Indianapolis

We went to Indianapolis last weekend to see our dear friends the Pooleys! The kids were so excited and counted down the days until we left! 

We hung out and had long conversations on Friday and Saturday while the kids played. I think we may have in fact solved all the world's problems. Ha! It is always so nice to get to talk and talk with good friends. 

Scott & Ryan took the kids to see the Lego Batman movie on Saturday afternoon and then we all went to the Melting Pot on Saturday night. 

The kids loved it! Who knew cooking your own food could be so fun:)

I was so proud of all of them, we were at dinner for 2+ hours. They all did amazing and really loved the concept of fondue!

Sadly, these pictures are the only photographic evidence I have from the weekend! We had a wonderful time and can't wait to see the Pooleys again soon. I know I've said it before, but good friends are treasures, simply and truly! Thank you Pooleys for having us!

Wrapping Up February

Lila's class has been passing around strep throat, so I knew it was only a matter of time before she got sick again. And lo and behold, the school nurse called on the Thursday afternoon before President's Day weekend to tell me she thought Lila had strep throat. I immediately called our pediatrician and thankfully he could see us that afternoon. 

She looks super sick, right? I have to say Lila is the happiest sick person I have ever known. She is more annoyed with being sick than anything. However, on this day she was more upset than usual because her class was having a party on Friday to celebrate the end of "letter of the week" and the Snowflake Ball was also that night. She was NOT HAPPY about missing all of this fun stuff, but she got over it pretty quick.

I told her we could make cupcakes at home since she was missing them at school. She took me up on that offer!

It was a beautiful day and she was feeling much better by the afternoon, so we stopped off at the park on the way home from getting Nate. (side note: Nate does not appear in as many pictures on the blog these days as he is getting to "that" age and I am trying to respect his privacy:))

On Saturday, Scott had to work and it was pretty warm so we went to Forest Park to explore for a bit.

I captioned this picture "The Half Second that He Allowed Her Arm Around Him."

We walked all over the place and at one time I challenged them to a sprint. And I won! I was pretty proud of myself and rubbed it in to them that they let their almost 40 year old mother beat them. Ha!

Checking out the statues...

My view 99.9% of the time. She is obsessed with gymnastics. OBSESSED.

She started taking gymnastics again last week and she of course loves every minute of it. We walked around some more and Lila got her shoes wet. Big surprise.

On Sunday, we walked to church. It was a beautiful day and I think we were all thinking it was too pretty to be inside!

On Monday, we hung out at home and Lila and I walked to another little park near our house. It's called "Central Park" which I love.

We are absolutely loving this weather! Now I hope March is good to us too!

Reaching Back: Valentine's Day

Scott & Nate went to the cabin the weekend before Valentine's Day. Lila & I stayed home and had a girls weekends. It was super fun! When she got home from school on Friday, she decorated her Valentine's box for school. She was really into it and I think it turned out very cute!

On Saturday, we made these red velvet cookie bars. OH MY. They were simply fabulous. I think I'm going to figure how how to make them for every occasion!

Lila does not have any play makeup so I got her a surprise for Valentine's Day. It really surprised both of us because instead of being play makeup, it's like for real makeup. #momfail

Oh well. She loves it. Even though she can only play with it if we are going to be staying home. I can just hear the pleadings for wearing it out of the house coming soon. Ha!

Haircut

Having a girl means you have to learn to do some hair. I am not very good at doing some hair. Plus my subject doesn't really let me practice. So. Hair is the center of a lot of fights at the Boyle house. Sigh. Boy hair is so much easier.

This winter, I have been feeling like we needed to cut Lila's hair shorter.  Her hair is mega thick and can be coarse like Scott's. So tangles are a major problem. I even had to cut some out at the base of her neck a few months ago because I could not get them out. Needless to say it was traumatic for both of us.

I finally talked her into getting it cut shorter so we looked for some examples on Pinterest. We found one of a long bob and she liked it. The girls hair was brown so she immediately asked if she could get her hair dyed brown. To which I said NO!!! She replied, "That's OK, when you don't have control of my hair anymore, I'm going to dye it red." Who is this person? I told our hair lady that story and she said, good luck finding someone that will dye your gorgeous hair red. Thank you, thank you very much. Sigh.

A before picture...before school...waiting for the doors to open (their schools start 30 minutes apart, it's ever so convenient). It was spirit day, so she allowed a headband.

After! We are both so happy with it! No more tangles. No more tears.

Tid Bits

Scott went skiing with Paka last weekend so the kids and I were on our own. It was cold so we tried to make our own inside fun. I found a recipe for homemade peppermint patties on Pinterest, so we decided to give it a whirl. Well. By the time I was done, let's just say I felt like Betty Crocker. It was harder, longer, and more in depth that I had imagined, but they turned out really good! They tasted just like the real thing, amazingly, but if I make them again, I will make them smaller because they were very sweet!

After swim team on Saturday morning, we stopped by the library. The kids read, checked out books and made words on the magnetic board. I love our library. It's hard to believe we've been going to this one for almost 10 years!

I guess I did not take any pictures of the rest of our weekend. We rested, ate pizza, and had slumber parties in my room. They were good days:)

Life Lately

I feel like we are finally getting back into the swing of things after winter break, and it's hard to believe that the kids have already been in school 100 days! Lila's teacher planned a super fun day for the kids and Lila was all about it. First up was to dress like you were 100 years old. She wore pearls and glasses, then we put her hair in a bun and sprinkled baby powder on it to make it look white. She ate it up. She of course doesn't look 100 here but she does look so much older to me! She's starting to look way more like a young girl than a little kid. Sad and happy about that! 

Her teacher took all the kids pictures then used an app to age them 100 years. Oh my word. We thought this was SO funny! I told her she will be a very cute and stylish 100 year old woman. Ha!

This past Saturday was so gorgeous. So gorgeous that we are begging for Spring to come early this year! It was 70 degrees so we soaked up some vitamin D all day long.  

We played in our yard and went to 2 different parks. Nate brought along his briefcase with his necessities. Because of course:)

In the winter, I become obsessed with the extended forecast. If it is above freezing and no snow for all 15 days when I look, I am so excited and relieved. Because every day we get through without it being bitter cold is a day closer to Spring! It's the little things in the winter:)

Ruel is ONE!

Ruel turned the BIG ONE a couple of weeks ago! Sweet sweet baby right here...it's hard to believe it has been a year! We all headed down to SE MO the night before his party...amidst an ice storm...because let's face it, we were not missing it! I don't think Lila would have ever forgiven me! 

Sarah and Hamil had his party at the Discovery Play House in Cape and my kids thought it was the bomb. Here is Wayne trying to do a little dental work on Lila. Ha!

Many local businesses are represented and kids love to work a bank, supermarket, dentist, daycare and farm!

Upstairs they have a plane and air traffic control. Nate could have stayed here all day!

The birthday boy! He is intrigued at first...

even smiling...

 but then he tried to get away...

so reinforcements came to help!

Lila loves her some Ruel...

 even though he doesn't sit quietly when she holds him anymore!

But he sure does look cute in her headband...she thought this was so funny!

We were so happy to get to celebrate Ruel's big first birthday! And we made it safely back to STL before the second wave of the ice storm hit...although it was more of a media event most of the time. But isn't it almost always?!?!