Basketball boys

 Who says you can't play basketball outside in February??  A little snow won't keep us away.

Miles' Big Boy Bed

 Today we made the switch to a big boy bed for Miles and said goodbye to the last crib/toddler bed we had in our house.

He still fit in his toddler bed just fine, but we thought he would be more comfortable if he had a little more space to stretch out and a nice new comfy mattress.  With his room being on the smaller side we thought a loft bed would be a fun idea.  Not only would he have a cool bunk beds like his brothers, but it would give him a super fun "fort" space underneath to play in

(which Dottie quickly claimed as her own).

He celebrated the inaugural night in his new bed by attempting to have a sleepover with his brothers.  I say attempting because after about 6 rounds of musical beds (us walking upstairs to find them each in different beds) we decided it was best for everyone to go back to their own beds.

He seems to love his new bed!  He sleeps up top, but then will occasionally fall asleep on the bottom if he's ready to take a little nap in the afternoon. 

Now I just need to figure out how I want to configure the rest of his room to make the most of the space.  Sounds like a trip to IKEA is in my future.  ;)

Happy 1st Birthday Dottie!!!!

 Our little princess is ONE!!

This dog is the cutest, sweetest, most affectionate dog and it's safe to say I'm smitten.  I love this little girl more than I ever thought was possible.  Every night after putting the kids to bed she follows me downstairs, sits in front of the couch and waits for me to pick her up and put her beside me.  She only stays there for a second before crawling directly onto my lap and laying down on top of my outstretched legs.  Ryan is also sitting on the couch with us, but it doesn't matter...she always comes to me.  If he takes her by him and tries to hold her, most of the time she'll just keep giving me side eye glances and stare at me, waiting for him to let go so she can wander over to her spot on top of my lap.  I guess she's smitten with me too.  :)

She's also SO good with the boys.  Super patient with them when they try to put her in silly outfits or bring her on their chairs next to them while they're on their school zoom calls.  They love showing her to their classes!  She snuggles with them, plays with them and gets super excited to see them when they've been away at school for a few hours.  There's not a night that goes by that they don't ask for Dottie to come upstairs as they're going to bed so they can say good night to her.  And then they're the first ones up in the morning to get her up, say good morning and take her outside.  I always knew I wanted a dog for the boys, but watching how much they love on her makes me so thankful she became part of our family.

She's a great traveler and does wonderfully when we drive to see my family in WI.  She sits on the floor at my feet and sleeps the entire 4 hour ride.  She's also super social and nearly breaks her neck trying to pull me whenever she sees another dog when we're out on our walks.  She'll crouch down and lay on her belly like she's being sneaky as they get close.  And then she gets super excited and is always 100% friendly with them.

She celebrated her big day today with doggie ice cream and laying in her favorite spot right above the heating vent.

Dottie is the absolute PERFECT fit for our family and we couldn't be any happier!!

Happy birthday sweet girl!!!!

SNOW! SNOW! SNOW!

 When they say winter storm warning, they aren't kidding!

Snowmaggedon

 Remember a month or so back when I mentioned complaining about not having any snow in January??  Well, looks like someone was listening.

We have been getting hammered with snow!  Again today through tomorrow we have a winter storm warning.  I went out and shoveled tonight about an hour before I took this picture.  After only an hour you can see all my hard work has basically vanished!

With a storm on the horizon and really nowhere to go we decided to take it easy today.  We started the day with some sprinkle waffles,

the boys turned our living room into one big multi-tiered nap fort (notice Dottie next to Joe),

and we made another type of paintable cookies.  These were the watercolor heart cookies from Sugar Beet Schoolhouse.  A little more work, but super fun, cute...and really tasty!

I love lazy days.  It's nice not having a million places to go.  As a side note, however...

I know I asked for more snow, but this is me officially saying...Thank you!  We're good for now!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

 I LOVE making holidays special for the boys...even the little ones like Valentine's Day.  I love that they wake up excited to go downstairs and see what's in store for them.  Today I decorated the table with candy, some little surprises, a paintable cookie for each of them, a box of Lucky Charms for breakfast and the Valentine cards Grandma sent them.  

