snow clothes

In our attempts to make the best of being "snowed in", we have been spending a lot of time out side. Our daily routine is to make a mad rush to get on all the various snow clothes before kids start sweating, screaming, itching...we play for a while then make a mad rush to get all the clothes off before kids start to scream, itch, freeze. Our coats, pants, hats and gloves go into the dryer so that we can do it all over again in a few hours.

While getting ready again for what seems like the zillionith time, in my frustration I blurt out to Cameron "Oh, why are these gloves wet!" Meaning the dryer had not done it's job. Cameron's response..."Because of the snow, mom..."duh" Thank you Cameron, it's all clear to me now.

Snow Day with Dad

Due to all the snow, Darin was able to stay home with us today and enjoy all the fun. We were able to get some really good play time in before it started getting really cold.
Unfortunately, the only sled we have is this infant one. It's awesome, but the big kids are getting too big for it. We tried to get a couple of bigger ones, but all the stores were sold out! Go figure..

Logan had his first real taste of what it means to be completely ineffectual at walking. His gear was great...if his main goal was to sit in a pile of snow and not move an inch. Poor kiddo, they all go through it.

Last night as the snow was falling, Darin made our first snowman of the season. The kids got to see it quickly at 11:00pm at night. Ask me how my night was with children up so late, ya, thanks Dad!

Look at the happy family, one of the only pictures with all five of us.

Fun Park Pictures

We often visit one of our favorite parks that we lovingly call the "castle park". When we purchased our new camera, we decided to give it a try here.

Chain of command in the Leonardson Castle

While playing princess and little prince Bella made the chain of command very clear to us all. To ask permission for something she approached me as "King". I immediately corrected her stating that I was the Queen and Daddy was the King. Simple enough, right? She turned around, walked over to Darin "the King", stopped and paused for a moment. "I think I better ask the Queen" she said. Of course this was hilarious and we all laughed about it. True to form, Darin asked Bella the question..."How does the chain of command work?" Who has the most power? Bella replied, "the king is in charge, the queen is more in charge and the other queen is more in charge". Hmmmm...interesting...

Lunch time conversation

This is one of those times that doesn't really warrant a photo but definitely needs to be documented...during lunch today, the conversation went like this:

Cam: "Sis! Do you love me?"

Bella: "Of course, silly!"

Bella: "Cam, even when I'm being naughty, I still love you. Why?"

Cam: "Oh, I love you too. I'm just happy that you are here."

Ok, really? Could that be any cuter? We weren't even at the table when this happened.

Logan's 1st Haircut

Say goodbye to the Mullet!

We spent the better part of yesterday trying to get Logan his first haircut. With much frustration, we couldn't find a place to take us until this fabulous salon at 6:30pm. Our first attempt was the salon that both Bella and Cam went to. It was no longer open so we had to improvise.
We found this really great place in Lynnwood that couldn't have been better. They were so nice and accommodating. They did everything from blow bubbles, to giving cookies for the distraction. Logan was very happy to be in the car until he realized someone was going to be cutting his hair.

He may look calm here, it's only a matter of time until the meltdown...

Toys were a little distraction until the nice lady brought out the clippers!

I was really impressed by her ability to work on a moving target!

Here is Logan trying to make his escape!

Time to break out the cookies, it definitely helped the situation.

Look at this handsome fella, he looks so cute with his new do. No more mullet people, you can stop giving me hard time :-)

Happy Halloween with the Leonardsons

Halloween at our house is always a fun event. We started out the morning with Bella going to school for her "harvest party" in class. My mom took a day of vacation to be with the kids and enjoy all the festivities. When Bella got home we made a delicious lunch of pumpkin shaped PB&J and of course pumpkin shaped apple slices. Quite crafty if I do say so myself. Finishing off the afternoon with a little Halloween cookie decorating extravaganza.
We had the cutest Tinkerbell and Captain Hook on the block! Notice the orange shirt under the fairy dress, and what you are not seeing is Cam's choice of footwear for the evening. He refused to wear anything but the jacket and completed his ensemble with none other than his beloved fireman rain boots. Who knew Captain Hook had such a sense for fashion.

We had the traditional visitors with our newest addition, cousin Daniel "the Lion". Logan would be the other adorable animal, a dalmatian in fact.

Of course we had to have the return of the family spider for the occasion. Thanks to Uncle Ed for keeping the tradition of scaring all the toddlers in our neighbor. Yes, it moves!

The evening ended with a very determined little boy patiently waiting for each and every "friend" to come over so he could say the required instruction of "take two please".