Mile High Vogels: 2 Weeks of Free Time

Sounds like a blessing - 2 weeks to do nothing but sit at home, hang out with the kids, cook, clean up, go sledding, wish it was warmer, break up fights, remind kids not to trek wet boots and snowsuits into the house, cook some more, clean some more, remind the kids not to assault the dog, assemble another puzzle....it was a blessing for a week. Then we deeply regretted not planning something to get the heck out of dodge. We did have many highlights of fun during those 2 weeks. See below for evidence.

Squirt's very first ballet lesson. Need I say words? Notice the necklace she has on came from her friend Molly. It's a "BFF" necklace. I had one of those in 6th grade with a friend I won't name and I asked her to give it back to me so I could give it to someone else. Sorry Ernose. I will teach my daughter to cherish her BFF's and not become a traitor.

The little girl in the front did not come back week #2.

Tim took Dude on a boy's sledding adventure one morning. They went to a steep hill in the open space across from our neighborhood. Tim was shocked at how awesome Dude did until..... a tree stump met Dude's boyhood area and knocked him flat on his skinny fanny. Out for the day. This might have caused occassional strife for the next couple of days. Rest assured, he is ok. Just a bit marred from the experience. SO, we chose a more mild sledding experience later in the week and it went off without a hitch. Enzo relentlessly ran after every child who went down the hill in an effort to herd them back together at the top.

Squirt refused to allow anyone to join her on her trips downhill. She was a bit of a persnickety sledder. When she reached the bottom, she would sit motionless until someone arrived to walk her up the hill, all the while saying, "This is SO hard to climb, right?" Every time.

I forced Enzo down one time and he was freaking out in a major way. Made for cute pictures anyway.

We swam at the rec center with our Glassman peeps. Baby Hayes had his very first pool experience that day. He might possibly be the easiest, most endearing baby boy on the planet. It was blizzarding outside which made it all the more enjoyable to be in the warm pool. Until we had to walk to our cars.

We played LOTS of baby.

We were handed roses at the grocery store simply for being cute. Just what she needs. More people telling her how charming she is. The next day an old man at Barnes and Noble handed her a dollar. Perfect. I made her give it to the present wrapping ladies.

Mommy got new kitchen rugs. Happiness. Of course now I have to change the paint, the wall hangings, the pillows...

We hung out at Starbucks for a change of scenery. Which means we fought at Starbucks rather than at home.

Dude graduated from Brain Balance Center after 3 months of HARD work and countless hours of time and exercises both at therapy and at home. It's exasperating to think we did all this before we knew the Epilepsy diagnosis was coming, but we're grateful for the positive changes we've seen as a result of all our time and effort. Dude got a kickin' Lego set as a reward for being so amazing through it all.

New Year's Eve consisted of a very fancy dinner out at a taco chain with Miss Hadley June. We put the kids down at 7:30 and had our Kansas City friends, Eric and Megan, over for drinks and hang out time. We (I) made it till midnight, I'm proud to say.

We constructed a magical wooden sled at everyone's favorite box chain hardware store. Squirt has impressive hammering skills already at the tender age of three.