Not sure he slept so well

This is how Matthew woke up from his nap today...

Playset!

Once we got everything moved in and unpacked, it became very clear that we were missing one very important part of our new house. The playset that we had been promising Ellie and Matthew for months, had become a possibility. Our backyard was now big enough and flat enough to hold one. In the true Texas spirit of extreme weather, Tony got started building it, only to be greeted by the biggest snowstorm in Texas history. If you remember, his last building project, the deck, was done while it was over 100 degrees out. Well, the play set was built in freezing temperatures and a foot of snow. Schools were closed, so Tony was home for three days....and wanted to use his free time to get it done. With snow gloves instead of work gloves and plastic bags inside his boots to keep the wet out, he stayed out there for three days. I'd bring the kids out to play in the snow and to check on their loyal Daddy (he was going to finish it for them no matter what!). The kids were in jackets, raincoats, cowboy boots, and Matthew even had to wear socks for gloves...we were not prepared for the snow! The play set is now done, and we love it and him, even more, having watched Daddy build through three days of snow.

Snow Day!

Before her eyes were even all the way open this morning, a sleepy Ellie was asking, "is it snowing yet?". And it was! We woke up to two inches on the ground this morning, and it's still coming down. We may be getting six inches! While DC and Philadelphia are covered in three feet, we've got three inches, but those inches allow us to boast "the snowiest winter in 25 years", right along with the east coast.
So, our first stop was the window to look out at the snow, and the second stop was her closet. She insisted on getting dressed immediately and heading right out. We stopped along the way to grab a pajama clad brother on our way down stairs. Hats, coats, gloves and boots and we were outside, at 7:15 in the morning. See, in Texas, our snow is often gone by the time the sun comes up to warm it, so I didn't want them to miss it. From the looks of things now though, we may have this snow for a little while.
I built my first snow man in about fifteen years. The cold this morning was so worth it, watching the kids run around, snow on their eye lashes. Elle told me, "this is the best snow man I have EVER seen! Even better than the one Curious George made." Wow. Now that's a compliment from a three year old if I ever heard one. We put him right outside the back door so we can watch him from the warmth of the house.
p.s. check out the mostly finished swing set Daddy built! Slide and fort walls to come this weekend...

More from today...

Ellie, wanting to go in the cart at Home Depot with a plastic car attached to it for the kids to ride in, remembers that I often tell her that she can only walk in stores if she doesn't touch things. She usually has to go in the cart with her brother in stores. Here, she uses this logic against me...

Ellie : Can we go in the car cart, please?

Me : No honey, you get to walk today and Matthew is just going to go in the stroller. (we were going in to Home Depot for her to do a kids project)

Ellie : But, I NEED to. I am going to touch LOTS of stuff.

And on the way home, she noticed a detour in our path as we veered off to follow a garage sale sign...

Ellie : Where are we going?

Me : To a garage sale.

Ellie : But, we don't need to go to a garage sale, we have a garage at home already.

You've got to love a three year old's logic!

Thank you Cover Girl

Ellie comes to me this morning saying "Look Mommy, I'm beautiful!" And boy, was she ever! She had found my Color Stay lip stain and drawn around her lips, missing most of them. And let me tell you Cover Girl...it really does stay. Thankfully our day's event was a trip to the zoo with other moms who would understand. The thought had crossed my mind that it was good today wasn't a day when I was taking them to have pictures done. Anyway, we had a few laughs when we all met up at the gate to the zoo and then proceeded to the entrance. The zoo's membership policy is two and under are free, so when I renewed my pass in September Ellie was still two and didn't need one. Well....the woman at the gate today asked how old she was and told me I couldnt' come in until I got her a ticket or a membership. We had all assumed that our newly three year olds were going to be free until the next time we had to renew since they had only been two when we got our passes. Well, we were wrong. As we go to the zoo a lot I decided to get her a membership along with mine. We had to go to the office, fill out the form and, uh oh...have her picture taken. I had her stand on the paw print while they pointed the camera at her, then they lady asked if I wanted to wipe her face before she took the picture. No thanks. It wasn't worth explaining the Color Stay Lip Stain event. We had a great rest of the trip, saw some animals, ate some Texas sized onion rings, and came home for a nap. Still got the lip stain on....

Closing Day Remembered Always

So, here is how closing on our house went today. We awoke to "the Manitoba Mauler", as the local news was calling frost and 27 degree weather that was coming to us from Canada. Almost all schools were closed and the weather was stating "Schools are putting into effect their emergency winter storm plans. They are currently de-icing school buses (with the stuff for the airplanes!!!). The cold is extremely dangerous and parents must dress their children accordingly, however please make sure not to cut off circulation." It was 27 degrees. Oh, Texas... Our closing was pushed back an hour. Now to be fair, there were patches of ice on the roads, and several accidents. However it was not so cold that we needed warnings about cutting off our kids circulation with all their winter weather gear. We had both kids with us and all our paper signing only took about 30 minutes. The title company lady left the room to make copies when we were done and we got up to play with the kids. Matthew had popped a few buttons between the legs of his pants, which happens so often that we had not run to fix it. Tony picks him up and tosses him a little in the air. (Now remember that Matthew has been on a strong antibiotic for a while and it has been giving him diarrhea for a week.) So Tony tosses him in the air a little, his crotch buttons have come open and....we heard a "plop...splat" . Oh, yes. He apparently had a big mess in his diaper that with a little help form being tossed in the air, came right out of the diaper and right out the undone snaps in his pants, and right on to the rug in the closing office. Thankfully we were the only ones in the room, and were able to get it and him cleaned up in between laughing and gagging at what had just happened. Matthew spent the rest of his time there in his jacket, a diaper and shoes. And yes, we were in the middle of the "Manitoba Mauler". Texans, please forgive me for those bare little leggies. Thank you Matthew. We will forever remember the day we closed on our new house :)

Kids Say the Darndest Things

On the way to Walmart Ellie says, "Can we buy some shoes for me.....on sale?" What a good little shopper! Guess she really hears everything I say.