If at first you don't succeed...

When Landon first started preschool 2 1/2 years ago Austin and I went to a school party with him. Austin saw some frosted sugar cookies and wanted one in the worst way. Of course he couldn't have one because of his food allergies. So.. we went to walmart and bought 101 cookie cutters (litterally! I was feeling ambitious, I guess) and set out to make our non-dairy, egg free version of a frosted sugar cookie.
Well, here we are two and half years later and FINALLY, we've done it! I've tried all kinds of recipes and each was one disaster after another (too sticky, too flat, too yucky...). Yesterday the kids and I tried again and this time I mixed non dairy cream cheese with soy vanilla pudding and used that in the recipe and the cookies were AMAZING! The kids loved it. Austin was so happy. He pulled a chair into the kitchen and sat there watching the cookies bake the whole time. He even helped do the dishes so he could frost his cookies sooner. What a kid. His first R E A L sugar cookie!

What is this? Antartica?

Last Sunday it was -9 degrees when we headed off for church. I didn't think it was possible to get any colder. This morning when I took Landon to the bus stop my car thermometer said -17!!! It was... what's a colder word than f r e e z i n g? I checked weather.com just to make sure my car wasn't way off and sure enough it's -15 with a wind chill of -25 that means it feels like -25 when you go outside. Here's what weather.com says about our "severe" weather:

A WIND CHILL WARNING MEANS A COMBINATION OF WIND AND BITTERLY
COLD AIR WILL CREATE DANGEROUSLY LOW WIND CHILL VALUES....
RESULTING IN FROST BITE ...HYPOTHERMIA...OR EVEN DEATH IF
PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN. IF YOU MUST VENTURE OUTDOORS...DRESS
APPROPRIATELY IN LAYERS COVERING ALL EXPOSED SKIN.

I think we'll be staying inside today!!

We're Still Alive?

Austin and Zac are, once again, sick. Why is that they don't sleep when they're sick? Seriously, when one kid is up the other one is sleeping, once we get that one back in bed the other one wakes up. The nights are a never ending blur.
On top of it all, our realtor met with us last week and told us that we don't have much competition but what we do have is new construction... so our house has to be "prestine" (in her words). Our closets have to be mostly empty and everything has to be "open and spacious" - translation - even our toothbrushes are in an organizer under the sink. EVERYTHING has a place out of sight! What a PAIN!!!
We've had some good news too, though...
Zac had his 4 month check up and he is right on target. He weighs a whopping 16 pounds and is in the 85th percentile for weight and 90th for height. He's not quite rolling over but he rolls from side to side. He's such a cute little guy.
Austin started school and although he told me his favorite part of the day was when his teacher told him that I was there to pick him up, he seems to really like it.
Landon's school principle called the other day and told me Landon got a citizenship award. He cleaned up the melted snow in his class room without anyone asking him to. It makes me really proud to know that he is being a good boy.
Cameron has been so helpful lately. On Friday he got Landon ready for school and took him to the bus stop so that I could sleep in. Yesterday he got his "room" cleaned and cleaned out the garage.
We've also been having fun with friends lately. I went to lunch at a friends on Friday and had YUMMY pork burritos. That night we went to some friends house and played "Rock Band". It was really fun - there were lots of people there that we haven't seen in a while so it was kind of a reunion! (P.S. now I know why so many people like kereoke!!)
So all in all life's been good. Having sick kids stinks and cleaning out all your closets and cupboards at once stinks but I guess you gotta take the bad with the good!

After the market we're going to Chuckee Cheese!

Remember when you were a kid and you knew big changes were coming in your family? You didn't completely understand what was going on but you didn't worry too much 'cause Mom and Dad would take care of it. Well, my kids are starting to come to grips with the fact that we are getting ready to move. We've had the realtor over and I am frantically going through closets, de-cluttering, touching up the paint, cleaning just about every square inch so that we can list our house before the end of the month.
My house is pretty clean right now and I've been enforcing the rule, "put it away when your done with it" like never before. As a reward for helping to keep the house clean I told the kids I'd take them to Chuckee Cheese when our house sells. Austin of course immediately asked, "is our house sold?" So I explained that we have to put it on the market and then people will come through and then they'll think about it and eventually someone will buy it.
Sunday afternoon at nap time Austin started crying (serious crying - on the floor, fists banging, feet kicking). He didn't want to take his nap because he wanted to go to the "MARKET" with us so we could go to Chuckee Cheese! Poor kid, he has NO idea how long of a process this is. (if only it could be that easy!)
So yeah, Austin knows we're trying to sell our house and we need to keep it clean but all he really cares about is what happens when someone buys it: Chuckee Cheese!

Better Late than Never: Christmas Memories!

Christmas was wonderful. Getting there was not. We were snowed in at the Des Moines Airport and spent 6 hours at the airport, 4 hours on the airplane on the tarmac, 2 hours talking to customer service getting our flights switched, finding a hotel, and trying to get an idea of when our flight was leaving, 5 hours sleeping in a hotel, and 3 and half hours actually flying. Whoever said getting there is half the fun... they did not know what they were talking about! Here's how we spent the time in the airport: (Isaac spent his time in a make shift bed made of Cams coat. Austin's cheeks are so red because the four hours in the plane - while it was supposedly waiting to be deiced - really dried his skin out. Landon kept up a good attitude but you can see just how bored he was)



We love being with our families. There's just something about being with people that love you unconditionally.

Life

It just keeps going.... Don't you wish you could freeze frame a moment or just stop time for a while you catch up? I am completely behind. The suitcases are still not completely unpacked, the laundry is washed and folded but not put away yet, the Christmas tree is still up. I look around and I really don't know where to start. There are calls to be made, errands to run, babies to put to bed, and SO MUCH WORK to do around here.
I really want to post pictures of our fabulous Christmas in Utah but I just can't catch up... Zac is crying (again!) and Austin just threw up (again!) so I gotta go - Such is LIFE!!!