Love

The little guy hugged his baby sister this morning. After that hug, he asked Eric to take a picture of him hugging his baby sister and ran over and grabbed her. She wasn't thrilled.

Warmth

The little guy is one smart cookie. His new favorite spot to play is right on top of the heating vent! Mmmmm, warm.

Let it snow!

Well, we got almost 2 inches of snow overnight, and everything shut down (snow day for everyone!). Eric's a big old wet blanket who doesn't like to play in the snow, so the kids and I bundled up and headed outside with our sleds.

The baby looked like she wanted to try it, but she started crying about 1/3 of the way down the hill. I stopped the sled and we got out (then she went inside to warm up). In her defense, this was one serious hill.

The little guy, on the other hand, had a blast! We ended up sledding with a bunch of kids on our street. It was so much fun-- even the parents were taking turns going down the hill.

The best part about the snow here is that it should all melt tomorrow. It'll even be sunny and back in the 50s this weekend, just the way I like it.

Snow?

Today was a bit disappointing-- I thought it was supposed to start snowing around noon, but it didn't start until almost 7pm! Plus, I didn't realize that the heat was turned down, so the little guy and I froze our tushes off for most of the day. (I'm a genius.) When Eric and the baby got home, she was ready to just relax on the couch.

I'm sure these two will look like this (but bigger) in about 15 years, too. What stinkers!

A-B-C!

The little guy and I read a Richard Scarry book tonight that begins with an illustrated alphabet.

He knows most of his letter sounds, but he gets so excited about the pictures that he forgets they are supposed to match the sound.

Picture: A is for Alligator
Little Guy: A is for… it's a CROCODILE!!!

Picture: V is for Vase (really? what kid knows that?)
Little Guy: V is for… FLOWER!!!
Me: Whatever.

Picture: W is for Walrus
Little Guy: W is for… It's a BEAVER!!!
Me: No.
Little Guy: Wuh, wuh, wuh… W is for OTTER!!!
Me: No. It's a walrus.

It's just makes me laugh and laugh.

Hair Success

The baby is getting a lot of hair-- and I am having a terrible time with it. 

Every time I get it up in pigtails or a bow or anything, she yanks it out immediately! I've started taking pictures of her hairstyles as soon as they're in, but this one lasted through church and Sunday school. Maybe I'll try it for school tomorrow...

Saturday Morning Snuggles

The kids and I snuggled up under two blankets and watched a little more Pingu this morning. The little guy just laughs hysterically the entire show. It's so funny to see!

The baby looks a little crazed, but it's because she's playing peek-a-boo with Eric.

Star Wars

The little guy has a pair of Lego Star Wars pjs. He also likes to play the Lego Star Wars video game on the iPad. Despite never having seen any of the movies, he knows about stormtroopers, Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, lightsabers, and the Dark Side. He has adorably screwed up Darth Vader's name, though, and calls him Dark Vay-Ter (with a hard "t"). The little guy was on the dark side this morning just like Dark Vay-Ter…

… meaning that he only walked on the black floor tiles. Like his lightsaber?

This kid-- he's a goofball!

Homework Helper

The little guy had some homework about the letter B, and the baby wanted to help so badly. Sometimes she just follows the little guy around and tries to do whatever he's doing. It's so cute! (It drives him nuts!)

Feeling Better!

The baby is all better now, so hopefully she starts sleeping in her own bed again.

She's transitioning to the toddler room at daycare this week. She loves all the outside toys.

Woohoo! Reading!

This is SO EXCITING!!! The little guy had homework-- which was to read a specific book. Really read the book-- like, all by himself, sounding out the words, reading the book, himself. And he read it like a boss! This was his second time through. Sorry about the fussy baby in the background. She was out of food.
AAAAAHHHHH!!!!

In other news, the baby is feeling better. She's also showing some interest in nonparametric statistics. Assuming normality is so passé.

Jeep Cookies!

My parents got Eric cookie cutters shaped like Jeeps for Christmas, and the little dude and I finally made some cookies and decorated them. We also had some biscuit cutters and a gingerbread-man shape, so that's the variety of shapes on the cookie rack. He was a real whiz with the colored icing.

The baby was constantly underfoot, now that she's recovered from RSV. She has an ear infection (boo) but has perked up a ton.

It's a Map!

The little guy built a map out of legos tonight. See?

