Wrapping up Winter... I Hope!

A rare day that Elise went to school this winter.
Gladys and Elise are waiting for the bus.

Wow. This winter has been one for the history books. As I type this, we are a mere 0.5 inch away from the snowiest winter on record and there have been countless days with sub zero temperatures. I have even given up counting how many days Elise has been off from school. I dread the phone ringing at 6am.... a call from the schools saying to stay home. We have gone crazy with cabin fever and I have done the best I can entertaining the girls. So how does one fill day after day in the house? Well, here are some of our ways to pass the long days.....

Of course mealtimes are always happy times. Afterall, who doesn't like food? Plus the babies take a good 45 minutes to eat so between throwing food on their highchairs, I can quickly run the vacuum! I always like a clean house and the girls are happy to have full bellies.

Hadley 13 months

Cecilia 13 months

Hadley

And if I'm not feeding the girls, they find other things to snack on like Demi's name tag on her collar.

Of course naptime is a happy time too. Let's just say that the dogs have gotten extra lazy from lack of daily walks.

We also have spent a lot of time playing in boxes... or shall I say boats?

Cecilia with Captain Elise

Did I already mention mealtimes?!  I've tried spicing up mealtimes with new foods, such as cottage cheese. I think the next time I would spoon feed the girls rather than letting them pick it up!

Hadley and cottage cheese

Cecilia- Yikes! Looks like I'm cleaning this one up.

One morning I pulled out our tent which had been packed away for a good year or two. It had been gone for so long that it had Garth hair inside-- which Cecilia promptly tried to eat.

We filled the tent with pillows and blankets and all the girls enjoyed lounging and relaxing. 

And of course we got a few big snow storms. It was fun trucking through the snow in the front yard. We actually had so much snow that it was too deep to sled. But the snow plows left massive mountains of snow to climb on along the street. It was an adventure to climb up. It reminded me of the book The Snowy Day.

We officially wrapped up winter with Perrysburg's Winterfest. It was a warm enough day for the whole family to venture out with the stroller. Elise's favorite part was the hot chocolate. I just enjoyed getting out of the house and the babies were happy to be freed as well. 

Now that I've mentally said goodbye to winter, hopefully the weather will follow suit. It's probably wishful thinking since it's just the end of February and we live in Ohio. However, I believe in the power of positive thinking. Come on Spring!!!!!

Hadley's Roseola

Sick Hadley with Cecilia scaling the fireplace hearth in the background.

Yep. We've had another round of illness in our house last week. And once again, Hadley was the lucky one to get sick.... sorry girl.

Hadley had been irritable and clingy for a few days. Then, one morning during a diaper change, I noticed her whole trunk and neck had a rash. It didn't seem to itch but it was obvious that she wasn't feeling well. Since it was the weekend, we did the one thing all doctors hate their patients to do... we self diagnosed on the internet! Our diagnosis: Roseola.

Roseola definitely had to be what Hadley had as the symptoms fit her perfectly. The symptoms were a recent fever (which I blamed on teething), a spotty rosy-pink rash, mild diarrhea, poor appetite, tiredness, red eyes, and swollen eyelids. I had planned to call the doctor on Monday but by then, the rash had almost disappeared and she was feeling better.  And being a virus (contagious mostly to kids under 3), we waited for Cecilia to come down with the same symptoms. Except for some diarrhea and clingy behavior, she never came down with a rash like her sister. So, mark off another illness for the Kaiser household this winter!

'Deer Party'

With the river frozen, the deer having been crossing it every morning and every evening from the island. We like to say they are having a 'Deer Party'. Around 5:30 every evening they come out of the woods in groups of 2 or 3 and meet up to form a long line as they cross the ice. The other evening they brought the party to our yard.... 15 in all. They crossed the back yard and went up the hill (probably to munch on our bushes) between our house and the neighbors. Twenty minutes later they emerged back down the hill and back across our backyard. Then eventually the 'Deer Party' crossed back to the island. If I will miss anything about this winter, it will be the evening deer crossing.