3 words…WHAT A DAY!

The relentless white death returned this week with a vengeance claiming yet another snow day tomorrow. Sasquatch would feel right at home in this weather. It was soooo frustrating Monday shoveling the steps only to have snow drifts as high as mid-shin appear moments later…CRAZY! Thanks to Matt, Russell, and Mr. L for shoveling the mass amounts of snow creating mountains in front of our house. I feel like sticking my fingers in my ears and shouting "I can't hear you" every time someone mentions more snow. Yes, this is childish, but I am sooo sick of the color white. How about switching it up and trying a new color like…GREEN! Of course the girls had school Monday to make up for last week's snow day, only to be off today. I was flabbergasted that school was not called off on Monday. The roads were not safe to drive on when I picked Lexus up from school.

Special thanks to our neighbors Will & Sue for picking Kimberly up for me on Monday. Austin and I were busy siphoning water out of a 25 gallon fish tank that was leaking all over our beautiful hardwood floors we just refinished last spring. Panic really set in when I went down the basement for towels only to discover the water pouring through the ceiling right next to our family pics. Thankfully none were ruined; all are now safely tucked away in rubber tubs.

The Ossege family has not been well lately L Randy and I started the week with a stomach virus, Austin has had a 103 temperature since last night and has a nasty barking cough. I fear it is croup. Our poor baby has just been downright miserable! Onto happier news, Kimberly joined Club 23 at school on Monday (we are sooo proud!)

I have sooo many great pics to share with everyone and I can't, which saddens me, because our camera is royally screwed up at the moment. I can put new batteries in it take 3 pics and the next time I want to use it I get the "Change batteries" message. Plus, now it won't download pics to my computer…so alas I cannot share precious pics of our family…SORRY!

Eskimo Kisses

Snow Day numero dos has already been called for tomorrow!!! The white death is swirling around outside; giving me chills just looking at it. Randy and I both wish we could share the kids' enthusiasm for staying out in the cold snow for hours on end. Ahhh! But those days have long passed; now we rush inside at the sight of a snowflake. Randy and the girls spent last weekend building an igloo in the backyard. They reminded me of three Eskimos playing in a winter wonderland.

Randy and I are over the moon excited…we finally bought 2 webcams so the kids and I can SKYPE with Randy when he is one the road!!! We plan to try it for the first time when he goes to Mexico. I can't wait to see the kids' faces when they see Randy for the first time. We also got a new TV/DVD combo for our bedroom. We are slowly moving into the 21^st century by finally owing a 2^nd TV in our house.

Snow is falling, falling, falling!

The snow is finally here!!! The kids are sooooo excited and praying a lot more comes so they can go sled riding tomorrow. I am just thankful Randy's flight (which was delayed 1 ½ hours) made it home safe and sound from Omaha, Nebraska tonight. Our girls' dinner got cancelled, which bums me out a little. But, I'd rather reschedule than risk anyone driving tonight in this weather. I am actually looking forward to a relaxed weekend and of course THE SUPERBOWL!!! Our household is rooting for the New Orleans Saints for 2 reasons: 1. Randy hates Payton Manning 2. It will be soooo cool to see the Saints win it for the first time.

 

Tuesday night was the season premiere of LOST…and we haven't seen it yet! It's been killing me not knowing what happened yet. I am just thankful my co-workers don't watch and couldn't accidently spill the beans about it. It is safely taped on the DVR (all 3 blissful hours) patiently waiting for Randy & I to watch it. I am trying to do a better job of using coupons and shopping smarter at the grocery store, esp. after listening to Katie and Dana's thrifty shopping/savings. Ready to make my grocery list and load my organizer with coupons…wish me luckJ

STAY SAFE AND WARM!!!

DRIP, DRIP, DRIP!

I finally have pics of my new BB (bulletin board) at school. I thought it would be fun to tie the 2010 Winter Olympics into the BB this month. The Olympics excite and inspire adults and kids alike. We are reading several books centered around the Olympics and sports/athletes this month. I also included a pic of my "Rockstar Readers" reward system and my slightly adapted Dr. Seuss' saying. The photo looks awkward because I had to cut/paste it together from 3 separate photos. I believe kids need a creative & colorful atmosphere to learn in and inspire them; let it never be said my room is dull and boring!

I am super excited to be having dinner with two of my girl friends from NKU this Friday! It will be soooo fabulous to catch up with each other over dinner and a few cocktails (sans kids & hubby). Can't wait Heather & Abby!!! Speaking of girl time, last Friday was our monthly craft night at my friend Katie's house. I just HEART me some paper crafting!!! I made Valentine's for the girl's teachers and several anniversary cards. We got to play around with her Cricut (two words…SUPER COOL). I wish I had the money, space, and time to have one of my own (a girl can wish can't she J) But I am most excited about our CRAFT SWAP next month! Over the years of scrapping and card making I have amassed a lot of supplies. Definitely more than I can use and some I will never use, so we are bringing anything we would like to give away and having a free swap. Double bonus: get rid of unwanted supplies and get new FREE supplies I LOVE!

