March Family Date Night

Our annual family date night came again where we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. The kids are usually really good with this family outing. They know we do it every year and that I really look forward to it, so for the most part, they are pleasant with each other and we enjoy our dinner. Picture taking still turns into a chore, however...





Ross must have made some comment here to make her mad...



But she's back to her normal self quickly...




this is our 14th year:)


Here is a funny series of pictures, trying to just get one good one...







Ross must have said to just smile, and Zoey's mad because that's what she was doing!!!





Almost there...


hooray...


And we ended by sharing dessert. I wanted to take a picture of it, but forgot and then... all gone!



until next year, cheers!

Giant Snowballs and Snowhenge

We had a March snow day this year where even Ross got to stay home! We had gone out earlier in the day to shovel and play and we tried to make a snowman, but it wasn't working very well. It was a heavy, wet, snow, so I thought it would be great, but we were disappointed and went to lunch. When we came back, the snow and temperatures must have been just right, because we tried again and the snow packed together like crazy!! So crazy, in fact, that it picked up all of the snow and dead grass with it leaving trails cleared of snow behind it. AND, the snowballs just stayed together! Ross decided to make it as big as he could...



You can see the clear path it left... I hadn't ever seen that before.


We all took turns helping push the snowball... it got heavy fast!


taking a break, and eating snow, of course...




Ross got quite a work out in actually. We ended up making 7 or so snowballs. After he could no longer push like this...


He had to squat low with his back against it and push up! It was crazy. Some broke along the way, too.

you can see here how heavy the snow was on the trees!




here is Zoey squatting in the middle of one of the rolls (it was more of a roll than a ball at this point).


Here are the kids by the ones we were trying to gather together. You can see a couple broke along the way and didn't make it to where we wanted them to be. We were thinking to get a bunch together for a snow fort or just to climb on and jump around.





Zoey is five feet tall, so you can get an idea of the height.


and Max wanted to clear off the grass and leaves stuck to them!




I think some of them got to be over 6 feet!








I'm king of the world!!




Jumping and sitting on the tops!






So, we just hit the perfect temps and timing for this because as it got colder, the snow didn't work as well again. interesting. Next, we turned it into a fort.













It was such a fun snow day for us all!! The snow lasted in that pile for days, too!

little boos and outdoor play

any chance we got in February, we tried to get outside in the sunshine. The kids found some clay pigeons and shotgun shells (Zoey had a collection from hiking in the nature preserve behind our house) and set up a picnic for their boo puppies...



looks like one of them has been drinking too much...

February sunshine, looks pretty, but still chilly...




Max could be a Japanese tourist on a scooter in the one, he just needs a couple of cameras...


and just for documentation... Always a little weird to see in your front yard...

flowers, flowers

More flower pictures because I love 'em... and spring is maybe, finally, here, so hopefully we will have lots more flowers to come!

Tiny B

Zoey bought this really cute dog necklace for herself with some Christmas cash she had and after wearing it for a couple days, decided to see how it would look on Ross. All dogs in our house (fake, stuffed, necklace, whatever) have a voice, so not only did this necklace fit snugly on Ross, but it came with commentary:

"help, I'm smooooshed up tight here! I need to dangle free!"


Tough look is somehow lost in this picture...