these snowy days - part deux

Games, trains, pots, forts, and friends.

Slowly, but surely, we are making it through February!

these snowy days

It's mid-February, and winter feels long and slow and very, very snowy. We've been spending a lot of time indoors. Our days at home are filled with book-reading, dish-washing (there's a non-stop flow of them!), playing with Legos, doing a bit of math and music, building forts, watching videos, and doing lots and lots of art. I thought I'd chronicle a little of the art that's been happening around the house...it's probably one of my favorite things about being at home these days...

With some trepidation, I covered the table with plastic table cloth and braved some painting on our dining table. No big disasters, and a pretty quiet playdate.

I've been leaving markers, crayons, and paper out, so the boys can use them as they feel inspired. There has been LOTS of drawing around here in the last month.  The 4 year old has been drawing lots of birds, fishes, suns and divers...and after some tears, successfully drew a cat that he found acceptable. The 2 year old, following his brother's example, has been drawing "people" and "whales". After years of seeing blobs and scratches, I gotta say it's been fun seeing things take shape under their pens, and love seeing them deep in concentration.

Yesterday, we tried to do some sticks and clay construction. It was a nice change of pace, as it was much more tactile and 3-D. It was also a lot more hands-on (by me), since the sticks tend to fall down, and the boys don't have a good sense of what will stay up or not. :) But they had fun building gates, houses, and boats. Not exactly sure what I do with the finished products though...

They've been asking to put some of their drawings/paintings up on the walls - the ones they are especially proud of. I have been (mostly) obliging...and finally got frames for some of them. It does brighten up the house during these long wintry months!

random glimpses

Several people have recently encouraged me to keep posting, and I've been feeling the itch to blog...but ugh, where to start? Seems so hard to pick back up...so, as a way to get back into this thing, I thought I'd just start with some simple glimpses of life over the last two weeks...

Two weeks ago, we were in a sorry state...

Everyone had the flu and a throw-up bowl close by. I didn't take a selfie during this period, but I was probably in the worst shape out of all of them. This pretty much lasted the whole week...and by the weekend, everyone was feeling better and ready for some fresh air.

So we got some donuts (and my first cup of coffee all week!) and played in the snow!

It felt pretty good after being cooped up inside all week. Coming into this week, I was still itching to take the boys out for a special treat, having survived a rather grueling week the week before. So we went out to Flatbread Pizza for some lunch. I went mostly for the big open-fire furnace that captures the kids attention, and for the organic goodness there (I can't think of a better place to go for salad either!). But we got a little bit of a bonus - since it was a random Tuesday lunch, the bowling alley in the restaurant was pretty much empty, and a very nice manager opened up a lane and invited the boys to roll a few balls. First time bowling for both of them. They loved it, of course.

That was a fun day, and I was starting to get back into the swing of things....and then, this happened:

My hopes of spending more time outside this week were dashed....so we made the best of it indoors. I tried making cinnamon buns - they were okay, but not great. I used whole wheat flour instead of white flour, and I think the yeast didn't work as well, so they didn't get as big and chewy as I had hoped. Nonetheless, the boys can't turn down cinnamon and sugar, so these buns were all eaten up by the next day. 

Instead of playing in the snow, Collin got to work on some music theory. Hehe, poor guy. Except he kinda likes it right now, so I have been giving into his requests to "do just one more page please."

 This week ended nicely with a Valentines lunch date with the husband...can't beat hot pot on a cold wintry day, especially eaten in the quiet of a restaurant without any kiddies in tow. What a treat.

And now that I've started on here again, I am hoping to jump back into this little blog more regularly. We'll see. Happy Valentines Day!