On an island in the snow...

    For those that don't know me, I'm not a huge fan of the snow. In fact I really, really do not like the snow. Incredibly ironic since I live in Central NY - I know! I will be the first to agree that it is absolutely beautiful when it is snowing and seeing the glistening snow cover the landscape but the realist in me sets in and soon sees the grey dirty snow from the salt covered roads, the dirty dingy piles in parking lots and the soppy wet ground it will leave behind once it starts to melt away.
   Lucky for my kids, the Hubs doesn't mind the snow. In fact he welcomes the snow with open arms. (When it snows it's really good for business in the snow mobile portion of his job and his hobby of snow plow small engine repair.) I, on the other hand, will continue to gladly watch them frolic around outside from the comfort and heat of the house.
    In our recent lake effect snow storm we got dumped with a few feet of snow so the crew was more than excited to bundle up and venture into the white unknown while Bear and I watched from the bay window.
    The Hubs snow plowed a gigantic pile of snow in our front yard and what resulted a mound of snow aka Snow Island (here is where Weezer's Island in the Sun plays). The kids had such a blast climbing up and down the sides. Tack on some round sleds and they were out there for a long time - that is until one got snow in the face and finally admitted they were cold and wanted to come inside for some hot chocolate.

    What do you and your kiddos enjoy doing in the snow? Snow people? Snow mobiling? Iceskating? Extreme sledding?

Goodbye 2013, Hello SIL!

    We had a crazy, hectic and amazingly beautifully chaotic holiday season! We made it through one "not-so-happy/scary" surprise and celebrated through a "very happy" surprise. My brother married his fiancé just days before Christmas! We were given a week's notice that they were going to have a ceremony on December 22 instead of in July (due to another "very happy" surprise). I sprang into action to organize everything or as much as I could for us!
    A little confession - I shop year round to avoid being out in the stores this time of year. I try to avoid it like head lice, pink eye, anything that stinks!! The crowds and drivers are just not my cup of tea to deal with BUT I put my big girlie panties on and sucked it up. It wasn't too bad of an experience. The sales I scored help hash out the rudeness of people.
    Five stores, four freaked out decisions, three annoyed kids from trying stuff on, two purchased shirt/tie combos for the Hubs and one meltdown cryfest (that was me - not the kids) we had our wardrobe all secured.

The boys rocked the plaid ties.

The girls rocked the sparkle!

    Luckily, I had purchased my gift to my future SIL but didn't have time to give it to her before the ceremony. It was her something new, something blue. I did give it to her afterwards. Unfortunately, I had a great shower gift planned out but wasn't able to create it - maybe another bridal shower - keep that pin handy for me Pintrest. I also didn't have the chance to create the wedding gift I had wanted to in time and thankfully I didn't preorder when I had the chance or else it would have had the wrong date on.
    Boiling this whole story down, it ended up being a beautiful ceremony and a wonderful evening. I am very happy for my Brother and his Wife! She is now officially my SIL and the kids are over the moon she's "Aunt L" now. And besides we all looked damn good in our clothes too! (brushes dust off shoulder - haha)

Rocking the purple tights!

Don't mind the messy table.

Dzia Joe putting on Bear's shoes.

Antsy antics

Mr & Mrs!

Trey popped up just as I clicked - awesome sauce.

Yummy!

    Enjoy the honeymoon guys because in 5 months it's going to be crashed!! 

#ShareJoy with Starbucks

    We were given the fabulous opportunity to sample some Starbucks Holiday Blend - an herbal blend with sweet maple notes in a Latin American and Indonesian coffee blend aka Cloud9 in a cup! 
    We were sent a beautiful box that when opened sprouted some shiny, red happiness to our kitchen. (insert the angels song - ahhhhhh)

 

 

    Since the Hubs proved time and time again that he can't pull off a decent pot of coffee - it was usually watery - I caved and treated myself with a Keurig. Call me a coffee snob - I'll own up to it. And for special coffees and fun blends we use our reusable cup.
    So I loaded up my red reusable cup and pushed the flashing blue button to brew up a cup of the Holiday Blend. (I used my own cup because it is taller than the pretty red cups that came in the box just to prevent the coffee from dripping and splashing all over.)