DRIP! DRIP! DRIP! ...Goes our bathroom faucet. Or least it did until today. A special thanks to my dad for turning the water off and coming tomorrow to stop the DRIP, DRIP, DRIP. How can such a barely audible noise drive you mad??? Or at least highly annoy you every time you go in the bathroom??? I finely started putting a washcloth in the sink; not to absorb the water, but absorb the sound.

Kimberly is the ALL-STAR student this week at school. She got to take in several photos of the family and share her favorite stuffed animal. She gets to be teacher's helper and sit in a special desk.

New Year…New Look!

I have finally put the old header of our blog to rest. While it was fabulous and we appreciate all the hard work that was put into it…well it was time for a change. A change that will happen every month! I plan to change the sidebars and header of our blog to coincide with each month. I plan to design all the headers, but I must give credit where credit is due. The new sidebars come courtesy of http://www.smittenblogdesigns.blogspot.com/ and the valentine's one on our blog was FREE!!! They have a whole FREE gallery of blog templates to download and some for sale (only $5.00, what a great deal). Their site is super easy to use and they give step by step instructions how to add them to your blog.

Blog posts have been slim lately, but hey…we have been out living life (and loving it!) Unfortunately, I haven't been taking many pictures to share with you guys. Last weekend, my wonderful hubby surprised me with a date night! Now, we all know "date night" is this rare phenomenon that can go unseen for weeks, months, and even years. It would be a total understatement to say our night out was great…IT WAS FABULOUS!!! We had the most delicious dinner at Bonefish and spent the rest of our evening playing games at Gameworks on the levee. It was pure fun; we spent a lot of time playing this horse racing game that we use to play when we were dating (13 years ago). I firmly believe every couple needs revisit those places/activities that helped build their relationship in the beginning (when you were dating). It's so therapeutic for your relationship.

Poor Austin has eczema. Dr. P gave us a prescription to help clear it up. His adorable little face looked just awful, red and blotchy. At his 2 year checkup, he weighed 30 lbs. 13 oz. (45% for weight) and is 35 ¼" or 2' 11" tall (80% for height).

I hope to have my new BB up tomorrow and posted tomorrow night for you to see (Olympic theme).

Party Animals

We celebrated Austin's 2^nd birthday and Colin's 5^th birthday on Saturday! It was a rock n' roll themed party. I made an electric guitar cake and we played Wii "Just Dance". It was soooo much fun dancing to old school hits like "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and "Cotton-Eyed Joe" and new favs like "Womanizer". Austin got a new wagon, I can't wait to use this spring/summer to pull him on walks.

Lexus has another piece of Art work to share with everyone. She created this painting in Art class. The title of the painting is "Birch Trees In Winter".

Chicken News: We now believe Midnight is a ROOSTER! Oops! Randy and I are starting to see the beginning of a rooster comb on his head. We plan on keeping him until he starts crowing. We are also hoping to let the hens Streak and Scooby sit on the eggs in the spring and see if we can hatch some new chicks. Should be really exciting, don't ya think?!?!

TWINS!...Jacob & Josie

My best friend Jenny and her husband Matt welcomed twins into their family today!!! Their names are Jacob & Josie and weighed 6 lbs. 13 oz. and 6 lbs. 5 oz. respectfully. They are precious and I relished my time holding them at the hospital tonight. Just look at the pic above, aren't they adorable! The girls are really looking forward to bringing them dinner once they get settled in at home and holding the babies.

Congratulations to Jenny, Matt and big brother Ryan!

A little bit of this, a little bit of that…

This post has no great importance to it, I must admit. It is just a bunch of tidbits of things I felt like sharing.

1. The chickens are laying 2-3 eggs per day now. Soon I can stop buying eggs from the store…YEA! We have used them to make scrambled eggs, cakes, etc.. They taste the same to me; Randy thinks they taste better than the regular eggs. They are smaller, so we sometimes have to use 2 chick eggs to equal one jumbo grocery store egg.
   

   
    

2. I finally picked a bedding ensemble for Austin's room. My two aunts had already given him a football piggy bank and football BB…so sports was a natural theme to go with. Here is a pic…
   

   
   
    

3. I am soooo excited that Jenny and Matt's twins will be here tomorrow. I can't wait to go after school to visit and hold them. Even though she is being induced early, she told me each baby weighs around 6 lbs. (a GREAT weight for twins don't you think!) Here is the card I made for them…
   

   
   
    

4. Here is a pic of my January BB outside my room. I am even more excited about the one I have planned for February; it ties in with the 2010 Winter Olympics. I can't wait till they are on TV. February is a fabulous month for TV…LOST & the Olympics…Yippee!
   

   
   
   
   
   
    

5. Randy bought the girls new earrings since they made it thru the initial 6 weeks. Kimberly got diamond horseshoes, horses, and 2 pairs of flowers. Lexus got green frogs and soccer balls (of course). Kimberly was quick to try on her new earrings; Lexus was more apprehensive (old ones are still in). But, I can't blame her; it's not like she's had an easy 6 weeks (having to take them out 3 times).
   

