g is for greta

We had a busy weekend the first weekend of March. It has taken a backseat to the blizzard which isn’t quite fair considering the fun things we did.

Corinne and I went on a date. One of the local high schools was putting on Beauty and the Beast. They had a Breakfast with Belle and Cast that involved pancakes (Corinne ate 6 to my 2) and sausage (again, I was eaten under the table). The cast took them on a tour backstage and showed them the orchestra pit. Then they had lots of various activity centers. Two kids from church were in it so we enjoyed some special attention. We went home for lunch and then came back for the 2 o’clock show.

Corinne getting primped for the breakfast.

The cast sang during breakfast.

There was a professional photographer taking FREE (my favorite price) pictures for the kids. Corinne, however, freaked out and wouldn’t take one. She said they weren’t the real Belle and Beast. She would wait for Disney World. I took their picture so they wouldn’t feel bad.

Our friend Melissa was helping with the coloring table.

Corinne warmed up to Belle by the end and said she would get her picture taken. Afterwards as we were walking away she said, “I know she’s not the real Belle, but it will do.”

We rushed home from the show to head to Cleveland. Tony’s cousin Nick and his wife Sarah were blessing their firstborn Mitchell. Corinne sure loved being around such a tiny baby again.

Ethan got in on the fun at the party afterwards. Someone must not have been able to resist his cheesy smile and blue eyes and fed him chocolate cake. He was up all night crying. Not sure if the cake was to blame, but he enjoyed it going down!

Mason had a piece, too, but you can barely tell by looking at him. He’s getting better about not making a mess. Hallelujah!

Thanks for the good times, everyone! We sure had fun visiting with all of you!

-g.

In case you live out of state, let me give you an idea of what is happening in the Buckeye State. We have been literally buried in snow. Friday Tony decided to work from home to beat the storm. That was a good choice. By 3:30, the streets near our house were covered in thick ice. The snowy ice pellets/snow never stopped coming until near 6 pm on Saturday. I thought I heard we topped out around 15ish inches?!!? We had drifts that were over the kids’ heads. That leads to conditions like these (taken a few hours before the snow finally stopped):

Our view when we opened the garage door

The front walk

Of course the kids had to get in on the action:

Mason was excited to help Tony “shobel” the snow.

Isn’t this awesome? The kids didn’t even need a hill for sledding! They just used the bank of snow from shoveling the drive. Ha!

It also seemed a good time to introduce Ethan to snow. He kept crawling to the window to look at it, so I decided to bundle him up and go outdoors. He had socks for mittens with his hand left inside his sleeves. Two pairs of socks and boots. By the time I was done, all I could think of was Randy–”I can’t put my arms down!”

Another Christmas Story quote: “He laid there like a slug. It was his only defense.”

They didn’t last too long. The wind was really whipping around out there. They left their clothes in their wake and ran to the kitchen for some hot chocolate. Ethan crawled over to play with the little chunks of snow that came off of the boots.

Church has been cancelled for tomorrow. There is honestly a few feet of snow blocking the end of our street thanks to the many passes by snowplows. Not sure when we’ll get dug out. Meanwhile we have kids to entertain.

Ethan is bored, too. Can you tell he’s teething?

What fun will tomorrow bring?

-g.

Tony and I escaped for on a date for his birthday. After dinner, we went to the mall to get him some new dress shirts. Tony needed to use the facilities which left me wandering around the store. Normally I am not a shopper, but it proved dangerous that day because I found new curtains for the living room! I was so excited. Most of the ones they had were covered in a huge floral print or something equally scary. They had one section of modern patterns. That’s were I struck pay dirt. They were on sale buy one get one for $1. Who can pass that up? Certainly not me!

Here’s the lamp, too. I still need to get an end table and table lamp. I keep telling myself, “Baby steps.”

It just looks so much better in the living room now. Eventually we’ll get new couches that aren’t covered in kid stains: spit up, boogers, drool, etc. For now, I’m happy.

-g.

Ethan just started crawling late last week. He’s moving pretty fast already. Thank goodness the kids are already good about keeping the doors closed to the basement stairs and bathrooms. I put a gate at the top of the stairs for the first time, and the older kids freaked out. Guess they will have to get used to losing some of their freedom. You can tell that Ethan is proud of himself. Here’s a peek:

Look close at the second one. I love that his mouth is wide open. He loves to crawl! He can also sit up by himself now. It still catches me off guard when I come into the room and see him sitting up when I had left him on his belly. I love him!

-g.