Nice afternoon

It was such a nice afternoon in the 40's today and the sun was shining warm so we had to get out for a few minutes. And of course, the first the first thing she wanted to do was swing outside and play ball. So we enjoyed the little bit of sunshine today. Too bad they are calling for more snow now this weekend. Oh well...

some vday fun

We went back to Stockton quick to visit some family for an impromptu valentine's surprise trip. Alicia got to see Grandma Kloss, Uncle Billy, Aunt Mary Ann, and Uncle Eric and Aunt Vera. Even though it was just a few hours to visit, Alicia had a great time showing her Aunt Vera and Uncle Eric how to play with Legos! Thanks for a fun visit.

happy valentine's day!

I don't think I ever posted these professional pictures that we got taken at Christmastime, so I thought why not now. Happy Valentine's Day from our family to yours.

making cinnamon rolls!

I thought it'd be fun to have Alicia help me make my grandma kloss' cinnamon rolls the other night, as I used to help grandma when I was really little too.. It was cute. According to her, this is how the recipe went... "mix, mix, roll, and pat" the dough part, and then "painting" on the butter and then "shake shake cinmon sugar" on top. It was pretty fun for her, and I honestly enjoyed it more probably that she did that she was able to help in this process as well!

To really see how the recipe is made you can go to my recipe blog, www.itstummytomytummy.blogspot.com :)

thanks

So why have a blog you ask, so I can have a creative outlet, and people can read it and keep in touch with us. Really it's pretty simple concept. Some days not sure if people read our blog, so it's awesome when we get passed on an "award" by a friend! Thanks Deb from www.pladsenfamily.blogspot.com/

This award comes with instructions, which are as follows:

1. Post the award on your blog. Present this award to seven others whose blogs you find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged you.
2. Tell those seven people they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP, inform them of these guidelines, and ask that they link back to you.
3. Share TEN HONEST THINGS about yourself.

Alright here it goes..

So 10 things.. I will make it a combined family effort.

1. Heather opened up a Twitter account at the end of December. Yeah, thought I'd never become a "twit".

2. Drew has a running goal of 500 miles this year.

3. Alicia wears about a 2T still, even though she's 3 1/2.

4. Tanner admits to being a lap cat really, despite some of our friends and family that think he is the devil cat.

5. Heather starting another blog just recently to keep track of all her recipes. www.itsyummytomytummy.blogspot.com

6. Alicia still wears a pull-up at night, despite I think we are getting very close to underwear all the time! yeah, Alicia!

7. Tanner honestly has a foot and ankle fetish. If you are not wearing socks in the house becareful of a cat attacking your feet.

8. Alicia LOVES to dance. I think we need to get her in a dance class one of these days, as the love of music and art seems to run through her veins.

9. Heather honestly hates cleaning bathrooms! UGH! I would rather clean the garage, the kitchen, anywhere really, than cleaning the bathrooms. I seriously think about hiring a cleaning service to help me with this.

10. The Kluesner's have honestly had their townhouse for sale on the market for WAY too long. It would be nice to maybe sell one of these days, seriously.

I don't follow a LOT of blogs really, so what I'm going to do is pass this to my friend Jenny's blog, who I think was the first one to really inspire me to start my own blog.

I'm passing this award and instructions on to....

The Staniaks! www.jrstaniak.blogspot.com

Daddy look!

Today while leaving Daycare to goto speech therapy, we saw all of the daycare rooms artwork on display in the core. I asked Alicia if she had any artwork displayed, and she promptly grabbed my finger and showed me were it was on the wall. ( I'd probably never have found it by myself otherwise since 90% of the artwork was on the table.

She later tells me she was wearing her Tinkerbell shirt. Either she has a memory which is very good, or just good eyes,since the "spinning wheel" was at a grownups eye level.

Also had my first trip into a gradeschool today in many years. Her speech went OK today. Alicia was a little shy, but the therapist said she's doing fine.

breaking the winter blahs ups

The last few weekends we have been breaking the winter blahblahs but getting some "sun" inside at the pool. We been hitting the indoor pool at the workout facility we attend which is very nice and usually not too crowded on the days we go, which works well for us. It has a pretty good setup as they have a zero-depth zone that nicely transitions to an area where it is about 4 ft deep. It has some fun cool bubbly things, some other waterfalls, rain shower areas, which Alicia actually stays completely away from as she's kinda like mommy and doesn't really care to get dumped on by the water.

Check out our little froggie swimming in the video! She does amazingly well with the life vest jacket on in the deeper end. She can stay afloat and tread water for a decent time before she starts to freak out. Alicia's favorite thing is to "paddle paddle swim swim" which is what we are trying to teach her to do with treading water. She is kinda doing the doggie paddle swim when she wears her vest, as she is able to move around in the water for pretty good distances too while doing her "paddle paddle swim swim" - I'm just really happy with how well she is doing and adjusting to the water, next up is us trying to get her to float on her back or to try and use her arms/legs more together.