Mud and Pi Day

We enjoyed that tease of Spring, but now we're back to freezing windy weather. The kids and I have colds, Henri is the worst off with lots of coughing but she's the one acting the best. Hudson does not do well with illness and is a total non-napping grouch. Thanks to the time change we've been able to take family walks after dinner the past few nights, though last night we kept it to a mile as it was only 20 degrees and the wind was vile. I've downscaled my imaginary garden even further, and this year we're attempting carrots, basil, and little tomatoes. Perhaps some beans. We've added a skunk to the vermin that skulk around our yard (pew!) so I know whatever I plant won't stand a chance. No real plans to look forward to, just getting through the days right now.

Look at that outdoor temperature!!!!

I dug out the bulkhead so we could check for flooding. It was 3 feet down and under a few inches of ice. It made a great baby-cage!

I've had to wash all their outdoor gear almost daily. Puddles are so much fun!

Hard to see, but his nails are bright pink. I'd painted Henri's, and he wanted in as well. 

See the green sprouts?!

Farmers Market with Allie. I always feel like I'm with the "in-crowd" when I go because we call her and she sets aside the stuff we like (kalamata olive bread and sesame crackers, yuuuummmm!!!)

This particular one is held inside a greenhouse and they have all these fun water elements set up. Here there was a fish pond with a HUGE goldfish (and yes, Hudson was throwing rocks at it....)

Almost sold out already. Good thing we called ahead

I never do this, but on Sunday the babies matched (and looked super cute) in browns and oranges. 

Henri's fashion sense. Way into polka dots right now. And layering shorts over leggings, and short sleeves over long. It's a battle I'm not willing to even contemplate.

We've been taking advantage of Trader Joe's daffodils. It's a looked for event each year; $1.50 for 10, buy a couple bunches, and they last us a whole week. Se cheerful!

We had boiled dinner last night to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, except I was lazy and just chucked everything into a big dish and cooked it in the oven for 6 hours on low heat. I figured it worked for stew, why not a roast? And it was delectable. Even more exciting, I have enough ingredients left over to make corned beef hash with poached eggs for dinner tonight!!!! Quick side note: we did our weekly grocery shopping at MB, and they were playing Irish jigs the whole time. Hudson danced the entire shopping trip with a HUGE grin on his face. The boy does love his music :)

Thawing out

We still have another month of gnarly weather, but this week has been delicious already! We were out for 3 hours yesterday (the snow is finally packy enough to walk on top so there was some space to play) and I have a sunburn. I was planning to hang out my laundry but then realized we still have 3-4' of snow so the clothes would never clear the ground. To make up for it I opened up all the house windows :)
Last Friday I took the kids to Ikea for the morning. It used to be my favorite store, but Hen has never really liked it, and Hud hates just about all shopping. But this time we went with the intention of letting them run wild ( I am so not that kind of a mom, but we really really needed some exercise outlet!) and why did we not go earlier???? Hen was juuuussst tall enough (with her shoes on, oops) to qualify for Smalland, and in she went without a backwards glance. She and the worker tell me she loved it. Hudson and I went upstairs to the kids stuff and he rearranged all the chairs for an hour (and asked and looked for Henri constantly). Then we picked up Hen and went through the store three times. We spent about 30 minutes in one kitchen display alone while Henri read a book and Hudson opened every.single.drawer and cupboard. He was blissed out! A hotdog lunch and then they both took 3 hour naps (actually had to wake them up to go get Steve). So basically, a fabulous and free outing. We even met a mom there with a 2 year old and the kids all played together in the living room chair section for a long time while the mom and I chatted. Don't know her name, but she was lovely and expecting her second, and we discussed double strollers, lol.
Other than that, still same ol', same ol'. Can't wait to have enough snow melt so I can start getting to the shed to put the stroller in there so I don't have to fight it up the stairs. And, quick shout out to Market Basket for continuing to be the amazing grocery store that it is. $60 for a full weeks worth of food for a family of four is my kind of a place. Plus we always go on Tuesdays so we can see one of the cashiers (Patti, her bagger is Laurie) because she's such a lift to my spirit. It makes check out take twice as long, but I love to chat with her.

