Aunt Ruth is Cool

Ruth wanted to take the kids on a walk. She pushed Rosie in the stroller and Jared walked for all of three minutes. So she spent the whole time like this:

What an awesome woman!

Rosie's #1 Hobby

Sometimes, Rosie is really quiet. And I can't see her, so I call for her, so I can locate her. She usually calls back, "Mom, I coloring!"

And yes, we are back to mostly paper!

 She just goes to that little table and colors. Independent. Happy!
I love this stage!

And look at this sweet face!

Olympic Menu

I love the Olympics so much! I even had a near emotional breakdown summer of 2012 because we didn't have cable to watch it. Fortunately, we invested in an antennae!
Anywho, I like to watch it as much as I can. I love seeing the crazy events (Check out Super-G skiing! It is wild!). So Ruth and I decided that we are going to cook foods from (or representing) different countries that are participating in the Sochi games for the entire duration of the Olympics.
Here is our menu so far:

Borscht (Russia)
Oriental Pork Soup (China)
Lentil and Canadian Bacon Soup (Canada)
Swedish meatballs (Sweden)
Pesto tortelini (Italy)
Jerked chicken and sweet potatoes (Jamaica)
Cordon bleu crepes (France)
Cheese Fondue (Switzerland)
Pork and red cabbage and spaetzle (Germany)
Fish and chips (UK)
Miso soup (Japan)
Kielbasa and Perogies (Poland)
Buffalo hot wings (USA)
Bulgogi (South Korea)

 Please let me know if you have any more country/meal suggestions!

This is making me happy this week

 I planted this in January and I still haven't killed it!

 It seemed stuck here for the longest time.

But it has bloomed! I just stared at it because it is pretty and it is also one of the first indoor plants I haven't killed in a long, long time.

Baby Number 3!!!

 We've just had the ultrasound to see our sweet babe! It was fun to see all the wiggling and squirming that I've been feeling for a while.
Most importantly, our little nugget looks healthy in every way. I know it is no use worrying, but it is hard not to when the health of your child is always charged as your full responsibility.
But healthy!

 The baby's legs were like this for the first bit and I was bummed that we maybe wouldn't find out the gender of our little one. Jared already had names picked out- if it is a boy, then we can call it Jake, from Jake and the Neverland Pirates on Disney channel, or if it is a girl he want to call it Day-O, from the Banana Boat song. (He has no vote, however)
And for the third time in a row, my womanly instincts have failed me and I guessed the gender wrong!
We are having a girl!

 (important research)

We are excited to have another daughter! July can't come soon enough!

They still like each other!

 I'm grateful for the quiet mornings when these two just seem like best buds.

Even though Rosie can play on the kindle too, she would rather watch Jared do it.

Life has gotten better for everyone, since they figured out how to share our rocking zebra!

Little Chef

Jared loves to cook with me. And now he is starting to like his independence too. He can do his own cereal, sandwiches and toast.

This day he was helping me prep the brusselsprouts. Shh- Yes, my kids eat them, but don't tell them that's surprising!

He also likes to make dessert. His current favorite to make is sliced bananas with cinnamon sugar.

Too Much Snow

Lately, the snow just won't stop coming. This is our first year here, when we've really had to deal with heavy lake effect snow! Maybe it's mostly that driveway that seems to have gotten longer since September.
The snow has kept us inside a lot this year. Two days of canceled church and our school district has declard seven snow days this month. Now, this homebody doesn't mind too much; I'm fine with drinking some hot chocolate and spending the day in my jammies with a book. But Jared cries when there isn't preschool and asks if we are going to have to stay inside forever.

And because it is so cold, the snow is like powder and won't stay put. So even when it hasn't snowed, the wind blows our piles and we have to shovel again. (We meaning Ken and Ruth and sometimes a little helper.)

Late night shoveling

Ruth and Jared made this fort before the cold front came, so the snow actually held together. Each boulder is about three feet high. I love watching how the snow drifts around it!

Ken got home from a business trip. And shoveled. (Do you see Jared with a push broom cleaning off Ruth's car?)

Rosie likes to "shovel" with a rake.

One morning Ruth got stuck in our unshoveled driveway and couldn't get to work. Or maybe this was the day she got home and couldn't get her car up our driveway.

Our porch drift.

I am just hoping that I can keep up this trend of hanging out indoors and avoiding shoveling!