probably had about an inch of slush on the roads.  No problem, we have four wheel drive!  So, I layered the kids, grabbed the diaper/entertainment bag and headed out.  I was literally lecturing myself all six minutes up the hill.  "You can do it Tamara!  Your kids aren't that wild." etc.

By the time we got up the hill there was probably about four inches of snow on the road.  Not joking.  It was a freakin' blizzard!  As you can imagine, the snow storm brought some chaos to the party.  We are from Washington so everyone was worried about the roads, etc.  Maureen, Maeve's Mom, said it perfectly, "It was the shortest first year birthday party in the record books!"  We ate, watched Maeve open gifts, sang Happy Birthday and ate cake all in half an hour.  Efficient.

The kids were pretty good and listened probably 75% of the time.  I can't complain, better than 0%!  I am so bummed that I forgot to get my camera out to snap some photos.  It was evident that Maureen and Vitaliy had put an immense amount of work into party prep.  Amazing decorations, food, slideshow, music, gift bags, cookies, on and on.  It was beautiful!  Maeve was dressed to the nines and looked so adorable.

After the festivities wrapped up we headed to the car and were greeted by at least six - eight inches of snow.  It was nuts!  Going back down the hill was sketchy at best but we just took it slow and made it home just in time to go out and eat snow.  I would say play but the kids enjoyed eating the snow the most.

We were so happy to help Maeve celebrate her first year and happy to survive the storm!

Proof

There they are, Auntie Nelle legs in the flesh.

Auntie Nelle Legs

Sexy, sexy legs.  That is what Jameson is sporting these days.  Immediately after taking this picture I pulled the prime rib out of the freezer to thaw.  This boy needs some beef!

Okay, okay, it's mostly the angle of the photo.  But, seriously, those are some Auntie Nelle legs!

My Big Bad Kitchen "Helper"

Emmett has become quite the kitchen helper.  He has been obsessed with our kitchen drawers for months now.  I figured it was just a phase he'd grow out of...apparently not.  His obsession peaks when I am cooking dinner, of course.  You can see by the various outfits below that it is frequent, as in daily.  I could drawer lock/childproof these but if I did that...I would have him on my hip while I cook dinner.  Therefore I deal with tupperware, towels and oven mitts all over the floor.  30+ pounds on my hip while cooking doesn't fly with me.

First, it all goes out.

What Mom?

No more?

Now I will throw them in the air.

So guilty.

Taste test.

Wait, I think I fit in here.

Yep, sure do.

And, again.

Towels and tupperware everywhere.

Aaaand, I'm Back!

Happy New Year!  2012 already.  Whew, it seems like each year goes by faster than the last.  Feel free to slow down any time, time.

As you can see, we have a computer!  The old computer was in fact, dead, so I am now typing away on a glorious ASUS.  Genius.  We didn't realize how horrible our other computer was until we opened this bad boy for the first time.  I have spent the last week trying to recover/rebuild our iTunes, connect our new wireless router and get this computer and our iPad to connect to our new wireless printer (thanks Corky and Lynn!).  I am happy to say that I accomplished it all with only a headache here and there.  I have said it before but I am not the brightest when it comes to technology.  So, I am very thankful for Best Buy's Geeksquad, Apple's help desk and Brother's customer service center.  Oh, and TechMob, a local computer repair store that salvaged all of our our music and photos from the dead machine in a timely manner and for a super affordable price.

I have some catch-up to wrap up 2011 and then it's on to the here and now.  Cheers to the New Year!