The rains came down, and the floods came up...

Remember the 14 inches of snow we go last week, and remember how they didn't ever plow the roads? Well, when all of the sudden the temperature rises, and the snow turns to rain, this is what happens...

All of the slippery snow is compacted under about 6 inches of slush. You can imagine the driving conditions...

All of our cars were stuck, all at once.

Gotta love it!

A winter wonderland...

When we moved to Washington I was worried about several things, one of them being that Christmas and winter in general just wouldn't be the same with out snow. Here, it will snow occasionally (like once a year), but will be all melted by morning. You can imagine my surprise when we woke up to this a few days ago...


Not only did it stick all day, but it kept snowing,



and snowing,

and snowing.

Currently we are covered with about 14 inches of snow and it looks like there will be no let up for about a week. Because it rarely snows here, no one ever invests in snow plows, shovels, or any snow clearing gear, which means the roads and everything else are a COMPLETE mess. All the schools have been shut down and Scotty had a short work week (and it's looking like no one will be going to work tomorrow either!)

So, it looks like I don't need to worry about having a white Christmas...but I think I got a little more than I bargained for!

note: Washington hasn't seen snow like this since 1968

P.S. did you notice the deer in the first picture?

A real tree AND colored lights

According to Scotty, because we live in the "evergreen" state, it is something of blasphemy not to have a real tree. I decided that this year I would give in and get a real tree, even though the previous two years I have successfully gotten my way with a fake one (I love my shedless, waterless, pre-lit tree) This weekend we went to a HUGE 10 acre Christmas tree farm.

The weather was beautiful and Jack was in 2 year old heaven. That kid ran circles (literally) around those trees until he couldn't run any more.

Scotty was nice enough to let me pick out the perfect tree and then he got to feel all sorts of manly cutting it down with a saw

And here is the Beauty...lit in all her glory! Oh, a side note: I hate colored lights, loathe them in fact. I think they are tacky. Scott has been begging and pleading with me to get colored lights this year, claiming "white lights aren't as christmasy or festive". I decided that since we splurged on a real tree I would once again appease my man and give in to the colored lights. I guess I am coming around because I hate it less and less everytime I look at it. Maybe by Christmas I will even (gasp) enjoy the colored lights...it will be a Christmas miracle!



***Scott also wanted tinsel, yes, tinsel on the tree. I drew the line there. no tinsel. ever.

I think it's finally time...

...for Jack to graduate from his crib to a toddler bed. This was the scene my sister in law walked in on when she checked on jack yesterday.


"Um, Jill...does Jackson know how to get out of his bed?" I heard her say from inside his room.

"Not that I know of..."

"Well you better come see this!"

Then from the room I hear a little voice say "I stuck, I stuck"

The poor kid didn't even know what he had gotten himself into when he swung his feet over the edge of the crib. Notice how he is looking down, unsure of what's beneath him.

So he just sat there, in a pickle, not knowing what to do. (that is the reason I was able to capture this on film...the kid was terrified.)

I guess now we should get him a toddler bed before he is actually brave enough to let go and we find ourselves in the emergency room.

I'm not going to lie, I have been dreading the day that Jack makes the switch to the toddler bed. Not because I am sad to see my little guy grow up (heaven forbid I get sentimental about this), but because I love that I can stick him in his crib and I know that he is contained in a 5x3 foot safety box. I'm afraid that without the crib to keep him out of trouble, he will wreak all sorts of havoc in his room at night.

Let the adventures, and the clean up begin!

Happy thanksgiving

This is the face of a girl who really enjoyed her turkey and mashed potatoes...I hope you all had a very filling thanksgiving!

A few differences...

Men and women are different. That's all there is to it. If you haven't figured that out than you are probably not married, and if you are, then your marriage probably won't last much longer. After having been married for THREE whole years (I know, I should be a veteran by now) I still find myself sometimes frustrated with the "man" way of thinking.

Naturally, men are inclined to see a problem, and find a solution. Case closed. Women tend to want to know what their friends think about the problem, what emotions are being involved, and we carefully weigh out all the options...yada yada yada, you know the routine ladies. One way isn't better than the other...just different. And also, men usually take things very literally. Come on, haven't we ALL told our husbands we're "ok" when really we aren't, but think they should know enough to figure it out on their own. I know you are all smirking right now because you know exactly what I'm talking about.


Sorry that was a long introduction for this very short story.

The other day I asked Scotty to put some Cheerios on the tray for Bianca to snack on while I finished dinner. He did, and left the room. no problem. I turned around to check and I saw her tray with half a box of Cheerios on it. In my head I was thinking "since when does a few mean 75?" I thought "some" meant 5-6...you know, so her little pincher fingers could develop their fine motor skills by picking up one dainty cheerio at a time, and so she could have just enough to hold her over before dinner.



