Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Snapchat Fun

One of Hattie's favorite activities...ok, well mine too, is to goof around on snapchat.

See...look how fun it can be!!



Monday, January 30, 2017

Swan Lake Field Trip

After a busy week off which included Hattie's appointment with the Specialist that we have been waiting 7 months for,  a birthday party, dinner out with friends, and a host of other things, I am back to blogging and will update Hubler Planet over the next few days.

To start it off, Grammie planned a field trip for us! (Can I just say how much fun it was?!? Planning field trips is not my strength.) Swan Lake in Monticello is a place where trumpeter swans come to grab a bite to eat while they winter in MN. We watched as they were fed corn by the man who lives right along the river. It was really fun to see...and hear.

We returned back to Grammie's for lunch and art projects. Hattie made a few trumpeter swans out of construction paper, while the bigger kids made drawings of them.





This is the man who faithfully feeds the swans every day during the winter.


This little one got cold so we went back to the van where it was warm.






Friday, January 20, 2017

Five on Friday (January 20, 2017)

Highlights from the week:

1. The weather has been awesome this week! I don't venture out much in the winter, but when the temp is 20+ degrees, I take advantage of it. The kids and I spent a lot of time tinkering around on the pond. As I sit here typing, the water is dripping off the roof. In fact, we are supposed to get rain today...in January...in Minnesota...God knew I needed this. :)

2. Jason has been in Austin, TX for work since Tuesday. Sure makes a momma appreciate her husband when he leaves for the better part of a week. Since myself, Ella, and Hattie have all had miserable colds this week, I am anxious for him to return this afternoon to help me out again. Plus we miss him. It's been especially hard on the boy...he loves his Daddy something fierce.

3. Our first chatbook just arrived. I am so excited about this as it's an easy way for me to print out and journal our day-to-day family adventures that don't include a whole bunch of rambling. I love the blog, don't get me wrong, but small snippets from Instagram are a quick, fun way to capture little memories. They are already proving to be a hit with the fam.


4. We are starting to get excited about our Florida trip coming up in March. I know it's still 50+ days away, but the ocean is already whispering my name in the middle of the night. Seriously, it makes me simply giddy when I think about it for any length of time. I have about a million lists going already: menu, items for the ocean, grocery list (since we will be cooking most of our own meals), what to pack overall, who needs sunglasses/sunhat/new swimsuit/water shoes complete with everyone's sizes, a folder with all our travel information, and of course 8 weeks worth of lesson plans so we can learn all about Florida's swimming creatures and where to find them before we even set foot on the plane. Did I mention I'm a planner and that I'm excited?


5. Grammie started up Waffle Wednesday again this week and the three littles couldn't be more excited. They might have even let out a squeal when I told them what Wednesday's plan included. Grammie taught them all about opossums...I think she may have single-handedly worked an entire month's worth of science into one afternoon. (Woot, woot!) They even have a resident opossum that lives in their brush pile and "Blossom" even made an appearance to the little girls had science come to life right before their very eyes.








Thursday, January 19, 2017

Pretty in Pink




Two of my most favorite people on the planet.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Sister Slumber Party



It was dark so please forgive the photography skills at work.


The girls have been asking begging Ella to let them have a slumber party in her room for a while now. Once she realized that the question wasn't going to go away anytime soon, she conceded.

Jason hauled in both Lily and Cora's mattresses from their beds and arranged them on the floor. Hattie slept up in the bed with Ella (which is one of her favorite places to sleep in all the world).

The girls were giddy and so excited. We said prayers and sang lullabies and then I kissed each head. They wanted me to vamoose out of there so they could have some good girl time before lights out.

About 25 minutes later I heard crying. About 10 minutes after that Ella and Hattie both appeared on the stairs. According to the eye-witnesses, Cora was upset and crying because she wanted Hattie to sleep down on the floor with her. Lily wasn't crying, but was near tears and upset because Hattie wasn't going to be sleeping next to her on the floor.

I know, right? Problems of the younger crowd.

I sighed and hauled myself off the sofa. I took a deep breath and entered the room. Cora was a disaster of tears and just couldn't calm herself down so I sent her to her room to take a breather until she was ready to talk. Hattie then started crying because she wanted Cora to be a part of the sleepover.

Honestly. I just scratched my head.

I was finally able to calm them all down and make them realize that if things didn't start to shape up there would be no sleepover at all. End of discussion.

I left the room and things seemed to turn around. When morning came, each one said the sleepover was a success, that they had so much fun, and that they can't wait to do it again.

I think I'm gonna need some time.




Monday, January 16, 2017

New Year's Eve 2016

Disclaimer: This was in my drafts folder!! I thought I had published this about 2 weeks ago! Arg!


*****


We spent New Year's Eve at Grammie and Papa's house this year. It seemed like the happenin' place to be since Jamie, Jordan, Aaliyah, and Jill (and fam) had all come home for the holiday.

