Snow

This has been the most pathetic winter in terms of snow. We have had maybe 3 times when we have gotten enough to cover the ground, but not even a full inch of snow. We have not had a single late day of school, or snow day. It appears that we will be getting out of school a week early this summer!
So the other night we got some snow. Nate had to go to school, and as soon as he left the rest of us bundled up and headed out in the snow. We needed to go out as early as possible because I knew it would be gone before lunch!

This was really Olivia's first time playing in the snow. She loved it! Her boot kept on coming off (it's hard to find boots for someone with feet as small as hers!) but she would keep on playing until I caught her to put her boot back on.

Peek A Boo!

We picked up a new end table from a yard sale last week. Olivia has already claimed it has her hiding spot!

Peek A Boo!

Ice cream

For Christmas my brother Tim and his family sent us an ice cream maker. It is one of those ball things, that has an inner container for the ice cream, and an outer one for the ice and salt, and then you just shake it, throw it, kick it around, etc for like a half an hour until it firms up and you have ice cream. We pulled it out for Family Home Evening the other night, and had a blast playing with it.
Nate tried to kick it like Jesse and I had been doing, but it got him on the leg. It actually is really heavy, and it hurts if you're not prepared for it! Olivia really wanted to be included. She was sad that she had to keep on getting out of the way.

But after half an hour it was finally hard enough that we could eat it instead of drink it, and man was it delicious!

So thanks again Tim and Rebecca for such a fun, delicious gift!

pig tails

I love having a girl!

A first

So when you get to your third child, you find that there are very few things that the third child can do that are a first for you. However, Olivia took out all of the stops last night so that she could surprise me. When she started to cry in the middle of the night, and I got up to see why she was crying, I walked into her room, and picked her up. I immediately knew that she didn't feel right, but since she broke my glasses a few weeks ago, combined with the darkness in her room, I couldn't see very much. Upon further investigation I realized that she had somehow pulled off both her pants and her diaper. Luckily it was not a dirty diaper. I guess that I should just be glad that in the 6 1/2 years that I have been a mother, I have not had to deal with poo filled diapers being taken off by those less than qualified to clean the mess up. But all the same, last night sure was a surprise.

My pioneer girl

The other day I was making some bread dough and was kneading it on the table when Olivia found the measuring cup that had a tiny bit of flour left in it. She thought it would make a nice afternoon snack, and finished off the tablespoon or so that was left. It must be her pioneer heritage peeking through!

I'm the kind of girl...

So on Sunday something that was shared really stuck with me. A friend of mine was sharing about when she was training for her first marathon, and that a big part of that was a mental block, and she said that at some point she just had to believe that she was the kind of girl who ran marathons. And that got me to thinking...
I am the kind of girl who can run a marathon.
And that got me to thinking some more.... If I'm the kind of girl who can run a marathon, what else can I do? Surely I can make myself do a 20 minute work out video each day. Surely I can make myself get to the gym twice a week and put some time in on the treadmill or elliptical. And so many other things. So now I want to make up a DIY "whiteboard." I am going to print out a paper that on the top says "I'm the kind of girl who can run a marathon" and then frame it, so that there is space where I can write on the glass my short term goals that I'm working on, and change them as new ones arise, etc. Of course, that will involve getting somewhere to find a frame, and I may be the kind of girl who can run a marathon, but I don't know that I'm the kind of girl who can make herself run an errand!