Happy Valentine's Day!

Andy scored big points with me this week.  Did he give me an expensive piece of jewelry?  No.  Did he surprise me with a romantic getaway?  No.  Romantic dinner?  No.  Flowers?  No.  He did something better (well, better than dinner or flowers anyway):

Confused?  Andy took on the task of helping Drew and Kayley decorate their Valentine's Day boxes for school.  Drew's class was specifically told to do something more than just decorate a box.  Be creative they were told.  And have fun.  Really?  Therein lies the problem for me.  I am NOT creative and I do NOT enjoy crafts.  At all.  Andy knows this and took on the project with the kids.  Kayley was not told she had to make her box into something so she was very content just putting stars all over her box.  Drew created the University of Phoenix Stadium (Arizona Cardinals).  Both kids loved their boxes and I didn't have to have any part of it so I was happy too!  Thanks, Andy!!

Mom flew in on Friday and landed right as our latest snowstorm was ending.  Winter isn't dead as I was wishing.  In fact, it is back again tomorrow with more snow.  As I am typing this, the news is on and they just reported that we have had 43.9 inches of snow this year.  Last year we had 4.5 inches.  Ugh.  Mom is being a trooper though!

We went to Drew's basketball game on Saturday.  He played probably his best game yet so it was a good one for Grandma to see.

The kids have been keeping Grandma busy as always.  Poor lady doesn't get a minute to herself when she is here!

Die Winter...Die!

We got more snow this week so the kids had another snow day on Wednesday. This picture has been on Facebook a lot recently and it is exactly how I feel!

I will be in San Diego for 6 days at the end of February for work and I cannot wait to get out of here for awhile!  On the bright side, the kids absolutely love the snow and are outside sledding as I type this.  At least someone is having fun.

The kids visit the school library once a week and check out one book.  This is the book Kayley picked this week:

So much for bedtime reading!  She found a recipe for Princess Pink Popcorn that she wanted to try so we made it on Wednesday evening.

It was pretty, but it tasted horrible.  Kayley even hated it!  But, she had fun making it.  :-)

Drew had what was supposed to be his last basketball game yesterday so each kid got a trophy.  The trophy made his day!  Due to all of the snow, his team has make up games next weekend so the season isn't quite over yet.

Team picture

Drew with his trophy

Kayley was very proud of Drew!

Slow Week

It was a slow week at our house so I don't have much to write about (or pictures).  Drew and Kayley missed school on Monday and Tuesday due to cold.  Yep, cold.  Not snow, not ice.  Cold.  I hate to say this because I hated it when people said it to me, but back in my day, that didn't happen!  Unless there was a lot of snow or ice on the roads, we went to school.  We may have had a late start, but we went.  Illinois doesn't do late starts, but they should! 

We did get snow yesterday and we got quite a bit so the kids have been in heaven.  I am officially over winter, but it appears it isn't done with us.  We are looking to get 3-6 more inches on Tuesday, with the possibility of a major winter storm (do they throw in that last part because they don't have any idea how much we will actually get?).  And temperatures look to be going below zero on Wednesday and Thursday night so we are looking at the possibility of no school on Thursday and Friday from that if not from the possible major winter storm.  Grrr!!!  The kids are going to be in school until the second week of June at this rate. 

Drew is King Bee (his classroom theme is bumblebees) next week at school.  As part of that, he gets to bring home Buzzy the Bee for the weekend.  He did the same thing last year with Ollie the Owl.  Drew has to bring pictures and write a note to his class about what they did over the weekend.  We took a few pictures of Buzzy's time with us and that is it for pictures this week!

Drew and Buzzy in the snow tunnel

We made sugar cookies while it snowed

Painting on Sunday

 

Hair Pulled Out ---> Hair Cut

Poor Ryan had a rough week.  On Wednesday, a "friend" (they never tell you who did it, just that it was a friend) pulled Ryan's hair and pulled so hard, he pulled Ryan's hair out. 

They called me at work to tell me and said it was bad, but I figured it probably wasn't very bad.  I mean, how much hair can a toddler pull out?  However, having any hair pulled out is painful.  When I got home and saw how bad it was, I felt terrible for Ryan.  He seemed fine though.  He didn't touch it at all while we were eating dinner and was fine during his bath.  But, when I put him to bed and laid him on his back like I always do, he started crying.  He never does that.  I felt awful for him.  He rolled over to his side and wimpered.  He woke up 4 or 5 times during the night.  I think it was because his head hurt when he rolled onto his back, but he was sick recently so it could have been related to that too.  Thankfully, he was fine the next day.

I took him in for a haircut on Saturday.  We cut it a lot shorter than what it had been.  It will be a little harder for the friend to get a good grip now!

Kayley also got her hair cut on Saturday (yeah, I know she just got it cut).  We decided to cut it even shorter in the back.  It looked really cute when we left the salon.  She combed it for these pictures and she has slept on it so it is a little off.  I am hoping it will lay nicely when we get ready for school each day...

Grandpa Butch is in town visiting this weekend.  We went to Drew's basketball game yesterday afternoon and Ryan entertained us by showing off his "1 pack" while Drew was taking a break.

After the game, we went bowling.  Kayley wasn't very interested, but she bowled anyway and beat Drew pretty soundly in one of the two games.  He was not impressed! 

