Catch up, again

So lots happened since the last time I blogged. Unfortunately I have a pretty bad memory so I really only blog about the things I take pictures of. The rest gets lost somewhere up in my head. I do know it has snowed TONS and the snow hasn't melted yet. I actually have helped shovel the driveway 3 times already. I was pretty proud of myself the first time. I felt like supper mom. Ryan couldn't shovel before work, so I thought I'd surprise him by shoveling the whole driveway for him! So I bundled the girls and I up and we went outside. Emily just cried the whole time, until I put her in bed and she went to sleep. Kaitlyn wasn't even almost interested in playing in the snow (she must get that from me). She just wanted to help mom shovel. We got half the driveway finished and then she realized that she could run strait out into the street. And she did, like three times in a row before I gave up and we came inside. So I only got half finished, but Ryan was still pretty impressed when he got home. I have to say it is a lot of work! It's not easy to lift that shovel full of snow and throw it wherever it goes. I think we are going to have to invest in a snow blower in a few years. I'd say now, but they're like $400! We've made a couple of friends in this town (yea!) So one of the weeks we were house bound we invited friends to come and play with us a couple of times. The first one was a family with 2kids each just older than my 2. They all get along well and have lots of fun, so we like to hang out with them. Her husband is a preacher for a church in town. It's so interesting to get to know how that all works (our church has a lay ministry-they don't get paid). I don't think I've ever known a preachers wife. It has been really fun getting to know them. And it's nice because they have the same standards as us. Unfortunately we just found out they are moving to Missouri just after Christmas, so we are bummed about that, but it's a good opportunity for their family. The church there has a parish (sp?) which means they'll have a house to live in. So different. Anyway when they were over, Isabelle the girl about a year older than Kaitlyn and Kaitlyn had fun playing dress up and then playing in her toy boxes. I couldn't get the two of them still long enough for a picture, so this is the best I could get.



Pretty sad, but you can almost see Isabelle. They also have a little boy that's a few months younger than Kaitlyn. His name is Isaiah. He is SO cute. He's Kaitlyn's age, but he's very short and not chunky, so it looks so cute when he walks around. He looks like a skinny 8 mo. old baby that can run and play like Kaitlyn. Poor kid though, Kaitlyn just takes everything away from him and bullies him a little. Later that week we had the Stauders over. Danni (the mom) is one of those women who never stops moving. She has 3 children, The oldest (Emily) is a kindergartner, but Danni home teaches her and she is as smart as like a 3rd grader, it's amazing, then she has Noah who is a home school preschooler and is at least up to kindergarten level, plus little Lilly who's Kaitlyn's age. Not only does she have very smart kids, that she teaches herself, but she also always has a clean house. AND she is the president or runner (I'm not sure of the title) of MOPS, a group I go to once a month. MOPS stands for mothers of preschoolers. We (the moms) have a discussion, a guest speaker, an art project, and food, while the children are in other age appropriate rooms with child care provided. She does all of this plus little field trips (educational of coarse) for her kids. She's amazing. So anyway, I'm sure she wouldn't care, but I feel like the house has to be clean and everything in order before I invite her over. That doesn't happen very often! Usually I just go over to her house. But this time I had her come over. I was so proud of myself. I had the house clean (as long as you didn't look in the bedrooms or at the dirty dishes) and I had an activity in mind for the kids. Pretty amazing. So anyway they came over and we all had a great time. My project for the kids was making gingerbread houses. I got Gram crackers and icing for the kids. They each had a little container of icing and pretty much just ate it as a snack. I figured that would be how it went, but we had fun anyway. Emily and I made little houses and then ate them.






And for the random pictures of the day. Kaitlyn likes to find interesting and new ways to eat her food. This particular morning she was putting Kix on her toes and then using her toes as a spoon to eat them. Crazy girl.





Here is Kaitlyn dressing up like Daddy! She is such a Daddy's girl.