Our Current Weather

I have a few things I would like to emphasize:&
...along with the word "blizzard". Yikes!!! Here is our street from our porch.

Here is our front porch with snow drifting up the stairs.

And I took this out our back porch window.

My Week

This week we had a few days of 30+ degree weather so I told myself I had to get out of the house. I bundled Levi up and off we went. Both Tuesday and Wednesday I got an hour walk in. It was not just any walk, it was muscle building! My back and shoulders were sore so I really needed a break from holding Levi so I put him in the stroller. In the end I think I used more muscles pushing the stroller through snow than if I carried him the whole way :) You see, the city decided that my walk day was a good day to re-plow the streets and in the process they buried the entrances to the sidewalks and on many streets, the sidewalks themselves. I actually had to pick up the whole contraption and carry it back on to the street several times. In the end, the sunshine was worth it! I have several pictures of the adventure on my phone but have not yet figured out how to transfer them to this blog. Here is the only picture of the adventure I took with my camera. Yes, Levi is streaming but that was because he wasn't moving. As soon as we got going he went to sleep.

Levi's next adventure was his attempts to crawl by grasping the play mat and pulling while pushing with his feet. He doesn't quite have it but he is really trying! He is getting better at back scooting as well. (although I think he is scooting the hair off the back of his little head)

We also had the youth over last night so I made a batch of cookies. I like how they turned out! And the frosting was SUPER easy. I just used 2 cups of confectioners sugar and 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons of milk and whisked. Then just divide up and put food coloring in. A prize for who can guess what shape the top of the front right side plate is. :) (you can click on the picture to enlarge)

The candy cane cookies turned out the best in my opinion.

I sort of turned these stars in to snow flakes.

My next adventure is cooking a meal for Sunday. We are planning on having 3 or so people over :). I am nervous but excited.

The Story of Levi's 1st Christmas

This Christmas MAY be our last Christmas where we get to sleep in :). I started out the morning with a few pictures. "Ok Levi & Lucy, look over here".

"Now to the left."

"Okay, now just Levi."

And Lucy promptly moved INTO the shot :)

"Wow, Mom, that was exhausting!"

When Levi woke up, Dad showed Levi his new teething giraffe from great Aunt Linda. Just i time as Levi is teething pretty badly.

Lucy got busy dancing in the paper. Her favorite part of Christmas.

"Look Ma, I wiggled out of my pants!"

"By the end of the day, I was worn out!!!" ~Levi

This was Levi on Sunday. I just loved how his ears stuck out so I thought I would share.

3 Months!

I cannot believe how fast the time has flown by! Levi was 3 months yesterday! I am attempting to take a new picture each month by his animal to check his growth.
I borrowed a "Bumbo" chair from a friend in town to see if Levi likes it since they cost $40 new. It helps small babies sit up when they are still learning. Levi sat on his own now on Dec. 20th but usually he sits about 10 seconds and then tends to flop over. Though this seat helps, you can see it takes his concentration! :)
I was able to make a crock pot dinner and throw together lunch while making faces at him.
I think Lucy started feeling left out because I heard a ripping sound coming from under the tree and there was Lucy, pawing gifts back and forth and attempting to open one (which did happen to be labeled for her and probably has some sort of food in it :) Here is Lucy noticing I found her.
Here is Lucy pretending she is not up to no good :)

Homeschooling Finds

I know I am a little early but I thought I would explore things that I could use to do some "homeschool" with Levi when he is ready. Here are some free things I found:

(1) Printable play money in coins and some coin worksheets
(2) Printable blank tags and price-tags
(3) Printable play money in bills
(4) Fake checks to practice with
(5) Easy clocks worksheet and Clocks worksheet to make your own and a teaching clock.
(6) Number lines
(7) Printable Graph Paper in several sizes
(8) Printable Math Drills in different ability levels
(9) Printable Maps to fill in
(10) Printable Handwriting Worksheets
(11) Folded Origami Star instructions
(12) Christmas Story Book Paper

And that was all from one website. I am sure you may already have this stuff on hand but I thought it was nice that it can be printed however many times you want.

Pierre as a family

We got to travel to Pierre again this year, this time as a family. It was a great free "date" to bring Levi on because he loves lights. We didn't catch free pie day this year because of bad weather, but it was still fun.
There were MANY trees to look at.It is the Capitol's 100 years so they decorated their largest tree accordingly.
One tree was decorated with peacock feathers. This was one of my favorite photos of the day.One nice feature of the free date is that we were treated to good music. This all-men's group was very good!