The cookies were so much fun!  I bought them from a local mom.  One of the cookies has a picture on it, and the other is a paint pallet.  Each set comes with a paintbrush and all you need to do is wet the brush with water and get the paint pallet wet.  Then you can use the colors to paint the picture.  So easy, but SO fun!  I even got one for Ryan and I to do.  :)

For special Valentine's Day dinner Ryan and I ordered sushi and we gave the boys one of their favorites...dumplings and chicken fried rice.  For an added special touch, I opened a bottle of sparkling grape juice for them.  Miles wasn't a huge fan of the bubbles, but the other two thought it was super fun and finished the entire bottle between the two of them.  

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Icicle Hunt

 Not that it comes as a big surprise, but the boys LOVE icicles!!  We don't have too many coming off of our house, so we're always on the lookout when we go for our walks.  The boys are sad I won't let them grab them off other people's houses.  Especially when they find one like this...

But sometimes we find super cool ones hanging off of trees like this one Joe found.

Let the hunt continue!

Puppy Bjorn

 It's a good thing Dottie is so patient with the boys.  I came upstairs to put them to bed to find her in her own little puppy bjorn.  Joe had taken one of his shirts, put it on her and then stuffed the front with two stuffed animals.  She was just calmly sitting there, happy to play along.  

Though secretly I think she was begging me with her eyes to help me.  She just didn't want to hurt Joe's feelings.  ;)

Superbowl Snacks

 It may not be fancy, but this is what our Superbowl snack situation looked like.

A living room picnic with all our favorites...Bagel dogs, mini tacos, pizza rolls, soft pretzel nuggets filled with cheese, and homemade cheese sauce to dip chips (and really everything else) into.  It doesn't have to be fancy to be delicious!!!!  

Ruby's Candy Bouquet

 This year Ruby turns 10 and it is her golden birthday.  She has a hard time coming up with things that she wants, but one thing we know for sure is she LOVES candy.  Being a candy lover myself, I totally get it!  I wanted to get her a gift card so she could pick something fun out, but I decided to spice up the presentation and make her something extra special that I knew she would love....a candy bouquet!

She love, love, LOVED it!!  She came up to me multiple times tonight and told me how much she loved it.  Mission accomplished!  Happy Birthday Ruby!!

A Whole Lot of Love

 Just in case there was ever a doubt...if there is one thing this dog is not lacking, it's attention.

First Day of School 2.0

 This is the week!!!!  Owen and Joe are finally starting in-person school again!!  They're doing a staggered start, so 4th and 5th grade started Monday, 2nd and 3rd started Tuesday, and then K and 1st start today.  The boys are super excited, but I may be even more excited than them.  Not only am I happy they'll be back with their teachers and friends, but I'll have a few hours of peace and quiet again!!  Peace and quiet to do my work.  Peace and quiet to get stuff done around the house.  Heck, peace and quiet to just sit and drink coffee if it's one of those mornings.  It's been a year, and this is definitely something we all need at this point.

I'm SO incredibly happy today!!  :)

My mom asked if I thought Dottie would be lonely with them gone.  I think she'll do just fine.  ;)

101 Days of School

 Today was Miles' 101st day of school this year.  They celebrated with a 101 Dalmatian theme.  When he came out of school wearing an adorable puppy headband he made, and asked me to sing along to the song he learned, how could I say no?

Happy 40th Birthday Ryan!!!!

 I'm not sure how it's possible, but Ryan turns 40 today!!!!  

I tried to do everything possible to make him feel special.  I decorated the space behind his desk so it would be extra festive during his zoom calls.

I ordered an obnoxiously large yard sign so everyone would know what we were celebrating.

And even added a few enlarged photo signs for good measure. 

He took the afternoon off and we took the boys snowboarding, then we came home and celebrated with dinner and a homemade banana cake (his request).

And while we can't get together to celebrate with friends and family like normal, I put together a video with birthday messages from the people that care about him.  It was SO special and he loved it more than any other gift I could have given him.

You can see it here. 

Happy Birthday Ryan!!  40 never looked so good!!  We love you!!