snow + ice

Now that it has all melted, I'll commemorate the "arctic blast" of 2013. Let me preface for my readers that aren't so familiar with the Pacific Northwest, we don't get a lot of snow in the valley. In Eugene, Oregon we're only an hour away from the snowy mountains and that's where we go to experience large amounts of snow. Our usual winter is very wet and when we get snow it is still very wet and usually February or even March. Imagine our surprise when we were having temperatures in the teens and then woke up to a few inches of snow last Friday, dry + powdery made-for-tv type snow. Instead of melting by 10am, it just kept snowing. It snowed at our house nonstop for over 12 hours. It was glorious!

It was a blast to play in. If you follow Ben or myself on Instagram or Facebook you might have seen some slow motion videos Ben captured that day. If not, they're work a look!

We had a cozy morning watching the snow drift down like a fairytale while Ben made waffles (yes, I'm  a blessed wife) and sipped our hot coffees and snuggled the boys close. Desmond loved watching it come down, Kai was surprised but asked to go back to bed after we showed him it had snowed. Not the reaction we were expecting, but he warmed up quickly.

Just before lunch we ventured outside to play. It was about 17 degrees out, getting the boys layered took just about forever for about 15 minutes of play time. It was worth it though. 

Later that afternoon we bundled up again and decided to take a walk down to the park. It has snowed so much more that we sank into snow and didn't touch the ground, which was so surreal in our own neighborhood. 

Des in the snow around 11am, and again around 4pm…quite a bit deeper!

I laughed as I watched kids running down the street with snowboards, a total first for me. There is a big hill at the park so they were taking advantage. 

Ben + Des headed straight for the teeter totters and then all 3 of them tried out swinging in the snow. We were only there for about 5 minutes because it had taken so long to get there in the cold, it was getting dark, and a bunch of cold wind was blowing. We trekked home for hot cocoa and dinner.

The next day it was no longer snowing but the temperatures had fallen below 0 so everything stayed pretty well preserved. We went out to the park again, taking the wagon this time. 

 

It was interesting to see the difference between the night before and that morning. I took this shot of the same area of field next to the park…

My little dare-devils tried to play on the slide and climb the icy equipment until we distracted them with the deep snow and attempting to build a snowman. At one point Desmond started crawling around in the snow and laughing hysterically

The snow was too powdery to build a snowman at that point, which was just fine as the boys got cold enough to come in fairly quickly. In fact, I began to suspect that they just wanted to play outside so they could have hot cocoa when they came back in. 

We spent most of Sunday inside, but Ben + Kai played out front together during Desmond's nap. Kai had a blast throwing the snow at a tree and watching it stick. He also helped daddy shovel the snow from the side walk. 

Tuesday I made an attempt to take the boys in the snow on my own. Yep, it was still here. It was like it had snowed the day before, not 3 days ago. We just kept getting freezing weather that preserved it. It took 45 minutes for me to get them and myself suited up for the 20 degree chill. We kicked around out back and then attempted a snowman, but Des kicked it down. We tried again, but he was more of a snow-mound. It's hard to pack powdery snow. Kai gave him a big eye that looked like a patch so we decided he was a pirate. Then we went in of cocoa, naturally. 

The rest of the week we just observed the snow from inside. Enjoying it's bright glow and watching the birds eat the berries off the trees out back. Last night it "warmed" up and the rain finally came, turning the snow into quite the ugly mess outside. It's incredible how quickly snow disappears when it rains. 

We thoroughly enjoyed our winter wonderland, thanks Alaska, for sharing your weather. 

Day Trippers: Gold Lake Sno-Park

Nearly a month ago we put today's "SNOW DAY" on our calendars in an effort to make sure it actually happened this year. Eugene, Oregon doesn't get a lot of snow but thankfully we don't have very far to go to find some.

Last night we checked the weather report and were really sad to find out that our favorite spot (see also: a place we went once when we were dating) was supposed to be rainy. We checked out another place further away and decided to make the call first thing in the morning. This morning we were thrilled to find that Gold Lake (near Willamette Pass) had 2 new inches of snow and was too cold for rain!

We did not get out nearly as early as we had hoped, but getting 2 kids (one of which was super cranky- Malakai!) and 4 people worth of snow clothes, extra clothes, food, and other supplies isn't a quick task. We pretty much always run late when we don't have a strict time that we have to be somewhere.

We arrived at Gold Lake Sno-Park (I didn't forget the "w"that's the actual spelling.) just before noon and began getting the boys and ourselves suited up. We borrowed some of our snow gear and a vehicle from my in-laws (thanks Ron + Debbie!) and pieced it together with what we had. Like I said, we don't get much snow. Malakai looked absolutely adorable in Ben's childhood snow suit...

