February 2011 Project 365

1. Snow day.

2. Watching daddy shovel snow.

3. Book & coffee break.

4. Surprise flowers from Caleb.

5. Silas wants candy.

6. Nella's horse wears her hat.

7. Nella's birthday gift from Granny & Grampa.

8. Happy 3rd Birthday Nella Girl!

9. Dishes. Ugh.

10. Nella's painted cupcake magnet.

11. Lunch date.

12. Homemade vanilla marshmallows.

13. Nella's Chika game.

14. Divot.

15. Nella & Silas' new shoes!

16. Kyle lounging at community group.

17. Running errands in VDub.

18. Silly Silas Gray!

19. Breakfast with Rachel.

20. Silas in the tub.

21. 8 cups of water a day.

22. Onions cooking for Julia Child's French Onion Soup.

23. Nella's self portrait.

24. Late night computing.

25. BillingslAbner dance party.

26. Playing in the recycling bin.

27. Target trip.

28. MacBook died. I got downgraded to old iMac.

A Visit From Good Friends

A dear friend and her boys came for a visit. 

There was much laughter, but not much sleep. 

There was lots of playing. 

Lots of fussing.

Lots of snacking.

And lots of fun had by all.

And by the end of the visit, there were exhausted kiddos. 

Oh, there was also lots of snotty noses, poopy diapers, night wakings, fights over toys, leaky sippy cups, peas smashed on the floor, car-sick pukes (Simon got sick on their drive home), you know, normal-but-yucky kid stuff. Good times.

January 2011 Project 365

I've always wanted to do a project 365. But with my huge camera, it was sometimes a hassle and I was never able to keep up. But, with this handy app on my iPod, it's so simple! This is basically just for me, a way to document my everyday life. I'll post them here, so I can keep them in one place and be able to go back and look at them easily. Maybe you'll enjoy looking at them too.

1. Lord of the Rings Marathon.
2. New Year's Budget.
3. Important mail.
4. Venezuelan coffee.
5. Movie night.
6. They love the family photo album.
7. Burger King playland.
8. Building a new bookcase.
9. Nursery @ Redeemer Church.
10. Sparkly blue polish.
11. Chocolate malt & late night TV.
12. Silas hi-fives Josh L.
13. Bulk food order.
14. Cowboy Silas.
15. Seven Saints.
16. 8th Annual MLKJ Extravaganza.
17. Bookstore date with Nella.
18. Playing in the melting snow.
19. Romans 6.
20. Pancake Night!!
21. Nella played with the iPod.
22. Illinois vs. Wisconsin Hockey.
23. Cafe latte @ Panera w/ Judy & Phyllis.
24. Stickers & a card from Granny.
25. Psych: Season 2 on Netflix.
26. Silas' big owie.
27. Cleaned & organized under kitchen sink.
28. Block towers.
29. Overnight for mom's 50th b-day.
30. Wreath from Becky! Pre-blizzard Wal-Mart run.

February 2011 Date Night

As you know, one of our New Year's Resolutions was to have at least one kidless date night a month. I decided that I'd try to blog about them all too. It'll help me be more intentional in planning them and making sure that we take them.

 Our February Date Night was fun, productive, and oh so high school! 

Dinner and a trip to the mall.

Our first choice restaurant was pack to the max. We couldn't even find a parking spot. 

So, we went to Arby's.

We walked around the mall. We held hands. We didn't even go into the wing of the mall with the playland! We shopped for new jeans and a belt for Caleb. 

I even made him go into the dressing room and try them on!

Then we exchanged some shorts at Finish Line. Got my rings inspected and cleaned at Rogers & Hollands Jewelers. Bought some new eyeshadow at Sephora. Swooned over all the puppies at the pet store.

They have a Bernese Mountain Dog pup. He's (very) expensive. And huge. But so cute! 

Then, in true Billingsley-date-night fashion, we went to Target. Because, why not! It was productive too.