If you put a million(okay, I'm slightly exaggerating) Cheerios in front of a hungry baby, what do you think she will do with them...That's right, start stuffing her little fists straight into her mouth like a little chipmunk gathering acorns. Check out those little balled fists in the above picture, it's like she couldn't get them in there fast enough.


Then I asked Scotty in my loving wife voice "hey sweetie, why did you have to put so many Cheerios on her tray...?" He gave the perfect manly reply: "because then it keeps her busy longer" DUH- what was I thinking, you are a man, and men solve problems. Case Closed.




So anyway, I got a good laugh out of it...and now I just know for next time I need to specify "5 or 6" Cheerios on the tray not "some".

p.s. This wasn't meant to be a "man" bashing post... just a "men are different than women" post

A little something to hold you over...

things are a somewhat slow right now in the blogging world for me, so I decided to do this tag that's going around. This is the 4th picture in the 4th folder....

This is a picture of Jack the day we got home from the hospital. When we left the hospital that day, he was weighing in at a mere 5 lbs 10 oz...he was so TINY. Notice how small his head is compared to Scotty's thumb. What a sweet little peanut!

I tag anyone who hasn't done this yet...

One final day in the sun...

Winter is fast approaching, which in Washington means rain, rain, and more rain...and NO sun. ever. for three months. (if you don't believe me, check the weather forecast) We were lucky enough to have a beautiful weekend with warm temperatures and sunshine. Even though the kids have been sick, we had to take advantage of the last few days of sun.




Jack loves to ride his little bike, it was a great way to lift his sick spirits.

Baby B. and her mamma, just relaxin in the sun. ahh, it was nice.

Not even the croup can keep this kid from having fun.

So good bye sun, it was nice to see you for a few days...I guess we'll see you again in a few months!

Holiday bazaar

NOTE:This post is mostly for my mom and sisters to show them what I was stressing about all week...so bear with me people.

This weekend I decided to take do a bazaar on my own. (another note: this bazaar was actually at a retirement community and I thought that my stuff would appeal to the children of the resi-dents who would be there. Well, I didn't do my math quite right because the residents are like 85-ish and older, so that makes their kids like 65 and 70-ish...needless to say, the elderly crowd wasn't too hip on the vinyl signs.)

Anyway... I have really been building my inventory and so I thought I'd give it a shot. I was really worried about being able to stage things so it would have that cute "boutique appeal"...but once I got going, I actually had a lot of fun setting it all up. My mom shipped up a bunch of cards for me to sell and people really loved them. My sister Candise made some adorable pillows that helped complete my holiday touch.


I was able to snag a few staging items out of the shop to give me a little height...and some scented rosehips really drew people in. kind of a funny side note: this lady next to me was selling Scentsy(a wickless candle company) and my little rosehips were overpowering her candles.

I have added a few new maget boards to my inventory, and though they didn't sell well, I think they will be really popular in shows to come!

Even though the sales were quite dismal, I had a great time interacting with the elderly folks of olympia. My little 85 year old pal Gladys next to me made a killing on her crocheted towels, hats, and sweaters...next year I will have to take up knitting if I want to sell more!

Happy Birthday Jack!

I know I'm about a month late on this one, but in the Springer house we celebrate birthdays when it's convenient for everyone to join the party. Besides, does a two year old REALLY know that it's his birthday? Nope, not this one.

We had everyone over for a fabulous dinner of chicken enchiladas (thanks sis for the recipe...people were RAVING about them.)

When we went to Utah a few weeks ago my mom got Jack hooked on Choo-choo's, so it seemed appropriate to have a train cake for the big day. NOTE for any one wondering: I used Twinkies as the train cars, tootsie rolls as the rail road ties, mini oreos for the wheels, and a mini Reese's peanut butter cup stacked on some shaped starbursts for the smoke stack. I had a blast trying to be creative on making a miniature model train out of candy...and all the kids LOVED it! For the adults enjoyment that cake was four layers with a hefty butter cream frosting and raspberry filling. delicious.

Needless to say Jack loved the cake and kept pointing out the "choo-choo" on it.

Scotty had to help blow out the candles because jack wouldn't get near the "hot".

Grandma Susie and Grandpa Terry gave jack an awesome radio flyer tricycle with a handle on the end so we can push him around until he learns to pedal on his own...I'm tellin' ya, people have thought of EVERYTHING when it comes to toys! He also got a Cars helmet, and if you all knew how much this kid LOVES Cars and McQueen, you would know how cool that is.

Even though it was dark, cold, and raining, we had to try this thing out...He's looking pretty sporty on this bad boy.

