Happy Birthday Chris!

We celebrated Chris' birthday on Sunday. It was a relaxing and gorgeous day. We enjoyed playing outside with the kids, going to the park, and busting out the grill for the first time this year. Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband and best friend!

An Attempt to Catch Up

I have fallen woefully behind on my blog updates. I mean, I completely skipped blogging about our awesome trip to Florida - I got some great shots and we had so much fun. But that's all I'm gonna say about that because I've decided I just need to move on. So here's a quick overview of the last few weeks.

Colin celebrated his birthday at school and decorated a birthday banner that is all about him at 4. Chris helped him fill it out because, let's be honest, his handwriting is way better than mine.

For St. Patrick's Day we dressed in green and went to a TPG party. The boys had a great time running around with all the other boys like a pack of wild dogs. Before we left, I made them do a craft since I volunteered to cut out a gazillion clovers and strips of green tissue paper. Good times!

Since winter has returned, I brought up our easel and had the boys paint one afternoon. I actually think it's the first time I've let Eli paint (he has a tendency to make a break for the carpet or walls with markers so paint has freaked me out). The boys *loved* it.

Eli has been experimenting with new hairstyles.

Colin's class painted animals inspired by the book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?", by Eric Carle. They were then put on display at the Way Public Library in Perrysburg. He was very proud of his frog which he painted blue (his favorite color). I was impressed that his animal was the only one with eyes. Way to be anatomically correct (kinda)!

Hoping to keep up with the blog a little better so I can avoid another recap post. :)

Colin is 4!

On Saturday, we celebrated our sweet boy's 4th birthday. He got to spend the entire day in his jammies. We took him to his first movie at the theater - Tangled at the Maumee Indoor Theater. He had a blast! Despite claiming that the movie was a little scary, he's looking forward to his next opportunity to go the theater. Grammy and Poppy watched Eli while we took Colin out and then we enjoyed dinner, cake, and ice cream with them. It was just right for Colin.

At 4, Colin is very creative and talkative (at home at least). He loves to play intricate make-believe games and is getting very into playing with action figures. His favorite toys include everything Toy Story, super heroes and pirates. He loves to read and really enjoys his Leapfrog Tag books. One of his favorite outings is going to the library to pick out new books. He also loves to watch TV and movies, but is really looking forward to warmer weather so he can ride his bike and play more outside. He's not as keen on coloring or drawing, but enjoys craft projects that involve painting, cutting, gluing, or stickers. He is a fantastic big brother and plays really well with Eli, most of the time. He hasn't enjoyed any extra-curricular classes I've put him in, but he loves school. He loves his friends and asks everyday for me to set up more playdates.

It's really fun to watch him grow into his own person more and more everyday. Although, sometimes the process can be frustrating to us - he can be very argumentative and is always negotiating. Thankfully he's also a huge helper and out of the blue will just tell us how much he loves us. He truly is such a sweet boy and we love him so much. Happy Birthday big guy!

King of the (Snow) Hill

I'm not sure if we've gotten enough snow over the last week. The last doozy was supposed to be 1 inch that turned into 8. As much as I feel I complain about it, I really don't mind the snow that much as long as I don't have to drive in it, which I haven't, recently. Plus the kids have been *loving* it! Now that we have mini-mountains in our yard, the kids have been having a great time attempting to climb them and build forts in them. I remember how much fun I had playing in the snow when I was a kid and I love watching my kids enjoy it just as much.

Love Day Activities

Something I'm discovering about myself is that I take a lot of inspiration (and motivation) from holidays. Even with a Hallmark holiday like Valentine's Day, I've gone from feeling completely stir-crazy to feeling like I just don't have enough time to do everything I want before the said holiday has come and gone. Granted, I really don't have 2 weeks worth of V-Day projects to do with the kids - this is *not* like the 25 days of Christmas - but I do have a few projects up my sleeve.

We started with making heart-shaped cookies. I have actually been looking forward to doing this since probably January 2. I always seem to be looking for good excuses to bake scrumptious treats. It feels more justified if I involve the kids and even more justified if it's theme-related. We used a strawberry frosting that I've been craving ever since we attended a TPG Valentine's Day party 2 years ago and decorated cookies with this frosting. It was so worth the 2 year wait!

  

Then Colin helped me create a "conversation hearts" banner. I was originally going to make a different craft involving a toilet paper roll (which we may still do) but Colin insisted he wanted something to hang on his door. He's been very influenced by the "Toy Story" movies and wants to add lots of decorations to his door and walls so he can be more like Andy. Back to the craft, Colin helped me cut out hearts. Then he helped me come up with something to write on each one. Last, he helped me glue them all together. Voila! A love-day themed art project that he can use to decorate his room.

Having activities that I want to work on coupled with Punxsutawney Phil's predicition of an early spring, makes me not mind so much that we just got hit by a blizzard. In my mind's eye, winter is practically over and I'm already envisioning sunshine, green grass, and less layers. Ahhh!

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Hill?

Me. That's who.

I thought maybe Eli would be my excuse to stay off the mountain, I mean, hill. When we first arrived, he just looked cold and uninterested.

That all changed when he saw how much fun Colin was having.

Then I thought maybe I would just be the parent who stayed at the bottom of the hill with the kid who wasn't sledding with Daddy.

My heart fell into my stomach when Chris made the suggestion that the boys take a turn with Mommy. I kept envisioning the boys and I tumbling out of the sled and creating a giant snowball with us at the center as we rolled down the giant hill. Eh. At least I'm good at covering up my fear for the kids' sake.

I think the funniest part of our first family sledding experience was the 40-year-old man with the snowboard who perched himself about half way up the hill and watched all the sledders while occasionally kicking, polishing, and/or admiring his snowboard. In the 40 minutes we were at the hill, I saw him go down twice. I think he might have been more scared than I was... or maybe there was something a little weirder going on there.

So Tired of Winter

At this time of year I find it really challenging to come up with creative things to do with the kids. Especially when the temperature gets to the single digits and I don't even like being outside to walk to and from the car. This type of weather makes me want to just curl up on the couch under 3 or 4 blankets and watch movies all day long. Maybe that's OK once in awhile but there's way too much winter left to start making that a habit. Thankfully the cold weather doesn't stifle my childrens' imaginations. Just as this mama was ready to throw in the towel for the day, the kids decided to start a parade. Their enthusiasm motivated even me to get up and march with them. You gotta love the exuberance of youth!