Day 30

Remember this? Blake lost his other front tooth! It was just as nasty. I'm glad it's gone. Blake's glad the tooth fairy remembered to come this time. Last time the tooth fairy forgot and had to come while Blake was in school. And since I know you're going to ask Mom, the red spot near his ear is a stamp he stamped himself with on the way home from church and the red around his mouth is from red crystal light. We've been very good about using his eczema cream these days and his skin is going great this winter.

Day 29

The kids have been enjoying the snow we got on Wednesday. Hayden has made a point to make "snowman angels" each day. We'll be sad to see the snow go.

Day 28

Cosette.
Two ear infections.
Three hours of sleep last night: only brought about by showing Cosette clips of baby einstein on youtube.
Also (not pictured) Hayden puked on the living room carpet this morning.
Also (not pictured) Grant and Blake played quietly most of the day in the basement.

Day 27

Travis and I visited London today. He's doing great and really cheered up when we started a paper airplane competition. My amazing creations are featured on the left: the "Dart" and the "Fan-tastic Fledgling" didn't really hold up against "The Arrow" and Travis' creation, "The Green Snot". London has a biopsy in the morning, so send prayers his way. Hopefully the doctors will be able to figure out what's going on soon and he'll be home in no time.

Day 26

We got a bit of ice overnight and they canceled school today due to the impending snowstorm. It started sleeting around 3pm and snowing in earnest soon after. We got 4 inches in the first hour and I ran to snap this pic. It continued to snow for a few more hours and I think we're at about 8 inches now! School is already canceled for tomorrow. I'm glad Travis made it home safely. It came down so fast that the plows just couldn't keep up. According to FB, lots of people were stuck on the roads for hours and power outages are widespread (thankfully ours only flickered). I'm glad Travis is off work tomorrow anyway. It should be a fun family day in the snow!
Also, we could use some prayers for our good friends, the Van Camp family. London is in the hospital with a low-grade fever he's had for 2 weeks now. They did testing all day today and no answers so far. Please say a prayer for him and his doctors.

Day 25

Besides the whole 365 thing, I have a goal to sew Cosette a dress each month this year. I figure time is ticking for all the cute baby-ish looking dresses. My first dress is this reproduction. I am adding some embroidery taken from another vintage pattern. It's my first attempt at satin stitch and my lazy daisies look like crap. Oh well. I'm hoping to finish the embroidery tomorrow and start sewing on Thursday. The plan is for her to wear it Sunday. Of course if I finish in time, I want to make a matching bonnet and booties too...

Day 24

Hayden and Cosette are best buds. She loves him. No one else can make her laugh like him. Today, he played peek-a-boo in the curtains while she giggled like crazy.

Day 23

For Christmas this year, we gave the Burdick family an exclusive, one year membership to the Hobbs Cupcake of the Month Club. They love fancy shmancy cupcakes like those sold at Georgetown Cupcake. I'm sure mine don't come close to those, but it will be fun to make fun, new recipes each month. January's cupcake was SO good: Triple Salted Caramel Cupcakes. The cake itself was one of the best cakes I've ever tried and then it was filled with caramel and topped with caramel frosting! Man, I'm glad most of these are gone!

Day 21 *Repeat*

Oops, I skipped a post! This is actually from Day 21! I took Cosette's 9 month monkey pictures and forgot to post the sneak peek pic here:

Day 21

I was snapping some pics of the kids playing today and Grant jumped in front of the camera to have me take a picture of his "treasures".  And guess who's pulling herself to standing?!

Ah! Cosette is growing so fast! And she is wearing a fantabulous outfit today. It's all passed down from Erica except for the fun knee socks (.64) and shoes ($3.74) I found on clearance last week.

Day 20

When Hayden was about six months old, we noticed he loved crocheted blankets. We would find him with his little fingers entangled in them after every nap. Although he doesn't carry it with him everywhere, Hayden still loves his blankies. He's laid claim to each of the boys' blankets and switches between them. When he gets tired, he holds one close, rips some fuzz off of it, and rubs the fuzz on his nose until it makes a fuzz-ball or "fuzzy". Weird. What a funny kid. I've been scrapping like crazy, trying to get my 2011 calendar done and I used this pic for Hayden's page:

Day 19

Grant wasn't very excited to go back to school today. While waiting for the bus, he told me "I wish school was cancelled forever." Once he expressed his disappointment, he perked right up. He was laughing and playing with Blake by the time his bus came. Blake, on the other hand, plays the middle child perfectly. He chirped "I love school, I want to go every day". Cute boys.

Day 18

I had to post two pictures because I couldn't decide again. Also, I kept putting off my picture today. I actually had plans and brought my camera with me, but I forgot to take it! Ugh. Note to self: just stop and take a picture of what is going on. N E way...The kids were home due to an ice storm last night. The freezing rain melted throughout the day, and it was foggy tonight. So I headed out to the cul-de-sac and played with the shutter speed and aperture. Me likey these ones. 

