Winter 2014

I have completely slacked off on updating our blog! Here's a recap of our winter (please excuse grammar, typos, spelling, etc):

I grew bigger. We had our big ultrasound to see Kenan at the beginning of January. She was moving the entire time. 

Teague and Chris had Doughnuts for Dads (and I photographed).

 Neland had his first piano recital. He played the first couple lines of "Ode to Joy" and was perfect! He was very excited to play for everyone and is really looking forward to the next recital.

 Teague is my kitchen helper always. Mostly for "the licking part" but also because he loves to help.

We made heart garland for the window. My boys love art projects, and now that they are older I find it harder and harder to find time for it. 

The boys started sharing a room. Teague actually has a bed now! They seem to really enjoy being in the same room. We were nervous Neland would be upset about giving up his own room (and his robots and bed) but he was really excited about this new one (even if we didn't paint one wall red and one wall blue).

 We took each and every opportunity of warmth to be outside. Neland even was able to visit his old preschool on conference day. It was really cute because so many graduates were there for younger sibling conferences. Teague's teachers went on and on about how much they love him and how sweet he is and I kept asking if we were talking about Teague.

 Bike rides on the greenways are one of Teague's favorite activities. Neland has started dressing himself and it's always super preppy. When he came down in a double popped polo I laughed (he also had on khakis and a belt).

Neland said he put all his "best books" on his dresser.

Teague still sneaks into our room every night. He is the biggest snuggler and Chris and I both don't have the heart to make him go back to his bed. He snuggles up to Chris until Chris gets up and then moves over to my side. Definitely one of the sweetest things about the morning.

We had a lot of snow this winter. One the first day it started falling Teague and I played hooky from school and made a bear cave with twinkle lights. Neland was dismissed early and we watched him play in the snow from our cave (it was too cold for Teague).

 The next day the snow started really coming down, school was out and Chris worked from home. The boys have deemed any snow day a pancake and hot chocolate breakfast day.

 The sled was quickly banned from the back yard after it hit the house multiple times way too hard. This was a super fast snow! Penguin sliding and daddy rides replaced it.

We made snow cream for the first time.

We painted the snow.

And made plenty of angels.

 I had completely procrastinated making Valentine's and luckily it worked for me because Valentine's day was our last snow day! We worked on them then.

We had quite a few furnace troubles which kept us in front of our fireplace. 

Teague and I made play dough and then he played with it for FOUR hours! FOUR!!

We rode the train to see daddy and visit ImaginOn.

Once it started to warm up we felt free of the house! Neland learned how to ride his bike without training wheels and immediately wanted a new bike.

It's always a big deal when we can start eating outside again!

Neland was not feeling well one night and Teague laid beside him and rubbed his arm. It's not often Teague has this softer side, but it was oh so sweet.

Neland reads everything now and is so excited about the new world he is discovering.

During the second trimester I attempted to work out a few times a week. Teague joined me a few times pulling out Chris' mat and asking why daddy never uses it. Then when I wouldn't hand him my weights, he said "hold on" and ran to the kitchen. I heard him in the pantry and was getting ready to yell "no snacks" when he came back with two ice cream cone holders for weights. 

We celebrated Mardi Gras with playgroup. We don't see them often anymore which makes get togethers extra fun.

Grandma and Grandpa let Neland choose a new bike. He was thrilled. And they were nice enough to make sure each boy had a bell on his bike.

The boys dressed up for a friend's baptism. We don't usually attend a formal church service (ours is casual) and the boys usually head to Sunday School instead of the service with us, but for the baptism they needed to sit through a full formal service at a church we weren't familiar with. Needless to say we were pretty nervous, but they both did great! 

Tball started back up and we couldn't be more proud of Neland! He has remembered so much from last year/fall and he is really putting a lot of effort into practices and games.

Frozen yogurt at the lake has been a treat a few times since we escaped snow.

Teague and I surprised Neland with green sprinkled doughnuts on St. Patrick's Day. We don't really celebrate but the schools here do. The leprechaun visits and messes up the room leaving candy. When Neland arrived home from school he was convinced the leprechaun visited his room. I had a lot of trouble convincing him that he is just that messy.

Neland received the game ball for the first game! So proud of him!

The blimp flew over our house. Usually we see it during the golf tournament, but we have no clue why it was in the sky this day. It was really neat though.

Teague has started playing soccer. He has two buddies from preschool on his team and has really enjoyed it so far. His preschool teacher came for the last game and he was in awe. His coach could be the sweetest, most patient person I've ever met. He is perfect for Teague.

Teague has also started art lessons. He loves them! He is always so proud of his art work and every Friday asks all morning if it's time for class. He even asked if he could still take art lessons when he is 100. His birthday party was at the art studio and oh so cute. I'll share pictures of that later!