Oh What Do You Do In The Wintertime?

I know we are on the brink of a new season (HAPPY DAY!!!), but there are still many indoor days to endure and I have EXHAUSTED every last one of my super-mom creative ideas to keep Charly entertained for 12 hours of the day.

Here is our daily time span for each activity:
Coloring: 3 minutes
Quick Wagon Ride(brrrr!)and visit the sheep and geese up the street: 15-20 minutes
Learning Time(singing songs and practicing colors, letters, numbers): 1 hour
Nap Time: 45 minutes

Make Cookies and Make a Mess: 30 minutes

Clean Up the Mess: 1 hour
Go walk to the mailbox up the street: 7 minutes
Signing Time Videos: 45 minutes

Play independently with toys: 20 minutes

And that leaves me with only EIGHT hours left of the day for,

"HELP ME! WHAT DO I DO NOW???"

Sure, we go on occasional trips to the library (which is actually a nightmare), to the store (another nightmare), to the Aquarium (not the lame one you pay for to occasionally see a fish or two, but the shop by our house on 7th and about 92nd South...it's the BEST!...and it's FREE!) I LOVE the Discovery Gateway Museum downtown, but that's just it...it is DOWNTOWN and it also costs.

So, what do YOU do in the wintertime?? I would love to hear some of your fun ideas! Charly is now 2 and one BUSY little girl! Just for the record, I do not care for the Fast Food Playlands, although I do know it is at times a lifesaver for many parents...but not for me.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!...and Happy Birthday, Charly Wynn!

Last weekend was all sorts of fun! I love doing "Girls' Nights Out" with my nieces a couple times a year and last Friday we booked a room at a hotel, just me and the three oldest girls on the Dahlquist side....of course, Charly tagged along until Daddy came and picked her up after work! We had a blast! I love these girls SO much! The pictures tell all! Enjoy!

A few little surprises I left on the bed for when the girls arrived! This hotel was awesome! They gave each of the girls a fun mesh backpack with all kinds of goodies, gifts and coupons inside!

I found these edible Love Notes at Walmart. They tasted like Cherry Cardboard...yummy! Even the ink is edible!

Celebrating Charly's birthday with a Little Debbie's Strawberry Shortcake treat!

Okay, I DID bring apples and healthy popcorn! They are just not pictured!

Charly was in HEAVEN!

Warming up in the bath after a freezing cold walk back to our room!

Pizza! Pizza!

Our cute little pooches!..they each gave them names

(from L to R: Lola, Undecided (it was Nicole for a while), Lily)

Pedicures!

Oh, Baby's Got BACK! Her swim diaper literally EXPLODED!

Look at those Toots!

Good Morning Sunshines!

A Yummy Continental Breakfast and then Beauty Parlor by Whitney!
A Surprise from Oma on Charly's birthday (Sunday, February 15)
Ooooh, she LOVES her Opa!

My Baby Girl is TWO! I love you, Charly Wynn!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Charlie’s Lil' Angels

Tricycles and training wheels

And family trees to climb,

Mom and Dad began their walk

One angel at a time.

Up the road and ‘round the bend

They welcomed one and two;

Three was on her way

While four and five came shining through.

Who’d have known that dancing shoes,

Pigtails, pink, and pearls,

Would captivate the tender hearts

Of Charlie’s little girls.

Music ‘round the ivories,

Stories by the fire;

A batch of homemade cookies

Would become their hearts’ desire.

Now further down this pathway,

Gentle mothers they will be

And more tiny little angels will

Climb up their family tree.

While autumn winds and winter storms

May blow upon their path,

The Lord provides the sunshine

In the blissful aftermath.

One by one they’ve planted seeds

To help their tree to grow;

Today with branches full of leaves

They’ve so much love to show.

Little did they really know

What treasures they would find

When Mom and Dad began their walk

One angel at a time.

By Kristin Dahlquist Nelson

*Blackout*

Oh boy, am I really sharing this story?? I'm afraid nobody will take me seriously after this, but hey, how dull and boring is a life that is all seriousness anyway?!

I am always cold. My husband says I am "chronically chilly" . At night, Jordan sets the temp at 60 degrees and I feel like I am in an icebox. Well, the other night, I woke up all shivers and hopped out of bed to grab my snuggy warm Cotton Bowl sweatshirt (thanks, Matt and Jenna!). I always keep a few little lights on throughout the house during the night....well, just because I feel safer. So, I went in the bathroom and put my sweater on when all of a sudden the lights all went out. I panicked thinking it was some kind of a blackout or maybe someone was in the house and coming after me....cut me a little slack, guys, it was like 3:00am in the morning!

I walked around a little, trying to feel for the door to wake Jordan up, when I suddenly realized the shameful cause of the blackout....the picture says it all, folks. I had put my sweatshirt on backwards with the hoodie over my face.

*sigh* Life is good.