Sweet Therapy

Today, because their dad worked until 7 this evening after working a full day yesterday to make up for snow trouble, and, because they (and I) felt sad that he wasn't around, the kids and I decided to have a little coffee and cake pop therapy. I think it worked!

We Interrupt Vacation Blogging....

For a weather update, SNOW! Lots of it, and of course snow calls for hot chocolate with marshmallows!
(It was really wild, this snow storm came with lots of thunder and lightning!)

The Singing, Dancing Ostrich

A few years back on one of our trips to Santa Fe, Grandma went rummaging through her craft room for things the kiddos might enjoy. Low and behold she stumbled upon this, a singing, dancing ostrich! It seemed a bit ancient, definitely advanced in years, but in attempt to reach her goal of finding 'entertainment' for the kids, Grandma went to the store for batteries. As we put the batteries in place and pressed the button something magical, unexpected, and yes, slightly annoying, started happening. The bird started to kick its feet, bounce around and whistle a (fairly loud) tune! To the kids delight this thing is still left out on the shelf, waiting for visitors from Wichita so that everytime we visit it may again prance around, singing and entertaining (or irritating) everyone in the room!

The Stone Spiral

One day when it was nice enough out we bundled everyone up and headed out to the park. We spent the whole afternoon there playing and exploring. Out in an open area there is this stone spiral that you can walk into. So what did we do? Walked into it of course!

Treasures From Santa Fe

Grandma Leyba loves to give things away. She is always collecting items that she thinks may be useful to others. We came home with several 'treasures', here are my 2 favorites, first, a collection of vintage buttons for my crafting. There are some really neat old buttons here. We stumbled on them by accident when I needed a button for my shirt and Grandma said she didn't know if I'd be interested but I could take them with me because she had too many. She was thrilled when I told her I'd love to have them!
The next treasure we ended up with was a Kitchenaid mixer! I have wanted one of these for years but could never justify spending money on one. It needed some tweaking but thanks to my handy husband it now works great! I think Bronze was almost as excited as I was to get this because he remembers being in the kitchen when he was little and his grandma would have this mixer going, whipping up one of her famous dishes. Thanks for all the treasures grandma, we had a wonderful time visiting you, you always make our visits so special!
Hopefully I will get some more pictures of our trip transferred so I can blog them, we had lots of fun and made fun memories!

Fun at the Mall

 Since it was pretty cool outside we spent an afternoon at the mall to let the kids run off some energy and who could resist these rides! The helicopter is the neatest, you actually have to wear a seat belt because it goes so high off of the ground!

Got Gas?

At least it's cheaper here than in Wichita!

Valentines Breakfast

Super yummy food at one of our favorite joints! We decided to hit up the Pantry for breakfast, it's a smaller, homey place that we were introduced to a couple years ago and we love to go back when we travel to Santa Fe.

No Trip is Ever Complete

Without a wrestling match, and yes, everyone gets involved. I was involved vicariously through the camera!

Shout Out to Mimi

Thanks to Mimi who made a run for the new drawing supplies for our trip when we ran out of time! They're great!

Travel and Arrival

Well, if you guessed we were going on a trip, you guessed right (ehem, Aunt Netta)! After a long (9.5 hours to be exact) and winding (especially through the mountains) road we have arrived at our destination, Santa Fe. Here are some pictures so far of 'travel and arrival', they will probably be out of order because my phone doesn't like blogger and I don't have another computer available but at least they will be posted!

Spur of the Moment

Usually I like to plan things out, have time to prepair, gather supplies and be ready for anything that may come up, I do have children, after all!
I also like being spontaneous, however, sometimes I just agree to spontanuity to break out of the grind, what we are doing encompasses a little of both.
Can you guess what it is?
More to come.....

Marshmallow Cupcakes

We had a couple of very busy school days this last week, busy as in the younger two wanted to be involved at the table with us. Elee kept requesting to make cupcakes and when I finally realized what she was talking about I pulled out the M&M's, gel icing and marshmallows.
First you have to smash the marshmallow a little so it takes on more of a cupcake shape. Next you put your 'glue' or icing on and top it off with an M&M, which is your frosting. Choosing your M&M color is the only difficult part of the process, as you can tell by Elee's face! It's a fun, easy and tasty craft and she's become a pro at making them.

 

Morning Activities

I'm in the process of a birthday post if my computer will ever let me publish it! Meanwhile, here is our morning today!

Plumbing Problems

We got 'Trouble' (with a capital T) under our bathroom sink!