The Fighter's

Second graders still get tuckered out sometimes too.  Had to snap a shot because it's a rare occurrence anymore that 1) Ava takes a nap and 2) that she falls asleep somewhere other than her own bed.  Love my sweet bean:-) And sweet Kate fell asleep on the way home from school...

The girls saw the movie "Frozen" this month and since then it has been a Frozen Frenzy.  Braids in hair, lots of dancing, gloves on hands, whimsical costumes.  The girls were at it again - singing the Frozen soundtrack at the top of their lungs and dancing to their hearts content.  After that - some snuggles with dad before bed.  I love Winter!!

It's funny how sometimes when a week has been rough - one of my 3 girls knows just what to say or do to cheer my heart/bring me into focus...and they don't even know it!  Ava drew this picture for me this week.  Brought it to me while I was finishing up work one day - and it meant so much and cheered me so.  I truly believe sometimes encouragement comes straight from heaven through the people we love - even the tiniest of people! A reminder and prayer close to my heart - I pray this for family and friends. "The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.  The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.  The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.  The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore."  Psalm 121: 5-8

Jet turned 4 and girls had a blast at his party!  Bounce houses, games, pizza...cupcakes with gummy worms...the kids were in heaven!  Just love my sweet, curious, smart adventurous nephew.  He always greets me with big happy eyes and an excited "Hi Aunt Kim!".  He melts me.  Love my Jet Jet an so thankful for the joy he brings to our lives!

Kate's girl scout troop took a trip to the fire station...had a great tour, and got to even try fire hats.  So much fun!  Ava, Olivia and I tagged along!

Olivia offering some assistance to her big sis...trying to yank out Katelyn's first tooth.  She was pretty determined:-)

My little Van Gogh....painting on a wintery day!  With her Ellie right by her side...   And one more smile on this Tuesday...my sweet Lou...

Love my Ava.  This picture sums her up perfectly.  Dressed in her favorite Buckeye gear, chess, legos...and if you look real closely...a snack to keep her going through construction and game playing.  Love her.

Except this time - no cookies involved!!!  Just 6 of my favorites, a fantastic dinner out in downtown Columbus, a couple of hotel rooms, pj's (because we decided it was too cold and we're too old to bar hop and went back to the hotel to get comfy and hang out right after dinner:-))...and lots of chatting and laughs until about 3AM!  Love these ladies!  So much fun!

No pics from snow day #4...because grandpa picked them up in the morning and took them on an adventurous day that included a drive out to their school to show them that the roads really weren't that bad (he's old school:-)),  lunch out at a local restaurant, a trip to lowes, a trip to kroger, a science experiment with snow and a bucket of water in his backyard, playing in the backyard snow and last but certainly not least - snow cones.  He has a snow cone machine and apparently - they each had 6 throughout the day - but they assured me they were topped with fresh orange juice or they just left them as plain ice... Yeah right...what's that saying..."what happens at grandma and grandpa's...stays at grandma and grandpa's"?? Thankful for my dad, his willingness to take the girls (without me asking) for a full day while I worked.  God send!  And love the memories he's making with the girls. Anyways - snow day #5 - we had to clean up the house after sn...

Snow day #3!  I had to work - no babysitter - so had to be creative.  Gave them a fun to do list.  Ava grabbed hold of it and...rebelled against number 1 (stayed in her pj's all day:-)) but led them through all the other tasks.  Honestly these snow days have been tough when they fall on work days - balancing both can leave room for plenty of guilt on the mothering side and a little bit of anxiousness, extra hours on normal days off on the work side...but  think I'm learning (slowly) to let go of those anxious and guilty feelings - knowing that I'm doing the very best that I can do - and that the girls know I love them so much.  Plus they really have been so good and cooperative - only had one conference call where Olivia busted in...declaring how hungry she was:-) 

We woke up to -40 wind chills this morning!  So cold.  This year is off to a wintery start!  The girls had another cozy snow day - and played so great together (which does not happen every day) but I'll take it!  Here's our attempt to make homemade oatmeal cream pies!  They were good but sooooo rich!

What happens when you get 12 inches of snow overnight and negative double digit wind chills?  Snow day!!  And what happens when you have creative girls who love their barbies - but also love trains and building things?  A mega long barbie train.  They were so proud of their creation (*note olivia's face in the pic below:-)) And what else do you get with 12 inches of snow, cold, lots of wind and old wooden windows?  Inside snow!  Nothing that a little bit of insulating tape couldn't take care of!