 

It was also Ryan's first time bowling.  He enjoyed it so he is definitely a Thiel!

 

Happy Birthday, Drew!

Other than Drew's birthday, this past week is one I'd rather forget.  Sickness, sickness, sickness!  Andy picked Ryan up from daycare Monday afternoon when we got a call that he had a fever.  He also appeared to have croup.  Andy ended up taking Ryan outside at 2:30am when Ryan couldn't sleep.  The cold air seemed to take care of the croup, but the fever was not gone for long.  He seemed happy Tuesday morning, but by the afternoon he had a fever again.  Wednesday was worse than Tuesday.  Thursday was worse than Wednesday so we took him to the doctor.  He had an ear infection and was started on an antibiotic.  He woke up Friday and was worse than Thursday.  Poor kid just couldn't kick it.  His fever finally broke on Friday late in the day.  He still isn't 100%, but he is finally a little less crabby!  However, as I type this, he has been up 3 times already tonight so it isn't looking to be a fun night!

Ryan wasn't alone in the sick department.  Drew woke up with a fever on Friday morning so he stayed home too.  His fever broke Saturday afternoon though so it was pretty short for him.  Kayley didn't want to feel left out so she started in with a bad cough on Saturday afternoon.  So far, she has been fever free.  We'll see if that lasts.  After missing part of every day of work last week with sick kids, we think it will likely be our luck that Kayley wakes up with a fever tomorrow!

Drew's 7th birthday was Wednesday.  How can that be?!?!  I still remember the day he was born like it was yesterday.  It is crazy how fast our kids are growing up!  As soon as Andy got home from work, Drew opened his presents.  He picked pizza as his birthday dinner.  Then it was time for his ice cream cake.  We were supposed to go bowling with friends on Saturday to celebrate, but we had to cancel due to everyone being sick.  Drew was pretty disappointed, but understood we couldn't get our friends sick.

Crystal mining kit from Macie and Noah

Books from Macie and Noah

Bulls jersey from Kayley

White Sox shorts from Dad

Iowa jersey from Mom and Dad

I didn't take a picture of it, but Drew also got a bike for this birthday.  And it was about time.  He was WAY too big for his old bike.  He has been wanting to ride it so Andy let him ride it around our basement.  It was warmer today (upper 30s...our kids definitely aren't from Phoenix anymore if they think that is "warm") so Andy took Drew and Kayley out for a bike ride this afternoon and Drew got to test out his new bike.

Kayley's haircut

Kayley and I have been battling for a long time about her hair.  She never wants to comb it, she refuses to pull it up, and she pulls out headbands and clips after a couple of hours.  The result is stringy or straggly hair that falls into her face.  And we all remember what she has done in the past when her hair gets in her face:

I have been thinking about cutting her hair and every time I mention it to her, she says she doesn't want to cut it until it is as long as her friend's hair (her friend has beautiful thick hair down to her waist).  Finally, I told her if we cut it shorter, it will be easier to do in the morning and we won't have to fight about getting all the tangles out.  That sold her so we had it cut on Tuesday.  The stylist we normally use went home sick so we had someone new.  I was a little nervous to cut it too short and they stylist recommended leaving it a little longer.  I like it, but definitely wish we would have gone shorter.  Next time!

Before (we were running really late to the appointment so I didn't get the chance to take a true before picture, but you get the idea):

She let me comb it before we took this picture

After:

At the salon

Proud of her new haircut

She thought people would like to see the side view

Showing some attitude at Drew's game

Christmas Part 3 and Drew's Birthday Part 1

Do you like my "parts" posts?  :-)

My brother arrived from Peoria on New Year's Eve.  He was tired by the time he got here so he stayed home and Andy and I headed out for New Year's at about 11pm.  We were home by 2am so it was a short, but late night!

We celebrated Christmas with my family on New Year's Day.  The kids were really excited to open presents.  It had been killing them to look at them under the tree for so long! 

Ryan opening a musical soccer ball from Matt

Shoulder pads from Matt

Harley sweatshirt from Matt

Phoenix Suns jersey from Grandma and Grandpa!

Thiel!

Cinderella!!  All ready for
Disney World!

Dressed in full pads from Matt!

Andy and I had to go back to work on Thursday.  :-(  It was really hard to get up and go back this year!  I had really enjoyed my two weeks off!  Drew, Kayley and Ryan entertained Matt, Grandma and Grandpa while we were at work.

We celebrated Drew's 7th birthday on Saturday.  He requested his favorite cake - funfetti.  We mixed it up this year and went with blue frosting.

Getting ready to start opening

Fitzgerald jersey from Matt! He also got one from
Grandma and Grandpa...we'll have better
communication next year!

Bears helmet from Matt

Bears sweatshirt

Stomp rocket from Grandma and Grandpa

Ryan was not happy that he didn't get to open any presents!

 

Cake time

 

Ready to catch some passes in his new jersey and pads

Drew got a a lot of nice gifts from Grandma, Grandpa and Matt.  In addition to the above, he got two more books (Big Book of How and First Big Book of Space).  He now has enough books to keep him busy for awhile!

Today we have been indoors most of the day.  It started snowing last night and has been snowing all day.  The low tonight is -18 and the high tomorrow is -8.  I hope our furnace holds up! 

Dad, Drew and Kayley shoveling this morning (Andy is
out for round two right now).