Buddies

Today Parker's buddy Jack came over to play for the afternoon! What in the world do two toddler boys do together? Well...

They draw, I mean scribble with sidewalk chalk...or eat it in Jack's case. No worries, he never ingested any, I was fast! :)

The two artists at work!

One, who shall remain nameless, kept throwing it to see how many pieces it would break into!

They stuffed their faces with Cheerios!

Since Jack didn't have a booster seat, I stood right next to him the whole time making sure he didn't budge...he kept eyeing me like I was there to steal his Cheerios, never mess with a toddler and his Cheerios! :)

Parker showed off his climbing on coffee table skills. His pants are gone because he decided to use his blue jeans as a canvas with his chalk.

And when all options have been explored, you empty the toy basket!! These two had lots of fun today!

Ski Trip

Last weekend we went with Austin fam to Taos, NM to ski and we had a blast! ONE of the perks to living in Amarillo is that we can hop in the car and five hours later we're skiing down the slopes! 13 adults + 6 kids in 2 condos= some serious closeness with family! :) Jim and Ann's whole family went as well as Jane and Steve's!

Parker loved playing with all his cousins and my MIL Ann was so sweet to stay back at the condo with Parker and the other small ones so James and I could ski together with the group! I had visions of Parker being all bundled up in his cute ski clothes sledding down the hill with his cousins...let's just say he wanted NOTHING to do with all that ski gear. I am praying this changes because Taos takes them at 3 years old in ski school and I can't wait to sign him up! (Actually I can wait, I'm not ready for my baby to be 3 yet!!)

Our group leaving the condo and about to take off! The snow was perfect and the temp was "warm"!

Pretty

L to R:

Sloan, Tripp, me, James, Steve, Jim and Ruben

We're so fortunate in that we are all great skiers and can ski together, we don't have to split up which is so nice!

Cute couple Sloan and Liesl

me with Ruben and James

We always stop for some "to die for" Ghiradelli hot chocolate on the mountain about mid-afternoon! It's the best!

Not a bad self portrait, Liesl! :)

I LOVE skiing with my hubby!

Steve, Liesl and Tripp enjoying hot chocolate.

The cutest little skiers on the mountain, Faith and Adelynn! They are eight and nine and have become quite good!

Oh boy, dinner at a restaurant Saturday night! When you factor in that many kids into a dinner out, you're sure to have a very "lively" time!! ;)

Meredith, Liesl and I had fun on the "kid" end of the table!

Cousins

Tripp, Luke and James

Did I mention Luke decided to go flying off a ski jump Saturday morning, didn't exactly stick the landing and tore his ACL?? He was finished at 11 Saturday morning and spent the rest of the trip on crutches. We are praying for a good MRI report tomorrow.

Bad pic but I couldn't resist.

Here are ALL the kiddos Saturday night after dinner, after bath time and more than ready for bed! Notice Blake covering his eyes, he didn't even want to see a camera!

L to R: Parker, Blake, Faith holding Juliet, Katherine, and Adelynn

Happy Valentine's Day!

I got to spend the majority of this special day with my favorite little Valentine! Parker and I had so much fun together! We started off our morning with a special V-day breakfast and the day just got better from there! What a blessing LOVE is from God! Happy Valentine's day everyone, I hope your day was special in some way!

My precious little Valentine eating his breakfast!

I made him heart shaped toast with his favorite on top...apple butter!

No, I didn't intentionally put the toast right where the doggy eyes are supposed to be on his plate! I just noticed how funny that looks! :)

Mmmmm!

Being silly eating his lunch!

After nap time, we got daddy his favorite drink and surprised him at the office!

I love this boy!!

Reading all his Valentine cards that came in the mail today.

Love from daddy before bed time.

Sweet James came through the door with these beautiful flowers tonight! I can't wait for those lilies to bloom!

James and I actually celebrated our date night Saturday night, so I made this awesome salad for us tonight. It's called chicken Florentine salad and it's our FAVORITE!!!

Have I posted this recipe before? Can't remember. It's worthy of a second post if so!

Here it is (for two)

1 bag of spinach chopped up

2 grilled chicken breasts

sliced sun dried tomatoes

sliced black olives

diced roma tomatoes

1/4 box of cooked orzo pasta

toasted almonds or pine nuts

Dressing:

1/4 c. red wine vinegar

2 T honey

1/2 t salt

2 garlic cloves roasted (wrap in foil, drizzle with olive oil and bake for 25 min on 400)

1/2 c. EVOO

1 lemon juiced

For the salad ingredients, I just eye ball everything, add more or less as desired. Combine all ingredients in a big salad bowl. Put dressing ingredients in a food processor and pour over salad! You will love this salad!!

* I'm obsessed with orzo pasta so I tend to add more! :) Make sure you toast the nuts!

More snow!

After howling winds and a wind chill of -25 all day yesterday, we woke up to more snow this morning, 8 inches worth to be exact! It was enough to actually shut down Amarillo schools this time. James was brave enough to make the trek to work but Parker and I stayed in our warm jammies all day long and had some fun!

I lost this little ruler when I stuck it down in the snow, so I pulled it out so you could see the top...that's 8 inches! I know to some of you 8 inches is child's play, but it was a sight for us!

Waco was the first one to check it out

Starting our snow day out right with Sesame Street!!

This boy loves SS!

This is Parker's latest thing...when he's hungry, he gets into the drawer where the bibs are, pulls one out and walks around with it tucked under his chin. I guess it's his way of dropping a hint!

We busted out some playdough that he got for Christmas. He had a hard time understanding that it was for playing, not eating! ;)

After nap time we bundled up and got outside to play in the white stuff! The temp was 10 degrees so we didn't stay out very long.

Having trouble walking.

Enough

James came home from work early and got out the snow blower and four wheeler with the snow blade and got busy clearing out paths!

We are thankful for such a hard worker! :)

Parker and Waco followed James from window to window watching him clear the snow!

Watching in the nursery

The best visitors!!

My parents came into town this past weekend and as always, we had SO much fun!! When they left Dallas on Friday there was snow on the ground there and none here. We were worried about them making it but they made it just fine! Sunday morning the roles were reversed, we woke up to a snow storm here and then we were worried about them not making it back...they left on time! :) Regardless of all the winter weather, we stayed warm and got lots of playing and quality time together! Thanks mom and dad for visiting, we had a wonderful time!!

Saturday was actually "warm" so we enjoyed a day out running errands and eating lunch!

He was cheesin' it up for the camera!

Evidently Parker likes pickles...who knew?

This is what we woke up to on Sunday morning!

We left daddy at church and came home early to play before nap time. Neesie was showing Parker how to make snow balls!

Burr!

Posing in the snow!

Neesie and Grandad with Parker

While I was making chicken tortilla soup for lunch, grandad was showing Parker how to go through the tunnel! :)

Checking out the new tent!

Talking him into going through!

Yay! He did it...this was the first time he went through! I guess it's more fun having your grandparents on the other end instead of just mommy!