The PARK!

Guys...

We went to the park.  In February.  And it was UH-MAZ-ING.

Are you not loving the weather these last few days?  Sixty degrees is feeling like heaven on earth.  I even saw some brave little crocus leaves trying to come up.  I know that this springtime weather can't last, but I have to say that I wish it could.  This girl has spring fever baaaaaad.

So does this little girl! (in my defense...this was a Sunday afternoon.  On Sundays, I make the kids get dressed up all nice and (somewhat) put together for church, so they feel the need to rebel when they get home.  Cora put on a very, um....colorful outfit when she changed out of her church dress.  She was given only a slight eye roll by me.)

It was so nice to bust out the bikes and ride around the park.  Dax, in pure Dax style, ran up to the first little boy between the ages of 3 and 9 he could find and immediately informed said boy that his name was Dax and he was going to be his best friend for the next hour or two.  They were spinning the merry-go-round until I was sure Dax was going to lose his lunch, but all was well.  He didn't spend much time on his bike. but the girls rode around the track quite a few times, being silly.

Her helmet says it all, folks:

 I couldn't keep up with Arden, she is FAST!  Her ponytail was a-flyin':

 She would get going a zillion miles an hour, head straight at me pulling a face (See below), and then stop at the last possible minute.

I gotta admit that I had forgotten just how nice it was to spend a sunny afternoon hanging out at the park, soaking up some sun.  I know that by September or October the park probably won't be such a thrill for the kids or for me, but right now it is pure awesomeness. :)

Vitamin Sea

For the past few years, I have been lucky enough to go on a beach vacation in the late winter/early spring timetable.  It was so nice to have a trip to look forward to, and really helped to get me through the gray, yucky, days where I am just tired of winter.  Well, it is that time again!  It is the time of the year where I just need to get myself some Vitamin Sea!  What do you say, Cora?

Are you with me Dax!?!?

Unfortunately, this year we are sadly lacking in the fundage and/or SkyMiles required to get me to an actual warm beach.  

*sigh*

When Cora came down the stairs the other day in her swim suit saying she wanted to go to the beach, I knew EXACTLY how she felt.  Oh, but wouldn't it be nice to feel the warm sand beneath our feet and splash in the waves?  Since we couldn't get her to a beach, I decided I would do my best to bring the beach to her on a cold, rainy February day.  

First, we busted out my "beach movie," which is a DVD Preston got me a few years back.  It is just an hour or so of nothing but beautiful, hypnotic waves.  If only I could figure out how to crawl through the TV!  We couldn't figure that out, but the kids thought it was funny when I took pictures of them right in front of the TV (see pictures at the top of the post). They thought it looked like they were really at the beach.  They had me text one of the pictures to Preston, so sure they would fool him into thinking we had really taken off and caught a plane to the Caribbean without him.  

He didn't fall for it.  I didn't want to actually get in my swim suit, but I rolled up the legs of my jeans and me and Cora dodged some pretend waves for a while.  We also did some fake sunbathing.  Cora even busted out the sunglasses! 

My beach baby, striking a pose:

Pretty soon Dax decided to join us and went and tracked down his swim suit.  After we were tired of soaking up the fake sun, we decided to build some fake sandcastles!

Then Dax had a brilliant idea and ran out to the garage and brought in the sleds.  I had no idea what he was up to, but Cora knew exactly what he wanted to do.  Surf's up!

We listened to some Beach Boys, we had a smoothie, and did the best we could do have ourselves a nice day at the beach.  It was fun!

But not as fun....

How Do I Love Thee....

Okay girls, Valentines Day is coming up.  Have you ever had a cute boy say something so, SO sweet that it just melted you?

I am talking off-the-charts AMAZINGLY adorable?

I don't mean a simple, "I love you," or "You are so beautiful," (which, let's face it, are both pretty darn great and something that we could all stand to hear a few times each day), but something really, truly breathtakingly, heartbreaklingly, STUNNINGLY beautiful?

Something on the level of a Shakespeare sonnet:

"Doubt thou the stars are fire; 

Doubt that the sun doth move;  

Doubt truth to be a liar; 

But never doubt I love."  

I had one of those magical moments the other day.

This boy:

(He loves his Cinnamon Burst slice, that one.)

The other day, he turned to me, looked me in the eyes, and said, 

"Mom, I love you more than Star Wars."

I know, right?!?  I almost fell out of my chair.  

For Dax, this is the ultimate love in the whole...well...galaxy.  "More than Star Wars" is pretty much the highest compliment the kid can currently give. Lately, Dax can be found doing at least one of the following things pretty much all of his waking hours:

• Playing "Star Wars Angry Birds," on whatever electronic device he can get his hands on  (or begging to have an electronic device), 
• Watching one of the Star Wars movies (or begging to watch one), 
• Playing with his "Star Wars guys," especially "Dark Vader" (who has to use a long red Lego for a light saber since he lost the real one),
• Reading a book about Star Wars, and/or
• Humming various Star Wars theme songs.

So, WOW.  I am one lucky girl.  I think I should cross stitch that one on a pillow or something. :-)

I hope you all have a fabulous Valentines Day!  

I will leave you with one picture from the snowstorm we had last week (that is all melted now).  Here is what Cora and I did after shoveling the driveway:

Sometimes being a mom is kinda great.

Frozen Fanatics

Arden is kind of a Frozen fanatic.  She has seen the movie twice, listens to "Let It Go" about 2,369 times a day, and has decided that for her birthday in a month, she wants a "Frozen" party.  

She is a Frozen addict.  

I agreed to the Frozen party, not knowing that every other little girl between the ages of 2 and 12 must be having the same idea.  The shelves are picked clean.  Heck, the INTERNET is picked clean.  There are a bunch of little girls all strung out on the Frozen, and not a Frozen party plate to be found anywhere!

Arden mentioned she wanted an Elsa costume that she saw at the Disney Store.  It is gone. Disneystore.com?  Gone.  Oh, don't worry, they are on eBay.  For $150!  What??  It is the same story for nearly every Elsa doll, shirt, whatever.  

First, they get us hooked.  Frozen!  It is beautiful and magical!  We want dolls and costumes and clothes and anything else you will sell us!

What do you MEAN that there aren't any more Elsa dolls at any Target within 30 miles? 

$24.99 for EIGHT party invitations?  You CAN'T be serious.

But we love the Frozen!  We have to have the Fro-o-o-zen!  

Disney - NOW HEAR THIS!  You can't get us hooked and then not give us a (reasonably priced) outlet for our obsession. YOU WILL SHIP MORE MERCHANDISE!

Hopefully the supply and demand problems can get resolved sometime during February, or it is going to be a lame party with hand-drawn Olafs on paper plates.  

Disney, don't let that happen.