Winter Games--- Boji Style!

This weekend we headed north (yeah, we just weren't quite cold enough here in central Iowa, that we had to travel north to get to the really cold part of Iowa!) to the Okoboji Winter Games! None of us had ever been to the Winter Games and we had a great time embracing Iowa's winters! The 4 of us along with, Sara, Wes, Hannah, Haydn, Mom, Dad, Kohls, Kelly and Mackenzie all traveled to Okoboji to play on the frozen lake!
Here are most all the kids with Dad and Wes headed down the steps that lead to my inlaws dock during the summer months, but now they just lead to the frozen lake. The little girls LOVED playing on the lake (Porter was happier inside where it was warm!). They played outside a ton on the lake.

(Okay Blogger hates me tonight and will not let me put this photo in the correct spot!! But here is Mom, Mike, Wes, Stella, Hannah and Haydn walking out to the festivites on Smiths Bay)

Snowmobiles were all over the lake this weekend, we enjoyed watching them buzz by all hours of the day.

Kohls and Mack making their way to the frozen lake to play.

Mike, Kohls, Dad and Wes standing on West Lake Okoboji.

There were a ton of events happening all over the lakes, but a big portion of them were happening in Smith's Bay. We headed there on Saturday afternoon to check out all the happenings. Here is a scene of all the cars, trucks, snowmobiles, (I'm sure there was way over 200 vehicles parked on this section of the lake) on Smiths Bay.

There were even tailgaters at the Winter Games!!!

Porter taking his turn at ice bowling.

Haydn, Stella, Hannah waiting in line to ice bowl.

Stella (with Papa assisting) ice bowling.

Mike, Sara, Mom and I ran in the 5K Saturday afternoon. After the race we stopped by to see the Polar Plunge. It was so fun to see this!!! I bet there were at least 40+ people who took the plunge! And probably over 500 people watching the crazies take the plunge!!!!! That being said, Mom and I have agreed we will both take "THE PLUNGE" the next time we go to the winter games---so y'all get your plane tickets purchased so you can see this first hand!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a girl getting out of the ice cold water!

A boy getting ready to jump in the lake!

Mom giving Mack, Porter and Haydn a bath last night. All of the kids played wonderfully together. It was fun having Mackenzie around, she is a great kid!

Vada Bear

Stella loves her dear ole "Vada Bear" as she has lovingly named it. I went to bed the other night and saw them cuddled up together and had to snap a photo. Looks like Vada Bear was wide awake and Stella sound asleep!

Tumbling Tots

Porter is taking a Tumbling Tots class at the Waukee Y. He's really enjoyed it and this is the first "class" of any kind he has ever done besides storytime at the library. He has had a blast with all of the activities he gets to try during the class.
Here he is getting ready to swing on the bar.

Jumping on the trampoline. Showing his balance beam skillz

Rolling down the wedge mat.

And trying to karate chop his dear ole mommy!!!

Home Depot

I'm basiclly writing this post so I don't forget about it in the future!! My brain seems to be turning to mush more and more each day! :)
On Friday, Porter & I dropped Stella off at school and as we loaded back into the car I asked Porter what he wanted to do now. I figured he'd say go home and play. Without missing a beat he says "Go to Home Depot!" I should probably mention that Mike has been out of town for a week and we won't see him until this coming Friday afternoon when head to Okoboji for the winter games. I think Porter was missing his daddy b/c he has never once asked me to go to Home Depot! And if you know me, Home Depot is definitely not one of my favorite places to go!! So I thought, well maybe we will go home anyway, but as I looked back at P in my rear view mirror I knew that I *HAD* to take him to Home Depot. On our way there I asked him what he wanted to look at at Home Depot and he told me "All of it"!!! And boy was he excited!!!!!!!!!!! He sat on ALL of the ride-on lawnmowers until he figured out which one was his favorite. Then he looked at the model kitchens, bathroom sinks, light fixtures, mailboxes, etc, etc, etc! Then we came upon the Holy Grail---THE TOOLS!!!!!!! I honestly thought he was going to pass out from excitement! He practically lept out of the cart to touch all the hammers, pliers, wrenches, drills, screwdrivers! He was so happy! I pulled out my phone then and called Mike and handed the phone to Porter and Porter yelled "Me at Home Depot!" What an easy way to make my little guys day!! :)

Thought I'd include a photo of Mike and Porter working with their tools last March assembling Porter's big boy bed (look at those curls!)