Not the most willing model, but I sewed Hen's Easter dress. It's a great spinning dress. Working on matching suspenders and a bow tie for Hudson.

He loves to hold hands with Hen on our walks, he just insists on using both of his :)

Sooooo terrible for our waistlines, but we've hit up 5Guys two Sundays in a row now. Their food is divine. Learned that a small order of fries would comfortably feed us all. The large (oops) was enough for the entire restaurant....

Painting

Clearly my instructions were ambiguous

Look how much has melted! That's still 3', but much better than the 6! The song birds have made a comeback this week as well. So much hope in the air :)

One last bit of "news", only because it has never happened and won't happen again: Henri slept in till 9 this morning. Actually had to wake her up. Sadly, Hudson was up at his usual 0530, but still. Maybe he'll start to take after his sister! :)

Valentines, Vermont, Variety

Also known as, "finishing up February". Fairly typical last few weeks here. We went to VT for a long weekend to get away from the snow and had the worst drive we've ever experienced (helllllooo, VT, it's called a "plow"! Use it!) but had a great time with the folks. And then another week inside with the kiddos. March is coming in kind of like a lion, so hopefully we'll end in true spring weather :) A few different things scheduled to happen this month, including jury duty (my first ever! all the others I've postponed because of newborns or got cancelled) which would be exciting and all, but they still haven't selected jurors for the Boston bombing and I'd rather not get put on that AND Hudson finally has a pediatric derm appointment scheduled for the day after which I really really would like to be at. Very inconsiderate of these lawbreakers. Anyway, we'll see how that goes.

Speaking of Hudson, the Love Bug is 18mo old. I keep thinking his coming birthday will make him one, but nope, I have an almost 2 year old (and his attitude does remind me of that when I forget). He has started to talk a lot more though the words are pretty indistinct and tend towards just the first syllable of each. But he definitely knows what he wants! His check up is next week and I'm anticipating he's right in the 50%. His current favorite activities are scribbling with crayon on everything except paper (just discovered my cutting boards have been decorated. How did he reach them?!), dumping out everything that might be in anything, tormenting his sister (she is soooo easy to make flip out though, it's pretty impossible for him to resist), reading, playing in the kitchen, going down cellar, throwing stuff. His favorite person is Dad and he asks about him every 2-3minutes. All. Day. Long. He remains a terrible eater but loves to drink water. And he gives the best snuggles.

So, phone stuff, with apologies to anyone who might follow me on IG as some are repeats:

JoAnn's had a sale

V-day cards from Great Gram

Henri was reading The Kitchen Knight every day at naptime, and then dressing up like Linesse

We got to go out for a quick ice skating date, my first time on hockey skates. They're a lot different from figure!

Our cards to each other

Went to our favorite sushi place for lunch. Cracks me up that Hen won't eat my delicious baked fish, yet her favorite food is sushi (and miso soup. She ate hers and mine).

Snow up past the windows. We have a staggeringly large amount. 

Look how he naps, with his little feet crossed!!!!

Made a ruffled baby blanket as a shower gift. Henri picked out all the fabrics

She had a successful cleaning!

Meet Barnabas!!!!! Our new side table from the '60's (you can also sit on him).

Hudson loves him, he gives him a kiss on the nose every time he walks by

Fun with icicles in VT

Snowshoeing date

I kept forgetting they weren't cross country skis and would try to push off with the poles

The Isham is completely frozen over

Cool ice drop

Great Gram T brought up Christmas presents; mittens she had knit for the kids. She is super talented. Hudson wears his in the car 

Cpt. Cook

Painting

After nap reading time

Saturday Steve needed to work so I took the kids to the $ store where they each got a balloon. Have I mentioned recently how much I love that store? Money really can buy happiness. Or at least $2 can.

And then we went to Petsmart for the ghetto zoo experience. The above is a typical text conversation between S and I ;)

Because there's not enough snow in the world, Hen and Steve made snowflakes.

On to March! My next task for the day is to finalize our seed order :)