Those of you who know Malakai or follow me on Instagram may be familiar with his anti-clothing ways. I got him to wear the snow suit by first, reading The Snowy Day the night before and comparing Peter's red snow suit to this one; and second, he wasn't allowed to get out of the car and go into the snow until he was properly dressed. Worked like a charm, except he refused to wear the hood after the first few photos. You win some, you lose some.

Once we got all bundled up we headed up the cross-country skiing/snow shoeing trail to find a clear spot off the track to play. We didn't go far, which was nice because without the proper gear you sink a lot and Desmond is SUPER heavy.

The weather was perfection. A light dusting of snow falling here and there, fresh powder all over, no wind and some sun breaks. Gorgeous.

Des loved playing on his tummy in the snow, so random. Malakai insisted on making "Frosty" and then snow angels- all his own ideas.

After the snowman and angels were made we explored the snow bank on the other side of the trail. I was so afraid that we'd sink into oblivion if we stepped into it. Ben and Kai tested it out and it was just fine, and super fun to play in.

Kai said, "looka me! I'm in the snow bank!" He kept wanting to climb to the top so Ben tested that out too and it was fine. Up they went...

We had an absolute amazing time. Our day could not have gone any better. The boys were in great moods (once we were out the door), totally thrilled about the snow, but easy going when it was time to leave.

We ate lunch in the warming lodge and listened in on the interesting conversations of the ski-patrol guys hanging out there. The boys didn't last long on the ride home before the fell asleep, Ben included.

Malakai was super sad that we were done with our "snow day" when we got back, but he snapped out of it alright. I hope we can make this an annual trip!

snowy day

I'm doing some writing while my url is down, I figured it'll all pop up when my site is functioning normally again. Besides, I blog so little now I'm not sure how many people are still out there reading! Guess that's what happens when you have a baby and a toddler AND you work from home...and host a small group...and... you get the point, we are busy people these days. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not complaining. We are so happy in our busyness.

Today we got to slow down a bit. Ben woke me early this morning to say he wasn't going to be heading to work right away because there were a few inches of snow. I barely understood him because we never get snow that can be measured in inches. It's been since winter of 2008 that we had enough to even stick around for more than a few hours. I rolled over and went back to bed, literally dreaming that the snow melted before I woke up. Then Ben woke me again and I assumed he was going to tell me that he was leaving for work, but he was waking me to come see how much snow there was. It was 4 inches by then and still coming down!

{front yard}

{back yard}

We spent a cozy morning watching the snow fall and then began suiting up to play before it inevitably disappeared. It took more than half an hour to get all of us dress. Malakai wanted to go out in the snow but didn't want to wear a coat or anything besides pj's, as usual. Once we finally got him dressed and outside he wouldn't keep mittens on so we snapped photos and then I headed inside with Des.

{first snow!}

I got him down for a nap in hopes I could head back outside to play but of course Kai's hands were too frozen by then and he was ready to come in. I was pretty bummed to not get my playtime in the snow, because then it rained on the snow. Wet snow is no fun at all.

So for the rest of the day Ben did some work from home and we stayed in our comfy clothes and enjoyed the view of the snow from our nice warm house. It was a pretty pleasant day overall and I'm glad we got one big snow before the spring rains hit.

Thankful on a Thursday

I've missed my thankful posts the last couple of weeks, but as you can probably tell I haven't really been updating around here as much as I usually do. It started with the holidays and then just compounded after that. Just before Christmas I took on an additional role at my job/church, which means most of my "free time" is taken up by work and household chores.

The boys haven't been napping simultaneously for a long time until the past week, so that cut my time to get things done way down. I mean, I still do laundry and dishes and other household stuff while they're awake if I can. BUT my main priority is to take care of their needs, teach them, play with them, and watch them grow. Sweeping, blogging, cooking, and checking email can all wait.

However, now that they have been napping at the same time (although sometimes it takes for-ev-er) I've had some time to myself.

This week I'm thankful for...

961. time to read, for pleasure even! I'm currently reading The Help. It's really hard to put down.

962. snowfall at the beginning of the week.

963. our ice cream maker, winning that has had such a huge pay off.

964. time to work. I'm starting to establish a routine of being in my office two mornings a week.

965. Malakai's increasing interest in his brother.

966. Desmond's increasing interest in everything.

967. generous family + friends- you all are keeping our boys well dressed this winter!

968. amazon prime trial + subscribe and save. cheap diapers and other deals, right to my door, super fast.

969. discovering new recipes and changing up our dinner routines.

970. and as always, these two...just everything about them.

What are you thankful for?

