Snowed In With Grandma Jello

This week Rob had a conference in Las Vegas, so gratefully

Lolly's Mom, Grandma Jello (Angelle),

flew out from Utah for a visit and to take care of blue-eyed kids 

so Lolly and Sterling could get some rest.

The visit began with a birthday gift for Trevor, and a Treasure hunt.

Color these kids happy. :)

Little did we know there would be a treasure hunt EVERY DAY to follow!

Daddy Rob got in a few last snuggles with Sterling before his trip.

We also got some fun packages this week.

One from our Georgia Cousins, with gifts for all 4 kids!

They loved them, thank you!

School was canceled for a snow day this week, and our neighborhood is full of snow forts now.

We didn't want to take baby Sterling out yet, so when the boys would get cooped up in the house from being "snowed in" we would send them out to play and to get some much needed exercise.

Ellie had a lot of fun "girl time" with Grandma.

She showed her her new dance outfits and her recital dances from her Jazz and Ballet classes, and they did hair, and read "Tinkerbell."

More Treasure Hunts!

I hope the kids didn't get use to all this spoiling...

Our little handsome man was spoiled as well,

that's what Grandma's do best!

Tubby time in the sink. He LOVES it now.

Grandma Jello and Ellie planned a fun " T " party for lunch one day.

All of Ellie's dolls were invited and everything on the menu started with the letter "T."

Terrific Mini doll size Cinnamon Rolls

Tasty Apples

and

Triangle Pizza

Grandma Jello (who does NOT like to be cold!)

was such a good sport to take the kids sledding.

Thanks Grandma!

One thing being snowed in does is make the kids use their creative juices to entertain themselves.

Ryan and Trevor had fun playing Pilots (above) and Pirates (below),

as well as Rescue Heroes and Builders.

Grandma also took the kids swimming, but unfortunately the closed the pool.

It's the thought, right? 

Another fun package came from my Nana (my Dad's mom).

With packages and treasure hunts it was like Christmas all over again around here!

Gifts for everyone!

Very thoughtful ones too, thanks Nana!

More gifts arrived with Daddy Rob when he came home from his trip.

The Dr. Suess Book, "Oh, The Thinks You Can Think" along with stuffed animals.

Rob inspected Sterling to see how much he had changed in five days.

It's amazing how fast these kids grow.

Saturday morning the boys got to go to Lowes "Build and Grow" workshop with their Dad.

They built a car that turns into a robot.

As Ryan would say, "Sweet!"

While they were gone the girls watched, "The Slipper and the Rose" and Grandma painted Ellie's nails.

They also built a snowman with the most original name of "Frosty" after while shoveling the walks.

Saturday night we said goodbye to our Grandma.

We are grateful she was able to come and take care of us!

We enjoyed a relaxed week snowed in with hot chocolate, a pizza night, watching Olympic ice-skating, and tag teaming taking care of the kids. We also got caught up on some sewing projects, and had a lot of good talks.

It was so fun to have Grandma all to ourselves!

We love you Grandma Jello!

Thanks for everything.

The big 3!

We started our week with a simple Valentines.

Rob and I gave the kids stuffed animal puppy dogs.

At church Ryan told his teachers, and they thought they got REAL puppy dogs for Valentines!

We're enjoying the days that our kids are satisfied with low maintanance, cotton filled pets.

Sterling enjoyed his first Valentines day.

We enjoyed that at least one of our kids didn't associate the holiday with a sugar high.

On Tuesday Trevor turned 3!

I really can't believe it, it seems like last year he was the new baby the week of Valentines.

He loved being the king of the day.

It began with Running through the crepe paper, and blowing out candles on the yummy muffins Adrienne Gillis made us (Thanks!).

Daddy was able to be home for the morning, and so Trevor opened his presents after breakfast.

 

Present opening ended with a rabblerousing game of "Wack-a-Mole."

And a few Rescue Hero missions.

After getting ready for the day, Daddy Rob took the 3 big kids bowling.

They had a blast!

And, free hot dogs and a drink.

We celebrated Trevor's year by writing things he ENJOYED and things he LEARNED on his poster.

I'm amazed how much he's grown up this year.

This Year Trevor Enjoyed…

• Having his Mom and Dad as his nursery teachers for most of the year

• Having visits from Derek, Katie, Ella, Grandma’s and other relatives

• Being pushed in the red car swing in the summertime

• Playing dress up and pretend with Ellie and Ryan in the basement; especially Superheroes

• Going to “Story Time” at the library; (especially “Abracadabra…”)

• Holidays and being “Superman” for Halloween

• Playing ‘Speed Readers’ with Mom and Ryan to help him learn his letters

• Trips to Utah, Niagara Falls, and Palmyra

• Bunking and sharing a room with Ryan
• Going to the Toledo Zoo and seeing the elephants, building a sand castle at the Metropark, and playing in Kids Town at the Detroit Science Center
• Reading in bed at night with Mom or Dad
• Playing with Natalie Cuff and other friends at Date Night Swap
• Making new friends like his “buddy” Parker at Ryan’s soccer class
• Outings to the park, walks, bike rides in the fall, and sledding all by himself!

This Year Trevor Learned….

• How to ride a big wheel

• How to dunk under water, blow bubbles and float in a life jacket at the pool
• To recognize the ABC’S and numbers too!
• To do his ‘Morning Jobs,’ be a hard worker and helper during chore time; especially helping Mom put in the laundry and roll out dinner rolls like a snake
• To clear his place and clean up his messes
• To color pictures
• To gallop, skip, hop on one foot, and do ‘handstands’
• To shoot a basketball in his hoop, kick a soccer ball into the goal, throw a baseball, and sled by himself!

• To lead the music at family night

• To ‘read’ the scriptures; (And, it came to… “Pass!”)

• To tell jokes (i.e. Knock Knock, Who’s There? Phone Called. Phone Called who? Daddy!)

• To lock doors! (causing us to sleep on the couch for a night)

• To use the potty (a few times)!
• To be brave as he experienced his first surgery, and blood testing.
• To spell his name T-R-E-V-O-R, Trevor!
• To spell and recognize the rest of the families names, and tell Dad on the phone, “Here’s Ryan, R-Y-A-N!”

Gratefully, with  Rob home half the day and Sister Merx bringing dinner for us (thanks Angie!), I was able to make Trevor a cake after all.

He loved helping put on the wheels.

Notice the animals have now sunk into the quick sand!

 My first picture with all 4! kids.

Happy Birthday Trevor!

We're so glad you're in our family.

Trevor is an easy going, happy little guy.

He has a witty, little sense of humor that cracks us up, loves to play pretend, and loves to act "grown up" as he follows around his big brother and sister.

We have enjoyed him immensely!

 Other than Trevor's birthday,

Ryan enjoyed playing with his K-nex set this week.

We all enjoyed our sweet, baby Sterling.

 We got a better picture of the three boys.

The kids enjoyed some fun play dates with their friends this week because of Winter Break.

The boys enjoyed playing in and "painting" the snow with food colored water in spray bottles.

Lolly feels a little better every day, and we feel very blessed!