On a slightly mushy side, we want Jack to know how much we love and care about him. His smile can brighten the room and his giggle is absolutely contagious. We feel blessed on a daily basis to have this little ray of sunshine in our lives.

We love you buddy!

A lady bug, a pirate, and some swashbuckling fun!!

Halloween is always a lot of fun at the Springer house. Everyone came over for a yummy dinner of taco soup, and then the moms took 11 grand kids trick-or-treating. luckily we live in the perfect neighbor hood...it's about forty houses, all really close together, and EVERYONE gets into the Halloween spirit. People decorate their front porches with lights, spider webs, fog machines, and play spooky music; and a few even set up haunted houses.

Bianca was a lady bug, but since the little darling goes to bed at 6:00, she missed all the festivities (we had to have a picture to send to Nana in Utah).



Jack was a fierce pirate...but probably the cutest fierce pirate I've ever seen. I didn't think he would get the whole trick-or-treating scene, but wanted to take him to a few houses. Boy was I wrong!! he stayed with all the kids and even carried his own treat pumpkin (until it got too heavy and mom had to hold it). He loved to go knock on the door and say "trick-treat"

Sometimes we had to stop for a little treat break...come on people, do you really expect a 2 year old to have a whole bag of candy and not eat ONE piece!


We had a great evening, but now I am stuck with all jacks candy...all he cares about are the dum-dums and smarties, go figure. Looks like I will be stuffing my face with all his snickers bars and peanut butter cups for the next few days. darn.

Lattin's

With two very young kids, sometimes it's hard to find something fun that the whole family can do and really enjoy themselves. Well, we found that something this weekend...it was the perfect combination of low stress-low budget-fun for an hour-parents not wanting to strangle themselves-fun. The place was called Lattin's, it is a little apple farm near our house. It had a little wagon ride, a fun little petting zoo where you could feed all the animals, and all their apples were only .99 cents a pound...as anyone aver had a HONEYCRISP apple? If you haven't, go to the store and fork out the 3.49 a lb. all you non-Washingtonian people are paying...it's definitely worth it.

You can see Bianca is thoroughly enjoying herself..

Jack was like a little kid in a candy store (or a petting zoo) at Lattin's... This picture pretty much sums up his expression for the ENTIRE hour that we were there....

This was our pathetic attempt to get a picture of me and Bianca on the hay ride. The whole ride was so bumpy...we couldn't even hold the camera still long enough to get one decent shot. And believe me, we tried!

hmm...a semi-okay looking family picture. At least all faces are pointed in the right direction. Does that EVER happen?!?

Jack and scotty raced to the car...I think Jack could could have won, but right after this picture was taken the poor kid bit the dust. Quite literally.

You know it's a good family outing when jack can't even stay awake for the 10 minute drive home...we tuckered this kid right out!

A short, informative conversation

Warning: this post contains "potty humor", if it offends you please move on to your next blog.

Before I share the conversation that occurred between me and Jack, I must fill you in on a few things so you can get a better mental image.

1. Many of you have witnessed "the face", but if you haven't you should know that ever since Jack was a newborn, when he tries to potty, this is the face he makes...
Yes, it is funny but I do hope for his sake he grows out of it eventually.

2. Jack has begun to talk. A lot. He is like a little parrot so we really have to watch what we say to him. Because he is learning new words, he is much easier to communicate with.

ok, now that you are up to speed, this is the short, yet informative conversation that occurred:

Jack in the corner, grunting and making "the face".

Me: "What are you doin' over there buddy?"

more grunting

Jack(with a crinkled nose): "I stink...I stink...I pooh"
***I imagine he is saying this because when ever I change his diaper I always say "whew, that stinks Jack"

Me: "Okay, are you done so we can change you"

Jack: "no"

Grunt, and more of "the face"

Jack: "YES!!"

Oh, the sweet joys of motherhood.

Thank you Jack, for making me smile all day long...even if it is in a sick sort of way!

A busy weekend

As some of you know, I help my sister in laws with their little boutique called Waddell Creek Rustics. This weekend we did one of the biggest shows of the year called "The Secret Garden". Along with my vinyl signs, I decided to try my hand at some confections. I made these white chocolate carmeled apples and people LOVED them. I sold out my entire inventory on the first day.



Scott brought the kids down to visit one day and Jack was enthralled with the flowers or "wowers" as he calls them. He thinks they are "petee"

I thought this picture of Scott and Bianca was darling...gotta love that chub!





Mustard yellow is starting to come back into style from the seventies. We had a lady comment, "I just got my mom to get rid of all her nasty mustard stuff, and now it's coming back. great. I guess it's coming back cuter though"



We are having another show this weekend, so things are going to get crazy again! I do have a lot of fun though...and luckily I have a VERY patient husband who is nice enough to help out.