Snow Day Fun...again!

Cameron thought it was the funniest thing ever this morning when he woke up and I told him it was another snow day!  What snow?!  Freezing rain I can do without but of course we gladly took another snow day to extend our weekend!

We started out by making play-doh!

This provided LOTS of entertainment today!  I truly do not enjoy the play-doh clean up with the store bought kind, and I have to say this clean up(well, many clean ups today) is not as bad!  It was fun to play with this while it was still warm and add the food coloring(although adding coloring to whole wheat flour play-doh does not quite seem to have the same effect--ha!)

Notice the tie die look!? It managed to even out throughout the many uses today ;)


There's just something about rolling out play-doh and cutting it.




We decided to make the most of the day and get a few things done that we normally save for the weekend.  So we ventured out to run some errands after a few lazy hours at home in the morning.
The boys got a much needed haircut and we stopped at Party City to look for some birthday decorations.  Birthday week is almost here!  The boys decided for a Batman theme(even though they have never seen anything Batman--but he is a superhero that flies and has fun powers).  I couldn't resist it when they put these on in the store....

Ha!  Again, cheap entertainment as these super heroes flew around the house.  Another quick stop to Costco and that was all the shopping with 2 boys this Mommy had in her!  And at just about the point this mommy was craving some quiet time when we got home, the boys found some fun outdoors for a bit.

Stomping through snow AND water trying to build a trench.

Then the teacher in me also came out today(Wild Kratts just wasn't enough!) so we did some writing to end the afternoon before Daddy came home early ;)

So cute to watch him do his 'homework'.

And this one wrote about his sledding adventure yesterday--complete with a web and a good 'catch ya' sentence and the beginning.  Ha!  The teacher is never far from me ;)

And now if I can just convince Haiden that everyday will NOT be a snow day!

Horray for a Snow Day!

This morning I found myself giddy with excitement when both Cameron and I woke up(well, I was already up and almost completely ready) to a snow day!  Yay!

I wish I would have taken more pictures but to have your bare hand out for any length of time today was painfully cold! And then I left the camera and Grandpa and Grandma's...

We started the morning just hanging out in our jammies, playing and me enjoying an extra cup of coffee just because I could ;)

 We couldn't wait any longer to head out to play so off we were by 9:30 to Grandpa and Grandma Vruggink's to try out a new Snoscoot! It's like a snowmobile but smaller and I guess it 'scoots' through the snow?!  Not sure about that one...

Ready to go!

This little man is getting the hang of driving this year!  I had to run behind him hanging on to a rope that is tied to it(to pull up if needed) as he is still maneuvering corners/trees and getting the whole concept of the throttle.  Stop and go, stop and go, stop and go..... ;)

 

We also had some fun sled rides behind the 3-wheeler(I am getting the hang of driving that thing!)

It's hard to see but there is a smile beneath all of that!

Torrey had a short day, so later Cameron got to go back out again.  The cold does not seem to get to him at all ;)  I was able to get some laundry done, add another good work out(yay for a snow day nap for Haiden!), vacuum--a chore that rarely gets done mid week ;), cookies made and some oh so yummy, perfect snow day stew brewing in the crock pot all day for supper.

SUCH a great day with my boys!

The Little Things

Sometimes it's the little things that get the biggest smile.

At nights as we do homework with Cameron(and for some reason I LOVE this time..heehee), we get to do a little 'homework' with Haiden, too.  We cut, color, cut some more, match some letters, trace lines, sort things.....just to give him some one on one time as well.

He got a fun easel for Christmas and the other night the smiles on his face from doing something as little as writing some letters were priceless.

Cameron even got in on it to 'show him how to do it the right way because he is in First Grade you know' ;).

 It took a few tries, but this is what we ended up with....

We got SOOO excited for him and his face lit up!  A little moment, a big smile.  Did this mommy-teacher's heart some good!!

Christmas 2012-In Between and All Around!

As been tradition ever since I came into the Vruggink family, we spend Christmas morning together.  It's something we all look forward to.  Grandma's sticky buns, stockings, playing with cousins, brunch, treats, just being together.

Christmas Day photo op!  Not bad.

(And I can't find the stocking pics!?)

This year, we just opened the stockings as Uncle Trent and Aunt Michelle would come down state a few days later and we would have another party then.

The rest of the week mostly looked like this!

Boys playing, toys everywhere and lots of fun!  Legos are a hit...again!

I finally just gave up in trying to keep things picked up.  Quite nice actually!

Later in the week we took ALL the grandkids to Critter Barn.

The boys could not get enough of these little creatures! 

Grandma will her 11 grandkids under 11!

Saturday night we had a nice dinner and opened presents.

A pillow pet.  Since he has decided its' name is Sparky. ;)

Um, excited!?

A rip stick!

Talking about a book from Grandpa and Grandma.  It's a recordable book with them reading the words.  So sweet.

New Year's Eve found us bowling as we have made a tradition I guess.

This little one was more intent on getting just one piece of candy from this enticing machine!

We wrapped up the festivities at Russ'(which by the way is SO not as good as it used to be or what our childhood memories told us....no part of our tradition next year ;)

This break was all it was needed to be.  Fun, relaxing, family time, play time, staying home, staying in jammies just because, and doing as the day brought.  We are refreshed, rested and ready for our routine Monday!!