Malakai 2.5

Today Malakai is exactly 2 and a half! It's amazing what a difference 6 months has made. He looks so much different, so much older to me already. He has learned a ton over that time as well and his personality develops more and more everyday.

Malakai is hilarious, always making others laugh, especially his parents. He says and does some of the most random things. However, at the same time he is a creature of habit. I suspect that this is something he shares in common with many other two year olds. He could eat PBJ and yogurt for lunch every single day and be perfectly content. He likes things to be "just so". I don't dare find out what would happen if I gave him a sandwich without first cutting it into 4 triangles (this mama leaves the crust on though).

He is much taller and a bit thinner, although he's surely hanging onto that sweet round baby face. He still has the bluish vein between his eyes, and people have finally stopped asking if it's a bruise. His hair grows so quickly I can't keep up and he's already due for another trim. I (not so secretly) love the shaggy look and the little curls he gets in the back. His eyes are a greenish hazel, almost exactly like daddy's. He loves to jump and attempts somersaults more often than I'd like. He is bashing his head into things much less and while he always has bruises they are not as numerous as they had been just half a year ago. He must be more stable these days.

Lately he has taken to giving us a bit of a mean look when he doesn't get the response he wants. He's just as persistent as ever, but if he doesn't want to comply with what is being asked of him he'll just repeat "I can't" over and over again. A close cousin to "I don't like that", and one of his first sentences "I don't want it". When you do something "wrong" he says your name with a bit of a whine as if to ask "what were you thinking mama?!". This is much too close to a teenage reaction for me. He can be a bit bossy, we're working on that...

He says "I love you, too" when you tell him you love him though. Just last night he asked me to "snuddle" before bed. He has always been a pretty independent kid, wanting to play on his own and do it his way. Lately though, he's been asking us to join him in his play and he plays really well with other children. He has also been trying to interact with Desmond much more. Today he tried to pick him up and lay him on a pillow. He constantly tries to put the binky in Des' mouth for him, and he has a strange fascination with brother's tiny hands.

Malakai has always had some issues with sleep. He hasn't stuck with a pattern for more than a month, unless it was a pattern of not going to bed easily. He has been skipping at least one and sometimes two or three naps a week. He'll get into EVERYTHING in his room (and there's not much in there) or just stay awake tossing and turning until he cries to "come out". We're suspecting a bit of anxiety when it comes to sleep as he's had some pretty severe reactions to bed/nap time.

His biggest obsession is numbers (nuh-muhs) and letters (yetters). While he says some things a bit incorrectly, his pronunciation of most words is actually really good. When it comes to the alphabet, he knows it all. He has been able to sing the entire thing for a long time now. He can also point out any letter and name it no matter what the order or if it's upper or lower case. His latest thing is letter sounds. Kai knows the sounds of almost every letter. He loves to make up games where he takes the letters out of his puzzles and then looks for them to put them back, narrating the whole time: "Where's the 'a'? There, there, there's the 'a'!" We're pretty sure he got this from the PBS show "Super Why".

When it comes to numbers he can correctly count up to 13 and then there's an 18 and an eleventeen in there somewhere before he gets to 20. He correctly counts items though, pointing at each while he counts.

He loves to explore, indoors and out. He'll go through all of his toys or investigate things at Grandma's house. He is fascinated by every leaf and rock in our yard. He's so adventurous that he's already climbed the rock wall at the park to get to the big slide.

{we had snow today!}

As long as I can remember I've referred to Kai as "strong willed" and that hasn't changed one bit. He knows who he is, and what he likes/dislikes and isn't afraid to let you know. He's also quite sweet and over the past few months has become a much better listener. He always says please and thank you and is sometimes coy with new people, even if he was the first to say (shout) hello. He is such a happy kid.

When I look at him compared with little Desmond I can't believe that just 30 short months ago Malakai was a brand new little baby. I wish I could remember the details of every single day that has passed since then, it's going much too fast for me.










Don't forget to keep up with our day to day at my Project 365 blog!

photo friday: snow + sun

The weather in Oregon is often described as mild. Truly we don't get many crazy storms and our temperatures are rarely at either extreme. What is not mild about the weather here is it's moodiness. Often, not just in the spring, it will be pouring down rain, then the sun will come out, then about 20 minutes later it will do something random like hail.

The last couple of days we have had snow. We rarely get snow, so it turns most of us adults into giddy children, or scary drives. Maybe both. On Wednesday night is started snowing here just after 10pm. Yesterday I took Kai out to play in it, but it wasn't enough to keep daddy home from work. Although all the local and surrounding schools were closed. ((snow day!))

By 11:30am a lot of the snow was gone and it looked kind of like this (but with even less snow)....

