W is stubborn

So our third born child, Wes, is stubborn.  He's what we like to call our 'strong willed' child.  He's not a follower and very independent.  So last Saturday we were eating cereal like we normally do and W asked for his second bowl (like R & A).  This is normal behavior and sometimes they will eat 3 bowls of cereal if we'd let them.

But this particular morning, W asked for a second bowl but then didn't want to eat it.  We don't waste a lot of food in our house especially if you ask for something.  So he had to eat 2 bites, since he's 2 years old, before he could get down and play.  I'm not sure why he decided to fight it, but he sat there for 30 minutes before making a move.  I wasn't changing my position and I think he finally realized that.  I tried to document this!

January snow week

Little did we know that the snow day would turn into 4 days.  We had school Monday and then not again that week.  It did snow finally Tuesday night and the roads were yucky Wednesday and Thursday.  I'm not sure why school was cancelled again on Friday but there's nothing I can do about it.  I've enjoyed the time home with my kids, even though Rin is ready to go back to school.  I think she's bored.  Here's a recap:

Tuesday school was closed with anticipating snow early afternoon.  Things changed and it didn't start to snow until almost 8 pm.  It pretty much snowed all night though.  Tuesday I went to school for a few early hours and then we got PDQ for lunch.  B was feeling a little under the weather so he stayed home and worked from home.

Wednesday we didn't go anywhere and we tried to play outside in the snow.  B took the kids sledding in the street and down the yard but once they tried to make snow angels, it was all over.  They all 3 got so cold that their hands and feet started hurting.  We came in to warm baths for the 3 bigs to help thaw them out.  If only we had come inside 10 minutes earlier, I think we could have avoided tears.  They went outside again after naps but it still ended in tears.  We braved the streets to get a hot & ready pizza because I was too tired to cook (even thought I didn't work).

Thursday was another snow day but I took the kids into the school with me for a few hours.  I was able to grade some papers and put grades in while they colored and watched a show.  E took a nap in her stroller.  It was good to get out of the house.  After that we headed back to for rest before gymnastic class.  At least gymnastics wasn't cancelled and R & A were ready for class.  W sat with us playing on B's phone and E crawled around.

Friday, the fourth snow day of the week is another lazy day.  I had all these plans to get errands run and things done but then A got sick.  When I say sick, he puked in the van.  It was gross and I wish it wouldn't have happened but with 4 kids, we are bound to get some throw up in a vehicle sometime.  He's just drinking Gatorade (from Ms. Kristen) and laying around on the sofa.  But now we have 4 days we have to make up.  I went in for 2 of the 4 and Friday's snow day I will use as a sick day since A is really sick.   


Funny story though: Wednesday night we made 'snow cream' and it was pretty good.  Rin excitedly said "Thanks God for snow" and it was awesome.  Yes, thank God!

January Date Night

Our small group started back date nights and the Daniels hosted for January.  They had all 14 kids and I'm amazed at all the crafts and pictures Sara was able to take.  B and I went to Mimi's cafe specifically for the fried pickles and guess what!  They took 'em off the menu so we were not able to get them. :(  Won't be going back there any more.  We had a good time anyways and look forward to the next date night!

 

 

New Years Eve & Day 13-14

Our NYE plans this year were to go over the J/K and spend the night with them.  We ate dinner at their house too.  Keith fried some wings and fish.  We had fried pickles too.  The kids at mac & cheese and nuggets like usual.  It was a lot of fun.  After the kids went to bed, we adults stayed awake and watched Hard Knocks until it was close to the count-down.  We turned the channel to watch the ball drop in NYC then returned to Hard Knocks.  I think we finally went to bed at 3am.  We stayed up way to late!

For breakfast, Jen made a casserole and the kids ate cinnamon rolls.  It was a nice lazy morning with no need to rush.  Our NYDay plans included a movie at the wakefield cinema to see Frozen.  It was such a cute movie and now we have the sound track so we listen to it all the time.  Our favorite song at the moment is Let It Go. We were joined at the movies with the Gillams, the O'Janpas and the Caldwells.  All 8 adults sat in the front of the 10 kids.  I was skeptical when I saw the arrangement but it ended up working out pretty good.  E was in her carrier though for most of the movie.  Vic and Kristen had to take turns taking AK out when she would start to fuss but overall it was a really good time.  Expensive but fun.

The rest of the day was spent chilling out at the house and resting.  I think we all took long naps to catch up from the lack of sleep from the night before.  Back to work good-bye to Christmas vacation!

Disney World with G&G

This Disney trip has been planned since R was born.  When A came along, they decided they would take both kids together.  R was going to miss a week of school, but we weren't that worried about it.  The plans were made and this week at Disney was going to be jammed pack full of activities and character meals.
We drove to Jacksonville, FL Saturday morning October 19 and met Gram & Granddad to a hotel for the night.  We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant around the corner within walking distance.  Sunday morning R & A went with G & G towards Orlando while B and I drove back to NC with W & E.  It's about a 6 hour drive but seemed really different without the bigs.  I can't write about their time exactly but I'll just put pictures up to document their successful Disney trip.