It's my work (the tall building) and Eric's work (the shorted building). My office is one of the yellow blocks, and lucky Eric has a clear block office. What fun!

Okay?

I tried to get a picture of the baby today where she didn't look like death warmed over. This is the closest I came:

The little guy was selling me my breakfast this morning. It doesn't sound like a great deal at first, but he gave me money to use to buy back my own food, so it worked out alright. He weighed the money to make sure I'd given him enough, though. Hilarious!

14 Months!

The baby is 14 months old today. She celebrated by taking a ton of ibuprofen and having breathing treatments (rock on!). Instead of a picture from today, here's one from last week. She loves pens. Nothing makes her happier than double-fisting pens and waving them menacingly at the upholstery.

Sick Baby

The poor baby spiked a 103 degree fever last night (YIKES!!). I stayed home with her and took her to the doctor while Eric enjoyed his first day at his new job! They were both exhausted by 6pm. See?

Hopefully the baby starts to feel better tomorrow.

This and That

We spent some time this afternoon puttering around fixing things (always fun). The baby helped Eric fix the front doorknob.

 Let's just take a moment to appreciate her socks.

She did take a break from helping with the door to wander outside with her screwdriver (yikes!). The little guy wore my wells out in the yard and he could barely walk in them. He kept swinging his legs around and falling all over the yard-- it was so funny.

It's so hard to say good-bye...

… to the pink ta-aa-aa-ble. (Boyz-II-Men 4evah!) Although I loved that table, it broke in the move and never quite recovered. It was also a bit too big for our new dining room (sob). After a lot of thought, we brought home a new table today.

See Beau? That's where he sits every time we eat.

The new table has an extra leaf hidden inside. It extends to seat eight comfortably, but can also just seat six (or four) to let us have a lot more room around it. The curved corners are nice, too, since we have to walk around the table to get to the kitchen from the front door. I'm sad to say goodbye to the funnest table ever, but I think this one will serve us well.

Great Idea?

Look what they realized they could do today!

 What could possibly go wrong here?

Who cares what could go wrong when you're having this much fun?!!?

Don't Rock the Boat!

The little guy got this game for his birthday-- it's really hard! He's "fixed" it by taking off the piece that makes the boat's balance precarious, and now it's an easy game. He loves to put the penguin pirates all over the boat, but he hates to pick up after himself. Luckily, his little sister loves to take the penguin pirates off the boat and return them to their box. Symbiosis!

Ahoy!

While we were visiting my parents, we spent a nice morning at the Museum of Florida History. One of my favorite parts as a kid was the helm of the river boat, and our kids liked it too! The little guy was busy steering and the baby kept trying to toddle to her death (off the side, down the stairs, you name it).

Number One!

The 'Noles were unbelievable last night!!!

Before the game started, we had a "movie night" where we ate pizza in front of the TV and watched Pingu (a truly bizarre Netflix recommendation). The little guy cracked up the entire show.

After the kids went to bed, Eric and I stayed up way too late watching the 'Noles nail-biter. Yikes! The little guy came downstairs for the end of the game (what a game!!). It's exciting that he's becoming old enough to really enjoy things with us-- it's a fun new stage of parenting.

Thrifty

The little guy got his scissors and helped me clip coupons yesterday. He seems to think that cutting out the pictures of food he likes is the important part, but whatever. Fun times!

Snuggles and Snacks

The boys had a nice time watching football today. I think they were happy to not be at the game.

The baby loves the chalkboard Eric built, except she keeps eating the chalk! If I tell her no, she just shakes her head no and keeps eating it.

Fish Food

While we were visiting my parents, the little guy got to feed the fish! He's always disappointed that fish only eat once or twice a day. He loves feeding them!

Happy New Year!

We were supposed to come home New Year's Eve, but Eric was ridiculously ill and we postponed our flight. We didn't get home until 2am today, which is why I haven't posted in a few days. We may boycott all holidays next year-- our track record this year wasn't great.

While we were in Florida, we took the kids to Wakulla Springs. There were manatees (sooooo cool), alligators, vultures, anhingas, and all sorts of ducks.

Eric doesn't want the kids to swim here for some reason...

The baby wanted to climb off the boat, so she wasn't completely thrilled with the trip but she did pretty well.

The little guy was really into all the animals. He's old enough now to see what the park ranger points out. Exciting stuff!