What a difference...

...a day makes.

Saturday we were outside with light jackets taking a lazy stroll down the street...

 Soph, getting her baby ready to take for a walk

 Kiddos... brushing the dust off the 'ol double stroller...

 On the return trip they decided to practice making room for Baby Brother, who will be perched up in the front... I'd say it'll be a tight squeeze fitting all 3 in... we shall see! :)

But the very NEXT day, the snow began... and didn't stop for nearly 36 hours... resulting in a total of 11 inches by Monday mid-day (and a day off of school to boot!)

The kiddos had fun playing in the big white fluffy stuff.  Eric, on the other hand, had his work cut out for himself...shoveling both our drive as well as the neighbors.  In the afternoon Eric took the kiddos sledding, too.  We had a great snow day, that's for sure.  It's just so strange to think this was by far our biggest snow of the year, and it happened March 25th, one week before spring break!?!

The bug...

...hit our house big time...

I had just commented to Eric that our kiddos have been so healthy the past few winters.  Sophie hadn't had an ear infection since her tubes were put in two years ago this month.  Well, we had a few little "hiccups" this month-- ie:  Sophie getting an ear infection (one of her tubes did come out last fall and the infection happened in that ear) and Lucas had a full week of up and down fevers associated with hand, foot, and mouth.  All that to say, we spent about two weeks trying to keep track of who got what antibiotic when.  Thankfully, we're past all the sickies and fully recovered...

All eyes on Daddy...

Eric was outside working on a project and it kept the kids' attention for quite some time...

There was just something sweet about watching them just watching Eric...

His Royal Sweetness

Love this sports fanatic!

Her Royal Sweetness

Love this sweet lil' thang.

 Last weekend we had one day over semi-warm weather so we took advantage of it... note the snow!

Puppet Shows!

** I began this post back in January...was stumped on how to add the videos through YouTube... but finally figured it out!!!

My mom made Sophie this super-cute and oh so creative house/puppet theater.  It has curtain rods in it so it fits just perfectly in our hallway.  How fun is this??!!

The puppet theater side...

 

Here it is, in action!

Love.

This evening I walked in to Lucas's bedroom to this...

...reading the story of David and Goliath...to his sister.  Love these kiddos and the moments like these. 

Milestone #444

Lucas lost his first tooth today!!

Warning.... it looks quite swollen... because it was.  Poor kiddo.  He was actually home sick today with a fever... not sure if that had anything to do with the tooth or not.  After breakfast Eric did his routine "tooth-wiggle/check" and pulled it right out.  Lucas didn't even realize it at first!

Getting ready to leave it under his pillow for the tooth fairy!!  (Let's hope the tooth fairy doesn't forget to visit!!)

Our Tough Little Girl...

Received a phone call from the school nurse saying Sophie hit her head pretty hard in school this past Thursday.  Of course, memories from two Halloweens ago came to the surface, when Sophie ran into the park bench and damaged her front teeth.  Thankfully, the nurse assured me that she was okay but we went to the doctor just in case.

 Her head checked out just fine.  I asked Dr. Harper how many times a kiddo can hit their head pretty hard and still be okay.  His answer.... "a whole lot".  Phew.  We told Miss Soph she has one tough noggin.

Now here's the crazy thing though.  While the doctor was checking out her head, he noticed she has a nice ear infection that's developed in her right ear (the one where her tube has fallen out).  We would have never known if we didn't go in to get her head checked.  That Sophie.... sure doesn't complain too much!

**Side story.  When I originally called to make the appointment we didn't think we could get in to see our regular pediatrician so I warned Soph ahead of time that we might not be seeing Dr. Harper.  Sophie's response?

"Well maybe we can see Dr. Seuss instead?"  Oh, that would be fun wouldn't it, Soph.  :)

Cousin Visit!

A few weeks ago Nali, Uncle Greg, and the Crazy Cousins came to visit us for the weekend.

 

They got to go to Lucas's basketball game, we had a very sophisticated tea party, and the kiddos played together for hours and hours.  They had a blast!  It wasn't the most beautiful weather but they still played outside for most of the afternoon on Saturday and some more after church on Sunday.  They are at the age where they play so nicely together and everyone got along great!!

Ashley, Erin, and Sarah,
Thank you SO MUCH for coming to visit us while your Mom and Dad were gone!  You'll have to boot them out more often so you can come visit us again soon!!!  Thanks for playing with us and coming to Lucas's basketball game!  We love you! OXOX

The Indy Bland Clan  : )

The Pirates Life...

Lucas and Sophie - in their pirate ship equipped with swords and water-shooters :)

The kiddos have been coming up with the most creative games to play lately.  Mom- Lucas is back into playing his sink-hole game... which cracks us up.  We've had a small sink hole in our backyard for awhile now and Lucas is quite intruiged by it.  He piles up a wall of pillows in the corner of our couch and jumps inside head first and hides in his sink hole.  (?!?!) 

My favorite game they play recently is pirates.  They get the baby tub out of the closet and "drive" it around looking for bad guys and treasure.  They collect treasure (random things) from all over the house and put it in the corner of Sophie's room.  They also like to play this during bath time as well.  Cracks us up just to listen to their conversations.  I try my hardest to keep my distance so as not to interrupt them. 

March Snow!

This past Tuesday night/Wednesday we had about 6 inches of the most beautiful snow fall.  Not a bit of wind in sight and huge snowflakes fell for hours.  The snow piled up on everything making the tree branches look white.

 We had 2 extra hours to sleep and tonk around the house before school.  Then after school the kids ventured outside to build a snowman (and eventually a snow puppy too!).

So thankful for days like this... but also eager for some warmth and sunshine...perhaps soon??!