The blizzard of 2011 and Happy Groundhog's Day!

This has been the snowiest winter I can remember and these past two days have been a blizzard- literally! We are on our second consecutive snow day which makes six total for the year so far. Everything has come to a standstill including MU, the movie theater, the mall and I-70! In the Ashland area we received nearly 20" with drifts up to four feet high and sub zero temperatures. Today is sunny and something tells me Puxatony Phil will see his stout little shadow and that we are in for another six weeks of this nonsense! Despite all of this, we decided to take Kieran out this morning and see how he reacted to being "stuck" in the waist deep snow. He wasn't all that found of being in the nearly two foot powder but he was plenty happy to hang out in the areas that daddy had shoveled. I had to lure him back into the house with promises of cookies and Thomas videos!

 "Stuck! Stuck!"

 "Help mama!"

 Kieran rode in the sled for as long as mommy could muster the energy to pull him through the 20"s!

 Kieran was much happier once he was on the shoveled driveway. He "helped" daddy shovel which Rick has been doing for the past two hours and only a small dent has been made- this stuff is crazy!

 "You missed some here dad!"

 The wagon was a no go- it was even harder to get around than the sled!

 Yesterday we stayed inside because of the white-out conditions. Here, Kieran is dumping his word flashcards as Neko looks on.

 Back in the truck they go, so that the cards can be dumped all over again.

 We made Kieran a fort yesterday with some folding chairs and a blanket. He loved it and spent a lot of time playing underneath the toddler-sized structure.

 "Vroom! Vroom!"

 Kieran in action, running from daddy with something he wasn't supposed to have- look at the pure glee!

 Playing cars in the Dora house- the doors make great underpasses ;)

Grandma helps out with the door that is always falling off. "Thanks Nana!"

The snowy month of January

 January has been a cold and wet month, which has forced us in-doors a lot more than we would like, but Kieran is handling his confined quarters pretty well. With the toddler-wonder-land in my parents' basement, he has plenty to keep him occupied. In the photo above and below, you can see Kieran taking care of his baby- apparently baby likes to eat small, plastic, figurines!

 A favorite pass-time is driving his yellow dump truck around at break-neck speeds, full of random baby/dog toys and screaming at the top of his lungs as he chases the dogs. Mom, dad, and Kieran find this all very amusing, the dogs, cats and grandparents are not as thrilled ;)

 Despite the cold, we have made it outside quite a bit this January. Kieran can't get enough time in the snow- from eating it, to rolling around in it and riding in a sled, he doesn't seem phased by this year's extra wintery winter in the least!

 Kieran enjoys watching Super Why while playing with his trains on Saturday mornings.

We had a late Christmas visit with grandpa Rother and Kimi this weekend. Kieran had a lot of fun playing with some of Rick's old toys- including a super cool train set- yes, yet another train for Kieran! He also loved running all around Grandpa's house playing with the golf balls in the "batting cage" and all the cool exercise equipment.
This has been a rather eventful January, but we aren't quite ready to disclose our big news just yet. Suffice to say, our family isn't growing anytime soon, but there will be a pretty big change for the Rother's sometime next month... don't you just love a cliff-hanger?!

Christmas 2010!

 We had a very merry Christmas this year and I dare say Kieran got all that he could have wished for and more! Above, you see KP trying on my boots- great look don't you think? ;)

 This is a gingerbread train I made for Kieran from a box kit. He never really got to eat any of it, with the exception of a few marshmallows- but he loved looking at it!

 Kieran and mommy next to our cool ginger-trai.! I love how he's pinching my cheeks!

 Kieran wearing more big people clothes... these are daddy's gloves, he refused to wear his own, but for some reason these monster gloves were just fine- and great for licking snow off of! This was Kieran's first really big snow and the first time he was out while the flakes were coming down... he loved it!

 Daddy looking cool with our snowman and there's Kieran again, licking snow ;)

 Look at that adorable little, pink face- Kieran is a big fan of winter so far... but secretly mommy is hoping this will be a short mild one.

 Catching flakes...

 The buttons and eyes were made of Oreos cookies- it seemed like a great idea until Kieran discovered they were delicious and ate off all the buttons- this led to a frantic toddler high followed by a extreme toddler melt-down... lesson learned.

 Kieran contemplating how me might be able to get to Frosty's eyes... "Mmmm- snowmen taste good!"

One of our shibas frolicking in the snow- Koshka wouldn't be still long enough for a good shot- these dogs love the snow as much as Kieran!

 This shot was taken Christmas eve, after Kieran had gone to bed. Rick and I worked together to piece together this awesome train table. I was so excited to see Kieran's face the next morning, I had trouble sleeping!

 The amazing train table... prior to Kieran getting his destructive little hands on it!

 "Holly cow guys- a TRAIN TABLE!!!"

 Kieran liked the bows about as much as he liked opening the other gifts.

 Kieran on grandma's lap, enjoying a Thomas book- can you tell this kid has a one track mind (pardon the pun!)?

 Kieran on mom's lap enjoying another Thomas book.

 Kieran and aunty Shannon.

 This was taken Sunday at grandma Sandy's house for Kieran's second Christmas. Can you guess what this gift might be?

 Here's uncle Zack checking out Kieran's new Thomas back-pack.

 Finally- a non-train-themed-gift! Kieran really loves his talking, moving tractor complete with farm animals!

 Ahh, back to the trains again! this set is from Uncle Aaron and his family- Kieran loves this train, as you can see!

 This is Rick's brother, Aaron's, family. It was wonderful spending the holidays with everyone Kieran particularly enjoyed hanging out with his cool older cousins!

The Rother boys (sans Kieran- who was melting down a bit at this point) and Uncle Furcin and Aunt Joyce. Thank you to all for such a merry Christmas!