Snow Play

Yes, Dad, I know it's been WAAAAYYYY too long since I've updated this thing. So, here you go...

When there's a snow day, that means "snow play" in the Petroelje house! We enjoyed the aftermath of the "Groundhog Day Dump" (as termed by our local meteorologists) today by playing in the snow and digging out our house. As I write this, the plows still have not come down our street yet; however, the son of one our neighbors (bless his heart) plowed our street as well as some of our driveway with his truck. That made for some fabulous sledding hills for the kiddos! (and with very little traffic going down our street allowed the sledding to spill over into the road - under the watchful eye of mom and dad of course!)

Our front yard hasn't seen this much snow in a long time!
Big drift by the porch.
Newly created sledding hill!
Putting it to good use. We had a lot of fun without ever having to leave our driveway!

So what have we been up to this past month?? LOTS. Eric is in the midst of basketball season, and thus, my appreciation for all of the single-parents out there has reached new heights. He is also gearing up to get another session of drivers' ed started again, as he started his own driver's ed company last summer. I am in the middle of a grad class to fulfill my continuing education credits for my teaching certificate, and I am very ready to be done with it. It's an online class and it has consumed more of my time than I would like.
Grant continues to enjoy preschool immensely. He has also loved the opportunity he's had for a few months to go to Grandma and Grandpa P's house on Thursdays to spend time with his cousin Aaron. They have so much fun together, and I love seeing them get along so well. He's also been a Lego fanatic. He received a few small sets for Christmas, and while it took him much less time to assemble them than I thought (this kid has always had a knack for creating amazing things out of blocks), he has spend hours on end taking them apart and putting them back together, as well as creating other things out of the "basic" set he got for his birthday. I just love watching the wheels spin in his head as he's putting things together.

Here is some of what he's put together. So glad I found this Lego mat for him for Christmas - he has used it a ton.

Brooke continues to be a sponge, and is at such a fun age because she is learning so much. She is a chatterbox, speaking full sentences all the time now, and making us laugh with some of the things she says. For example, we were leaving Eric's basketball game last week, and she was walking behind us a bit. She must not have liked being behind because we hear her say "Hey! Wait for me peoples!" Ha! Ha! I also adore the "I yuv (love) you Mom" that comes from her mouth! She has a love for puzzles and also really enjoys reading books (Fancy Nancy is her current favorite!). To our surprise, she is also potty trained. I was not really even close to being ready to train her because I dread the process; however, last week she decided that she wanted to wear princess undies, and has done a fabulous job of keeping them dry. I swear the girl has a bladder of steel, though. It is not out of the ordinary for her to wait 4 or 5 hours before using the bathroom. So we are now diaper free during the day!
This past weekend some friends of ours from church invited us to the fire station to check out the trucks. Grant was on cloud 9 being able to suit up in some firefighter gear and sit in the trucks. Thank you Mulders!

Max, Grant, Brooke, and Sam

Given it's been so cold outside, we've also enjoyed nights of playing games, reading books, drinking hot chocolate, and watching videos from the library. We've hauled out the sleeping bags on a number of occasions and snuggled up for some great flicks - Caillou, Berenstain Bears, and Snow White!

The Pillow Pets have been a big hit, too!

Since I've been so delinquent at posting these past few weeks, I never got to cap off our Christmas celebrations. So, below are some pictures to highlight our holidays. Hard to believe almost 6 weeks have passed since Christmas!

The Petroelje cousins
The Grotenhuis extended side (not so big compared to the 81 people that were in attendance at the extended Petroelje Christmas party this year!)
The Grotenhuis family (getting one person bigger this summer, as Kathi and Chad are due in June!)
If given the choice, Brooke would wear the tutu she got for Christmas 24/7.
Excited to get some new toys!
Our little comedian.