Snow

As you have gathered by now, its much much colder here than we had expected. My kids and I don't do well when we can't get outside so when it warmed up to about 16-17 degrees we bundled up and went outside to get some fresh air. Ike only lasted a few minutes and ended up back inside with Dad. We wanted desperately to build a snowman but apparently when its too cold the snow won't stick together. Who knew? So after our failed attempts to build a snowman we gave up and went for a walk around our little complex. We threw "snowballs" (which were actually just handfuls of powder) at each other, made a train and made shapes in the snow with our footprints and left our butt prints on every bench in the area. We did lots of running and tackling and giggling. It really was super fun. Not just for the kids but for me too. It felt so good to get out in the fresh air. 

 P.S. Ike is wearing (and mostly fitting in) the snow clothes/clothes that Pep wore when he was almost 2. I think we might have a giant on our hands... or a dwarf, depending on how you see it.

When I pointed out to Pep that there was a piece of ice stuck to his scarf his reply was "Yeah! I know! I put it there!" and then he licked it.

Yesterday we were surprised when it was ABOVE 20 degrees at only 10 AM! We put Ike down for a little nap and went out and guess what? The snow was warmed up enough that it was sticking! We made a killer snowman and a wicked snow "nest". I sadly had to come back in the house when Ike woke up but the kids stayed out until lunch time at which point it was so warm some of the snow was melting and by the time naps were over our snow man had melted to the point that he toppled over. It was a very exciting moment. 

This was the extent of Ike's playing in the snow yesterday...
He'd smash his face up on the door and we would throw snowballs at it and then he would try to catch the snow as it slid down the door. Poor kid.

The game didn't last long. He figured out really quickly that what we were doing was a lot more fun than what he was doing.

Valentines Day

This year we crafted and crafted for V-day. It was too too cold and miserable to even go to the store for weeks and weeks so we stayed in and made more hearts and pink things than you can even imagine.

  We even did some naked painting

This is Buggy's creation. She had zero help. She thought  it up all on her own and she was SO proud. On Valentines Day we took her pipe cleaner bouquet and some amazingly delicious sugar cookies that we made and passed them out to everyone at Daddy's work. It was super fun and the kids got to see where dad works.

We got a package from Grandma Pam AND Gayle! It was SO exciting cause we have never lived far enough away for anyone to send us packages so it was a special event to receive TWO!

Hope your Valentines was a fun as ours!

Proof

Here is proof that he can walk. I love that he is so clumsy and goofy about it. He is the cutest little (or not so little. He is wearing clothes that Pep didn't fit in until he was 18 months at least. This kid is a tall one) squish.

Isaac Lorenzo

I feel like Ike has been cheated. I haven't kept up with whats happening with him like I have the other kids. I can't tell you how much he weighed at 6 months or an exact date of when he started to crawl. Its been a blur. Life has been way way way too crazy and Im not overly happy with the fact that I haven't written down all those little things.

I can tell  you however that he did start crawling. It was while we were at Ambers house so sometime in December. For the first little while he would only crawl if I wasn't around. If I walked in to the room he would drop down and act like he was going to die if I didn't pick him up. I was informed by everyone that he was, in fact, crawling but I didn't get to really see it for a couple of weeks cause he didn't want to give up being hauled around by me.

He now has 6 teeth. 4 on top and 2 on bottom. The last two just broke through a couple of days ago.

His favorite place to play is the bathtub but he doesn't  care all that much to actually be in the tub, he  mostly just enjoys standing on the side of the tub and leaning over to splash and soak the floor.... this enjoyment has now spread to the toilet. So. Gross. So now we have to be careful to make sure all the toilet lids are down.

He says a few words if you listen really closely. He says mama... which he has for a long time now but now its actually in reference to me. He say "yeah" and "ow" (something he learned form watching his brother and cousin Gracey play a game in which they threw themselves on the floor and yelled "ow!" and then laughed like it was the best joke they had ever heard)

He HATES baby food.  LOVES solids but if its all ground up and mushy there is no way on this earth you are going to get him to eat it. He won't even take most things cut up. It has to be whole and in complete choking hazard form or he doesn't want it. He also hates being fed. He can do it himself!

