Curbside Surprise!

Nora's birthday has officially begun! Her first surprise was waiting curbside at the airport this morning - my mom flew in today and was supposed to be an after school surprise but after a late afternoon temp spike yesterday Nora bought herself another day home so she was on the airport pick-up run. The kiddos kept Lady busy outside while I went to a quick doctors appointment and ran some last minute birthday related errands and picked up dinner. Tonight after bedtime we got to work. My mom mixed up the cakes (which Cort of course promptly ate two of while they were cooling), we blew up balloons and last but not least I dusted off my old spirit club skills and painted some little banners for her door - by the light of the TV in our bedroom haha! Tomorrow is the big day (and cake re-baking day)!!

1 Day Three Ways!

Well, today was a day! Three kids and three different story lines. Nora woke up at 5am with a fever of 102.6 and a really bad headache, sooo, needless to say, as we're attempting to figure out if she has the flu or not, she stayed home from school feeling really lousy today. She was offered many comfy resting places in various places but only wanted to lay and sleep in this spot on the floor, and needless to say, a lot of Daniel Tiger was watched. Lincoln on the other hand, is healthy as can be and played his day away - nutterfly wings and all! And, to strengthen my bid for mom of the year after Lincoln's sneaky stool assisted shelf robbing stunt on Friday, Otto made a little mischief of his own today! I love all the craft supplies that have special containers to be put away in but remain out and in reach of the little anyway! Luckily the stamp he got ahold of was covered in non-toxic black ink but he spent the rest of his day rocking black hands and a 5 o'clock shadow. Really, there is never, ever a dull moment around here!

Sofas & Sprouts on Sunday

After spending a lot of time yesterday re-cleaning/re-claiming space in the game room and setting up the new drink fridge we decided to go out and browse for a couch/bed piece of furniture for in there. Nora was surprisingly more into furniture store shopping than I was expecting - really, all three of them were really good. In the process of searching for a couch Nora discovered that furniture stores have kid's sections too and immediately fell for this bed, which can fit all three kiddos! Food for thought for Lincoln's room in the future. After the regular furniture stores we pushed the meltdown envelope and squeezed in a stop at Ikea to check a couple other things out - we managed to get out just before the kiddos were completely done.

We got home with daylight remaining and Nora and Kyle finally got to work filling in her garden. She was adamant that she plant something today too - sooo some test rows of sugar snap peas went in. We'll see how they do!! Nora's garden is officially functioning!

Wanting Waffles

Nora was set on having pancakes this morning - something that in general, we were ok with, BUT when she realized we were out of pancake mix her focus and determination shifted to waffles. This girl was going to have waffles no matter what and after initially failing to present a case other than just whining, she regrouped and made her case. Kyle who has the cooking with kids patience in our relationship took over in the kitchen and Nora prepared waffles, for the most part completely on her own with just a touch of assistance from Kyle. I was impressed that she made us all "breakfast" (it was almost 11 by the time everything was ready). Anyway, the rest of the day was spent trying to accomplish things around the house and outside despite the fact that my back is still out, we all have a cold and really just wanted to spend the day not doing much of anything. Although Lincoln was pretty excited to help blow off the patio and help mow the lawn!

Feel Good Friday!

Lincoln was on the right track today when he got out the tunnel. I had considered that Otto would be close to ready for some tunnel fun but didn't think he'd quite be on board yet. Brother knew best! There was zero hesitation and this little guy was scooting from end to end and all smiles! New skills! I'm so excited that we're headed into the weekend and the weather is warming up. Hopefully we can get some good stuff done around here - ya know, like taking Christmas down or cleaning up the game room again...and in keeping with tradition, more, than the last time. Happy Friday everyone!

Playroom Playing and Thursday Things

We've had a couple of chilly nights and days here and this morning was a perfect gray chilly one for the light pad and some blocks. Kyle was nice enough to take Nora to school so they boys (and I) could stay in PJs a little longer and just relax and play. Lincoln wasn't thrilled about Otto's interest in "his" blocks but eventually was convinced to give him a couple to play with and then carry on "playing build". This afternoon Nora zonked out for a bit and while she and Otto were both asleep I made a little indoor balancing obstacle course for Lincoln and he LOVED it. Kept him busy for almost and hour. This evening was swimming lessons and then it was home, dinner, shower for the bigs and bed for all by 8. It is Thursday after all! Kyle had evening meetings on the coast so he didn't get home until late, which meant early bed for the whole squad! Now, I snuggle in in front of my not so impressive fire and relax!

Great at Eight!

This little guy is so much fun! He's moving all over the place whether on the floor or on his feet in his go-pod. And with his new found mobility he's starting to find his way in to all sorts of things that his brother and sister leave out for him to find, it also adds another layer of dirt to the laundry. Otto has officially proven himself to be a great traveler by adding another road trip to Ohio to his resume - he did awesome - and we flew to Pittsburgh for a West Virginia weekend and he continues to be an awesome flyer. My favorite is when surrounding passengers are surprised to see him bopping and smiling after we land because they never realized he was there in the first place. He experienced REALLY cold weather while we were in Ohio - he didn't seem to mind it too much but definitely doesn't sleep as well when he's cold! I would love to report that he's a dream sleeper - giving us full night's rest every night but for this kid, a full belly and warm hands and feet are the priority, which means he's still eating on a regular schedule day and night - even with a full diet of solids and attempts to give him extra ounces during the day and at bedtime he's up looking for more - and look out if you don't comply! Otto enjoys watching and playing with his brother and sister, likes Cort, loves to grab and is all about eliciting reactions whether by pinching or hair pulling or smiling, laughing and yelling. It's easy to see how much he's learning every day and fun to watch as he figures more things out. I'm expecting he'll start crawling in the month ahead and I have a hunch furniture and walking aren't too terribly far behind. Still can't believe we're cruising towards a year sooo quickly!