Iced In

Yesterday an ice storm a large portion of Iowa, so we were iced in and had a pajama day! We started off the day painting. Stella and Porter received gift cards to Toys R Us from our neighbors for Christmas. Luckily, we went shopping the day before the storm so they had new things to play with. One of the things Stella picked out was a set of wacky paint brushes, they've had a lot of fun with them. You'll notice that Stella's hair has not been brushed, this is her crazy bedhead she wakes up with everyday---actually yesterday it was quite tame! And Porter has his jammies unzipped so that he can get to his "bee-bo"! I had to change him into other jammies so that it was easier for him to get to the potty during the day.

Stella had the most fun mixing all the paint together to make different colors--she thought that was really cool! :)

Porter is such a cheese-head at times!!! He kept wanting me to take his pic of his "smile". :)

A photo of our ice covered window facing the east.

Porter playing with his Batcave and Stella with her Littlest Pet Shop.

Watching a show. Porter loves Kai Lan for some reason! It's so funny to watch him watch that show! For dinner we had banana pancakes and to jazz them up I used my metal cookie cutters to make them into shapes. The kids actually ate them better since they were in fun shapes! :)

And just so you understand the love Porter has for his cowboy boots---notice what is next to him while he brushed his teeth before bed last night?

And I just have to add this since I did something "crafty"!! :) I made a felt flower headband and it turned out really cute! The pic of Stella above she is wearing one. I also made a green one last night and it turned out cute, too!

Icicles

Yesterday I plucked some icicles off the house for the kids to eat! :) They thought that was pretty cool. But I'm sure the neighbors had a good laugh if they were watching out their windows as I was jumping up and down in the driveway trying to get them from them eave spouts! Stella's icicle was HUGE! Porter's was smaller--but he got two of them, so he was happy. We have even bigger ones on the back of the house and they are way too high for me to reach, but Stella informed me that I could get a ladder to get them down. Hmmmm.....I'm not really *that* into getting icicles that I need to haul a ladder around the house in 10 inches of snow! :) They also wore their mittens while consuming these lovely treats so their little hands wouldn't get cold--they thought that was funny!!

Stella and her icicle.

Porter with one of his.

Christams in the AZ

On Christmas afternoon we escaped the bitter cold and headed to warm and sunny Arizona! The kids were VERY excited to fly on an airplane again and they were great travelers!! We had a fabulous time with my WONDERFUL inlaws!! Stella and Porter were so happy to see Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Chris! We had great weather, lots of fun things to do and lots of time creating memories. :) I know most of you have seen my pics on facebook, so I'm trying to post different pics so they aren't all repeats. :)

The morning after Christmas we had our Christmas with Grams, Gramps, and Uncle Chris. Here is Steve opening a gift.

Stella fell in love with these Christmas decorations of Grandma's. Linda told me they've had them for years and they are little carolers and in true grocery store fashion, they also sport the Pepsi logo. :)
Eating lunch one day.

Picking lemons and grapefruits at one of Steve and Linda's rental properties. They made lemonade with the lemons. Porter loved it and Stella didn't care too much for it.

Mike, Chris and I went to the ISU bowl game while in Arizona. It was a lot of fun and we saw a lot of fun people at the game!

Cuddling on Grandma and Grandpa's bed, watching a movie.

Playing at the park, we spent a LOT of time at the parks while we were there.

At the Phoenix Zoo.

We met Chris for lunch one day and headed to Peter Piper's pizza. They had an area full of games that the kids went nuts over. Unlike Chuck E. Cheese, the pizza was actually really good and the game area was really clean! :)

Porter sacked out on the plane from Denver to Des Moines. He slept most of the flight.

Thank you Steve and Linda for a fabulous trip!!!!!!! We miss you guys already!

Sledding!!!!!

I am planning to update my blog with pictures from our trip to Arizona, but for now I'll post some photos from today. Stella, Porter and I met up with friends at Waveland Golf Course for a fun-filled afternoon of sledding! It was SO MUCH fun!!! The hills were awesome and the kids were going down them super fast and having a blast. I thought Porter might be a little scared, but he was laughing his little head off! Stella was beside herself with joy! The weather was absolutely gorgeous today--in the low 40's (which is freezing for some of you!), but for us it was perfect. We were taking off our gloves, hats, upbuttoning coats! It's a lot of work to hike up a sledding hill for 2 hours! Port & Stell both would bring their sleds/tubes back up on their own. I can't wait to go back to sled again!!!
Here they are just getting off the sled and pulling it up another hill. Stella! Looks like she is about to biff it, but she recovered nicely! :)

Porter sailing down the hill.

Stella is the little dot between the two trees, she is getting ready to go down the hill.

Group shot!