January 31

It's already the last day of January! Where'd this month go!?! I hope February and March go by fast too. Bring on Spring! I am READY!

Yesterday we woke up with a few inches of snow.

It was below 20 degrees outside during the morning hours, so we stayed inside and made the best of it. I do much better fighting the winter blahs if I stay busy. Friday I sat around all day and I started going crazy. Plus, the girls aren't as whiny if you keep them busy - bonus!

First the girls and I decorated their room for a tea party with some of their animal and baby doll friends (Clay joined in too).

After his morning nap, Elliott got to join us (dont' worry, I was sitting right beside him to keep him from falling).

After that, I brought snow inside. The girls had fun playing with it in the sink. Since the kids have runny noses and bad coughs, I decided to keep them inside.

Julia can kung fu fight and play with snow

After lunch I cleaned the house. Clay shoveled the driveway, went for a swim, and road his bike. Have I mentioned on here that he signed up to do the Ironman in August? That's a 2.2 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a 26 mile marathon. Yes, he's nuts! He's going to be spending a lot of time between now and then training.

Last night we had a movie night. I made my friend Jill's recipe for caramel corn - yum!

Caramel Corn

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 t salt
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 t baking soda

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Over medium heat, combine 1st 4 ingredients and boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add baking soda. Stir well. Pour over 8 qts popped corn. Stir well to coat. Bake in large pan 1 hour; stir every 15 minutes. Spread on wax paper to dry.


This morning I think we're going to stay home from church since all the kids have a cough and their noses are dripping like faucets. I think we're going to try to make snow cream. If anyone else has any ideas for fun winter indoor activities, please share them with me... I am running out of ideas!