NEW BLOG!

My Blog has moved.... my very cool, techy hubby has made it automatic if you log onto either
www.robsmith.net
or
www.suzannetiffany.blogspot.com
or
www.martiville.com

However, if you are using Google Reader, please update your subscribe to get the latest happenings in "Martiville". ;)

The Life and Times of Sugar and Spice has been moved to:

http://martiville.wordpress.com/

"Please make a note of it". Does anyone remember this from the days of land lines? ;)

Mr. Mischief Strikes Again

To begin, have I posted yet that Uncle Mike thinks Rob should register the domain "StuffMyKid TakesApart.com"? Honey, you better get on that....

I was doing a little home improvement and saw no concern for allowing Andy to play with the drill. I've heard of aerating your lawn. But your carpet? Honey, this was not my idea. Granted, I've wanted new carpets for a very long time. But I do not want to completely destroy what we have. ;)



Yes, he was very successful at drilling into my carpets.

It took me a while, but I was able to remove them all without noticeable damage. Phew... dodged that mischief bullet.
He's mischief, but he's also super sweet. Here he is celebrating his favorite puppy lovey (Thanks again Mamaw and Dopadop). He made little Play dough cupcakes.

Andy loves his puppy. His new favorite phrase is, "I like it! Do you like it?"
I think Puppy likes it. Pupppy's name other than "Doggie" or "Puppy"? Brown. Yeah, we are super creative like that. At least it's not Pink. For the longest time, we wondered if Andy was actually color blind. EVERYTHING was pink. The joys of having a big sister. ;)

Bragging rights

It's always really cool when your competition mentions you....

Here is an email that Rob and I got a good chuckle out of. ;)

Name: Darcy Mulhaupt
City: Orange
State: CA
How they found the website: mentioned at HWT workshop

Hi

I was at the HWT Print Tool workshop and the instructor mentioned the OT on a shoestring budget workshop and I wanted to know if you are going to be in the Southern California area anytime soon. Please let me know. Thanks

Darcy


Ahhh... I love my job. I still think my best brag story is when I was on a plane and a course participant was sitting next to me on the plane. When she found out my name, you would have thought she was sitting next to someone famous. It was pretty flattering. And completely silly.

Good thing I have Suzy to keep me humble...

Travels and such

The last few weeks have gone so quickly. Lots of fun being had, but the camera is getting a little rusty. I hope to remedy that on Thursday.

Rob brought home some fire trucks from his work trip up to NYC. (Dare I tell him I saw the same set in the airports in both Seattle and Denver this week??? Guess I just did.)
Suzy adores this puppy that she received over a year ago from my Aunt Barb. It has had several names including Suzy and Puppy. And many others I simply can't re-pronounce.
My Portland work trip was a huge success with Suzy getting to spend some time with her cousins up in Seattle. They went to the beach the day I was working. Suzy had such a great time and I'm so glad I brought her with me. A definite highlight of my spring already. Maybe I'll post more about this later.... In summary, she is an excellent travel buddy and I enjoy her more with each passing year. Yup, I'm liking 5.
Uncle Jim made heart shaped chocolate chip pancakes and we attempted chocolate covered strawberries for Valentine's Day. They were yummy. And not badly decorated for little girls.
My favorite group shot of the weekend. A pretty posed photo just isn't happening at this stage. Granted, I only had my camera out for about five minutes, so I won't be too critical. We are hoping to get a good group shot this summer when we vacation together.
Speak no evil. See no evil. Pray Aunt Marti will put her camera away...

What do you do when it's -12

So, what do you do with two young children in -12 weather?

You wait longingly to go outside for a five minute romp.
You drink a lot of hot cocoa and eat a lot of cookies.
Play with random little cheap toys.
Play with Cars. A. LOT. You play with cars a lot.
Make sure Puppy feels included.
Never do anything with out Puppy.
Read LOTS of books.
Watch a few movies.
Puzzles.
Squinkies.
Pillow People.
Watch Funniest Home Movies with Uncle Bruce.
Make your own books. I got this idea from the uber tallented Amy-Rose King. I took some of Suzy's favorite little choking hazards, took photos, and pasted them into a board book we no longer read.

Both kids absolutely love it. It is so fun and there are so many language concepts we can work on with this book. Very OT, even if it was a nurse's idea... ;)
I got frustrated and decided we WILL make a snow man. Even if the snow won't stick. I made a snow mound. I like him.
Andy wasn't a huge fan. But he liked the Oreo part.

Snow mound or not, -12 is still VERY cold.

We couldn't make snow balls. But we could pick up chunks left behind by the plow.

They would burst upon impact with the air. Great for a fight without injury.

Another snow fort "mound".
The snow plow.
We stopped to see Aunt Laura on the way home. We had to re-route and it took us 10 hours to get to Oklahoma City, (a five hour trip).
Yes, I believe they do look alike. ;) Jimmy is my original "mini me". We used to say that Laura had my baby for me since I couldn't.
Jimmy is fabulous with his little cousins.

So, there you are. If you ever get stranded in a blizzard, I hope you now have some ideas on how to make it fun. :)

Home

Home again, Home again, Jiggity Jig!

It took us two long days and we had to go "home by another way". But we are safe and (70 degrees!!!!) warm in Austin. I am very grateful that we missed the front that came in yesterday and the bigger ones projected to arrive tomorrow. :) God is good. My kids are amazing in the car, by the way..... I'm just sayin'......

Thanks for all the prayers!

Kansas

Ummmm... Dorothy.... please tell Auntie Em we are ready to not be in Kansas any more! ;)

We tried to leave today. But my car is in the shop... I have frozen windshield fluid lines. Apparently, when they filled them at the shop in Texas, I failed to mention I would be in -12 weather. Apparently, there are two kinds of fluid. One with anti-freeze and one without. Guess which one we use in Texas?

Oy. Vey. More photos to come... maybe. My kids are a little "done" right now. ;)

Snow Day

The kids and I have attempted to drive to Indiana for Grandma's 90th birthday party. Have you heard? We got a little snow up here. ;) We left early to beat the storm to Aunt Deb's in Pittsburgh, KS. This is where most of the snow is being dumped. Thankfully, we have power and no ice, so it's not really horrible. Just cold. Really cold. And LOTS of snow. But it's dry. So for a 5 and 2 year old, it's not so great. They can see it. They want desperately to build a snowman. But it's - 12 outside. -12 snow doesn't pack well. Oh well. We have electricity and great company.It was an official white out blizzard.
Uncle Bruce has spent the majority of our time here out snow blowing. Trying to keep ahead of it so that it doesn't ice over too bad.
Andy prefers to watch Uncle Bruce from the new garage. The winds were CRAZY. Kansas kinda crazy. If you look closely, you can see it blowing in the doorway.
Can you see the ice hanging from his mustache?

The first three hours, over 12 inches fell.
I have no idea how much is out there now. But it's a LOT. It takes 20 minutes to suit up the kids, and they last about three minutes before wanting the fire.

We don't have a sled. But trash bags work well with two year olds.
Andy's new posture. I'm cold. And I'm miserable. Please put down the camera and take me inside.
He likes the fire.
And watching Uncle Bruce through the window.
He was so cold, he let me change him out of his McQueen uniform clothing and into warmer jammies.
Footie Jammies. I love footie jammies.
And just because it's cute, here he is saying meal time prayers.
Hope you are staying warm! The party has been canceled. So, I'm not sure what our next move will be.... Regardless, we won't be driving anywhere for a few more days!