The past two weeks have been fun and have felt very normal. We have been busy but not too busy and no one has been sick. Josh worked the Sports and Entertainment Expo one weekend so the kids and I went to the zoo. Mallory is such a great baby. This is her cat napping in the stroller.

One day last week I changed her diaper and went to get more wipes. When I came back she had fallen asleep and it was still and hour and a half until nap time!

One of the last snow days we had, Josh had taken my car to work and we were caught up on chores so we played and made messes all day. One of the kids favorite things to do is platy with goop. It is a mixture of cornstarch, water, and food coloring. I let them go crazy with it and this is what I ended up with.

Thankfully it cleans up really easily!

Kinley's has two new sayings "trust me on this" and "you are such a meanie".

We also counted every hat in the house. We have 33 hats! Then we tried them all on. James is so handsome!

He managed to wear 12 hats at once!

One afternoon we had to go to the doctor so Mallory didn't get a nap. I rocked her and we took a little cat nap together. I never get to hold her sleeping because the other two keep me so busy. It is a rare and fleeting treat!

We went to an infectious disease specialist for Kinley's fever. My doctor was afraid she had Rheumatic Fever because her hand had swollen up twice for no apparent reason, she'd had a long term low grade fever, and we had found a heart murmur. The specialist looked her over really well and listened to our story. He felt that she was just dealing with little everyday viruses back to back and the three issues were just a coincidence and not a sign of a bigger infection. He told me to quit taking her temperature and move on. That is what I needed to hear. I was getting a little crazy over it all.

Mallory has been experimenting with biter biscuts, puffs, and sippy cups. She seems to like them all and is getting better at the motor control it takes to enjoy them.

Granddad, Nana, and Aunt Jennifer came to visit this weekend. We took them to the zoo. Every time I am there with the kids they beg to ride the carousel or train and I always say "not today, maybe when we have a grand parent with us you'll get to". So we walk by the carousel and James says "hey mom, granddad is here, so he can pay for us to ride the carousel!" He definitely has the system figured out! We are so spoiled by our parents. It is a huge blessing to get to do fun things and have luxuries to enjoy with our kids.

James has been asking a lot of questions about salvation. He has even begged to have Jesus in his heart on three different occasions. I always tell him that Jesus will knock on his heart and we will all know when it's the right time. I'm not so sure that is the right thing to do anymore. We have a lot of conversations about sin and what Jesus did for us so I think it is all starting to come together in his mind and heart. I used to think it was one specific moment that a person is saved but I'm not so sure that is true. I think it might be a season of learning and believing then there comes a moment when you claim it out loud and another moment where hopefully you are baptized and share your salvation with the world. Then I think there are many seasons and moments where you have the choice to choose God's path or your own (nothing to do with salvation) I think James' moment of speaking his belief and choosing God's path for this part of his journey is coming soon. Say a prayer for him and us during this very important season.

We have the best backyard for little boys. They were bringing dirt back from the Chili Bowl and an array of dirt moving machinery made the tallest dirt hill we've ever had. This particular day we were babysitting Ezra and Levi. All 4 of them stayed out there in the cold north wind for and hour watching with jaws on the ground.

Kinley has continued to have a low grade fever so we went back to the doctor. They ordered a lot of blood work, a urine culture and, due to a heart murmur, an ultrasound of her heart. We did the blood work last week. They had to draw 4 viles of blood from her arm just like they do an adult. I was scared to death of how badly she would thrash and scream. My dear friend Alicia met me at the lab and helped me hold Kinley down so the tech could get the blood. Much to our surprise, she did not wiggle a bit! Right when the needle went in she closed her eyes and cried a really pathetic cry then after a second she started watching the blood fill the viles and she was calm. I was so proud of how brave she was. The hardest thing we had to do was get her to pee on command. She had four suckers in one hour because I was bribing and rewarding her for everything. We should know results next week. Due to the cost of a pediatric cardiologist we have decided to go back to our pediatrician for a recheck on her heart. If they are still concerned about the murmur then we will probably go for the echo next week.

Mallory is officially sitting up. She still topples occasionally but is doing really well balancing and grabbing toys. She needs to start sitting and rolling more because she is starting to get bored and telling me about it!

Last weekend Josh and I got to get away to a cabin at Big Cedar, thanks to Nana and Grandad! We were scheduled to stay Saturday through Tuesday. Once we heard there was going to be a winter storm we decided that we would stay because the weathermen often hype things up and we just didn't want to cut our vacation short. My parents had the kids and they said to go ahead and stay and see what happens. Well, it was snowpocalypse 2011, so we got to double our vacation! We ended up having to stay 6 nights! We loved every minute. We stayed in a cabin for three nights, a suite on the top floor of a lodge for two nights, then an end room on the top floor that had beautiful corner windows for the last night. We didn't mind all the moving, it kept us from going stir crazy and we got a clean room every couple of days! We played games, watched movies, read books, played Wii, and reveled in having cable TV. We did nothing of worth and it was bliss! The 9 hours of white knuckle driving to get home took a toll on the relaxation but we are home and unpacked and still refreshed from our break.

Bop and Gigi kept the kids for our long vacation. They loved being snowed in together. Above they are zoning out to a movie - I love the TV zone face! They did all kinds of fun things...the kids are going to think real life is so boring.

The pictures don't do it justice but these are pictures of the views at Big Cedar in the snow.