He walks. Yup. He WALKS. He is still pretty unsteady and doesn't venture out on his own much but when he knows someone will be there to catch him he goes for it and really does quite well. He will be running in no time. At 11 months he is the oldest of my kids to start walking but it snuck up on me none the less. I love it when my kids walk. It makes them happy which makes me happy and everyone else happy but Im not ready for this baby to grow up. I feel like things just need to slow down so that I can just enjoy him being a baby. I feel like his infancy slipped right through my fingers.

He is a tease... He likes to hold something out that he knows someone else would want (toys, food ect) like he's gonna give it to you and then when you reach for it he pulls it back and laughs right in your face.

He loves to be chased. He will sneak to the stairs (He knows he is not supposed to play on the stairs) and look back smiling and as soon as you walk toward him he will squeal a little and take off up the stairs as fast as he can laughing all the way. He loves to get in his walker on the hard wood floor and try to taunt his siblings in to chasing him.

AnDee is his biggest protector. He knows that if mom is distracted or busy, he can always go to her for attention. Im am guilty of letting her take care of him WAY too often. She is just such a good mama to him and they truly adore each other.
(She even lets him biter he when he is teething. )

He is a dancer and a singer. He loves to karaoke and does a little bum dance every time he hears music.

He claps and kicks his legs like crazy whenever he gets excited.

His favorite food right now is cheese and he HATES wearing shoes. You know all those videos you see of people putting shoes on their dogs and then the dogs walk all crazy like? Yeah... thats my son when we put shoes on him. He thinks its hilarious while we are in the process of putting them on but once they are on they suddenly become a foreign object that make his feet and legs lose all control

His daddy teases him about his big ears constantly but he just smiles because he knows that in reality they are really cute and that he got those big ears from his dad.
(Andrew thought it was pretty funny that you could see the light glowing through his ears)

He is still such a cuddler. Every time I pick him up he gives me a hug like he hasn't seen me in ages and doesn't ever want to let go. It is THE BEST. The end

Baby its Cold Outside

You know how everyone talks about how cold Chicago gets in the winters? Turns out the rumors are true.... Actually if we are being honest, everyone I have talked to has said this is hands down the worst winter they have ever seen here. Regardless, It. Is. Cold. Oh my gosh is it cold! My children cry as we run to and from the car on the rare occasion that we actually go out. Im not exaggerating when I say I got a full blown brain freeze from walking to my car from Walmart. It has been brutal. If you know me, you know I like to be outside. I depend on going outside to keep my spirits up and my children's spirits up. We have been doing our best to find things to do in the house but if we are being totally honest, we fight A LOT and whine A LOT and its really starting to wear on all of us. We are praying for a break in the weather but its not looking real hopeful at the moment.
On the bright side we have found some fun new activities that we probably never would have tried had we not been trapped for so long.

 Notice that the HIGH is NEGATIVE ELEVEN...
However... do you see fridays temp? That was a gift from the Heavens. That was the one and only time we actually got outside. We went for a little walk around our neighborhood. Every house we would walk by Pep would say "Look! Its our house!" because yes... every house looks exactly the same.

We have been baking

And playing with cornstarch and water and baking soda and vinegar

\

We discovered the joy of stacking bubbles and making "bubble snowmen"

We have read...  A TON

We have comforted each other when time outs were just too hard to bare

We got the flu. Yippy?

We went and visited the puppies at the pet store (it was worth the horrific run to and from the car... I think)

We have been making easter egg caterpillars... or just any crafty thing we can find the stuff to make

We have been building (AnDee)

and destroying (Pep)

We made the coolest slide on our stairs from moving boxes

We have also been feeding the bunnies on our front porch and watching birds out the windows. We even saw a real life cardinal! That was pretty neat. 

Its been rough but we are making it through and we are praying that spring will come just a little early this year.