Day 17

When we decorated for Christmas, I put a bunch of candles on the kitchen table. The kids thought they were a-mazing. We had candle-lit dinners every time we sat at the table. We've eaten the most inauspicious meals by candlelight: pancakes, pot roast, hot dogs, and I think even grilled cheese. The table has seemed bare and dinner has seemed rather boring since we took the Christmas decorations down. So we pulled out some boring old candlesticks tonight and enjoyed a wonderful dinner of spaghetti and meatballs.

Day 16

Cosette LOVES playing pat-a-cake. We noticed today, that she was following along with the actions. She claps her hands with us and will even "throw it in the oven" and it's SO adorable.

Day 15

Ah! This picture is awful! I used my P&S and didn't realize how bad it was until just now. Oh well. It was our turn to clean the church building and the kids LOVED it! They were thrilled to wipe down the bathrooms, scrub the sinks, and fought over who got to flush the toilets. Hayden loved wearing the latex gloves, Grant really loved pushing the cart full of supplies, and Blake did an awesome job of pushing Cosette around the church in her stroller to keep her quiet. After an hour of cleaning, we rewarded the kiddos with cinnamon melts at McDonald's.

Day 14

Cosette by the window. She's into sticking her tongue out lately.

Day 13

After drilling and practicing for weeks, I finally figured out the best way to help Grant practice his times tables: duh, have his brothers do it! Blake and Hayden had a blast holding up the cards and helping. Grant really had fun too. Blake was especially helpful. If Grant got it right, he was answered with a "Correct-o!" and if he got it wrong or paused too long, Blake gave really great hints like "it's ten plus eight more" or "it's 3 and a 2".  After 20 minutes of practicing with his brothers, Blake excitedly reported that Grant got them all right! I hope he aces his next test.

Day 12

We got a dusting of snow last night. The kids were bummed that it only caused a 2 hour delay for school. Either way, Grant had a fun time throwing "snowballs" at me after school.

Day 11

Grant got this marble racer for Christmas and it's awesome! When we first set it up on Christmas Eve, some of the pieces were missing from the box. Well, we finally got around to exchanging it and now it's got two towers with motorized chains that bring the marbles to the top of the course. The kids LOVE it. But today, Travis and I played with it more. As in, you kids get out of our way, we're building the best marble course ever! After many adjustments, near collapses, and even letting the kids make a choice or two, we declared it phase one done! Then I set up my tripod and tried taking pics with a slow shutter speed. See that streak of light? That's the marbles rolling down the course. Cool.

And of course I couldn't decide which pic I liked best. I love the swirly at the top of this one:

Day 10

For family night, we went to the used bookstore. Grant really wanted to go look for "I Spy" books. Before leaving, we talked about how Heavenly Father wants us to learn all the time and to read good books. Grant decided an "I Spy" book was good because it helped you use your imagination. We figured that imagination is a really good thing for him to be working on!
We were excited to find a TON of hardcover I Spy books for only $5 each. Grant chose "I Spy School Bus" and Blake chose "I Spy Spooky Mansion". Hayden chose a Mickey Mouse alphabet book ($3), and Travis and I chose Leaves of Grass ($4), Canterbury Tales ($4), and The Bedside Book of Famous French Stories ($2.64).  The French Stories book looks pretty cool! It's a first printing and copyrighted 1945. It's got short stories from Balzac to Sartre. I'm going to feel hoity-toity while I read. Also, Cosette loves her colors board book (.25)!

Day 9

Cosette's in a new carseat! Although she hasn't technically outgrown her baby carrier, my arm has outgrown the ability to carry her around in it. So we shelled out the cash for a new seat. Geez, those things are expensive! We ended up on the low end of the spectrum, only spending about $75. And that's the LOW end of the spectrum, may I remind you (I was able to find it on clearance at Sears, originally $90). For all my trouble, I was able to find this cute pink one. And thanks to the LATCH system in the van, it was easily installed and our pink princess is ready to ride. She's sporting a dress I crocheted her over the summer. She looked adorable at church today.

Day 8

We took the kids out to run errands today, finishing up at Harris Teeter. It's the kids' new favorite grocery store. One reason: fun carts. Another reason: free cookies and samples. As you can see, they were thrilled to shop for the ingredients for French Onion Soup. I was thrilled to get a bunch of groceries for pretty cheap! Our subtotal was $40.38. Then I had a coupon for $10 off if you spent $40. Awesome. I will gladly take 4 boxes of cereal, 6.5lbs of boneless/skinless chicken breast, 2 cartons of ice cream, 6 onions, a bunch of bananas, 2 packages of tortillas, and five loaves of bread for $30.33.