Our big adventure when my Dad was in town was to head to Perfect North Slopes, about 45 minutes away from us in Indiana. In addition to adding another state to the list of places my girls have been to, we had a blast.

It never broke 30 degrees all day. It was cloudy, cold and windy with temps around 27 degrees, but that didn't slow us down. We had shopped the day before to get Dad and Melissa outfitted for winter and we were all well dressed for the cold. The temperatures actually didn't bother us at all.

My girls are adventurers and this was a great day for them. Those hills move FAST! I can't even begin to guess how fast you move down those slopes, but it is quick. 

We took turns riding down by ourselves, and all sorts of combinations of riders holding on to each other. By the end of the day, the bravest of the group (not me) were going down on their bellies. We went down over and over again. Riding the Magic Carpet back up to the top each time, was just as fun as the trips down.

We tubed for a couple of hours, then went into the lodge to get hot chocolate and a snack, after that we headed back out for a few more hours of fun,

Tommy lost his wedding ring somewhere in all the fun. Cold hands and gloves coming on and off is a bad situation for your rings. I have called them every few days in hopes it will turn up.

It's  not the mountains of Colorado, but it is close to home and such a fun way to spend a day. The only complaint was that we didn't get them over to the other side of the mountain to try skiing. I guess we will be headed back for that.

Outside

While my Dad and Melissa were here, we took advantage of a warm winter day and headed to the park. By warm, I mean 50 degrees with periods of sun....we take what we can get around here. Those of us who have (somewhat) acclimated to Ohio weather thought it was a great day. The Texans in the group may have been a little cold. Did I mention that we had to hurl our bread crumbs for the ducks, way out to the middle of the pond, because all the edges were frozen and the ducks couldn't get to us? Spring in just around the corner....I tell myself this daily!

Race Cars

Pappy and Melissa flew in from Texas last weekend. The girls couldn't wait for them to get here. They had The Web on their list of things to do during his visit. They wanted to play the games and drive the race cars. 

Gracyn had Gus, the class fish along for the ride.

Cute Reagan waiting to race.

Gracyn and Daddy! True to Daddy's usual driving form, their car won 2nd place.

Reagan and Melissa. They drove slow and careful and scored last in the pack. They got crashed into lots of times!

Addison and Pappy scored in the middle. Pappy was a tight squeeze in that car. Addison wanted to to go faster than allowed!

We finished the night with tons of games, winning around 1,000 tickets and Greater's Ice-Cream. Fun times.

Mother Daughter Tea Party

Last weekend, we went to the 2nd annual Mother Daughter Tea Party at the church where Gracyn goes to preschool. They put together such a fun night for Mamas and their girls. They do a quick devotional, have a light dinner and then the girls move through several stations of crafts and desserts. We love getting dressed up, spending the evening with close friends and seeing all the faces we know and love from our small-ish town. I knew my girls would not consider tea-sandwiches and fruit to be dinner, so our group started with an early dinner at Red Robin before we headed to the church. I called ahead for a table for 15, with 10 kids menus. You know they were excited for us to arrive!

My pretty girls all dressed up. They are always disappointed every year that I don't  wear a dress, but one can only dress up so much when it is 20 degrees outside and you don't want to spend all night freezing! I promised them I would wear all the dresses they want in the summer time!

A rare night of coordinating outfits and hair they let me fix!

Our best Ohio buddies! Olivia B., Olivia L., Reagan, Chloe, Faith, Addison, Brooke, Gracyn, Tessa, and Elle. Baby Sophie wouldn't get in the picture.

Addison and Chloe. 

Reagan and Olivia.

My girls. :)

Gracyn's best pre-school friends.

Decorating butterfly cupcakes. Can you tell it is a butterfly?

Craft time!

We painted their feet for one craft. That is probably a great craft idea, when you have one or two girls. Getting all mine painted and cleaned up was a little crazy!

Gracyn loves glitter!

Valentines Parties

Holiday weeks are crazy, making the rounds to everyone's parties. But I love it and I wouldn't have it any other way. They will never remember all the sleepless nights I spent with them, all the countless hours spent rocking together and all the months of breastfeeding, but they will remember that I was a constant presence at their schools and that I never missed a party!

Last week started with Reagan's class. I love coming to her room. Kindie is such a fun age and she has some CHARACTERS in her class. I lead Heart-Candy-Bingo and I had a blast playing with all the kids and enjoying their little personalities.

The picture from the top is a  Grandma from Reagan's class. I have no idea where she got that costume, but she volunteered to come in dressed as "The Love-Bug" and bring the kids a singing telegram. She burst in to the room and sang them to love songs. The kids were speechless. The looks on their faces were priceless. By the end they were laughing like crazy. That is one fun/crazy Grandma.

 Gracyn's class was next. I can't say it enough times. That girl has the sweetest preschool class ever! I got to bring in a craft and make some Valentine hearts with them.

They did four stations with crafts and activities and they all brought in a food item to stir into a "Friendship Trail Mix".

They each stirred their item up into this huge bowl, and then each child got to take home a bag of the mix.

Finally Addison's party came on Friday. Her class is great as well. One boy even told me I smelled good? He tells Addison that all the time too, maybe he likes our soap?

With her class I got to lead a writing game. I took 6 to 8 students at a time and gave them each a conversation heart. They then built a story, each child adding one sentence at a time, using the phrase from their heart. The stories were hilarious! We had fun reading them all to the class at the end.

3 parties at school, some extra activities with friends, chocolate fondue at home and flowers from Daddy made for a fun and busy Valentines day! 

Winter Fun

If you are going to have temperatures in the single digits and lots of cold, wet snow, you might as well make the best of it. We had our bible study group over Saturday afternoon. We wrapped up our study, ate a quick dinner then bundled the kids up for some outdoor fun. It was getting dark and so cold, but we had so much fun. We came in red cheeked and chilly to finish the night of with some games.