Brrr, Its Cold in Here...

There must be some Torros in the Atmosphere... (Bring it On)

Not really, but this week was very low key. It was very very cold here, even for Michigan. Temps were in the single digits and below if you factor in the wind chill. We didn't do a lot and had a lot of snow, but it was too cold to play outside in it. I did go running a couple times, but not far or fast. We decided to book a ski trip to northern Michigan as well for later this month. We spent a lot of time at the mall and at home, just hanging out, so there are lots of pictures of Keira and Soren just sitting around. Not too exciting, but they are so cute, I figured I would post them anyway. We continued to put Keira and Soren in the same room, however, we wait until they are both asleep to combine them. Soren falls asleep in our room and then is carried into his/Keira's room. He does sleep a lot better in the crib than the pack n play (although I am probably jinxing us for tonight by writing that). We put a small space heater in their room, which helped tremendously with the cold and their sleeping. Their room is the coldest in our home.

Tuesday was just an errand day. Ryan also had scouts in the evening. These are just shots of cuteness in the house. This chair and our couch reappear a lot this post.




On Wednesday, we went to the library for the storytime. This was the first one of the year. We will probably bounce back and forth between the Wednesday class and the Friday class, depending on our schedule for the week, and that is fine with them.
Keira got 3 stickers today after the storytime. She has one that she is touching on her chest and one on each hand.


Keira loves anything with crowns on it, because she is totally into princesses and princes. She likes this shirt of Soren's because it has a crown on it. Soren goes through lots of clothes each day.
Thursday marked the first day of our three days in a row of going to the mall because I couldn't think of anything else free to do. We could have gone to Rainbow Recreation to play for free, but the weather wasn't the greatest (snow) and I didn't want to go that far from home. It was fun today because we ran into a friend, Joann, from church with her youngest children, Lucy, who is just a few days older than Soren, and Joe, who is in the younger nursery than Keira's. In the evening, we went to a couple stores looking for ski boots small enough for Keira. We struck out near us. Fortunately, Ryan had talked to a shop near his work that had a used pair that we could try out that needed to be transferred to that shop. We did manage to find some great deals on crocs for Keira and I.
Keira really wanted to wear her Halloween pjs. She was stuck in Halloween mode for a while, and I was worried it was making a comeback.
I figured out a more efficient way to get both children ready in the morning and still let Keira have a long bath!


Keira was excited to hold Soren's hand on the couch.
On Friday, we came back to the mall. Since we had already gone to the library storytime this week, we were not really supposed to go again. It was extremely cold, so cold that many schools did not have school because of the cold. Soren was very happy and laughed a lot at the mall when people peeked in at him. It was very cute.


Keira loves this popsicle slide! It appears a lot in this post.
Soren is sporting his ski sweater.
On Saturday, I felt compelled to run. I don't know why, maybe just because it had been a while. It was super cold, but Saturdays (or any day Ryan doesn't work) are the best day for me to run because I can run when it is light out and it is typically warmer when it is light. I got super bundled up (wore my ski shell, fleece top, fleece pants, and long underwear) and ran a whopping 1.25miles on the sidewalk of our complex (since the association takes care of the sidewalks pretty well, they were clear of snow). It wasn't snowing when I decided to run, but it started, and made for a miserable time of it. I didn't leave our complex, but just ran in every court. I had Ryan take a picture of me inside doing my famous "do I look fast?" pose. This pose came about because so many times race photographers will take my picture and catch me in a point in my stride where I don't even look like I am running at all. Since this has happened so often, I learned to watch for the cameras and now get some action shots where I do look fast, but not like the cheeseball in my pose. I don't look very fast here. Ryan poked his head outside as I was finishing up, so I asked him to take a picture of me in the mess outside. I knew this photo was being taken, so I could make a slight effort to "look fast" despite the conditions.
We also had to go back to the mall because I had forgotten to pay my Macy's charge the previous two times and was unable to do it online and have it post on time. We let Keira play at the playarea and got pretzels. It was a bit crowded being a Saturday, so there were a few altercations, so we didn't stay long. It is a good thing that Soren will probably outweigh Keira soon, so once he can walk around he can stick up for her. She is so tiny that the slightest accidental contact can topple her sometimes. It continued to snow all day and through the night.




We had a lazy Sunday morning with a great breakfast cooked by Ryan. It snowed throughout the night. We got all ready and got to church early enough for a bench, but with church being during naptime, Keira and I didn't stay in it much. Our patio table shows a good indication of how much snow we got this week. It stays fairly shaded so not much melted to show about an 18 inch accumulation.
Ryan and Soren are ready for church.
Keira and I just need our shoes.

Soren is in his comfy clothes. His eyes look so blue here. We are curious how long they will stay that way.

Today is the observation of Martin Luther King Jr's birthday, so Ryan had today off. I went for a better run today since it was sunny and the roads and sidewalks were clear for the most part. It was also not quite so cold. We met up with Kris and Linda for lunch at the Grand Traverse Pie company for some sandwiches and pie. I was also able to run some errands with just Soren while Keira napped. We had a web cam session with Tyler, Minde, and Chase as well.
Lunch at Grand Traverse Pie Company. Keira was getting a bit tired at this point.
That is pretty much our cold week. This next week is a bit busier since we actually have things going on. We have to get Keira's ski gear taken care of for our trip (she is so small, we are afraid if we don't secure it before we go, we won't be able to find it there to rent) and there are more storytimes scheduled.