A New Dance Space

Unfortunately for Donna and Marty, a tree limb pierced a hole in their roof, caused all kinds of water damage in their dining room, and kicked off a 4-month remodeling hassle. Fortunately for my girls, this project caused all the furniture out to be moved out and gave them a wide open dining room and sun room to use as their new performance space. Every time they went over to Gigi and Pop Pop's house, they would immediately don tutus and start dancing.

The good news is that the remodeling project is FINALLY finished, and it looks great! The bad news is that the girls will have to settle for playing under "forts" again because all the furniture is back in place.

Here is the dance instructor with one of her ballet classes...

My favorite line from Collins about all the remodeling, "I know...for my sixth birthday, I will have a ballet birthday party and use Gigi and Pop Pop's dance space at their house if their dining room is not back to normal yet." Lol...luckily for Gigi's sanity that is not going to happen!

Valentine's Day Prep

So Collins had to make 20 valentines to take to school this year. Her teacher gently suggested that they be homemade, have no goody attached (b/c Valentines Day is about love and not stuff), and be signed by her. I thought this was a little much, but we started cranking them out. I was so impressed by the fact that Collins figured out she could write all of her classmates names, and actually did! That made for a lot of extra work for her, but how neat that she could personalize all her Valentines for the first time?

Addie's Valentine's party was a bit of a bust. She didn't want to participate (except by eating cookies) preferring to park it on my lap. She perked up after I left and came home with some cute Valentines (cuter than the ones we sent in!). 

It makes me laugh how Valentine's Day is such an overlooked holiday in our house. We did our required school Valentines, but that's about it. Brian and I didn't even exchange cards, and I forgot to give the girls the presents I had gotten them. I am probably going to just return them at this point. :)

Does that tell you how much focus goes into the day BEFORE Valentines in our house? On to Collins's birthday!

Super Bowl

What were the chances that the Panthers would be playing the Broncos in the SUPER BOWL?!? We were so excited about this game despite the awkwardness of pulling for opposite teams. Turns out it didn't end up quite as exciting as I had hoped. To sumarize: the Broncos won. The Panthers lost. I felt confused. Brian was thrilled. We ran out of wings. The girls were on a sugar high. That about wraps up the Super Bowl this year!

As usual, I was pulling for the Panthers alone. We got home from church, and Brian immediately changed the girls into their Broncos gear. Before I knew it, they were making up cheers in the hallway!

The sky was beautiful that Sunday night, and Brian swore it was Bronco blue and orange...

Apparently our children like wings more than we thought they did. They ate four each, and Brian and I went without!

Collins concocted her own dessert for the Super Bowl, and she made it with chocolate chips for me (b/c I like sweet) and pepper for her Dad (because he likes spicy). And the funny thing was that Addie liked it more than she liked my smores skillet! :)

The girls got to stay up late because neither one of us wanted to miss the game to put them to bed.... :)

So I should not have been surprised to find out that while we were more focused on the football game than our children, they were sneaking chocolate chips from the kitchen and hiding under the dining room table. Needless to say, it took them a long time to fall asleep that night. 

I was very disappointed with how the Panther's lost, but I was happy for Brian and Peyton Manning!

Helping Child for the Day

Collins gets really excited to be the helping child at school, and I was equally as excited to accompany her to school for the day. I was impressed by how much the kids seemed to genuinely like each other. She has a big class and most of them are boys, but they all play really well together and have a lot of fun. Collins warned me that I might see a chase break out, and that she was on the "chasers" team. She forgot to mention that part of the chasing might be done with a plunger in hand. :) Apparently, they have some new toys on the playground.

They had a dance troupe come in and do some movement with the kids. Some really got into it, others not so much. Austin told me, "I don't like to dance." But it's cool that they are exposed to things like that.

The "meatballs" (a.k.a peanut butter balls) were a big hit, and then Collins had a hard time with me doing the dishes again (because that meant I couldn't go with her on the swings playground). We are dealing with some anxiety issues with her, and she anticipates change and gets upset. We still have some work to do. But I realized during my day at school, for the most part she is really happy and thriving there.

Spa Heaven

When I opened up Dad and Heather's birthday present and saw a gift certificate to the Umstead Spa, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. When I actually went a few weekends later, I knew I was in heaven. That place is AMAZING. I told the girls that Mommy would be going away for awhile and went and spent five hours in the most beautiful, tranquil, and luxurious setting in the area.

I curled up on a big sofa by a fireplace and read my novel. Then I took a little snooze. That refreshed me for an awesome 50-minute massage. I lounged around in my robe eating snacks, drinking hot tea, and looking at the beauty of nature outside my cozy lounge seat. I sat in the courtyard reading a magazine and feeling a soft breeze on my face (it was a rare 70 degree January day!). I sat in the outdoor heated pool and relaxed. Honestly? It was spa perfection in every way.

Best birthday gift ever? I think so! Thanks Dad and Heather for sending me to my happy place!

Daddy's Birthday

Daddy bucked tradition and asked for an all-meat birthday for #37. He got it with a meat cake (Collins said she would never ask for that type of cake) and a steak dinner at The Peddler.

Perhaps not the healthiest of birthdays, but a fun one!

Snow Day!

Is there anything more exciting than the first snow day of the year? Collins is old enough now to remember snow days of the past few years and she really, really wanted it to snow. She got her wish! It was really more ice than snow, but it was white and that was really all  that mattered. 

Collins got up and immediately started writing/drawing out our snow itinerary for the day. On the agenda was pancakes, sledding, hot chocolate and playing in the snowflakes. :)

After a pancake breakfast, it was a race to get outdoors. I tried to slow her down with some Pioneer Woman, and it worked for a little bit.

Addie got dressed too, just not exactly for the snow...

This shows you how patient a four-year-old is...she couldn't even make it past the walkway before she plopped down to make a snow angel. :)

Mr. Cunningham's humongous leaf pile made a good starting point for a day of snow fun...

Addie was totally game for some sledding...

although second guessed herself upon whizzing down the hill. Then she decided it was awesome.

There was really not enough accumulation to build a snowman, but Collins and Brian made it happen...Bronco-style.

After throwing the world's biggest temper tantrum about not wanting to wear her ski bibs, she decided that she would wear indeed wear the ski bibs and go out for some fun. Mom won that battle. :)

Collins was excited to run into our neighbors Margaret and McKay...

Addie was excited to wind up over at Gigi's house to warm up a bit...

Then it was time for some more action...

After a full day, Addie was ready to come in and get out of those bibs...

but Collins could not get enough! She put in a full day...

and could not have had more fun!