   
    

6. I promise to post sled riding pics, my wonderful SIL Dana sent me. She took some awesome photos of our family fun in the snow! I just need to download them to my computer (hopefully tomorrow night).
   

   
    

7. Sooooo looking forward to the upcoming 3-day weekend! Can't wait to share with you the cake I am making for Austin and Colin's birthday party on Saturday.

Sled Riding Videos

Here are two quick videos of our fun in the snow!!! {Courtesy of Grandpa Grothaus}

2010 NFL Playoffs & Snow!

What a crazy weekend! We relaxed on Friday night, only to use up all our energy on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday morning, we copied an idea my BFF Abby shared with her readers this week. Austin wanted to play in the snow, but it was way too early to go out. So we brought the snow inside (sort of). They all had a blast!

Saturday, Randy and I got a huge surprise…FREE Bengals playoff tickets…14^th row, 40 yard line!!! Ironically, we had just been discussing how we didn't make it to a game this season. Yes, they lost and it was a frustrating game, but still a crazy fabulous experience to watch them play soooo close. (plus it was a playoff game, not like we get a ton of those around here) We dressed smartly for the freezing temps and weren't uncomfortable during the game. Can't say the same thing for the guy we saw wearing SHORTS to the game. Lexus had an indoor game; she scored a goal and had an assist. By the way, I forgot to mention she scored two goals last weekend! (soooo proud of her)

We also celebrated my B-I-L Matt's 40^th birthday; here is the card I made…

Sunday, my side of the family went sled riding at the Bob White. Everyone had a great time sledding down two different hills. Austin even went down by himself; giggling the whole way. We put all five kids {Lexus, Halle, Kimberly, Colin & Austin} on our big black sled and watched them fly down the hill. I forgot my camera and promise to post pics when my S-I-L Dana sends me some. My dad sent me two videos I will download tomorrow.

Snowday #2

Today was snow day #2 and I already got the phone call that tomorrow is snow day #3!!! (Extended weekend) Lexus and Kimberly do not like it at all. They want to know why Mommy's school is off, but they have to go to school for the whole day. I tried to explain about schools with buses and country roads, but they still thought it was unfair. I tried to shed some light on the positive side…they will get out earlier in the summer. Yesterday, the kids went out and played in the tiny amount of snow in the back yard. They want sooooo badly just to have one good snow day and I can't blame them. I think all kids need a good dose of sled riding, snow men, making snow angels, and snowball fights each winter.

Everyone seemed to outgrow their snow gear this year. We replaced snow suits, gloves, hats, and snow boots. I almost choked at Payless when they lady told me the total for 3 pairs of kid's snow boots…IT WAS CRIMINAL!!! But, what kind of Momma would I be if I let my babies' toes get cold. They were itching for Randy to get home and take them sled riding tonight…I just LOVE seeing them all bundled up like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man! We have a killer hill to sled down right by our house. Kimberly made five snowmen in the yard, one for each of us. I finally took down the inside x-mas decorations (yes, I was procrastinating, but I finally found the motivation tonight).

We are soooo psyched about the Bengals being in the playoffs this year! They are even favored to win on Saturday, can you believe that? I really hope they win; it has been soooo much fun watching them play this season. We LOVE the Cardiac Cats! GO BENGALS!!!

Bye Bye Baby Bed (say that 5x fast!)

Our baby boy has officially moved out of his crib and into a big boy bed L It makes me sad to think my last baby is another step closer to growing up. Austin relished the opportunity to use tools with Daddy, his favorite activity! I may be a tad bias here, but doesn't he look adorable in his bed!!!

It wasn't the smoothest transition; the first night he got out of bed at least 20x (no exaggeration). But that was on Tuesday and he is down to only getting out a few times now. We had to rearrange his room to accommodate the big bed and the train table. I personally think it gives the illusion of a bigger/wider room. We had to remove a dresser and the rocker (not that I have rocked him to sleep in the last year) and rely on his closet more for clothes storage. He has quickly learned the time old tradition of jumping on his big boy bed. I believe, thanks to his 2 older sisters, but then what are older sisters for, right!

2009 was a good year for our family and we look forward to having a FABULOUS year in 2010! The girls and I stayed up to ring in the New Year and quietly celebrate since both Randy and Austin were sleeping. Tonight, we are having dinner at my parents and then the kids are spending the night = date night for Randy and I!

Toy Blizzard

Here are a few pics of making cookies for Santa!

The Ossege family had the most blessed Christmas this year…two full days of quality time with family filled with wonderful memories! We are soooo fortunate to be able to spend a whole day with each family. Christmas Eve, we celebrated with the Grothaus family and Christmas day with the Ossege family. One of our favorite family traditions is the day after Christmas: everyone stays in PJ's all day and plays with ALL of the new goodies we got and don't clean up till the next day!!!(soooo FUN!)

Below is a collage of pics from our Christmas celebrations: