Unfortunately, I didn't feel good enough to play outside with the boys yesterday. I probably wouldn't have been able to keep up anyway! Nolen couldn't wait to play in the snow after school! He jumped out of the van - didn't even close his door or take his backpack inside and ran to make a snow angel. I missed a lot of the good pictures but trust me, the boys had a blast! When Max came in, he was shivering and his hands were cold (he doesn't have the best gloves) but he couldn't stop talking about the snow. I wish I had video taped it! Nolen stayed out a little longer, his gloves are a little better. They both wanted hot chocolate when they came inside, so I got them undressed and made their hot chocolate, and then lunged onto the couch where I spent the entire day trying not to smell food and wanting to puke (sorry its true). I spent most of the day watching Ellen, sleeping and facebooking from my iPod! Loving the iPod! What a fun day (for the kids).


I asked Nolen to come upstairs and do his homework this evening before dinner. What a cutie! He was so excited to work in his mathathon book for St. Jude's. The problems are really pretty easy for him so he had fun. I gave Max a math book to work on at the same time. They both sat and finished all of their work. I love watching them!

I like this picture. Max is saying, "Ooh - I got it!" He gets so excited about everything!

Snow Day

Finally, Southern Maryland gets a snow day...almost! It started snowing around 8 am today and its still going. The kids are being dismissed three hours early from school so they didn't exactly get a snow day. The forecast is for the snow to change to sleet and ice this afternoon and tonight.

It made me miss Alaska to see all the white stuff...reminded me of driving down College and not knowing if there was a median or not...not knowing exactly where the shoulder of the road is...walking through a slushy Fred Meyer parking lot...running through the snow to the neighbors house with a kid wrapped up in a blanket (coats were too much of a pain when you're only going a few steps) just to get out of my own on a snowy day...the only difference is, hopefully this time the kids can actually go out and PLAY in the snow! They are big enough to keep their gear on and its above zero! Woohoo! Who will throw the first snowball? Let the fun begin.

Nolen loved walking to the bus stop in the snow this morning!


The view from our backyard.

Future MLS Player???

Nolen played his first soccer game today through St. Mary's Parks and Rec. It is indoor soccer, at a rec center about 15 minutes from our house - although we have a rec center about 3 minutes from our house.

Did you like it? Mmm-hmm.
What is your coach like? He is nice. He gave me a high five!
Did you get a snack after the game? Yes, we got apples.
What do you like most about soccer? If I got to be goalie.
What did you like best about soccer today? When my team got a goal.
What did you like least about soccer today? When the other team got a goal.

Nolen did great at soccer today! He chased the ball with the rest of the herd of kids and kicked it some too.

Alaska Gear Comes in Handy!

You know the rule - if you haven't worn it in a year, throw it out? Well, hanging onto my Kamik's, mittens and great big Columbia coat has served me very well today! I wore these mittens for every day three winters in Alaska. By my calculations....Alaskan winter lasts at least 7 months so...7*30*3 = 630 DAYS! I trudged through ice and snow carrying a kid on each hip in these things and managed to stay on my feet every time! Thank Goodness for my Kamik's! Oh, I rambled too long. It is 10 degrees here today! But the boots, mittens and coat are keeping me nice and warm!

Arts and Crafts!

We went to Ikea about three weeks ago and bought desks for the boys and I. Finally, the hobby lobby is starting to take shape! Its still kind of a mess. I need to make some tough choices about books to donate, the funny Army desk that we used for awhile, and the pub table. I love my pub table but it just doesn't work in this house. I had a nightmare a few weeks ago that Edward was making us move again. I swear, I'm not moving! We have bought furniture! I have unpacked boxes that haven't been unpacked in three years. I have painted. I've made curtains! This is the end of the road! And while the hobby lobby isn't pretty, it is organized well enough that I was able to throw together some "Crazy socks" for Max's crazy sock day. The boys and I literally did this craft in twenty minutes - start to finish! I love finally having our desks on the same floor and in the same room as our craft supplies! Hooray! And did I mention, that I am settled and I'm not moving!?

Hobby Lobby

I think the idea of crazy sock day was actually to wear mismatched socks - but since all of the boys' socks are white, that wasn't going to work for us. (Although, Kim might point out that I brought Max to Jazzercise with mismatched socks one day - by mismatched, she meant that they were two different kinds of white crew socks. They were the same from the ankle up - good enough for me. ;-) Love you Kim!)
Anyway, I got the bright idea to take an older pair of socks and glue a bunch of silly stuff on them! Max designed the left one and Nolen designed the right one. I did most of the gluing and glittering - not ready to let them use fabric tack - too permanent!


How cute is that? And yes, I did send him to school with his pants rolled up!

A Long and Winding Road...

