Hot Tub Surprise!!

Last week, I worked hard to surprise Chris with a hot tub.  It was no easy feat.  Jarod, Shawn, and I had the afternoon off and were able to go with me to Manhattan.  Jarod had a friend that we borrowed a trailer from. I borrowed a truck from Buddy.  We borrowed heavy-duty tie-downs from Jarod's brother, Jamie.  There were just so many people that helped make our surprise a success and so many things that could have gone wrong -- but it all came together beautifully!  And most importantly, Chris was truly surprised and pleased.

Over the last week, we have had to jump a few hurdles to get the hot tub into working order, but today Chris was able to take his first DIP in our hot tub!!  WooHoo!!

Ledger is mad that he wasn't allowed to get in the hot tub with Daddy.

False Start to Spring

Last weekend, the weather was in the 60s and 70s and I quickly started to think that it was possible that we were nearly done with winter and that maybe the groundhog was right this year.  Maybe it really would be an early spring.  But, no.  Punxsutawney Phil should be fired.

On Sunday night, the temperatures started getting colder and now we have a layer of frozen ice below about 1.5 inches of snow again.  I really am ready to be done with winter and head into spring, but I guess it's just not time yet.  I did take this opportunity to introduce Ledger to the joys of eating snow... YUM!   One of my friend suggested flavoring the snow with chocolate, but I couldn't bring myself to taint the pure goodness of mother nature.  So he had it plain.  He loved it!!  And continued to eat it until his little hands were frozen and bright red.

What a Weekend!

This past weekend started out with a big surprise... I surprised Chris with a hot tub on Friday.  Jarod and Shawn and I borrowed a truck from Buddy and a trailer from a friend-of-a-friend and drove to Manhattan to pick up the tub.  We then had to remove the fence at home, move the hot tub into the back yard and return the borrowed truck and trailer, all before Chris came home from work at 4:00.  He was really surprised -- too stunned to really react.  After the big "reveal", Shawn, Jarod, and Briana came over to grill burgers and move the tub up onto the deck.  Our evening got cut short when Jarod had to head off to work and I suddenly started feeling sick.

By Saturday morning I was feeling quite a bit better.  We headed to Lindsborg in the morning to hang out with Oma and Dooda and Emily and Josh.  We played the Michael Jackson Experience on Wii and had SO much fun.  It is quite a work out!  I took some videos, but they didn't turn out the way I wanted them to.  Ledger danced a little bit with Mommy and Daddy but really enjoyed RUNNING on the back deck and enjoying the incredible weather -- with temps reaching 70*F on Saturday!  After an afternoon nap, we had steak dinner together and put Ledger to bed in Lindsborg.  And then we played pegs & jokers until after 11pm!  (The girls' team had a winning night!)

On Sunday, we ate lunch with Grammie and Grandpa before heading back to Lindsborg to continue day #2 of games and competition.  A marathon session of Crazy Bee Rummy ended up with ME winning!  Woohoo!!  Ledger loved playing in Dooda's truck whenever he could convince someone to take him outside!

It was a great weekend! Busy and full, but we all left with smiles on our faces!

Project: Big Boy Bed

We started Ledger in a toddler bed this week and many of you are wondering how it's going.  So far, it is going GREAT!!  Every night, he loves getting into his big boy bed by himself, being tucked in, and curling up for bed with his blankie.  The best part is that he actually stays in bed all night long and even waits in his bed in the morning until we come down to get him up.  It's amazing.  I don't necessarily think that this will last long term, but I can dream!! :)  This morning, when I went to get him out of bed, I took my camera and snapped a few pictures of him waking up in his big boy bed!

Happy Valentine's Day

Last week we made Valentine's Day cards for Ledger's grandparents and aunts/uncles/cousins. :)  We took paints and made hand and footprint cards.  We had a great time and didn't make too much of a mess.

  

Happy Valentine's Day to all of our friends and family.  

We love you!!

UPDATE: Chris and I celebrated Valentine's Day very low-key.  We had dinner with Pam and Steve and then came home to put Ledger to bed.  My husband made me the perfect Valentine's Day card (pictured below) and then our evening ended with two big surprises -- K-State beat #1 ranked KU in basketball and then the Rock returned to WWE wrestling after 7 years!!  It turned out to be a fantastic Valentine's Day!!

Big Boy Bed

This afternoon, Ledger just wouldn't settle down at nap time.  When I went into his bedroom to find out what was keeping him awake, I found him on the floor with his blanket.  Somehow he escaped from his crib.  I can only guess that he clambered up on top of his crib bumper and managed to get one foot over the edge of his crib and completely crash from the top of his crib to the floor -- about a 4 foot fall!

So this evening, we made the decision to convert his crib into a toddler bed.  Tonight we are embarking on the exciting adventure of moving Ledger into a BIG BOY BED!!!

UPDATE:  I was unprepared for how excited Ledger was going to be when we introduced him to his big boy bed.  I would have had the video camera handy so that I could show you all how excited he was!  He crawled right up into his bed and said "NIGHT, NIGHT"  I did run down and get the camera so that I could show you his excited face!

Basketball Baby!

Yesterday we went to watch cousin Ethan play basketball -- it was a great game with a last second basket to win the game.  Lots of our family was there, including Lynnda and Warren Olson, Tyler and Carrie Olson with their sons Gavin and Grady, and Tracy with her kids Isaac and Faith.  Ledger loves playing with big kids and kept saying Isaac's name over and over until we got to play with him at halftime.  Here is a picture of our little cheering section:

As much as I hate to admit it, we have a growing little boy on our hands.  He loves to RUN and play!  So as soon as the last buzzer sounded and the court cleared off, we released Ledger to RUN with his cousins.  A few of the bigger kids got out basketballs and he loved chasing them all over the place.  I managed to get a couple of good pictures...

Snow White

Last week, the midwest was blanketed with snow and freezing cold temperatures.  Here in Salina, we only got about 3 inches of snow on top of a sheet of ice and it resulted in 3 days off of school.  We were lucky though... many areas around us got 8+ inches of snow and blizzard conditions.

Today, we got our blizzard.  It started snowing about 2 a.m. and still hasn't stopped.  By 1 p.m., we "officially" had 8 inches.  School didn't get cancelled, even though the roads were insanely snow packed and the salt and scraper trucks just couldn't keep up with the snowfall.  We really feel snowed in!  Here is the view on our back deck.... about 12" of snow next to our back door with a drift about 2 1/2 feet on our back deck:

As crazy as it seems and despite the fact that it was freezing cold, Ledger threw a fit until I let him "walk in the snow".  I insisted that we put on his boots, gloves, and hat and then he was OFF.  He plowed through the knee-deep snow all the way from our front door to our mailbox!

Football Fans

As you probably already know, we are a family of football fans!  We are working on passing our love of the game on to our son.  So in honor of Super Bowl weekend, here is the Michel family teaching Ledger a football fan favorite...