    With a splash of cream I grabbed my cup and had hoped to sit and sip in silence but my little guy decided it was time to get up for the day. Luckily he is pretty chill in the morning so he just sat beside me and played with his cars drinking his oj while I enjoyed my coffee.

    The aroma is just as pleasant as the taste! Starbucks pulled off another great blend. It is complex yet simple enough to enjoy with any sweet treat - little guy and I opted to bust open some cinnamon breakfast cookies while we waited for the others to wake up. Which was a wonderfully relaxing moment after our recent tailspin of a holiday (where Bear ended up in the hospital).

    By the time the Hubs rolled out of bed I was brewing another cup for me and one for him. His verdict? A thumbs up!
    Are your taste buds jealous? They should be!! Lucky for you I have a bag of it to giveaway!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclosure: Modern Mom and Starbucks supplied the Starbucks coffee and cups to help facilitate this review and for the giveaway. No other compensation was received. All opinions expressed are my own!

Who knew? RSV

    Recently my youngest had her routine 18mo doctor appointment and received a few shots. The doctor said she may develop a fever in a few days which is a normal reaction. So when she actually did get one a few days later we just gave her some fever reducer and lots of cuddles. We didn't think anything of the cough she had since her older two siblings had a little cough as well. (Insert some witty saying about this not being our first parent rodeo here)
    Fast forward a day or two to Christmas day and my little happy Bear wasn't her usual self - she wasn't running around and eating everything in sight and had zero interest in her beloved rainbow popsicle sticks. She did not want to leave Daddy's side. I tried to keep her up on her fluids but she was loosing interest fast. So we called the docs to take her in and honestly it's scary how it was perfect timing.
    As I was home with the older two kids, who were enjoying a candy cane watching a new movie while I was vacuuming I received a call from the Hubs saying to pack some diapers, wipes and a change of clothes. My heart dropped. Everything around me blurred out as tears built up in my eyes. The older two must have had a surge of sibling-spidey-sense because they came to my side to comfort me so quickly I gather myself back up and explained that Daddy was stopping by home to pick up some things so he and Bear could go to the children's hospital. (We are very open with our children on information which may be a curse and a blessing but for the moment that's how we roll.)
    I tossed everything in a bag and Trey even grabbed the stuffed bear she received from Santa to include in the bag. In a blink the Hubs was in the house then out. I asked him to call me when they had a chance at the hospital. 
    When the phone call finally came I learned that Bear's oxygen level was in the low 80s, high fever of 102 and she had labored breathing with a rapid heart rate. She was also dehydrated. The hospital ended up keeping her overnight to continue the IV drip and oxygen feed as well as observation. She had tested positive for the RSV virus. We were finally discharged the next day once she was able to hold an oxygen count of 94+ while she slept. Her fever was gone, her heart rate slowed to normal and she was drinking on her own. We were told her raspy cough would remain for a while and that her appetite would come back slowly. Luckily, we didn't need any equipment or drugs to continue her recovery and later that night her Godfather (aka my brother) came over with a cool mist humidifier for her room which really helps with her cough.
    Believe it or not, I have heard of the RSV virus, knew it wasn't good for little kids under 2 years old but honestly never knew the symptoms or what to watch out for. My kids generally have an awesome immune system so when they do get sick its usually nothing major but a little cough or runny nose. Leave it to the last child to scare the life out of us.
    I just wanted to share some information I was able to find on the RSV virus but you can also do some research yourself. You can visit https://www.rsvprotection.com/ to learn more or talk to your doctor about it if you have any questions or concerns. Luckily, we caught it in time before it could have taken an extreme turn for the worse - she did not have blue on her lips or fingernails- but it was scary nonetheless.

