Ice, Ice baby...

Last week we had some pretty major ice storms in Indy. And then a few inches of snow on top. And then more ice. Trying to find a bag of salt in this town was an endless pursuit. Traveling to work was near impossible. Schools were cancelled almost the entire week. And the SAHMs I know where pulling their hair out. I was only home for 2 days and it was more than enough for me. I could never work from home, as I get NOTHING done with the girls around. I mean, who wants to work when a 3 year old is asking to play Barbies and my 1.5 year old is wanting to read a book every time I turn around? If I hadn't had deadlines all week, the snow days would have been welcome. Was fun being home with the girls for my birthday, but let's be real: I was ready to go back to work once the roads were clear to more than just emergency vehicles.

 The girls and Mike got me a cake and a new GPS running watch that I've had my eye on for a year. Cannot wait to try it out (just in time for Mini training next week!).

Buggy and Izzy enjoying some birthday cake

 Laney started sitting on the potty on Friday morning. She hasn't done anything on it except read. Love that SHE initiated this and we didn't!

 Friday morning we met the Moosbrugger three at the Mon.on Center to do some serious swimming. Was so much fun to see these guys...it had been about 7 months! Here's Oscar...can't believe he's such a big boy and swimming under water already. Seems like just yesterday I was his nanny and he was 6 months old!

 The princess posing in her new (to her) bikini...we've dug out all the Tynan hand-me-down swimsuits for our upcoming Florida vacation!

 Friday night I did some crafting. I have a hard time sitting idle, can you tell?

 Saturday morning we woke to about 6 more inches of snow and the roads were treacherous...but we were not going to miss ballet & gymnastics! We had to get our sillies out somehow!

 This is what we woke to Saturday morning, was nearly a white out:

 Give us snow, we'll go sledding! Our house sits on a slight incline, so Mike made a few sled runs for Izzy to go down. They were outside for an hour having fun. We couldn't believe Izzy lasted so long outside!

 Mike kept pushing Izzy down these runs and she kept running back...

 While Buggy and I watched with snacks from the front door in the comfort of the heat

 And Mike had a little fun of his own:

 Saturday evening we had dinner with the neighbors and stayed out late (10pm is late for both the adults and Iz! Bug went down there). I was overserved, which made for a very lazy Sunday spent in our jammies. Jaim & Luke came by for some playing:

And this is what a tired Laney Bug looks like after a long weekend. Here's to Spring being right around the corner!

Inagural Craft Night

Friday night I had 8 girlfriends over to do some crafting of some Petal Pushers. Oh. My. Goodness. Was it ever a fun night. Everyone came with a different color or fabric or idea of what they were making and I loved every minute of it.

 Susan, Molly, Casey & Kelsie worked in the kitchen

 While Lori, Kerri, Ellen and Jaime worked in the living room

 Kerri working away

 Jaime concentrating

 Molly's final product: black on black. Imagine that.

 Kerri's final artwork

 One of Ellen's two final flowers

 Casey and her perfect action shot

 Jaime's creative houndstooth and chiffon number (everyone wanted this one!)

Most of the girls stayed until midnight but the other half left at 2. IN THE MORNING. If you know me, you know that my bedtime is at 9pm. That's how much fun we were having. Girl talk. Girl laughs. Girl cries. One of the best nights I've had in a long, long time. Can't wait for the next craft night! Thanks for a fun night ladies!

My little lovies...

So we all know the McCulloch girls are expressive. We have the excited faces nailed down in this house. We pretend to be happy, sad, angry, scared, you name it and we play it out. But here's a new one:

 The cheerleader facials! Laney has gotten uber comfortable in the water in the last week. She's doing her floor routine in the above picture. She's started submerging her face and blowing bubbles, swimming, rolling...it's really quite scary. She's definitely our daredevil.

 And I just freaking love this little stinker...and her excited face:

 And her sad face:

 And of course her angry face:

 Saturday morning we had ballet and gymnastics. Laney started to get ants in her pants so I had to start snapping her picture to pass the time (and so as to not forget she's around while watching her big).

 And this morning I opened up my birthday package (sorry mom, I couldn't wait any longer) and the girls had a sweet little Valentine surprise: window clings. My mom occasionally sends these and they are SO amazing for a wintery day's activity! Plus, the lighting was fun to play around with.

I hear we're getting a massive snow/ice storm this week. Here's to hoping school isn't cancelled!!!

Ballet Princess...

This weekend we decided to try something new: Ballet. Izzy pronounces it as "bal-yay." So it appears it's French. Who knew? Anyway, we had to borrow both tap shoes and ballet shoes for our trial class (Izzy wanted to bring her own tap shoes, which are clear plastic dress-up heels...we had to leave those stipper shoes at home). I was a little worried that Izzy wouldn't like the class or maybe be too shy to participate (it took her about 3 classes of gymnastics to not cry all the way through). But my fears were quickly put to rest as soon as she got her loaner shoes on:

 These tap shoes transformed her instantly

 I wasn't allowed to be in the studio while class was in session; the parents had to watch through one-sided windows (which made taking pictures impossible). I did manage to snap a few pics when it was time to change out of the tap shoes and into the ballet shoes. The smile on her face tells you how much she was loving the class. Let's just say I've already signed up for the class and for the June recital (and the tights, leotard, required tutu and recital costume...if anyone has any hand-me-down tap and ballet shoes - hook a sista up!).

 We then raced to get to her gymnastics class (there are only 2 classes left in her session, hence the reason why I wanted to try out ballet).

 Like I've mentioned before, Izzy has become quite confident in her balance on the beam. Makes me proud.

 Today we left the house one time, and that was so Mike & I could go to the doctor. We both are suffering from sinus infections (since Christmas!) and this was our second trip to the doctor in as many weeks. Spent the rest of the day at home playing and snoozing.

 We took some costumes out of Izzy's closet (Belle and Dorothy) and brought them down to the playroom. Hours of fun. And please notice the clear plastic shoes (I've had to hot glue/repair these once already because she was in a mad panic that her tap shoes were broken) that she couldn't bare to part with when leaving for her ballet class. Thank goodness I won that battle.

And one more craft; I made a black chiffon flower pin to bring together my homemade pearl strands. This necklace totals about $6.50 total. Some may call me cheap - I call myself crafty!

PS-Happy Birthday Kim!!!! We love you!