Crafty family

As I looked through some recent photos, I noticed a bit of "crafty" theme throughout our little family. First up, JP. While there are many things I love about him, I have to say I am truly appreciative of his handiness!!! I can't tell you how grateful I am for all the little--& big!--things he does for us around the house. A little while back, I mentioned that I found these plans to build a Discovery tower for Ellen (a sort-of stool/tower that she can use to reach things in the kitchen). I e-mailed him the plans but didn't expect him to get to it anytime soon with the new job & all. So, when wee had our first "warm" weekend in quite sometime, I fully expected him to enjoy his new weekends off & go fishing. Instead, this fabulous Daddy hit up Home Depot & went to work on building this surprise for his peanut! Here's the face I got when he caught me sneaking his photo through the window.
He's currently outside working on finishing up staining the wood, so I'll post a photo when the project is done.

Ellen decided to excercise her creative muscle & enjoy the warmer weather by painting in the great outdoors!

She loves art!

Oh yeah, notice that gash on her face--her first battle wound from school. Apparently she took another child's blanket & they weren't too happy about it. Luckily the cut healed well but she's still got a big red mark on her face a few weeks later. My fingers are crossed that it won't leave a scar on her cheek!

This week, as I was out of school for my 10th snow day this school year, Ellen & I had to get her Valentine's ready for her school party.

I really did not want to buy a bunch of silly cards from the store for me to fill out & her to have no idea about what is going on.

Luckily the snow day gave me the time & energy to get just a little bit crafty.

A little flour, salt, water, oil & Kool Aid later and...

we had homemade playdough to pass out to her friends!

Ellen was a fan! (yes, she's "smelling" the flowers on her little knife :)

Cute baggies from the Target Dollar section...

and a cute label complete with a photo of Ellen (you may remember it from our Christmas card photo shoot)

and we were ready for Ellen's first Valentine's Day party!!!!

Christmas, Take Two (or Three)

Once our trip to NJ was cancelled & we didn't have any immediate plans to make the trek, two of our favorite Jersey Shore Santas sent Ellen a giant box o' Christmas cheer!It's a pretty great day when you wake up from a nap to a humongous box with your name on it.
Except when you can't immediately get into it because of all the sticky packing tape!

The cranky toddler has left the room...but I'm sure she'll be back shortly!

Checking out my new friend

Kissing my new pillow pet puppy from Uncle Will

Yeah!!!!! Books!!!!!!!!

Taking time out to do a little reading :)

I LOVE these awesome crayons!

There was much more present opening, but I stopped taking photos at this point when I realized if I got the iPod out for a little "Face Time" with Grandma Kathe, she could actually watch Ellen open her gifts. So, the camera got put down for the rest of the extravaganza. But we would like to say a big, giant thank you to our NJ family--Ellen LOVES all of her gifts and they have been a huge hit! Hope to get up to you soon!

Teacher's Kid

Every teacher's kid should have this shirt!

The Snowy Day(s)

While NJ was still digging out of the snow & the Parks family was ringing in 2011 as an entire family on antibiotics, we had our first snow day of the year! One snow day turned into another & I ended up with a whole week out of school. Here's some photos we took on the first day of snow (which actually was Daddy's first day at his new job as well!):

The Toddler's Best Friend...

...the iPod Touch...I should also take this opportunity to say a tiny "I'm sorry" to Mr. Frost. While I did not speak very highly of him in my last post, he may have had our family's best interest at heart when he sprinkled his white magic all over the Jersey Shore. Just after we took these pictures, JP got really sick & didn't move out of bed for the next 3 days until I dragged him to the doctor's office. Ellen & I weren't far behind him & it turns out we were a family fallen to strep throat (did I mention that Ellen & I already had strep throat about 3 weeks earlier?!?!?). The thought of having to deal with all of us feeling so terrible while we were traveling or stuck in an airport is enough for me to say thank you to good ol' Jack for looking out for us!

My little teenager...(aka "The Post in which Snow & I Break Up")

This should have been a post about our travels to NY/NJ for the holidays to visit my family. Ol' Jack Frost had a different plan, however. It seems the Northeast has been hit by a huge blizzard which left my Mom's house with around 3 feet of snow! (You can see photos here.) I'm not gonna lie--snow & I have had a wonderful relationship spanning the last 30-some odd years. But, when you cancel my holiday plans with no chance of rescheduling, we may need to take some time off. Who knows, maybe we can reconcile in the future, but for now, we are officially "on a break," a la Ross & Rachael.

In the meantime, Ellen enjoyed making use of her gifts-designed-to-occupy-her-on-the-plane while we were still firmly planted in Tennessee. These photos just make her seem so grown up...
like a little teenager, laying on the floor writing in her diary...

I can't believe that those days will be upon us before we know it.

In the meantime, I'm just going to enjoy these little fingers...and their perfect pencil grip!

To Grandmother's House we go!

After breakfast, it was time to head to Grandma Nancy's for some continued holiday cheer! Grandma got me this cute bow and I actually wore it for awhile--I just might become a good Southern girl after all ;)
Barely inside the door & I'm already into my stocking goodies...

Grandma wanted some photos of me from outside the window--Mommy's going to have to practice this without getting her reflection in the window!

Oh, did I mention we had a white Christmas!?!?!?

After lunch, we relaxed, enjoyed each other's company & opened some presents.

Playing my new game with Daddy--thanks Nana!

Just as we were about to head home for bedtime, I realized it might be nice to get a family shot. This was the best we could do!

Until next year...