Random Chaos

I'm down to blogging once per month. I try to go back and document some of the things that have  happened during the month. It's getting harder to keep up. The girls are busy with dance, basketball and school. They each have nightly work we are supposed to help them with for school. Will is B-U-S-Y and does not watch TV so he demands attention pretty much every minute he's awake. I'm trying to keep up with managing the marketing for three brands very part time and Scott has been crazy busy with work. So, here's a photo dump of some of the cute things on my phone from January. 

Will being cute, all snuggled up in his new Paw Patrol blanket.

We've had only one good snow this season, so when we got a half inch of snow this month Will was anxious to go outside and sled for 8 minutes. I love his pink snow pants. He is the 5th kid to wear the pants as they've been passed around among cousins. 

This is just the typical craziness that occurs at all hours in our house. I will probably only be able to handle all 3 of them at once for a short period of time. 

Happy Birthday Grandmas!

We celebrated a big 60 with Grandma Joan.

And we got to celebrate with Grammy Sherry before she went South for the winter!

Rollerskating

In a small town close to our house there is a roller skating rink that you can rent out for only $200! So, we gathered up a bunch of our friends and split the expense for two hours of fun. They even had kiddie roller skates for Will and he did great tooling around for 2 hours. We even did the limbo. 

Delayed Gratification

The hottest toy of the 2016 Christmas season was the Hatchimal. Of course, it was one of the only things Charlie had on her Christmas list. After scouring every online source, going to Toys R Us, Target, WalMart, and Kohls and putting every family member on the hunt we were unable to deliver. We even asked Santa and he couldn't come up with one. Charlie was thrilled to receive a Hatchimal gift certificate for Christmas with the understanding that she could get a Hatchimal when the craze subsided. After Christmas Aunt Suzy found one at Wal-Mart and Charlie was thrilled to receive her Hatchimal in late January!

Big Boy Bed!

Ever since taking away the pacifier in July, getting Will to bed has been difficult. He cries and fights and stalls. He is starting to get big enough to attempt to crawl out of the crib. We decided to transition to the toddler bed now while we are already in the middle of chaos. We've had this crib since Evy was born but have never converted it to a toddler bed since there was always another baby coming along! But guess what? No more babies!!! Will got a new Paw Patrol pillowcase and blanket for the big occasion. He is doing great in his new bed.

Winter Break

The girls were out of school for two weeks and I like to take advantage of this time to get out of the house and have some fun. We are lucky to have lots of entertainment options nearby, but turns out there are not very many options that work with the current age range of my kids. Many of the "tot" activities in town do not allow 8 year olds. And many activities that my 8 year old likes (movies and ice skating) do not work well with a 2 year old. So, I was scrambling a bit. 

While we still had snow on the ground I lugged everyone out to a trail for a hike. Knowing that Will would wear out quickly I brought along the sled. Everyone was having a grand time, for about 15 minutes and then everyone was fighting over the sled and crying. Fun. 

Break was a great opportunity to have friends over. Charlie had two friends over to play. Evy had one friend over and got to spend the night at another friend's house. 

We went out to lunch one day while my parents were in town and could lend a hand. By this point in the break I was drinking coffee all day long.

Lots of snuggling. Will missed his sisters when they had to go back to school. They do a great job entertaining him.

Obviously my hands were full most of the time because I did not capture many pictures over break. We also went to the Children's Museum with our friend Brooks, went to the Playstation in Cedar Rapids, had dentist appointments, ate lunch at Chick-Fil-A, met Dad for lunch, and lots of other silliness.

New Year's Eve

Our friends hosted a family New Year's Eve party. The thought was that the kids could play and then calm down and watch a movie (possibly fall asleep) while the parents rang in the new year. Turns out the kids had no interest in watching a movie. And the kids stayed awake until midnight to ring in the New Year!