Matt's new toy

Matt got himself a new toy the other day and we are all enjoying the benefits of it! This is our new sous vide machine and everything he's made it in so far has turned out great! Steaks, chicken, fish! He even made chicken tikka masala this past weekend!

Slime

We have been making LOTS of slime around our house lately. We found a great recipe for fluffy slime after lots of fails with other recipes and kits. Morgan decided to put hers on her face like a beard... which is not a good idea. It got so stuck in her hair! It was a mess! I wish I would have gotten the picture of her with it on as a beard first. It was funny, but I don't think she'll be doing that again!

Just a girl and her many (many!) stuffed animals

Morgan has so many stuffed animals and she rotates them around so they all get a chance to sleep in her bed with her. When I came in the other night, she had organized them into families. :) Not sure how she finds space to sleep in there!

Cousins playdate

Grayson came over for lunch and a playdate. Morgan really misses seeing him every day now that they don't go to the same school. They all three get along well and have fun together! I'm so glad we live so close by!

Broccoli

Here's some proof that this girl actually did try to eat something green! Avery does not eat many vegetables and definitely nothing green! We gave the girls a new year's resolution that they had to try a new food each week. We give them a few choices, so they aren't just trying stuff we know they like. Avery had to try peas or broccoli and luckily her meal at Weber Grill came with broccoli to try! She ate some, said she liked it, but decided she did not want any more because she was saving room for her dessert. Hmmm.

Movie Stars

Another spirit day at the girls school was "Movie Star" day. Avery and I went to the party store to pick up some movie star accessories. The girls loved their looks!

Mani/Pedi

I think the girls are getting a little too used to the mani/pedi. Avery asks all the time if we can go get mani/pedis! I swear she's 6 going on 16 most days!

College Day at School

The girls school had a "college day" where they could wear their favorite college attire. Of course, we had one in Illinois gar and the other in Iowa.

Face painting fun

Aunt Erin just loves to face paint... well, the kids just love to have her paint their faces!

Avery always asks to be a unicorn.

This time Morgan asked to be Wonder Woman. I thought it turned out great!

Valentine's Day

Just a fun Valentine's Day at home with some fuzzy stuffed animals and a heart-shaped pizza!

Valentine's Day Glow Party

The girls' school had a Valentine's Day party in the gym after school. The best part... it was a glow party with tons of glow necklaces, bracelets, etc. And the other room had backlights and glow in the dark face paint. There was a DJ that kept the kids dancing and moving. Super fun!

Beware of dog?

Morgan made a sign for our door the other day and put Crystal in the window. Ha! I'm sure the mailman got a kick out of that!

Papa's birthday weekend

My Dad's birthday was the beginning of February, so we all got together for the weekend at the Great Wolf Lodge in Gurnee. The kids played at the waterpark, we all went out for dinner afterwards and then sang and had cake.

Before dinner, we stopped in the game room. This girl was the luckiest by far! She ended up with tons of tickets! She even won the big prize!

Then, we all had dinner to celebrate Papa's birthday. Here's the birthday boy, courtesy of my amateur photographer Morgan.

And also a picture of Mama.

Then, she had some fun with Snapchat.

Sister selfie!

Afterwards, we sang happy birthday to Papa and had some cupcakes!

100 days

The girls made it to 100 days of school! Instead of dressing like old people, they made shirts with 100 things on them. Or should I say, Matt and I made shirts with 100 things on them! :) Glue gun and fabric glue to the rescue. I was surprised they came home with all the pieces still intact (for the most part!) If you haven't figured it out yet, Morgan LOVES super heroes, especially Wonder Woman. So, that's what we did for her shirt. Avery loves unicorns and butterflies, so that's what we have on her shirt. Two very different girls!

Jump Rope

The kids PE class had a jump rope event during the school day and invited parents to come. I'm so glad I work from home and can join in on these things. It was such fun! They could jump rope or basically do anything that involved jumping and being active.

Fun lunch

I've been volunteering at the kids' school on the Fridays they have Fun Lunch, which is when they cater in food from nearby restaurants. They do about two Fun Lunch Fridays a month. The parents help hand out the food. But, it's also fun to see the kids at school and see who they are sitting by and how lunch goes. By the way, lunch goes by fast! I now know why Morgan comes home with full lunchboxes... she spends a lot of time talking! :) They always sit in the same spots every time I've been there. Who sits next to them changes, though. This week they were sitting next to their basketball buddies.

Snow days

We had quite a few days off due to the snow and freezing cold weather. I think there was one week where we had three days off. The teacher sent home a "snow day challenge" for homework to do while off. We did that and many other things to keep ourselves from going crazy!

When it wasn't -50 degrees outside, we played out in the backyard and built a snowman!

Daddy also fixed up our "snow hill" off the deck in the backyard. This is how we sled without leaving the yard! :)

We did LOTS of crafts!

We got a little homework done in between all the fun.

We even made sugar cookies!

Getting some more homework done!

Another snow play day, this time with Grayson! There was a fierce shovel snow throwing fight between nephew and uncle!

Um, that's a big snowball!

We made it through the snow days and were ready to go back to school when they were over!