Are You Sleeping?

It's not rare that we see firefighters shopping at the grocery store, today though we were loading up to leave as they were arriving. So, as to be expected all of Lincoln's progress ceased when he saw the fire truck. The crew noticed him waving and as I was finishing getting them all buckled in they came over with a hat for him (and then quickly realized that they'd need more hats) Nora didn't want one but made sure Otto got one. I'm sure the backseat of my car had alarm bells sounding in their heads as they peeked in and saw all three across in their various types of kid containing seats with a floor covered in kid clothes, shoes, various snacks and water bottles and whatever else lands down there. They were very nice though! Anyway, after we got home and were enjoying some time out front in the cool breezy weather before heading in, I caught this cute Lincoln/Otto moment. My highlight for today - swimming lessons was cancelled due to a pool issue so we had an afternoon to lay low. Cold days ahead.

Hitting the Hill

After packing up and heading to breakfast this morning we headed to St. Clairsville to visit with Grandma Green and let the kids do a little more sledding - on sleds this time. They had a blast, although, Lincoln took a lot of snow to the face on our trip down the hill and wasn't thrilled. While it was a relatively quick stop for us, as we had to head back to the airport to catch our flight home, it was a fantastic ending to a really fun weekend full of memorable experiences for the kiddos!

Our travels went well today and we're back in Florida ready to kick off another week after a quick weekend away!

Celebrations Continued

Nora and Lincoln got to go sledding!!! Well, kind of. They did some sliding down a hill on some cardboard in snow clothes. Snow clothes...there's an interesting topic...my kids, namely Nora, ZERO clue about snow clothes and why they're necessary. It took a stern Aunt Christy to get Nora into snow pants. I've learned a lot about how Florida our Florida kids are in the last couple months of winter travel! Anyway, a lovely fire in the fireplace kept us all cozy while Nancy kept the kids busy with activity after activity - ranging from monkey bread, to egg container snowmen to a gingerbread house and in between we headed over to the main lodge to swim.

Then after all the day's playing the party started! More Myers' came for dinner and the belated Christmas celebration complete with a gift exchange and gourmet Jello shooters. It was fun to see everyone that we don't see all that often and the kids had fun playing with their whatever cousins however many times removed. Oh, and apparently "smile" = wink to Lincoln now...his newly mastered skill that he spontaneously showed off made for some priceless pictures!

Cutting it Close

We're on the move again this weekend, heading to Oglebay in West Virginia for the Myers Family holiday celebration; by way of Pittsburgh. Today was Lincoln's first flight as a paying, seat-to-himself customer. As is typically the case, we cut it waaay closer than we should have getting there, but by some miracle made it through the airport with Kyle carrying Lincoln, me hobbling along with Otto in the pouch and Nora keeping up. Once we got through security, it was smooth sailing the rest of the trip. I sat with Lincoln & Otto and Kyle hung out with Nora in the row behind us. Lincoln did well, he read the Outside Baby's Window book for a lot of the time and did a little snoozing too, only got antsy as we were taxiing to the gate...which, I was antsy too, so no big deal! We picked up our rental car which I'm pretty excited about (it's a Suburban) and hit the wet roads before the water turned to ice and the big storm that's expected tonight hit. The change from rain to snow happened as soon as we pulled on to Oglebay property and it's snowing big juicy flakes outside our fancy, huge cabin right now...we have high hopes for some winter magic when we wake up in the morning. Even if nothing else happens the rest of the weekend, Lincoln is set because there's an elevator in the house and it even goes "ding" so in his eyes, the trip is totally worth it! Excited for a fun couple of days with family in the North!

Loving Lincoln

Once Nora was dropped at school Lincoln's first order of business was to crack into the cash register. He looked at me with the biggest smile on his face and informed me that the cash register was his. Hilarious! As the big sister in my house, it's fun to see what little brothers actually do and get away with - needless to say, my suspicions for all these years are being proven right! Trouble makers! This 2 year old is really coming into his own...

Style included...yep, this is how he rolled into Nora's swimming lessons today!

Back At It

In addition to back to school, it's also back to the pool this week. This evening was Nora's first official dive into "school age" swim lessons at the Y - swimming with the big fish! She was excited to get back in the water and Lincoln is always excited to tag along - although I've never quite figured out why he loves it so much! And speaking of all things back - mine is out...like out, out - I'm crooked when I stand, have a hip on the left and not on the right, hurts at all times and stops me in mid-step, out. This is not cool and for some reason Otto and Lincoln don't see this as an excuse to stop picking them up. It's shaping up to be a long week! BUT, it was a lot warmer today - into the 70's, so the porch was opened up, I did get some straightening and vacuuming done out there so the kids could play more easily, Lincoln was back in the dirt and busy using his "patio" (leaf blower) and Nora was back to climbing the rope ladder while Otto scooted around. So much to do this week and I just want to be still! Here's hoping everything just magically shifts back to where it belongs in my sleep tonight!

Back to the Grind

Well, we kicked the stomach bug to the curb and this morning it was back to school for Nora and a twinge in my back for me. We were a few minutes late but I'm in no way surprised since we were knocking some rust off the process this morning and Lincoln is becoming more independent every day so it is hard to estimate how much time we'll actually need to get out the door and buckled into the car so we can leave. We also had the extra added layer of stopping at Target after drop off so the boys had to actually be dressed, not just tossed in the car in their jammies like most days. Anyway, Lincoln found all the things he looks for on our Target trips and got to help push the cart out to the car, Otto had time to have fun snuggling in his Christmas blanket sans clothes for a little bit and after the weekend that we promised would be dedicated to finishing the set-up of Nora's garden turned into a sick weekend, Nora took matters into her own hands this afternoon and started filling the bed with soil this afternoon. January is marching on!