March Blizzard

On Saturday, after the snow and ice stopped falling, the boys finally got to play in the snow.

They LOVED the snow!

Due to the small amount of snow we received, Andrew and Keith built a small snowman.

The weathermen predicted we would get up to 16 inches, but we only got about 4 inches of snow and 3 inches of ice. My parents received 18 inches of snow with some 6 foot drifts.

Jonathan did a great job walking on the snow.

Andrew and his little snowman.

ANDREW!

Jonathan removed some of the snow from the sandbox hoping we would let him play with/eat the sand.

Andrew and Keith started throwing snowballs.

Jonathan getting to know the little snowman.

Andrew loved throwing the snow, but the game ended when he got a little snow down his back.

March Snowstorm

The weathermen have been predicting snow for this weekend all week. It was hard to believe since it was almost 80 last week and we had turned on the air conditioning a couple of times. But it turns out they were right.

The storm started Friday morning with ice pellet rain.

House bound children. Everyone a little stir crazy...

Everyone has great anticipation of the BIG STORM!

Playing with our new house from Auntie Jill. We love it!

Finally the snow started to fall around 6 pm.

And it came with a vengeance for a little bit.

And then it started to sleet some more.

Jonathan did not understand why he couldn't go outside to play.

He was very mad that I could go out to take a picture, but that I wouldn't let him out.

Maybe tomorrow you can play in the snow...

Friends from the North

Megan and the boys were visiting Kansas this week and came to play on Thursday. The boys had tons of fun playing with Zach and Jobe, and Megan and I were actually able to have some conversation! Thanks for coming to play!

Zach and Andrew having a quiet moment while Andrew "reads" one of his library books to Zach. Jonathan didn't want to be left out and is hovering nearby!

Jonathan is becoming quite the ham when he sees the camera.

Jobe, Zach and Andrew

This was at the end of their visit when everyone was getting a little tired and needing a little downtime.

Focus 20 kiddos

The kids had a great time running down this hill.

All lined up and ready to run!

Lejer, Sydney, Andrew, Zach, Holden and Brenna

Grace, Lejer, Sydney, Zach, Jobe and Ellie

Andrew was very attached to this toy and for fear that it would be swiped if he set it down, he chose to run with it.

Megan, Will, Jonathan and Tanya

Will is 6 months and Jonathan is 13 month. Jonathan better pick up the pace!

Jonathan wasn't happy that he couldn't run down the hill with the big kids. I put on his shoes, but he's not quite steady enough for hills. He did enjoy eating some mulch and wandering around the yard!

All the offspring:

Lejer McDaniel, Holden McDaniel, Ellie Schaefer, Zach Glashagel, Jobe Glashagel, Andrew and Jonathan, Brenna Peterson, Sydney Peterson, and Grace Schaefer. Will is the only one not in the picture.

Wrigley the dog jumped in this photo. She was looking for scraps from dinner.

This past weekend the Petersons came to visit and sadly, I didn't get any pictures of them. It was a quick, fun visit and Saturday night we went to the Schaefers for dinner and to "watch basketball." I can honestly say I don't have a clue who was playing or if basketball was actually on. But we had a great time catching up with the Glashagels minus Peter, the Schaefers, the McDaniels, and the Petersons. All in all, 11 kids with one on the way. (Not us, the McDaniels!)

It's hard to believe that just a few years ago - 7 or 8 - we were all single, going to Focus 20 Bible study, meeting our future spouses, having uninterrupted conversations, staying out past 8...And now we have 11 kids, aged 5 and under! Ahh, how times have changed!

Blood Pressure

Andrew is the only 3-year-old I know obsessed with checking his blood pressure! Keith got this wrist pressure checker for his birthday and every night after Andrew is done eating, he begs to check his blood pressure. So he and Keith compare numbers. It's a new form of father/son bonding.

Haircut Time!

before

during

after

Is it just me or did he age a few years in a matter of minutes?!

Are those little curls I see on the back of Jonathan's head? Time will tell...

Last night we decided it was time to give Andrew a summer cut. He was starting to look like a woolly mammoth. And since the weather was so nice, we put him on the back porch and Keith set to work. Keith did a great job and there were no tears and no Oops! For some reason, Andrew thought he needed to get naked during the process, which I think only made him itchier. But after a quick bath the itchies were gone, and we were left with a 4-year-old looking boy. How did that happen?!

Stitches update

Andrew took this picture of us tonight. Notice Jonathan is holding something in each hand!

Well, the stitches did not come out last Friday. I didn't really expect them too, but I was hoping. But the good news is that they came out today! The doctor said his hand looked great and didn't give me any follow-up instructions and sent us home. So, now we are attempting to get back to "normal."

Jonathan is still not using his hand too much, but I think that will come back pretty quickly. He has noticed the bandage is gone and keeps touching the inside of his hand. I'm sure the skin feels tight and funny. Actually I try not to think about it because it give me the shivers. I would not make a good nurse/doctor!

Sadly, I thought he would immediately go back to his thumb at bedtime tonight. But no luck. I don't know if the habit has been broken or if he just doesn't realize that his thumb is his again. Time will tell. The real test will be around 4-5 am, his usual wake-up fussy time. I really miss sleeping through the night! So here's hoping we get back to that soon!

Busy Boys

Here's a few pictures from a couple weeks ago. Before the hand "incident." We had a couple days of nice weather and played outside a little.

Jonathan taking a few tentative steps in the dead grass.

Andrew demonstrating his new pedalling skill. It has taken a LONG time for him to have the desire to ride his tricycle. And now he LOVES it!

Why do we buy them toys? All he seems to want to do is empty the diaper bag...