Justin is 4!

Our Justin is FOUR.

Breakfast request: birthday donuts! Jack worked late last night, and he woke up to an empty box of donuts. Let's just say that C & J LOVE their donuts. I blame Aunt Tami and Uncle Nick's sleepovers. =)

 Colin did this all on his own. Cool!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Justin.

 Thank you everyone for the gifts. Both boys had a snow day due to the frigid temps so they got to play with birthday presents all day!

  Colin gave Justin birthday lion rides too. =) This is one of my favorite pictures.

 Instead of the normal weekend party, we invited some friends over to help us celebrate on his actual birthday - Tuesday. We are so lucky to have great friends that braved the frigid temps to celebrate with us. Thank you for coming out!


Dinner menu: Pizza, bbq ribs, homemade mac and cheese. (All Justin's request)

 And orange cupcakes.

 The kiddos.

 The mamas!

I always think my pictures look just fine..until Arvindh sends me the pictures that he takes. Look at the clarity and focus! Ah-mazing. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In the treat bags, the boys and I made thank you puzzles for everyone. We are so lucky to have you as our friends. Thank you!

Oh, and schools are closed again tomorrow (frigid temps), so the party continues. =) I'm not sure, is their school year extended because of all of these snow days? Crazy.

Cold Vortex, Round 2

Cold. Not "scarf and hat" kind of cold. It's "my car won't start, I can't feel my fingers" kind of cold. Temperatures are in the single digits and with wind chill, my weather app tells me that it feels like -27 degrees. I know I am known to exaggerate a bit. But I'm serious. It says "negative 27 degrees."

Jack is on 12s again this week. But the boys have snow days and I took off of work.

Colin begged to go out and play. So when the weather was still in the teens (I can't believe I just said that), we let him out. That kid loves the snow.

 Justin and I joined him for a bit too. We made a little sledding hill in our backyard. But let's get real, Justin & I aren't cut out for the frigid temps. We quickly came back in.

I've been shoveling... a lot. We didn't get a snow plowing service this year, our snow blower broke and and Jack is on 12s. Since my Plans A-C didn't work out, I'm Plan D. So I got my butt out and shoveled. haha. I've gone 10 years and never had to go to Plan D. That's pretty good, eh?! But seriously. I took this picture a couple of hours after I shoveled - you can't even tell!

 So for most of the weekend, we were housebound. But at least I got to be snowed in with these two boys. =) Yes, that's a pillow case and Justin refused to wear clothes in the blizzard. (It's because he refused to leave the house though. Smart kid.)

 Jack was home this weekend and set up a heater in our garage. So the boys went bike riding. =)

(Okay, looking at this pics makes me realize how stir crazy we might have been.) The kids blew up balloons and put it up on the wall. Kind of looks like our painting exploded. =)

The kids decorated rice krispie treats and for some reason they didn't want to eat them. So I did.

 I absolutely had to brave the weather a few times (surprise bday dinner for a friend, groceries, dentist appts), and this is what I faced. Ugly, right? Luckily, I took some days off of work, so I'm home with the boys during these frigid days.

I have a gratitude journal and when the days are frigid, I find myself so very thankful for heat, friends, netflix, and boys who are a ton of fun. With all of that said, this California girl is ready for Spring. =)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Justin + Lego Colin

What a week.

Our big weekend outing was to Fun-n-Stuff to celebrate Highley's birthday. Highley is C's friend from kindergarten but has been so kind to Justin and gives J a hug every time we pick up Colin. It was our 2nd trek to fun-n-stuff and the boys still love it! And I was so proud of Colin for trying roller skating for the 1st time! He quickly declared, "This just isn't my thing." and "Roller skating will NOT be my sport." But after a couple of tries, he was back out there 3 times!

 Highley's pinata. Elwell boys love pinatas.

 

Jack worked 13 days straight, 12 hours shifts and weekends. A lot. Justin had the most trouble and missed Jack the most. He said, "I have some sad feelings. I miss daddy." Tears, tantrums, feelings. Jack talked to the boys almost daily, but it just wasn't enough. So Jack made a special lunch time visit to Justin's school and Justin was speechless. Justin was a changed boy after that visit and we survived until we saw Jack again on Sunday this weekend.

Colin has been very helpful with Justin and as I was walking through the house I saw this (iPad on a stool.) Colin explained to me that he set it up for Justin. Justin doesn't like to be alone and Colin didn't want to stay with him for the particular bathroom activities. haha!!

For Jack's 1 day off (Sunday), he asked for sukiyaki! Mmmmm. 

The boys write Jack notes every day and Jack writes back to us in the morning. Justin told me what to write this time, "It will be Justin's birthday in 8 days. He will be 4 years old." Seriously. That's what he told me to write. haha!!

Family Updates.
Colin:

• Learning how to spell and read new words every day. His school sent out a list of 1000 words and I told Colin that if he can read and spell the 1st 200 words, I would buy him a new lego set. I have never seen that boy so driven in my life.  
• Is still obsessed with Lego City. Since we have not bought him any new sets, he's enjoying his free build time in his lego box. I think free build is just as important as his lego instruction sets. And he builds some pretty amazing things on his own! He just walked over here with a triple decker car. =)
• Colin did not want to sign up for any after school sports classes this season. Instead, he is in Lego Club and loving life. =)
• He is learning about punctuation at school and I found this on our chalkboard at home:

Justin:

• Loves teenage mutant ninja turtles and will beg to watch this show. He thinks he is a ninja turtle and has mastered the spinning kick. No lie. My boys could not be more different.
• People say you have to find your child's "currency." And right now, Justin will do anything to watch more episodes of said ninja turtles. So that's how we get him to do house chores.
• Justin is ecstatic for his birthday. There is so much between November-December in our family that Justin just sits waiting for his turn on January 28th.
• I put a couple of wrapped birthday presents on our mantel and Justin begged to open them. Of course I said no. A couple hours later, he asked me for a stool and asked me to put it by the bookshelf in the living room. I didn't think much of it until he said, "Can you go find a place to hide?" I snuck around the corner and watched him move the stool 3 feet to the mantel and try to sneak his presents down. This boy.

Jack: Working.

Jamie: Working.

Happy short week all. =)

Flippin' Good Time

This weekend, we headed to Sky Zone, a trampoline park, for the 1st time. And we loved it! Kids are separated by size so there aren't any huge accidents.

 Ana, Colin and Justin!

 Okay, the adults had some fun too!

 

 The foam pit was a ton of fun. Brooke & Reagan coached me through my first flip! and Justin loved sprinting right into the pit.

Colin took a break and was everyone's photographer and videographer.

 Then it was time to prep for Grandma's birthday dinner. Maybe I stopped by the store to get the kids some sugar. (That's what aunties do right?)

 Baby Danny came into town. Getting so big!

 Happy Birthday Grandma!

The rest of our weekend was pretty slow... Tuesday we had a cold vortex and the city shut down and by Saturday it was 50 degrees and the snow had melted. Crazy Ohio.

 Justin showing off his spiderman PJs and Colin at work building more of his lego city. I thought he was good with his money until his love of legos. I'm convinced he'll spend every cent he has on lego sets.

We have a new family rule. Every Sunday, our house resets. The kids tend to build lego cities or cuddly caves throughout the week. But once Sunday hits, we reset our house to norm. (And no, the lego city in our living room is not norm.) We'll let you know how long this lasts.