      *    If you’re child is exhibit­ing cold-like symp­toms, RSV could be the cul­prit. Know the symp­toms of seri­ous RSV infec­tion which include: per­sis­tent cough­ing or wheez­ing; rapid, dif­fi­cult, or gasp­ing breaths; blue color on the lips, mouth, or under the fin­ger­nails; high fever; extreme fatigue; and dif­fi­culty feed­ing. Par­ents should con­tact a med­ical pro­fes­sional imme­di­ately upon signs of these symptoms.
      *    Almost every baby will con­tract RSV by age 2, but only 1/3 of moms say they’ve heard of the virus
       *    RSV occurs in epi­demics each fall through spring. The CDC has defined “RSV sea­son” as Novem­ber through March for most parts of North America.
        *   Cer­tain babies such as premature babies are at an increased risk of devel­op­ing seri­ous RSV infec­tion, so it’s impor­tant to speak with a pedi­a­tri­cian to deter­mine if a baby may be at high risk for RSV, and dis­cuss pre­ven­tive measures.

Top Left: Hour 2 at the hospital Right: Her "ET" toe aka oxygen sensor

Mid Left: Day 2 at hospital feeling better

Mid Right: Oxygen level at 94 while sleeping! Whoo hoo!

Bottom: Lulu's welcome home sign!

These were posted on my Instagram account. Click to follow!

My Kitchen Co-pilot

    My little guy LOVES, LOVES to be in the kitchen with me. Even if it's just to make a cup of coffee (speaking of which wait until you see my post tomorrow! Coffee.., yum!!) Since being home more with the little kiddos, T.W and I have been spending time in the kitchen while Bear is napping.
    Our recent project was ice-cream cone cupcakes! We had some extra ice-cream cones that I knew wouldn't make it to summer time and plenty of cake mix so we surrendered to a new project and it turned out to be a truly delish treat!

 

Cover a cupcake pan with foil and poke holes through the foil.

 

Place the ice-cream cones in the holes - they will stand up right.

 

Mix your cupcake mix (He chose red velvet - yummm)

 

Fill up the ice-cream cones

- we ended up filling most up just a smidgen too much.

As you can see in the picture below..,

Let them cool down - one helpful hint we found was if you poked a small hole in the bottom of the cone as it cooled the cones did not become soggy.

We used a toothpick to do this.

 

Since we didn't have any frosting I ended up using some chocolate melts.

I was very happy with using them because the chocolate cooled down so when they bumped into each other there wasn't frosting all over the place.

 

T.W had a blast decorating them

- even if his fingers turned reddish from the colored sugar crystals.

 

Bear even approved!!

 

Do you have a kitchen co-pilot too?

What is one of your favorite projects that you both create in the kitchen?

Kid Art!

    I love kid art. It doesn't even have to be my own kid's artwork. Kid art is super fun to look at and wonder what they were thinking or feeling. Some is systematic - like my son's artwork. Some is emotional - like my older daughter's artwork. Some is just scribbles - like my younger daughter's artwork. Whatever the art - its wonderful!!
    I like to frame some, fridge art some, tuck away some and even have scanned some to make an art picture book. What are some things you like to do with your kid's artwork??

Handprints are one of my favorite pieces of kidart!

Lulu's picture of her and her siblings

Tis the season for traditions

    I've been trying to move around more hoping that my body lets me bend and stretch the way I use to - you know - before the whole rib cartilage damage from my chiropractor. I think it's working or at least I am having the illusion its working. My hips are still awful when I try to bend down to pick something up (Side note to that! I cant believe how much I fumble when it's so much work to bend down. I swear I have been dropping more and more things.) And for some odd reason my ankles are still super sore when I walk or stretch them. I haven't figured out how that is related to my injury but I'm trying to deal with it.
    This weekend we'll be going to hunt for our Christmas tree. One of my favorite things to do during this holiday season. The past few years have been pretty mild weather wise and I'm still sad that the original place we use to go to closed down. But we are keeping this tradition going and my children are so excited.

Last year there was no snow

- pretty sure there will be snow this year!!

    We also have a story and brunch with Santa planned for the next weekend! I am totally excited for that! It's at the local mom & pop toy shop in town. When possible we support our local shops. I just can't wait! The kids are going to have such a great time. Bonus! There will only be 25 kids altogether there so it's a relatively intimate setting.

    What are some traditions you have during this time of year? What new ones are you trying out?