Too early to camp..

Yesterday was such a beautiful day here, in the 70's (I think, at least it felt that way) that Matt and I decided to go pick a spot to camp with the Dennings this summer. He had found what he thought to be a great place, Emerald Bay up at lake Tahoe. So we loaded up the kids and headed up there. It was a longer and windier drive than I had anticipated. Sadi did not enjoy it as she gets car sick. We did not however anticipate how much snow they would have there still. We made it to the campground and saw snow everywhere!! Of course it was closed but we figured we had driven this far we could probably still walk in a little snow and get somewhat of an idea of what the sites look like. Well about six feet into it I went thigh deep in snow holding Sadi no less. So.....how do you all like the look of site 5 because that is about how far we got!

I did find a dry boulder to snap a picture of Chase and Sadi on before we left. Chase was a little disappointed he was ready to camp right then...and go to the lake!! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! So we are still not sure where the beach is from this point but it does look beautiful there. So as of now, we are still looking!!

When will they learn?

Why do men always do things the hard way? If they would just read instructions, follow directions, and do things the right way (our way) life would just be so much easier for them. Matt is always trying to skip steps: for example just this week.....he has been wanting to plan a camping trip with his family so he found the perfect place at the beach. I decided (against my better judgement) to let him plan the whole thing so it would be just the way he wanted it to be. So after searching and searching he found the perfect place, made all the phone calls and booked the camping site. All set right? Well the control freak in me of course had to check to make sure he had done it all right......well after reading the BOLD PRINT in our confirmation it states NO TENT CAMPING, RV'S AND TRAILERS ONLY!! Great right? Only one problem.....we DON'T have a TRAILER!! Scary to think I was going to let him plan the food and everything...probably not going to happen. I will let him think he is planning it all but really I will sneak my way into everything he does....without him knowing of course!

Who wrote on me?

The other morning I was sitting with Chase eating breakfast when he noticed something about his body. "Hey someone wrote on me" he said....it's crayon and it's blue!!! I said hey who did that? knowing crayon doesn't write on bodies (usually). It was Kelsey he said. "Don't worry mom, I will get it off". So he rubbed and banged his wrist with his other wrist, and then stopped and stared at his other wrist. "Hey someone wrote on this one too!". I started laughing, he was looking at the veins in his wrist. So I very concerned said hey who did that? "It was Dad!" he very decidedly said. Oh they learn all to quickly how to blame others don't they?

Huntin for Love

My kids love their mailboxes I made for Valentines this year. I have had them out on our counter where they can write each other notes and I have snuck a little treat in each day for them. Yesterday I put a note out for all of them that sent them on a treasure hunt. It was a huge hit!! The first note read:

Are you ready for a treasure hunt?

In the end you will find

hiding is your Valentine.

Just find a couple of rhyming clues

The first is inside Kelsey's ________(shoes)

I sent them all over the house with their clues, running all over. Chase shocked me at how well he did with the rhyming. He figured out almost all of them. Their last clue sent them to look in the dryer where I had hid a bag of goodies for each of them. They each got a shirt to wear on Valentines day along with some little goodies and chocolates, which Sadi discovered she could open all by herself.

Chase loved that he got some spider man chocolates.

And okay Kelsey's shirt isn't very Valentiney (not a word I know) but she was in heaven with her new Twilight shirt.

Routine

My kids live by routine, I know some people don't like this, I however love it. My kids are so used to routine now that they often remind me what time it is. I could almost tell you at any time during the day exactly what they will be doing. It is much easier to get them to do things because they already know it is coming. Matt has even got his own routine with the kids, one of which they all love. Ever since Chase was just a newborn bundle when Matt would get home from work he would take Chase in to change out of his work clothes with him. Chase would lay on the bed and watch. Now it is 3 years later and the routine is still in place, only thing that has changed is that now Sadi has gotten into it. They each help Daddy pull his shoes off....

And of course Matt makes them think they are so strong by cringing like his shoes are on so tight. And they each pull a sock off...and Matt says smell it...ewwwww!! They think it is funny and so they do it.

And of course the best part for Matt is, they put his shoes away in the closet, and his dirty clothes in the hamper. Anyone who has been to visit us knows how much my kids love this routine!!

Cavity free!!

I took Sadi to the dentist today for her very first visit. She thought it was great we went to this place with all kinds of toys, and books...that was until someone wanted to count her teeth....she was not going for that!! Here she is in the dentist chair which she did not really sit in, she just sat there while we were waiting. I realize people must think I'm weird always whipping out my camera snapping pictures everywhere. But, I decided I don't care, my kids will someday appreciate all the pictures I took. And here is Chase in the waiting room, not a care in the world, he is such a pro at this, he even went back all by himself and had x-rays and his teeth cleaned. He was so cute he wouldn't look in his bag they gave him until we got home to see what kind of toothbrush he got...he was saving it for a surprise!!!

Weekend fun...

We had a fun, surprisingly busy weekend. We had a few last minute invites to go do things that we hadn't planned on that made our weekend fly by. On Friday I took Chase and Sadi to the park by our house for a last minute play date. It was soooo cold outside but the kids didn't seem to notice a bit. This is the first time Sadi has really been big enough to climb around on things by herself, she loved it!!

This is the best shot (and the only one) I got of Chase, he was way to fast to snap any pictures of.On Saturday Chase was invited to a birthday party for his little friend Zachary, he however spent the whole time glued to Haley (Zach's sister). Chase had no intention of spending time with the 3 year olds, that was just not for him. Here he is with Haley, too cute!

And of course on Sunday was the Superbowl, which apparently if you have a 52 inch T.V. you have to have a Superbowl party...it's like a law(according to Matt). So, we grilled up some hot dogs, had some nachos, and my favorite Matt made his jalapeno poppers, and we got ready for the game. The boys all dressed in red and were rooting for the Cardinals to win.

Here's Matt with his whistle and his penalty flag rooting for his team.

All the boys really got into it, check out Chase jumping for the field goal.

And the girls were hoping for the Steelers to win...oh yeah were number one!

Like our Superbowl Brownies and cupcakes?

Sadi was in heaven with her chocolate cupcake...by the time she was done, she looked like a little old man with a goatee.

In the end the girls won and we all got Superbowl rings.