a HILL of a good time.........: January 2015

January is always an interesting month around here. It is usually full of a lot of organizing, cleaning and refreshing... as well as many snowdays. The best part about that is we get to get some of these things done and we get to hole up in the house for an entire month. We aren't complete hermits and did get to have some wonderful visits from some of our awesome friends!

Little Jack and Dane snuggled and reading.

And then they decided to hide. I love little kids. They believe if they can't see you, you can't see them. This is in the middle of the hallway, right outside the kitchen. Hilarious.

I think this one was a slam dunk (dark, night, rain) but I am still able to get these kiddos to sleep in the car. Anytime.

Morning sweetness. I love mornings when we can cuddle and relax. I am a go, go, go girl but I am trying (every year I promise myself that I will do more and more of this) to just slow down and try to enjoy more and more of these sweet moments.

Did I mention straightening, cleaning, organizing?!?! Well, as you all know, this momma is totally OCD. To the point that I am a crazy pants about the bread vs fruit/veggie baskets. Yep, it is a must!

Behind the cash register, I found this guy. This is Ralph. My daddy and Chaz made this guy, who frighteningly resembles Obama, a few years back. Chaz will not let me toss him out. I think he may take him to college one day.

We had a teacher's in-service, I mean, they have been out of school for two plus weeks, why not!?! When life throws you a lemon like that, you go bowling.

The baby obviously was not down for this... Notice his mens in his shoes.

Thank goodness for the hubs. He was able to coax him over and play.

This is really all he wanted to do. The Batman game. I could probably bring him to this in the morning, go shopping, have some lunch and then swing back by around 3pm and he would STILL be sitting at this game. No money needed because he is still so little. He believes he is single handedly saving the city. Great job, ~~Batman~~ Dane!

Good thing I was there, I showed him there are other "free" games to play. He loves the motorcycles!

And if we can pull him away from Batman long enough, he loves, loves, loves the carousel.

Ham it up, little dude!

My kiddos love the games with water. You know, the ones who stink. Ugh.

Time to cash out. This is almost like playing a game to them. They love "chomping the tickets." Come on, big money, no whammie!!

Happy kids. Buncha cheap junk but happy kids. *BTW if anyone who see us often has see the hat Chaz is wearing here, it is MIA. Keep a look out!

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnd there is this. BAM!

1st grade is killing us. It isn't hard, I mean that would just be silly but the amount of homework is almost laughable. We have anywhere from 10-15 front/back pages of homework, a spelling test, sight words, 100 minutes of online work and five books a week worth of homework. I see my kids about 3 hours a day and we are tired. Give this momma (and kiddo) a break! I will say, I do love squishing up in my oversized chair and reading a book with my buddy.

There she goes. My 4-runner was sold and my minivan was on the way! Happy day!

You have seen what happens when the boy gets my phone, photobombs galore. Well, here is the baby. Technically, I am taking the picture but he was telling me to. He was also giving me a play-by-play.

"Ok Momma, I gonna smile. Take a picture"

"And one with my men. Take a picture"

"And one of my mouff. Take a picture"

"And one with my Pri-Sun. Take a picture"

"Wait, I didn't smile with my Pri-sun. Take another picture"

"Can you take my fork's picture?"

"Take another. I liked that one"

"What about my head? Take a picture of my head"

"What about dis? Take a picture"

"Here is my tongue. Take a picture"

"And dis. Take a picture"

"Can I take one with you? We will open our mouffs and I'll hold my toy. Take a picture"

"Ok, now I take de picture. I will take it of my nose and my mouff. See?"

"Now just my nose" This kid KILLS me! He is simply a riot!

These two brought to you by one of those "slow down" moments. I loved this evening. We sat on the floor and built Legos for about an hour. Were there a thousand other things I could have been doing? Yes. Did I care at that point? No.

The sky on my way to work one morning. Wicked.

My hubs LOVES kiddos. Especially KSue. I think she is a little sweet on him too!

We did a girls night at Painting with a Twist. We painted a cow. Yep, a cow. If you know me, you know I can barely draw a stick figure with two legs so this was WAY out of my comfort zone!

BUT, I have to say, she turned out quite well. I was pretty proud of myself!

My girls. Such a fun night!!

Annnnnnnd Misti accidentally wore the smock out. I took this pictures before I even realized what she was wearing. HA!

Goof ball!

One evening I came home to this. Damn these dogs. Or should I say dog. "She is a puppy. She is a puppy." I just keep telling myself this. Clearly the book Unbroken is broken.

and the blinds...

And this DVD. I love how this picture turned out. I kinda laugh because the picture turned out like it was spinning. I think my head was spinning around in anger. ARGH!

and the steering wheel in my hubs car. Yes, she ATE it! WTF.

And then I find her like this. Love/hate. Total love/hate.

At the chop shop aka Meme's house.

We are so blessed to have this little lady. I had to take a picture because sooner or later, Chaz is going to outgrow her! To be clear, this is not a huge feat as she is about 4'10" HAHA! Love you, Meme!!

The baby and his pup. He always asks "Momma, can I hug my puppy??" He literally wallers on her until she grunts for him to get off of her. Yes, pit bulls are vicious!

You can tell what they do when we go to the McGowans.. We were there about 3 minutes when the kids when and jumped in bed to watch a movie. It is cute when they are 2 and 3, it will be an issue when they are 16-17! Love these littlebits!

What happens when Momma goes to play Bunco our out for a girls night? The hubs either takes then to "Gol Coral" (aka Golden Corral) for dinner or Chuck E Cheese to play. He is awesome!

and then I get messages like this. HAHA! We live in the world of boys. They bump, they bruise and they are crazypants. *note: McGowan has seen this. We were just joking*

And guess who won some moooooolllllaaaaahhhh at Bunco!! Yes, this girl!

This little pup came to the office one day. Sweetness. And to be clear, I do not want another pup... but I can love on one anytime!!

More baby selfies. He wasn't feeling great but from the looks of this, you can't really tell.

He is just so freaking awesome!!

Another girls afternoon resulted in this. MUCH more up my alley. Maybe I was a bit more of a recluse than I thought! They wanted me to get out! HA!

And we started the transition to a big boy room. *tear* that is his little crib mattress on his big new bed.

And then this happened. I walked in on this beauty. Chaz had already taken a shower and I guess the baby wasn't ready to get out. Chaz had reading homework so he decided to open the door and read to his brother. Hilarious!

I love how he turns the book, teacherstyle. And Danes little pose, seriously? They couldn't be any cuter!!

For your enjoyment. I love these two!

And then this happened. Classic winter. Sick kiddo. Now, I will say, we have been VERY lucky and have only had a few sicknesses through the years. Isn't there something about being on the couch, covered in a fresh bedsheet that reminds you of being with your momma? My momma used to do this for me when I was sick. Somehow it made me feel so much better.

Guess who got it next? Why do they only listen about sharing when it comes to germs? Sweet big brother wouldn't leave his side.

He stayed home the next day because he was running a fever. I think by the looks of this, he pulled one over on me.

Uhhh, no. Still sick. Poor puny kid.

He bounced back pretty quick. New bed, new room, partytime. I love Chaz's face in this one!!

So both my kiddos take showers, always have (THANK the good Lord because I loathe giving baths!) Anyways, I walked in to find this one evening... really Dane? really?

The next morning I received this text from my ~~client~~ friend. She was actually texting to check on her sick granddaughter, not my somehow-still-running-fever-but-causing-total-chaos-along-the-way child. I love her.