is it spring yet?

i apologize to those of you that check this blog often - there haven't been any updates in awhile...we've been busy :)
these two silly kids play really well together (for the most part) and one of their favorite things to do is get in ralphy's bed when we're not looking....ralphy has figured out how to climb in like elli (using the blue rocker next to the crib)...luckily he hasn't tried to get out on his own yet...

we had a really nice valentine's day and the kids got all kinds of goodies...
and we celebrated Duck's Day! (and most of you are thinking, "what in the world is Duck's Day?")...right after christmas we were talking about what holidays would be next and what kind of decorations we'll have....so elli "created" duck's day and told us that duck's day would be after valentine's day and we'd decorate and have cake, etc...we asked her what we would eat for duck's day and she said, "chicken!" (good thing, too, because i wan't thrilled with the idea of baking a duck)....so after we took down the valentine's decorations at our house elli said, "it's duck's day now!" (she remembers everything...it's scary sometimes...) so we made cupcakes and a cake and had chicken for dinner...then we iced & decorated the cupcakes and cake...below is a picture of elli having a good time with a cupcake....ralphy prefers his without icing, so he enjoyed one plain...we got all of this with the video camera, but i guess we didn't end up with a still shot of ralphy and his cupcake...up next is Ladybugs Day (i promise she thought of this one on her own, too!) but she hasn't decided when that will be... ralphy has become very fond of reading (like his sister) and will sit and read several books before and after his naps and at bedtime...his current favorites: Pat the Bunny, Goodnight Gorilla, Goodnight Moon, Animal Babies, Five Little Monkeys and How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten? (just to name a few) he has really been chatting a lot, trying to keep up with elli in conversations...we catch some of it, but some goes right over our heads...he definitely has a lot to say...
and here are a couple videos...the first is of elli being slap-happy...she had already been laughing for a few minutes by the time i grabbed the camera...
Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

and here's ralphy moving at his favorite speed...it's a little blurry, but you get the idea...

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

we love snow days!

we finally got another good snow! it arrived on thursday and ended friday morning...every time the forecast includes accumulating snow, ralph makes fun of me saying that i am worse than a little kid with my anticipation...he's right...as a kid i would sit in the kitchen and watch it snow, praying we'd have a snow day...we got plenty of them when i was a kid and i loved every one of them...during college i think i got one snow day...during student teaching: none...during my 7 years of teaching: only a few...but oh, how i would watch the weather forecast, the window, and the school closures on the bottom of the tv...as an adult, it often ended in disappointment, especially when my district was not called off and ralph's was...so now that i am staying home with the kids, i don't need anyone to tell me i can or cannot have a snow day! but, i still watch and cross my fingers i hopes that ralph will get to stay home with us...and this time he did! we found out thursday night that he wouldn't have school on friday, which made it even better!

so we played in our yard friday morning...

ralphy isn't wildly fond of the snow in the same way that he is wildly fond of most everything else...but it would be hard to be bundled up so that you are as wide as you are tall and not be able to tell your mom and dad that your fingers are numb, you have snow in your pants and you've had enough (i think those are the things he kept trying to tell us as we put him on the sled time after time!)

we went to my mom and dad's friday afternoon to sled on "my hill"...my mom, dad, ralph, the kids and i all played...we had races and dared each other to do stunts...it was great...

elli was awesome! she made snow angels, flew down the hill on the saucer and the sled...on saturday morning she and my mom and i did "the hill" again and she wanted to go down by herself...she said, "gram you wait at the bottom and mama, you slick me down"...slick me down...i hadn't heard that phrase before, but i gave her a push and that's what she wanted...she laughed all the way down the hill (and then we pulled her back up...every time...what a work out)...we found deer tracks in the snow all along the edge of the yard and across the dam of the pond...we were elli's sled dogs as she took a ride...i didn't get many pictures at my mom and dad's because it's hard to manage a camera in the snow...gloves and melted snow and cameras don't mix... we had a snowball fight with papa and then made the best snowman ever...we intended to bring ralphy back saturday afternoon to get a picture of the snowman and both kids...but sadly, we didn't get a picture with ralphy because by saturday afternoon he had melted...elli was sad that the snow was going away so quickly and so was i...i think ralphy was glad to see it leaving!

i love snow days!