A Fire Truck Visits Talon Drive!

Clay lives next door, and he turned three, so his mom and dad arranged for the fire department to visit as part of his firefighter themed party!!!  The truck came complete with Sparky, the fire dog!

Jackson LOVED Sparky!  Graham, not so much...  He made me stand behind a snowbank on the sidewalk to be sure there was a barrier between him and Sparky.  He was petrified :(

The guys unrolled the fire hose!

Graham FINALLY let go of me, so Miss Kathy could hold him while I checked in on what Jackson was doing.

Jackson was the first one to hold the hose and spray the water!!!

Check it out!

Awww!!!  Good thing Graham wore his boots :)

That's about as close as Graham let Sparky get to him!

Fireman Jackson!

Enjoying some yummy food, and of course, cake later!

Sunday was a really nice day, but there was still a little snow on the ground, so while I was out in my capris, Jackson suited up in all of his snow gear to get a little more sledding in!  LOL

Snow? What Snow?

Yesterday was declared a snow day and school was closed.  The thing was, we already knew by about 7pm the night BEFORE--not one snowflake had fallen!

This is what the deck and backyard looked like around breakfast time...

And, the front yard...

Making the most of the day and staying in our jammies!

Cheesing brothers with their dinos  :)

Checking out the dinosaurs

LOVE seeing Jackson read to Graham!

Sitting in their nest while Izzy hatches a dinosaur egg!

Well, the snow finally came--this is after lunch.  

Izzy was SO sweet and brought over some of the boys favorite toys when she came over for a playdate! Jackson loves wearing this policeman dress-up outfit at her house.  Complete with Nerf gun!

Today was another snow day, of course, and it too was called ridiculously early yesterday...  Trying to think of more fun activities: Dot painting!!!

It is amazing how Jackson's technique has progressed from one color of paint all over the page to various colors in more precise spots.

A fresh blanket of snow!

More sledding!  It takes a village to help a Graham sled:  Ashley walked him up the hill and got him set up on the sled before giving him a push...

Alyssa stood guard by the tree to make sure Graham didn't get off course, and then I caught him at the bottom!

Back in our yard, Graham was SO content playing in the house and clearing off various areas of snow.

Nothing like sliding in the snow!

Sledding!

Fun with Daddy!

Sledding Brothers!

The snow in March was a little ridiculous, but it was pretty!

We finished off the night with homemade Snow Cream!

It was approved by all!

Cuties :)

Ending the night with more reading from Big Brother!

Holding Down the Fort

Well, it hasn't been a pretty month of school...we had a two-hour delay after our two snow days followed by another cancellation to finish out the week.  Josh left Monday for San Francisco, and we started our week on our own with a two-hour delay!  I went ahead and still went in for my weekly volunteer session in Jackson's class, and you could tell the crazy schedule has been affecting them--they were just a tad more restless and chatty...

Jackson and I had a little movie night complete with the "popcorn with butter and salt, just the way he likes it!"  We watched "Box Trolls," and it was pretty cute.  Unfortunately, Graham threw up in the middle of the night!  It was really sad, but thankfully, it was just one time.  I kept him awake for a little while with me in my bed, but he just wanted to play!  That's when I decided he should go back to bed!  ;)  We laid low the next day, and even thought he was acting totally fine, I took it all slow, so I could be sure he was feeling better.  My friend, Katie, was so amazing and brought Pedialyte over for Graham...and Starbucks for me...which was such a lifesaver!  

Graham continued to feel good, so it was just a little something!  Unfortunately, I think I got a touch of what he had and felt pretty nauseous and uncomfortable for a lot of the day.  Bleh!

Jackson earned himself the reward of a new game: Battleship, because he was so amazingly helpful and cooperative while Graham was sick and I wasn't feeling well.  He really was amazing!

Ah, another snow day!  

This snow was the best for building a snowman, so we built another friend!

Another amazing helper I had all week was Loren, one of our favorite babysitters!  She lives just three doors down, and she was a lifesaver coming over each night after the boys were in bed while I went down the street to take care of pet-sitting duties.

I rewarded myself with a Shamrock Shake since I made it through the week!  I will not be thwarted by a two-hour delay, one puker, one almost puker, a snow day and keeping four extra things alive as I pet-sat down the street!  Success!

Daddy returned with this awesome present!

Enjoyed by all :)

We are so happy to have our daddy back!  

Automatic Snow Day

I'm learning after living here for seven years now that if it snows one day, and school is cancelled, the following day will result in no school as well since ALL of the roads in the county will not have been plowed...  So, we geared up again (I'm getting much quicker!) and out we went!

The snow was in a bit better shape for building, but we still were only able to achieve a snow blob--LOL!

Love how he turned out!

Jackson loved his special fort!  Formed thanks in part to the snowplow and the rest thanks to Daddy when he shoveled out an opening to the storm drain.

Enjoying our little hill

He kept throwing himself down the hill all different ways

Even Graham realized belly first was the best!

He is in LOVE with sledding now that it's a smaller-scale hill!

Napping hard after playing hard!

Another board-game filled afternoon!

Esther was a genius!  When we back to her house to sled, she took Graham down to the bottom where there is sort of a smaller hill, and she worked back and forth to get Graham set up at the top and then caught him at the bottom so he didn't head face-first into the fence.  He LOVED it!  Another fun day!  But, tomorrow is looking cold...