Here is the back story. Max is in love with a squishy Stegosaurus which he has named, Stegosaurus. He also has a cool new Dinosaur Atlas that we looked at tonight. One section talks about dinosaur bones that were found in Hell Creek Montana and it showed a landscape that looked just like the State Park we visited in Glendive, MT while we were driving across the country when we moved from Alaska to Alabama. After a little googling, it turns out that Hell Creek is part of Makoshika State Park in Glendive! The very park that we felt so lucky to find during our trip. It was in face a fortuitous find. Each day we drove for about 6 hours. When we made it to whatever town we were spending the night in, we would look for something entertaining to do...usually a park, or a hotel pool or even a mall. When we got to Glendive, it was somewhat of a dive. It was a little disappointing after seeing Missoula and Bozeman. The GPS had a state park listed just a few miles from our hotel so we thought we'd check it out. Maybe it would be a good spot for the kids to run around. What luck! It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen! And now, how fun to find out that it is where they found a bunch of Dinosaur Bones! (P.S. If you're reading this and you're from the NW and you have known about the dinos your whole life, well, I'm sorry. They don't teach us this stuff in FL...too many republicans I guess.)

Edward's Second Home

Edward's dream is coming true! Our house has a one car garage which is almost enough room to store the tools Ed has acquired over the last few years. There is barely room to walk and certainly no place to work. He has wanted to add this garage since we moved in and now he's getting it! Hooray! I have been told that I am not allowed in the garage (as I am prone to putting things away and then Ed can't find them). The guys doing the work are doing a great job. They started a week ago today and here is what we have so far.

Smarty Pants

First things first - I am listening to Nolen sing, "Na na na na na na I'm gonna get in a fight." Thanks P!nk. Anyway,

I love the Brain Quest cards for kids. They're like flash cards but not so boring. Max wanted me to read questions to him from his set for ages 4-5 but I was putting away groceries and doing breakfast dishes. I told Nolen if he would read the questions to Max, he could have an m&m for each question he read and Max could have an m&m for each question he answered correctly. They are too cute! I think they sat there reading and answering for about 30 minutes! I'm so proud of them!

(more)

New Year's at Nette's

Our next door neighbor, Nette, had us and half the town over for chili Sunday night. It was a great way to end the two week vacations from work and school. Nette is from Sweeden and she and her parents eat Swedish food (Swedish fish?) and practice Swedish traditions. Its fun to hear all about the dinners she goes to at her parents house. She has two teenagers, Lisa is 14 and Tommy is 16. Lisa has babysat for the kids a few times. She is very sweet and she just made cheerleading at Leonardtown High. I've probably scared her because I get so excited about it. haha!

Here is our babysitter Lisa (Nette's daughter) holding her dog Daisy and introducing her to Lara and Geoff's baby, Rowan!

Sweet sweet baby Rowan in her cute leopard outfit!

Proud parents Lara and Geoff. Also, Donovan and Hannah Curley - the kids who used to live in our house.

Erin Curley and husband Jason hiding behind her, Nette's Dad and Nette!

Around the House

The boy pile!

I asked Ed to cut down some tree branches about a month ago.
I failed to drag them down the street to the neighborhood compost field so Ed finally loaded them into Dale's truck and hauled them away. Thanks Ed and thanks Dale! The truck has already been used to haul stuff to the dump too.

At the JumpYard

After a few longish days at home, I wanted to get out of the house. I also thought it would be smart to begin weening Nolen away from the Wii and the PS3 since he will go back to school on Monday. I thought about taking them to see a movie but the theater here is kind of a bummer - especially since you're still paying $8 for a matinee! Luckily, our friend Lara had the genious idea to go to the Jump Yard! I wasn't completely sure it would live up to its Orlando counterpart that we visited in July - but it was great! There were plenty of things to bounce on, it wasn't too crowded and it very clean. They even had free WiFi so I got to sit there Facebooking on my iPod Touch. hehe! The boys had a great time. They were so sweaty and kept going to get drinks of water. It was exactly what we needed yesterday!



^ Stopping for a rest.
Look at that smile!

I even snuck into a few bounce houses myself! Why do kids get to have all the fun???

After the Jump Yard, I needed to pick up a few things at the Commissary since we were all the way out there. Nolen started pouting and saying he didn't want to go. I told him that if I had to tell him to stop pouting again, I would take 30 minutes of video game time away from him. That did it! On went the smile! He even made me a list while we were driving there and kept track of stuff for me while we were shopping. The boys were so good and fun in the store that I bought a package of Starburst at the checkout for us all to share! I don't usually do that but we really did have fun in the store. Nolen kept asking me what else we needed so he could write it on his list and as I put stuff into the cart, he would check it off. Have I mentioned that I love these kids???