Around Valentine’s Day, Harper participated in the “Golden Girls” dance workshop at our local high school (and her future HS, if we are still in the area!) The varsity dance team held a workshop for 100 girls ages 5-10. They taught them a dance routine, then the girls got to perform it at halftime during the varsity basketball game that night! Harper had several friends with her, and they had such a blast. The “big girls” were so good to them, and Harper came home (at 10pm that night) trying to mimic the dance team’s routine in our kitchen. It was such a neat program, and once again makes me so thankful that we live in this area!

At one point my friend went to the “rehearsal room” to take photos of the girls. One of the dance team moms commented that Harper was telling everyone “I go to bed at 6:45!” She was absolutely exhausted, but rallied for the performance and had a great time. Roman and Ada even stayed up for it, even though Harper didn’t perform until almost 9pm! Roman loved the basketball game, and Ada just loved the excitement.

I went down on the court when Harper’s dance group came out, and Ada (with one shoe on) rushed over to Harper and jumped in her lap. She wouldn’t stop hugging and kissing her – it just melted me.

At the end of the performance, the groups spelled out “LOVE.” Harper was part of the “L.”

With the Old Town St. Patty’s Day parade just a few days away, I’m ready to declare that this “winter” is over! It has been, for the most part, one mild day after another, and I couldn’t be happier. I’m now confident that I could live in Florida, at least during the winter months! I do not miss the snow one bit. In a huge play of irony, for the first time ever, this year I ordered snow gear for the kids at full-price back in the Fall when there was a big selection. And… the tags are still on everything. Returning it is on my to-do list this month!

We’ve been outside a lot, and although these days I don’t usually have my camera at my hip, I do have a few photos to record the season.

A late January play-date at the park, and romping in the backyard:

Harper was “Star of the Week” at preschool in February, and had to bring in a poster about herself. She wanted me to take lots of pictures of her coloring on the driveway and playing in “her” field. We also had to include photos of her (at her insistence) at ballet and with her sister. The girls have bonded like crazy over the past few months, and literally won’t let go of each other. Harper LOVES being the big sister to Ada, and Ada just idolizes “Barper.” They are constantly on each other, and it’s adorable.

Roman rarely lets me take his picture these days, so I usually have to sneak it. It’s a shame because he’s so gorgeous (in my humble opinion!)

Ada is our strongest baby yet, in more ways than one. She climbs things, hangs from them, is fearless and constantly reminds us that she has a future in gymnastics (or rock climbing). She’s also so incredibly strong willed, but I’ll have to devote an entire post to that! This is her hanging from the dining table, just because:

The basement project is still chugging along. I’ve been meaning to take some “in progress” photos, but haven’t gotten around to it until today. We are so tired of the disruption, but are keeping our eyes and attitudes on the light at the end of the tunnel. It should be completely finished at the end of next week, assuming we can get the carpet installed by then!

This is the “big room,” which was the main reason we wanted to do the project. We need the space (more on that later). This will be Portman’s permanent office and a guest bedroom for the occasional overnight guest (Ya Ya, mainly). It’s a huge room, way too big to be just an office, so it has plenty of room for a “bedroom side” and “office side.” We also put in a big closet to house all of Portman’s computer equipment, and anything that doesn’t fit in there will go in the remaining unfinished space. We were unsure of how to market this room should we ever sell the house, so Portman had the idea to wire it for a “home theater.” The room and closet are completely wired for surround sound and big stereo/theater equipment. Portman did the wiring one night after the framing went up, and it turned out great! This is what it looked like before. And now:

This used to be a wet bar. It reeked of the early 80′s and we just didn’t care for it. Portman ripped it out one night last week, and the “work mans,” as Roman calls them, are going to seal off all the plumbing for us. As you can tell, the carpet is going to have to come out too – between the construction and everything we ripped out, there was no saving it!

This is what we are calling the “playroom extension.” The playroom side was long and narrow like a bowling alley, and we wanted to open it up a bit. Now it will be L-shaped with this little extension piece leading to the laundry. We had to put in the bench thing to house the sump pump, which was in a really awkward location. My plan is to cover the lid with foam and a washable fabric, lock it, and let the kids use it as a reading bench or whatever they deem “fun.” The big double doors lead to the furnace and remaining unfinished space.

