Those Crafty Leprechauns

Before bed on St. Patrick's Day Eve Trinity decided she was going to make a leprechaun trap. She was very excited to catch one. Hmmmm, I wasn't aware we did such things in our family and panicked at the lack of supplies I had on hand. The kids went to bed and I tried my best at leprechaun tricks.
Thankfully, a leprechaun did come but outsmarted the hi-tech paper trap. In it, he left leprechaun poop. He then stacked chairs on top of the kitchen table.

He make a trail of green pipe cleaners leading to the refrigerator...

where he left mint chocolate chip milkshakes for the kids.

phew!

Pączki Love

Just one of Easter's festivities. The kids favorite are chocolate. Mama has a sweet spot for strawberries/custard.

Feeding Nature

Once the sun came out and weather became a bit more mild, we headed outside to hear the birds tweet. We decided to make bird feeders for them. We gathered pine cones, spread peanut butter on them and shook them in a bag if birdseed. I then tied string on them and we hung them around the yard.
The project took about a half hour and a couple hours of laundry to get peanut butter out out their clothes. More time for bathes to get peanut butter out of their hair and I am still working on getting the peanut butter out of Trinity's purple suede boots. Memories, right?

Trinity has the Bieber Fever BAD!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Killer Beez...and other animals

Love the Target one-spot where I got these super cute masks.

Hee Haw

Field Trip

I was feeling overzealous and decided to take the kids downtown to see Daddy's work. Trinity has been asking for a year and I have been putting it off. She had the day off school so after a trip to Great Grandma/Grandpa's house and then a stop by Grandma Jo's house, we were off. Our first stop was the Board of Trade to see the trading floor and a chance to see Daddy in action.

We traveled outside to take some pictures with the statues. Everett's pose and face in this picture cracks me up.

Our next stop was Navy Pier. I had some time to kill so thought we would run around the pier. It was a nice day so the Ferris Wheel was running. Trinity was so excited to go on. My fear of heights, especially in an open cage with a toddler, almost prevented me from going on. I got to the ticket counter and saw that the ratio rule for small children was 1 adult for every 2 kids. I thought I was in the clear since I was solo with 3. The ticket guy said it was fine, apparently the death of my children was not a concern for him. We boarded and my blood pressure increased with every foot off the ground. I held Reeve so tight I thought I would suffocate him. I demanded that nobody move a muscle. Everett was sitting next to Trinity and then got up and walked over to sit by me while we were close to 150 feet in the air. I almost freaked out. I was shaking I was so scared and tears were rolling down my face. Trinity thought this was all funny. I was a wreck and never so happy to be safely back on the ground...well maybe there has been an airplane ride or two that I felt that relief as well. :)

Of course, my anxiety did not hamper my ability to take some photo memories.

Safely on the ground...

From here we picked Daddy up from work and headed to The Hackman's for John's Pizza from our old hood!

I went to bed at 8:30 in pure exhaustion.

Love Stinks

We took the kids bowling on Valentine's Day. We sported a heart shaped pizza and a hour of balancing bowling with trying to avoid broken toes. Reeve only wanted to take 6lb. balls of the rack and drop them on the floor. We left slightly stressed out but injury free.

Streaker

Every morning we find Reeve trying to escape his jammies.

Downhill

Surprisingly it was hard to find a good snow hill post blizzard. The hills did not have a lot of snow?!?!?!? We managed though. The funniest was Reeve. Not only did he grab a sled and sled down the hill by himself, which was a bit frightening for me, but he decided he didn't need a sled at all...see video below.

We lasted about 45 minutes until the cold set in. We downed some hot cocoa at the top of the hill and went down a couple more times. After putting on Reeve's mittens 20 times I had had enough. It was time to go.

Reeve wasnt happy that I picked him up to go home.

Good group shot. This one will go in my January wall frame.

Reeve's way of sledding, the video.

Reeve Sled from Leslie Campins on Vimeo.

DD Dance

Every February, our former church home in the city hosts a Daddy/Daughter Dance. This was year number 3 that Eddie has taken Trinity. It is the highlight of her year. This year was extra special since she was able to dance and have fun with a dozen of her girlfriends that she does not get to see too often these days.
She hates me saying so but she picked out her entire outfit from the dress to accessories. I thought she did a great job needing no help picking out things that went together or even matched...we have that problem sometimes.

Everett demanded that he get in a picture in his accessories. He had to go put on some of Trinity's necklaces. :)

Trinity and Emma. BFFs.

snOMG

Twenty four inches of snow. No power for 8 hours. Two tanks of gas to snow blow. Four hours to clear the driveway. Hours of fun. Hours of adventure. Hours of laughs. The greatest day of 2011...so far.

A snow tower once resembling a mailbox.

Needing to thaw in a hot tub.

Zoo Lights

We went, it was great, not sure why I never posted anything about it. A friend gave me the tip to dress the kids in their snowsuits to keep more warm. Brilliant idea. I wish I had a snowsuit cuz I was cooooold. Everett wished he had one too but I never found one in his size until recently.

Best.Present.Ever

Eddie was shopping at Home Depot before Christmas and found this giant blow up ball to put the kids in and roll around the back yard. Although their speeds vary (Trinity likes to tumble fast and Everett slow and Reeve not at all), they laugh so hard they get the hiccups and almost puke. We were able to take it for a spin before the blizzard and are awaiting a snow thaw so we can tumble around again and also so they can stop asking. You see, the ball it parked next to the car in the garage and they see it every single day. It is too big to fit through the door to get in the basement. :( Soon kiddos, soon. The groundhog says so.