We feasted on homemade Jimmy John's sandwiches. I am usually not a sandwich person, but give me some bread from Jimmy John's and a boring sandwich can be instantly transformed into good eats.

The festivities started off at 7pm. I had an activity bag to ring in each hour, little did I know that we wouldn't get to half of it. The 7pm bag contained crafts...make your own party hat, make your own noise maker, word search, and some coloring pages. And for the adults: pipe cleaner glasses contest. I couldn't believe that they actually took part in this one! Here are some pics to prove I'm not making this up:

He said he hated this, but I secretly think he liked it ;)


Jason had to run home to grab the pop I forgot sitting in the garage, so I modeled his creation.



I'm not sure who used the most pipe cleaners...Grammie or Papa...


The 8pm activities were Minute to Win It games.



9pm rolled around and we decided it was time to eat. I put together a charcuterie board. What is that you ask? It's a fancy French word for meats, cheeses, nuts, dried and fresh fruits, olives, hummus, artichokes, etc. Pretty much anything you would like to nosh on.


Dance Party!! The 10pm activity was the biggest hit of the night. It was complete with laser lights, glow sticks, and some rocking music. The kids went wild and would have danced the rest of the night away if we would have let them. The adults were a little more subdued and had retreated to the basement for some games.

11pm came and you could tell everyone was getting tuckered out. Everyone became a little more calm, a little more quiet, and the adults were trying to convince the kids we could just turn the clock forward and pretend midnight was here. Unfortunately, they were having none of it. Hattie however, as much as she tried to convince us she wasn't at all tired, layed down on my lap and promptly fell asleep...like in about 2 seconds. She was quickly transferred to a bedroom.




The magic hour of midnight!! We watched the final 45 seconds of the ball dropping, popped our hanging balloon filled with confetti, and wished everyone a happy new year. Upon completion of the cheering, we promptly cleaned up, loaded the van, and hauled 5 very, very tired children home.

I'm happy to report that all children slept in a little the next morning. Lily was the first up (no surprise here) at 9:30am and the rest rolled out of bed shortly after. For as tired as we still were, the kids all agreed it was the best New Year's Eve party. So I guess there's that. :)

Here are a few pics from earlier in the day. All the boy cousins/fam came over and got a game of boot hockey going on the ultra slippery ice. It was a beautiful day weather wise...almost 24 degrees so the guys had a ton of fun.





Five on Friday (except it's Monday...January 16, 2017)

The highlights of last week were:

1. Jason has worked a ton. It seems as though there's never an end in sight as his to-do list is constantly getting added to. With all the extra hours being put in during the beginning of the week, it allowed for him to work from home on Friday...which also meant a family outing for lunch to meet Nana and Paul.

2. Last week proved to be very challenging in regards to Hattie's tummy. We have been in a valley as of late and this week was no exception. Probably some of the hardest nights we have had in a while. The pain was enough to wake her up out of dead sleep multiple times a night causing her to cry out and crunch up into the fetal position. As a parent, this is hard to see. It's difficult when you know you have no idea how to fix it and yet have all the desire in the world to do so.


3. West started back up for Ella and as much as she is enjoying it there, it's always hard to get back into routine. (insert: nagging from mom)


4. Busy schedule from last week: I volunteered at the Concessions at Pact so I can get my volunteer hours in for the month. My shift was from 4-8:30...that means a lot of requests for hot dogs, power-aids, and popcorn. And a lot of standing for me. I have one more shift yet this month. I signed myself up for a pile of spots so I can make up for the lack of volunteering at the beginning of the school year (since I was busy getting our own school going). Mom and I went to the convention center in Mpls to the Hardware Hank Convention. Julie and Gary showed us around and it was fun to be a part of their world for an afternoon. It came complete with a massage. Afterwards we went out for supper at Dino's. I forget what a nice break it is to eat without having to remind people to stay in their seats or cut food up into bite size pieces. Awana and Kids Choir started back up for the second half of the year.


5. Nana and Paul took us all out to the theater to see Sing on Friday. It was utterly and absolutely adorable. I plan to purchase this one when it comes out on dvd. 

Happy Friday....hmmmm...or Monday!




Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Preschool Days with Ella

Another school day for Hattie. Today she was learning about the letter "I"...so Ella made some gloop...because it felt "icky". I'm not sure Hattie agrees as I think she thinks it's great now that she's gotten to play around with it. :)



At least Ella had the idea of using a plastic "glove" so it wouldn't turn her hand purple. :)

"Ick"


I can see we have a little work to do on how she holds that marker.

Thursday, January 5, 2017

Preschool Days with Ella

A few more pics of things that Ella has done with Hattie.

I'm thinking that next year she can teach her baby sister to read. ;)



 Practicing her letters


Book making (She loves making books!!) 




Learning about the Pioneers



Learning how big the world is.