And, TA-DA, Mommy’s sanctuary: the laundry room! Remember my Home Alone-esque “laundry room” from before? It doesn’t look like much now, but we have big plans for it. I spend so much time doing laundry, and I am so thrilled to have a real, clean laundry space. I have a Pinterest gallery going with all of my ideas for the space – eventually it will be awesome, but for now I’m just happy to have a clean floor to dump everything on! By Friday they should have the new sink and floor installed, then we get to paint. I’m over the painting, but at least the room is small. Also, there are now hookups for a second washer and dryer, which I am super excited about. We always had two washers and dryers growing up, and now I know why. Ours are running all day long, and it would save me a ton of time to be able to put in two loads at once. Especially since one load is usually dedicated to diapers!

This is what the playroom has been like for the past month. The kids are DYING to get back in there, and so am I! Since they have had very few toys during the project and for the most part have been fine without them, I’m planning to do another purge before I let them back down there. They don’t remember what is down there, and probably won’t miss anything that I get rid of!

I’m cleaning off my phone and found a few movies of the girls from December, or as Ada says “moomoo?” The first two are from Parent’s Day at Harper’s dance class. Her dance studio does not have windows into the classrooms, so honestly we have no idea what is going on in there. I like it better that way – there is no judgement or critiquing. The kids just have fun at class while the parents run errands or wait outside. Around Christmas they have “Parent’s Days” where they let us come in for 20 minutes and they show us what they have been working on. Harper spent most of it mugging for the camera like crazy and we had to keep reminding her to pay attention to her teacher! She loves a good audience.

This one is of Ada riding a scooter back in December (at 20 months). This is a testament to how awesome and crazy she is, and that she is indeed the third kid. She watches Harper and Roman on their bikes and scooters, and she wants to keep up! The scooter is almost taller than she is, but she gets the job done.

And finally, Ada talking. This is from the end of December, and she is now talking in sentences. But nevertheless, this is super cute.

About three weeks ago, Ada and I road tripped down to Charlottesville to help Great Grandma Abie celebrate her 90th birthday. 90! We had a great time visiting with all of the family, and most importantly visiting with Abie on her special day. We love you, Abie!

In case you haven’t heard my ruminations before, my grandma is amazing. She was raised on mission stations in Congo (yes, my white grandma is from Africa!) with her 3 brothers and sisters, raised her 4 kids on mission stations in Congo and Zambia, and has lived to tell some incredible stories. Abie brought all of her scrapbooks with her to the weekend celebration, and we all spent hours pouring over them. I just hope that my kids live such rich and fascinating lives – it is truly inspiring.

For her 90th, we all wrote letters to Abie honoring her role in our lives, and my Aunt Carolyn put together a beautiful scrapbook for her.

Ada on her (my) iPhone (she is addicted) and engaging in some friendly wrassling with Pop Pop and Uncle Kevin (she won, hands down):

The extended Crane Clan (Well, most of us):

Harper drew a birthday picture for Abie. She said “I think Abie will really like some angels.”

Last week on a warmish post-preschool afternoon, the big kids and I made homemade play doh. I’ve had this on my to-do list for a while, but keep having visions of the play doh my mom used to make – I remember it drying out really quickly and leaving a dry, salty crust on my hands. Nevertheless, our play doh supply was running low and the kids were really excited to try this.

I used this recipe and Wilton gel food coloring (they picked red for Valentine’s Day). The end result was a generous bowl of warm play doh that smelled and felt exactly like the stuff my mom used to make. It was all very nostalgic.

The kids LOVED the homemade version, and within minutes Harper declared “let’s never buy it again!” I have to say, a pile of play doh that big was way more fun for them than a bunch of little jars (that ultimately get all mixed up). The homemade version was also a lot more pliable, and they were able to make much cooler creations out of it. Harper made an awesome turtle, and Roman made a platter of cookies and cupcakes. Even Ada was able to play with it, whereas the store-bought play doh ends up crumbled in her little hands.

I was determined to make this stuff last more than a day, and by the time the kids finished playing with it, it was definitely getting a little dry and crusty. I added a few tablespoons of water and kneaded it on the counter for several minutes, then put it in a big zip loc (squeezing out all the air) and stuck it in the fridge. Wouldn’t you know, 4 days later and it’s just as good as the day we made it! The kids didn’t like the fact that it was cold, so I microwaved it for 30 seconds, but other than that it was perfect. I didn’t need to add water after today’s session, so we will see how long it lasts. One thing is for sure, we definitely won’t be buying our play doh anymore – not only was this more fun, but it was way, way easier to clean up!