2+2+2+2+2+1 = No Food

At one point today, I counted 11 kids either in my house or somewhere in the yard. There were several from the street over, several who slept over, a few who actually lived here and lots of fun and playing at our house today. They were all so good today and I don't think anyone had fights (that I had to referee). But, as you can imagine, the sheer quantity of kids meant that someone was always hungry. When Kevin left this morning, the counter was full of left overs from last night's WWE Royal Rumble event. When he came home this afternoon, the counter was empty. *smile*

This is what my front porch and living room looked like at one point today. I have since cleaned it all up, but it was just one of those moments where you walk through the house, stop and go, "WHOA! What happened here??"





Ellie and I had some sweet time together with her exploring the snow. She sat for a quite a while, picking up the snow, holding it, furrowing her brow, looking at it, dropping it, dusting her hands off and getting another handful. Her "snow boats" were a little big on her and she had some trouble walking in the snow, but she was SO cute (and that's all that matters, right??).

100,000

I noticed that my counter indicates I'm closing in on my 100,000th visitor. If you are that person, let me know. There's no "gift" or anything, but I'd like to know just from curiousity.

Wow -- 100,000. The question is: why??

But, regardless why -- thanks.

Not Giving Up My Day Job

It has become painfully evident that I don't need to pursue a career in cake decorating. While the ideas and concepts might be "all that", the technical skills and artistry are just sorely lacking. However, I DID manage to make a gigantic WWE [belated] birthday cake for Josh to have for tomorrow night when his friends come over to watch WWE Royal Rumble 2010.

But, as I reminded Josh, it was a labor of love and that he should be pleased that I attempted it for him. He said he was. Poor guy, what he got was a lopsided cake. Oh well, maybe it will taste good. *smile*







Ellie liked helping. Actually what Ellie did was cleaned the beaters and the bowl, got a sugar high, got messy and yelled, "MAMA MAMA MAMA" while beating me on the leg as I tried to decorate the cake.

Snow Play

It has been literally years since I've seen 6" of snow in Tennessee so this weekend's snow "storm" was a sweet surprise. The last snow we had several weeks ago was just too, too cold for me to get Ellie out in and so she had never had the experience of playing in the snow. This time, I was determined she was going to go out and play.

We all suited up to go out. Poor Ellie looked like the child on A Christmas Story by the time we finished layering her up. She wobbled when she walked. But she wasn't cold.





The first thing she did was sit down right in the middle of it on the front porch.



I don't think she really knew what to make of it. She kept patting it and then trying to get it off her gloves.



Thankful to be alive, Bear went out to play with us and ran and played at ate snow.



Josh thinks these photos of Bear are so funny.





Do I not have the most handsome son?





Josh took a picture of us -- man, we look rough.



I have a picture similar to this of my daddy pulling me on a sled up a hill. Now I realize how hard is really IS to pull a kid around in the snow.



I love this picture of Kevin and Josh.



These are some of my favorites of the neighborhood kids we were sledding with.











Josh took a topple coming down the hill, got ice up his pants and decided he was done.







Ellie's friend Katherine took her up and down the hill repeatedly. She didn't seem afraid of sledding, but I noticed her eyes were closed in all the pictures of her coming down the hill!













Everyone started to tire:






This was the boys' "Chillax Area":



So we decided to call it a morning and head for home. When we got home and took Ellie's clothes off she cried and cried and had to be held to comfort her. I think she was just cold and tired. She's napped for almost two hours this afternoon.

After being home for a little while, I decided to make snow cream. We haven't made that since we've been married so it was a new treat/concept here. Kevin, however, didn't want it because of the "pollution" factor (spoil sport, huh???). He did try it, however.





Ellie LOVED it.





Josh wasn't so sure at first, but ate quite a bit of it and deemed it, "ok".



It was a great snow and a great time.

Scooby Dooby Doo (doo)

Ellie has discovered Scooby Doo. She and Josh were watching it in the car the other day and since then, she goes around looking for the DVD case of Scooby Doo.

Today while we were cleaning up Josh's room, he got a bunch of VHS movies out to get rid of and there were a few Scooby Doo movies in the stack. Ellie pulled them out and promptly told us who they were: "Doo Doo". *snicker*

Since then, we constantly show her pictures of Scooby Doo just to hear her call him "Doo Doo". We laugh every time. Poor girl is going to get a complex over Scooby Doo. It's funny though. I can't wait until she gets older and reads about it.

It Finally Happened

Anyone care to venture a guess about what "IT" is after looking at these pictures?









Stupid dog finally fell in the pool. Kevin looked out the back and saw him, went and grabbed him and lugged him out. THANK GOODNESS Kevin was home. After running his soaking wet self through the house, we finally contained him on a towel in front of a portable heater and got him dry. Tons of towels later we had him mopped up and the floor dry. A quick call to the vet revealed that he is probably ok. He coughed most of the water up and we will watch for signs of an infection for a few days depending on how shocked his system got. We aren't sure how long he was in the pool. We suspect he was trying to lean down and drink and slipped. He was a tail wagging dog the entire time, though, so I suppose he was just happy to be alive. I asked him if his life flashed before his eyes. He didn't answer. Silly dog.