Mambo Italiano

This is one of Peter's favorite songs to dance to (and dancing, for him, equals twirling around in a circle until he's dizzy, but with a serious look on his face -- it's cute!). Whenever he hears it playing, he runs out to our front room and dances away!

Snowman!

We had a good bit of heavy, wet snow last night (maybe 4 inches?) and it was finally just the right consistency to make a snowman. I never really appreciated all the different types of snow that there could possibly be. I figured that if there was enough snow on the ground, you had all that you needed to make snowballs, snowmen, what have you. Not true! Nearly every time it snows here, we test it in our hands to see how well it sticks together. Aside from one other time this winter (actually, the first snow we had here), the snow has always been very powdery and dry. It barely sticks together enough for a small snowball, and you certainly can't create a snowman by rolling up a large ball of snow on the ground. I've been a little disappointed that we've had all this snow on the ground this winter, but we couldn't really do anything with it.

Finally, we hit the snow jackpot last night. The temperatures have been balmy (i.e. low 30s, and it really does feel nice outside compared to 15 degrees!), so there is a lot more "free" water in the snow, which makes it a lot stickier. It was SO cool to start off with a small ball of snow, roll it all around the ground, and watch it get bigger and bigger as it collected more snow. It also sounded really cool -- that wet scrunchy snow sound.

I think I was actually more excited than the boys about our snowman. They helped roll the big snowballs a little and they helped accessorize, but mainly they were interested in sneaking bites of snow off the ground.

Anyway, I'm pretty proud of our guy! I'd love to make a whole snow family to join him -- if I do, I'll be sure to post more pictures!

No, it's not your imagination - that snowman is winking at you :).

It was still snowing while we were outside, and I like how the snowflakes were captured "in action" in this photo.

This is a tree across the street from our apartment. It's one of the places that the snow plow pushes all the snow -- the height of the snow pile is impressive!

Here's another large snow pile near our house.

I took this photo a week or two ago because the snow was starting to creep up on this fire hydrant. I'll have to see how it looks now after the additional snow we've had. I have yet to see entire fire hydrants covered, with just the pole sticking out. I don't think we've had a really heavy snow winter here. Also, now I understand how big snow piles get, and if a hydrant happened to get covered by a snow pile, that pole would definitely come in handy!

"It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey, and it's gonna last you...

for the rest of your life."*

Well, maybe not exactly, but it's starting to feel that way a little! We are so very excited that we found out we'll be in Colorado Springs from April to October!! I know it will still be cold and possibly gray there when we arrive in April, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

This cold, gray weather is really doing a number on the boys' (and therefore my) sanity. I've been try to get them as much exercise as possible, but it just hasn't been enough to get all the crazies out. They've been playing inside on the couch cushions and playing pretend baseball (which they came up with and have been playing very nicely!), but apparently we're still making too much noise up here. Today we got another note from our neighbors asking us the keep the running and jumping down. Augh! I'm kind of throwing up my hands at the whole thing -- we were doing reasonably well with the bouncing (or so I thought). Of course there's Peter, whose favorite mode of transportation is bouncily jogging, but I refuse to try and teach a 20-month old to "just walk" all the time!

During this week, our local mall is holding its annual "beach at the mall" event. They turn an empty store into a beach play area for kids, including a bunch of moist sand and lots of sand toys, and it's free! I took the boys there today, and it was fun watching them play in the sand with the other kids. It was a nice thing for the mall to do -- I guess everyone, even seasoned Buffaloans, get a little stir crazy in the winter.

Last weekend, we took the boys to an indoor auto show, and that was fun. They got to wander around, look at cool cars, and even sit in some of them!

David and I finally got our documents together and turned in our passport applications, so with any luck we'll receive those in the next few weeks and we can make a trip to Canada before we leave here. I think that's the last big "to do" for us in Buffalo. Another good sledding trip would be great, too, if we get a little more snow.

*bonus points if you know which movie this is from :)

Do you see the Autobot symbol? The boys were excited to see the "real" Bumblebee.

Thomas had a special request to sit in the drivers' seat of this red convertible.

And Jack couldn't resist his turn, either.

If you can't beat it, eat it

Sneaking bites and licks of snow seems is one of the boys' favorite outdoor activities. I really don't know what makes it so irresistible, but they manage to gobble down mouthfuls everytime we play outside!

And here's a cute video of Jack giving Peter a ride in the sled:

Extreme Grocery Shopping

As I was grocery shopping with these 3 adorable boys this morning, it occurred to me that I've become acquainted with what I like to think of as "extreme shopping" :). Let me preface this by saying that they are generally good kids, and there are only three of them, but taking them out on big errands (and grocery shopping for our household definitely qualifies!) makes me feel like I'm going on a difficult and dangerous mission. Now, I realize that I don't have to take the kids grocery shopping. I could go out after they go to bed, or maybe on Saturday morning (and once in a while I do), but I really don't like spending our evening/family time out at the store. Also, I figure that if I never took the kids grocery shopping, how would they learn how to behave correctly or, as they're older, how to shop smartly?

So, the prep work for my mission usually begins the night before with making my shopping list as efficiently as possibly -- grouping like items together and all that. Then I go through my coupon collection and stick the relevant ones in my bag. On the morning of, I try and get us out of the house first thing after breakfast because the store is less crowded. We get to the store, and Jack and Thomas walk while Peter rides in the seat. Jack and Thomas are generally pretty good about helping me pick out produce or grab cans off the shelves when I ask them to, but eventually they get a little bored and they start to wander farther and farther from the cart. As I'm wrangling them back toward the cart, I notice Peter poking at the glass jam jars that I've unwittingly parked him next to (there's not much choice, since the only safe place is the dead center of the aisle!). So I dash back in time to grab the jar, and by then Jack and Thomas are milling around, asking for whatever cereal or granola bar has cartoon characters on the front, and generally obstructing the aisles for other people who are trying to get their cart through.

We push on, and as the cart gets fuller, Peter is able to reach back and grab items and either squish them or throw them onto the ground. Jack's and Thomas's radius from the cart gets larger, bit by bit. I search for something mildly entertaining to amuse Peter while we finish up, and the only thing I come up with is my bag full of colorful coupons. He flaps them around, tries to open the bag, and he's occupied for a few minutes. Jack and Thomas hop on the sides of the cart, which solves the problem of them wandering around too much, but then they start fighting over which side of the cart is best, and inevitably one of them ends up in front of the cart, dragging his feet so the "brakes" are on :). I have them walk next to me again, and they start reminding me of fast-moving crabs, meandering around, reaching out to pinch each other or poke at items on the shelves. Then I look at Peter and notice that my coupon bag is nowhere to be found! It's not in the cart, and nowhere in the immediate vicinity. I spent time cutting and organizing those coupons, but the thought of retracing my last 45-minutes worth of steps to find that silly bag makes my heart sink. No, it's just not worth it for those few dollars of savings. Note to self: don't let Peter have the coupon bag, even in times of desperation.

I double check my list, and may or may not go back for something I've forgotten. By this time, I've got my eye on the prize -- the exit door! Peter is in full whine mode because he lost the coupons and I won't let him squeeze the mushrooms. The boys roam around in little circles or poke around in the neighboring checkstands as I shell out entirely too much money for our groceries, and then we pack up and get home and part two of Operation Shop begins: Unload -- doh!

I am very grateful that we have money to buy plenty of good food, and I'm grateful that the boys don't throw big tantrums over things they want but I've said "No" to. And ... I'm also grateful that I only plan 1 shopping trip per week. We survived today's outing, and now there are six days until Operation Grocery Shop commences again. Woo hoo!

Snow angel