seven

Kiddo's birthday was last week.  He's seven.  Seven!

Last time I blinked, he was this big (with a tired, tired, tired mommy):

And now he is this big.

So big that, in this picture, I am actually wearing his spare hat.  And I am not nearly as tired as I was back then.

He is not my snuggly little peanut anymore.  Well, he is still snuggly (I am savoring every moment while I can!), but not so little.

I briefly posted about the crazy day that was his birthday.  The weather was unpredictable, with very poor timing.  The snow had just started coming down that morning, so there was no delay for school.  I drove Kiddo to school through the increasingly heavy snow, took some pictures on my way home...

...and shoveled the driveway.

Schools all over the area started closing even before noon, so I headed back out to pick up Kiddo.  He was a little discombobulated by the utter lack of routine, but once home, he eagerly helped with his birthday cake.

We used Meg's rainbow cake recipe.  Easy-peasy.  And from a box.  We heart Betty Crocker.

Only, Meg has five kids and used two boxes of cake mix.  I have one kid, so we used half a box of cake mix.  Itty bitty cake, but that's all we need.

While the cake was cooling, we were getting cool, too.

When our cheeks were nice and rosy (and our mittens were soggy), we came back in to decorate the cake.  Kiddo was in charge.

We will not win any awards, but Kiddo was tickled by, and proud of, his creation.

(Erm...  Need to work on candle-blowing-picture-taking skills)

Pretty cake.  I did not get layers like Meg.  I got swirls.  Which are still cool.

It was a cars and Legos birthday.

And, oh by the way, check out his momma who was stylin' while he unwrapped his gifts: 

I was more focused on being warm than on fashion, apparently.  Ouch.

It was a quiet, but good day.  We are not a big birthday bash family.  We try to make each other feel special on birthdays, but there are no big piles of presents, no parties with swarms of kids.  We are, however, having cake and ice cream with cousins and uncles and aunts and grandparents this weekend.  We will need more than half a box of cake mix.

snow

We are playing in the snow today.

Lots to post, but not enough time.  Hopefully I can get to it soon.  But in the meantime, there are hills to sled down and snow forts to build!

randomness

It's snowing!  Again!  I took Kiddo to school (an adventure), stayed to read his birthday book to the class (it's his birthday today!), came home, shoveled the driveway, and now I am going to grab some lunch and then head out the door to go pick him up - the snow that was supposed to turn into rain is still coming down as snow, and schools are closing everywhere.  Wish me luck!

dreaming...

...of these.

I only have about six weeks to wait.  Sigh...

ice/snow/slush day

We had snow last night and freezing rain this morning.  Which means one big slippery (but pretty!) mess outside.

So no school.  Again!

This afternoon, after the plows had had a chance to clean up the roads a bit, Kiddo and I met some friends/family for coffee.  We were a little out of place - an island of chatty women crowded around a tiny table in the middle of Starbucks, surrounded by men with laptops and iPhones.  Fortunately, they seemed to tolerate us with good humor.

Kiddo brought a bag of things to keep him occupied - markers, silly putty, tangrams and Mr. Putter books.  After he had exhausted everything else, he read Mr. Putter and Tabby Pick the Pears to us.

It is my favorite.  Mr. Putter decides to pick the pears from his tree, but his legs are too "cranky" to climb the ladder. 

So he makes a slingshot (out of pink poodle boxers given to him by his brother, who thought they were funny), and slings apples at the pears to knock them out of the tree. 

And he finds out slinging apples is fun.  Even if you don't hit any of the pears.
It is HY-sterical.
Truly.

It was so much fun hanging with these ladies for a couple of hours (and, for those of you who know/read Ashley, I stole everyone's coffee sleeves before they threw their cups away.  Now I have some on hand when I feel a need to copy some of her projects!).

The forecast for next week is all kinds of messy.  Maybe we can have another snow day coffee outing.  Any takers?

last one, i promise {for now}

Our back yard. What will I do when there is no more snow on the ground?

Kiddo and I are at my parents' house today.  Kiddo loves it here.  Toys that he hasn't played with in weeks.  Undivided attention from Mom Mom.  Grandpa shows him cool stuff about the GPS and keyless ignition on his new car.  Grandpa and Kiddo share chocolate cupcake TastyKakes for snack.  They take him out for lunch and buy him M&M pancakes and chocolate milk.  What more could a kid want?

someone stop me

I'm addicted to this low light photography thing this weekend - and now I've sucked Kiddo into it as my assistant...