State of the Family #48

Whoops.  Its been a whole month plus a few days.  Thankfully, things have been pretty calm around here so there isn't too much to catch up on.

Most of the excitement around here has been with family happenings.  Cousin's birthday parties, baptisms and births.  Getting to meet new baby Broden aka "Gus"  on Feb. 3rd has definitely been a highlight.  It was hard on mommy seeing a baby boy with many resemblances to Noisy Man when he was a newborn.  Where does 5 1/2 years go?

The other highlight has been the final arrival of winter!  I can always do without the cold, but my motto is that if it is going to be cold at least give me some fun white stuff we can play in.  We all love to play in the snow.  Sledding, snowmen, forts, snow ice cream and my personal favorite, snow angels.  Then to come inside to some nice hot cocoa with cute rosy cheese and noses is the best!

I had been feeling pretty blessed to have such a healthy winter, but just heard on the radio yesterday that the flu is just starting to make its rounds.  Miss Firecracker and Miss Thumb Sucker got a nasty little cough and fever over the weekend but seem to be on the mend.  Miss Firecracker got the brunt of it and is still doing some breathing treatments on the nebulizer to keep it under control.  She gets into some doozies of coughing spells that just make your chest hurt watching her.  So far, everyone else has avoided it.

Noisy Man's 100 days of school project - his favorite thing - LEGOS

Mommy had her bi-annual scrap and only was able to accomplish finishing her digital calendar.  Oh well, fun time with the girls no matter how much you finish is always worth it, right?  I could adapt the old fishing saying to, "A bad day's scrapbooking is better than a good day's work"!  Totally true.  I also got to get pampered at out MOPS spa day, so much fun.

Noisy Man has been on a total Monopoly kick lately and is actually very good.  He is learning so much with numbers and adding and money stuff that it has a double whammy effect.  It keeps him entertained for hours and its educational!  Little stinker actually ends up winning 75% of the time too, without mommy and daddy even having to try to lose. 

Miss Thumb Sucker has finally crossed the threshold for potty training!  She hasn't had an accident in weeks and only has to wear pull-ups for bedtime, she even makes it through nap.  So. Fabulous.  She continues her ornery ways though, and I had just implemented a Pinterest find, the Time Out Jar.  If you put her in time out she just keeps getting up every 20 seconds to ask if she is done.  So, the time out jar was brought into play.  Shake it up when the time out starts and once all the glitter is at the bottom, you can get up.  Now she just has to learn not to continually move it around while she sits there so that it actually all gets to the bottom!

Miss Firecracker has learned to do a cartwheel and land on her feet!  She is so proud of herself.  And if I can learn how to upload a video on here you'll get to see it - if not a cute pic of her dance leg warmers will have to suffice (sorry).

Doing a fun Valentine's Day craft with red noodles!

That about sums it up.  Amazing how I can think nothing has gone one in the last month and then type on for 7 paragraphs.