The things that make us smile

The things that make you smile when you’re young are not really what makes you smile when you get older. I think most of you know what I mean by this.

We needed to replace our washer / dryer and we both wanted to actually buy new for the first time in our lives. Hand me down washers are great (thank you mom’s and dad’s) but there comes a time when we have to wash on our own. So the day before our new models arrived we banned the old set out to our garage. Seeing the laundry room with out them we realized that a cleaning and painting should be in order. Talk about waiting till the last minute to decide this. So forward we went, gutting the entire room and grabbing a can of clean white paint, off we went.

“Better Head for Jerry’s”

Those that know our local home improvement store commercials? This shot reminds me of one of those.

And we did head to Jerry's at one point in the day.

The new machines arrived and we are loving them! Here is “The things that make us smile” part. And a photo to prove that a computer screen, tv or even a fish tank could not hold Jill’s attention like the first load of laundry did.
Ok, she only did this once. At least I only saw her move the chair into the laundry room this once. I guess this could be going on more often and I just don’t know it.

The kid’s computer took a dump so Oma built a new-used one for them and then let them have at the old box. I could not pick a photo, they both make me laugh so….

Write a caption for us?

Write a caption for the photos and I will make sure they get posted here on the site.
Jo…what a goofball some times!

Quiet Time

We have had the crud here for over a week now and I think we are all ready for a healthy home life again. Jo fought off the fever/throwing up in just a couple days only to turn around and join Cole in the fever / coughing / stuffy head w/ runny nose. Whew! If any of you have this? Well I’m sorry to hear it! It’s like one of those people who will not leave your home after the party is over! GO AWAY!
Staying inside brings new toys and new imagination at times. Here the kids pulled “all” the utensils out of the drawer and pulled all the letter magnets off of the doors so they could make “letter food”. (in their words) Really, why bother buying toys when they can come up with good stuff on their own?

Today another quiet morning with no boxes on, meaning tv’s, computers or video games. LOVE these days and so we will try to do this more often seeing how much fun all us have. This is one of the “no box” activities we did.

Artist: Jo E.
Title: Jo & Artemis with Artimis’s food


Artist: Cole
Title: Person Frame

Momma has been walking more since she has been feeling her fat pants getting tight. If some one out there is mad at me now is the time to call me up and chew my butt out / off! I’d like that. For real though, I found this site to help me map out my walking path! Just zoom in to your area and click on the map to plot out your walk or ride and it will tell you how many miles it would be. Great! I have tried to do a pedometer to count my steps but I just don’t trust it because when I sit down or stand up from eating my cake it counts those as steps as well. :O) So this has been a wonderful site…I know how far I want to walk each day and plot it out! No new pants for me! Everyone will just have to live with me walking around in my painted on fat pants! HA

Yet another snow day…

Ok, I love the snow, I really do! But COME ON! If my family does not go back to school and work soon I might go crazy! Really, how much of “cozy home” time can one person handle? What do people do in Alaska all these months? Do they start to go family crazy as well? Really, I’m not going crazy but I might. :O)

We are having a good time with the snow and playing or watching them play with their friends from the neighborhood. Jo has grown quite a friendship with one girl in particular and they play together very well for hours on end some days. Here they are after making snow angels in the front yard. Every so often I would see them run up to the boys, throw a snowball at them and then run away from the boys yelling as the chase begins. Oh, the memories.

Cole has had a blast in the snow as well and really plays outside much longer and harder than Jo does. But today he was ready for some thing a little different. So the Pitch Back he got for Christmas and a shoveled driveway was a good alternative.Momma is a little tired from all the snow shoveling, maybe if we got snow like this every year it would be worth getting that snow shovel. Not yet though.

Fresh baked banana bread from Oma and a nice cup of hot tea…another load of laundry and I think I might be done for the day.

Ahhhh…I was not done for the day yet…
Above was the last of my post, but after I finished typing it I heard the garage door shutting and then the scream of Cole…I ran out in my socks to find Cole had shut the door with his pinky finger in the track. The trip to the ER was less than two hours long and he is fine, steri-stips (skin was too ragged for stitch) and a thick bandage and has been told to keep it dry for a week. Yeah…thank goodness there is no snow to play in!…shoot…there is…

All About Jo & Cole

Thought it would be fun to put a bunch of photos together of the kids and their personalities. So below are what I have come up with.

Jo here, well she goes from one extreme to another in a way.
She loves to be “Pretty”, so make-up and dresses with her hair done are very important. And then you have the outdoors, mud, bugs and just being a part of nature. The pretty girl who likes to get dirty…but then again she hates getting her hands yucky while eating a meal. Go figure.
Click on a grouping of photos to be able to read the captions and see a little closer look of the photos.

Cole loves to dress up if some of you didn't already know this. As you might see in the photos, he has gotten gifts to help him along the way. From using a bat for a light saber to a real toy light saber or from pointing his hair up for Batman ears to a real Batman outfit created by Grandma Marie.

And then there are those outfits ???...well he is just a funny guy who loves to dress the part at all times!

Snow Day!

Oma really wanted a snow day and woke early to find 3 inches on the ground. I then heard Oma grab Jo from bed (I think Jo was awake but barely) to show Jo the snow. Then Jo ran into her room to get dressed along with saying loudly “There’s SNOW on the ground Cole, wake up!” So, Momma too pulled herself out of bed to join the family in the excitement! I looked over at the clock to find it was only around 5:45am! WHAT?!

So our morning went as follows after this reality of time and darkness; breakfast was made quickly, and eaten quicker, then the kids and Oma were dressed and out the front door. Though I must say that our neighbor kid, Daniel, had been up for a tad longer and had a HUGE snowball built in his yard already.

6:20am
Oma, Cole & Jo walking around the snow saying hello to Dale and Francis along with a couple snow angels that were made in front of their window for their viewing pleasure.

7:15am
Our Snowman Named Just Bob (second of the year) was complete.
(Do you see our porch light?...It's still on!)

7:20am
Momma wanted a photo with the kids and Jo was heading in to get some cocoa with Oma.

7:30am
Momma and Cole got out the snow disk with a rope and had a good time pulling him on the street.

7:45am
All the kids on the block were up and out and the snow fights had begun.

Cole has spent most of the morning/early afternoon outside playing with all the boys. Jo and Oma have taken a nap already (It’s only 1:30pm now) and Momma? Well I have spent time inside/outside and visiting with neighbors. Had a good cup of cocoa-n-buttershots with Linda too. Yummy!

Momma needs a nap...