Beautiful, sunny, even a little bit warm if you were right in the suns rays. Then at 11:45am, I kid you not, it looked like this...

and I thought maybe Ben would have to head home early to make sure he didn't get stuck at work. It was sticking instantly, the wind was blowing tons of snow everywhere. Malakai + I watched it happen in a matter of minutes while we ate lunch. I anticipated that Ben would get to play in the snow with us after all, but then by the time I got Malakai down for his nap, about 12:20pm, it looked like this...

See, moody weather. It totally amazes me that it can change it's mind so quickly! By the time Ben got home around 4pm everything was gone but my mushball of a tiny snowman.


Then, last night, around 8:30pm I was sitting on the loveseat with my back to the window when Ben came in from the other room + whispered, "Look outside! Look outside, right now!" Not only was it snowing again, but it had been snowing long enough to accumulate an inch or two already. I LOVE surprise snow! It quite by about 9pm and I don't think it snowed again all night, but it stayed very cold and in the morning our yard looked like this again...

But it's just after 1pm and I bet you can guess what it looks like outside now. If you're thinking sunny and dry, you'd be right. What a strange, strange couple of days it has been. It has certainly kept me on my toes!







P.S. totally unrelated, but in case you missed it, Blabla Kids offered a discount to my readers until Feb. 28th. Just wanted to remind you before the deadline gets here!

Thankful on a Thursday: snow day

Well, sort of. It's surely snowy and more than we've had at once on the valley floor for the last two years but I guess a snow day is technically one where we're off work. Ben still went in to work this morning. I don't know how to drive in snow and we have quite a bit in our area so I opted to stay home from my one day in the office.

Ben + I stayed up last night to see if it would start snowing when the weather man said it would...and it did! We were like little children, super giddy about all the fluffy white flakes falling out of the sky. Every couple hours we kept waking up to see if it was still snowing.

This morning after breakfast I decided to take Malakai out to play in the backyard. Easier said than done. I had a really hard time getting him to cooperate with putting on his puffy coat and snow boots. I couldn't get his boots to go on over his footed jammies (for warmth since he doesn't have a snowsuit). So I had to strip him back down to get the jammies off and start over with other layers. We eventually got outside and he really enjoyed it...

{he wouldn't keep his mittens on}

{mama made this pathetic little snowman all by herself}

{constantly back + forth between the porch and the yard}

I had to snag a few pictures of the snow on our trees. We have a lot of little trees out in our backyard. These are the new little buds on the plum tree. 

This week I'm thankful for...

521. finally meeting my sweet 2nd cousin Delia, I can't wait to see her again.

522. a husband that will gladly go to the store at any hour of the day or night for this expectant mama.

523. finding a few things that work for the nausea that has become a constant companion (vanilla wafers, gingerale, popsicles, oyster crackers).

524. watching my son experience the snow, which is so rare where we live.

525. a safe work commute for Ben (praying he gets home safely as well)

526. a little more energy this morning than I've had all week.

527. discovering Pinterest and de-cluttering my bookmark bar.

528. hearing Malakai "read" to himself. My new favorite thing.

529. the plethora of hand-me-down shoes we received last summer, it's a gift that keeps on giving.

530. and always, this smile...

What are you thankful for this week?

Malakai's first snowy morning

This morning at a quarter to seven my sweet husband woke me up to tell me it has snowed (last night I told him we should wake up every hour to check for snow). I peeked out our blinds to see a light dusting across our neighborhood.

Something about snowfall makes me feel like a kid again. I get giddy and excited. Once in college, it snowed on Halloween and my girl friends and I got out of bed at 5am and ran around in our jammies. A couple years later it snowed on my birthday and my roommate's boyfriend and I made a snowman while she made us breakfast. We obviously don't get much snow in the Willamette Valley. In fact, we didn't get any last year, so this is Malakai's very first snow! I'm kind of glad he got to experience his first snow at an age where he could actually interact with it.

I took a video of him seeing the snow out the back window for the first time. He wasn't so sure about it. Ben was waiting for a ride from a friend with a better equipped vehicle for driving on the icy roads so we all got to experience the first snow of 2010 together. We bundled Malakai up and took him out front (the backyard was too squishy).

{someone didn't want to let go of his toys}

{what is this fluffy stuff?}

{cold! get it off, get it off!}

{thankful for a cozy warm house}

{from our front door looking out}

The sun is starting to coming out and normally that would mean melting the snow and maybe some rain, but the weather report is freezing, freezing, freezing for the next couple of days. 

Stay safe friends!

Oh, and no I haven't forgotten. I will post the winner of the Hot Mama Handbags giveaway later today!