Yesterday afternoon we went outside to try out Joanna’s new scooter!

She’s got a lot of practicing to do, but she’s really getting the hang of it!
The little ones played too, of course.

I sent Natalie in for gloves, and she came out with an old pair of mine. :)

Natalie’s getting the hang of her little bike too, at least when she remembers to look where she’s driving. :)

I love watching this boy run! And I loooove this little sweater!

He would park whatever he was driving across the cul-du-sac, then ruuuun back and get something new to drive.


It was in the 40’s, which is quite cold for us Houstoners! I looooooooooooooved every minute of it (am still loving it, thank goodness!), but I do like to be cozy you know…hence the ear-flap hat. :) {Photo by the up-and-coming Joanna!}

I love Natalie’s grumpy faces. :)

Oh, the drama!!!!


It was so nice to play outside in the lovely cold weather! Everybody came in with little red noses, ready for some warm dinner!
I have been enjoying every minute of this hot tea, hot chocolate, warm fuzzy slippers kind of weather!
I did discover, in getting Joanna dressed yesterday, she’s a little lacking in her winter wardrobe. It’s nothing terrible, but she’s really outgrown her size 5 shirts and dresses. The dresses are okay as long as she’s got leggings or tights. Most of the size 6 things we already have are pretty springy. Much of her clothing is pretty year-round appropriate with the right layering, so she just needed a few pieces. She likes wearing skirts and tops (and my mom is pretty good about making her some skirts that fit well!), and her jeans still fit fine, so I decided to look online for some deals on long-sleeved shirts. Low and behold, Children’s place was having a sale with free shipping. Wahoo! And their “basic layering” long-sleeved T’s were $3.50 after the sale. I like that price – I ordered a bunch of them! Hopefully we’ll still have a few cold days after they get here. :) She can wear them with her jeans and skirts and probably even put short-sleeved shirts that may be too short over the top. One of my major projects for the coming week is to go through the drawers and pull out the stuff that doesn’t fit. Unfortunately, with our crazy weather, there’s very little I can pull out that’s “off-season.” It’s too hot to wear winter clothes on our 80 degree days! :)
{Wow, that was a long post about clothing. Oh, I rant.}
Today was sort of “back to normal” since Ray and Laura came over! The kids and I were pretty lazy yesterday, so today we got back to the grind and got some things done! Even though they aren’t all put away now, we put away all the toys that had been roaming the house for a week or so. Feels good! I should probably try to find a few minutes alone in the house (maybe Matt can take ‘em out for bit) to cull and organize our goodies. It’s just sooooo much easier to do without any “helpers!”
I did a big load of laundry (it does seem to accumulate all the time!), and hung it in the laundry room to dry. I am sooooooo thankful for my pantry/laundry/storage room {it used to be part of the garage that the previous owners closed in}. I hung string between the shelving on either side in a zig-zag. It’s very humid in there when I’ve got a bunch of laundry drying (earlier this week I had both my racks underneath full as well!), but that’s probably good for our skin and what-not this time of year. :)

We had a lovely day at home, just eating, playing, watching Cinderella. It was a good way to ease a little back into life. I’m very glad we still have a little over a week off from school!
Natalie’s lips get pretty bluish when she’s cold; I’m not sure if you can tell in this shot or not. {The spot on her cheek is popcorn.}

Sometimes she actually seems cold, and I have to encourage her to go get some slippers or a jacket. Other times, she’s prancing around in a leotard, as comfortable as can be!