So, basically, our February date night was a bunch of errands. But hey, if you have to run a bunch of errands at the mall, you may as well make a date night out of it! Also, I'm bummed that I forgot to take a picture of the two of us. Oh well. Next time. Did you have a date night this month? What did you do? We're looking for ideas.

Thank you Jason & Grace for hangin' with our punks!

(Photos taken with my iPod, which has a horrible camera. Horrible. C'mon Apple, c'mon!)

Nella is 3!

Nella Ruth turned 3 on February 8. 

She requested a 'sprinkly' doughnut and chocolate milk for her birthday breakfast.

 She loved her presents.

We didn't have a big party for her this year. We did serve her cupcakes at our Church's super bowl party, though. Everybody sang to her at half time. She loved it and definitely thought everyone was there for her birthday party! 

Our girl is growing up so fast! She is smart, thoughtful, and absolutely hilarious! She loves: Thomas & Friends (show & toys), coloring, helping me cook and bake, playing with my iPod, going to church, dancing, macaroni & cheese, yogurt, soup, bossing Silas around, going to Target, pink, purple, sparkles, and her daddy.  She doesn't love: having her hair washed/fixed/brushed, when Silas messes up her toys, being told that she can't have another snack, when the bathwater is too warm, when the bathwater is too cold, or when the covers on her bed get messed up. 

She is a quick learner and just like 3 year olds everywhere, she can and will test the limits. She is a great big sister and loves helping out with Silas. She has a phenomenal memory and has most of her favorite books, songs and movies down pat. She is also still learning her catechism questions, though I've been told that she sometimes refuses to recite them in Sunday school. Oh, Nella Ruth! So sweet. So beautiful. So defiant. So 3 years old! 

One.

Two.

Three.

Winter-Induced Cabin Fever and Randomness

We've been experiencing a bit of cabin-fever around here. Since late November we've had non-stop biting cold, snow, ice, more snow, and then Snowpocalypse 2011 (or Snowmageddon, SnowtoriousB.I.G., etc). Caleb had 2 snow days last week. The University even had a rare snow day, 4th one in 30 years or something crazy. I've managed to get our car stuck twice. Luckily, the Jeep handles wonderfully in the snow and I know Caleb has pulled several stuck vehicles out of giant mounds of icy snow. So while we haven't been total shut-ins, we have spent a lot of time cooped up in the house.

We're sooooooooooooooo bored. 

Is there an app for that? 

Nella enjoys the Super Why! app.

The kids have grown tired of most of their toys. I've lost count of how many times we've read If You Give a Cat a Cupcake. We've exhausted our craft basket. And I'll be totally honest, we've done a lot (an embarrassing amount) of Netflix-ing. The kids watch Blues Clues, Kipper, Shaun the Sheep (I love this one!), and Thomas & Friends. I've watched countless documentaries and episodes of Psych.

This afternoon I snapped this photo of Silas. He was entertaining himself so nicely that I wanted to document the occasion. Upon closer inspection, I realized that he was storing something curious in the seat of this ride on toy. I noticed some brightly colored objects but didn't think much of it.

A few minutes later I found this:

He must have visited the bathroom cabinet. Those are definitely pantiliners. Oh, Silas! The weirdest part? I let him carry on. He was having fun AND being quiet AND not destroying anything.

On a more productive note, I read Run Like a Mother. I've been running. That's a post for another day. I read the entire thing on Kindle for iPhone. Crazy, huh? But when I went to purchase the book on Amazon, I noticed that the Kindle edition was $0.00. Well, duh! Of course I'll download the thing for free right to my iPod using the Kindle for iPhone app. Who wouldn't?! (It was a temporary sale, it's full-price now). I enjoyed the book very much. It's witty and full of practical information for runners at any athletic level. The authors are veteran moms, runners, and regular writers for Runner's World and other fitness and women's interest magazines.

I'm currently reading The Kennedy Curse. It is fascinating!

How are you surviving the Winter? What have you been doing on your snow days?