Spring In North Dakota

When you live in North Dakota, you really never know how to dress your kids for school, what to prep for dinner, or even if you should wash your vehicle.  One day it’s sunshine and 75 degrees, the next it’s raining -or snowing- and barely above 30 degrees.  Mr. Chaotic has been determined to make grilled steak & shrimp for a week, maybe two.  And so he finally just did.  In the rain/snow mix, of course.

Sirloin wrapped filets, New York Strip, shrimp, texas toast, and of course his famous texas toast grilled cheese for the kids.  So delish.  Oh and we also had baked potatoes that I had done up in the oven.  Mmm, my favorite.

While Mr. Chaotic is outside grilling, the kids are outside making a mess of themselves in the puddles.  He even got them to stop and take a picture together.

It had been raining for at least two days straight and last night or early this morning sometime, it decided to turn to snow.  HUGE wet snowflakes coming down like crazy when I woke up this morning.  It’s really hard to see in the picture because of the screen on the window, but the ground was almost covered by 7:30.  Luckily it stopped and was all melted by 11 when we went to pick Kinley up from preschool.

We are all hoping for a little break from the craziness of our weather as we head into May.  I’m pretty sure it’s not unheard of to have a snowstorm in May in North Dakota.

Talk to Me:
   Do you get Spring where you live?
   Which season is your favorite?

Happy National Sibling Day!

I just want to throw a shout out to my siblings today, in honor of National Sibling Day.  One thing you may not know about me is that I have a total of five siblings.  FIVE!  I have three immediate siblings as well as two step-siblings.  When we were all still living at home, it was almost like the Brady Bunch, with three boys and three girls, Mom, & Dad.

Unfortunately though, due to us all being spread out across the United States and/or the world, the last time we were all together for a family picture was probably when I was in high school, practically a hundred years ago. I did come across this most recent picture of us together when we were at my older brother’s wedding in August 2012.  The only one missing was my sister, Renee.  I had to dig back even farther to find one of her from her college graduation in May 2011. 



We’ve all had our ups, downs, and in-between, however, I hope they all know how much I love each and every single one of them!  I truly hope that we will all be able to get together someday once again as obviously we are in dire need of an updated family photo. 

XOXO! XOXO! LOVE TO ALL OF YOU!!!! XOXO! XOXO!

A Peek At Our Week

Snow Day Monday.  I woke up a bit early that morning and actually had time to turn on the morning news.  I was a bit surprised when I saw that school was cancelled due to the blizzard that was reportedly on it’s way.  When I peeked out the blinds to see just how treacherous it was out there, I was slightly confused as it didn’t seem like a blizzard to me.  Eight inches of snow later, along with extremely gusty winds, I was thankful I didn’t have to trek the kids to school.

 

Tuesday.  After the blizzard, I was obligated to shovel.  You see, I have a certain two-year old that cannot get enough of being outdoors.  Mr. Bode loves to shovel and he will not stop whining begging me for permission to get outside.  “Me shovel, Mommy?” sounds adorable enough – that is until it’s on repeat 100 times.

Seriously though, how adorable is he?!  He’s the only one out of the three kids that has ever offered to shovel.  I must say he does a pretty good job for being two.



Wednesday.  We had Bode’s therapy appointment.  We wrote a new plan for the upcoming year.  We’ve also decided that he doesn’t really need the therapy for his legs anymore and will now be working strictly on his speech to be sure that everybody will be able to understand him.  I am able to understand him about 50-60% of the time, but to outsiders, they’re more likely around the 20% mark.  So we need to work on that.  The speech therapist will be coming every two weeks.  Oh, and it started snowing again.

Thursday.  After picking up Kinley from preschool, our normal routine is to come in, have lunch, and then Bode lays on the couch watching cartoons until he falls asleep takes his nap.  Since it was still snowing that morning, I decided it would be okay to let the two of them stay outside to play.  We started shoveling (again), and when that was completed, the kids and I went to the backyard to swing.  Yup, Mr. Chaotic had put the swings out over the past weekend so they were covered in snow.  They sure had a blast!

Friday.  Another day of no school.  Talyn’s school was closed for a Staff Development Day.  Reluctantly, I took my three kiddos to the grocery store to pick up a few things.  We came home and Bode was having a meltdown, so he went down for his nap early!  The girls and I continued on with our day by eating my gourmet PB&Js for lunch.  Ha.  Besides lunch, the girls and I took advantage of the napping two-year old and finally completed their tie blankets.  Grandma had sent fleece fabric home with them shortly after Christmas, however, it was something that I kept procrastinating.  I am glad to have them done.  They are both extremely happy to have new fuzzy warm blankets to use since Mother Nature has still not made up her mind which season we are in!

One last picture, just because it’s so stinkin’ adorable.  Mr. Chaotic and his princess.

Talk to Me:

Did you have a snow day this week?
Shoveling…love it or hate it?