In Cold Wintertime...

We do a lot of crafts. I've tried to branch out a bit in our artistic endeavors this year, and below are two of the resulting projects. When we were discussing the seasons, I pulled out a book we have on art (in a kid friendly format). Jonathan was quite enthused, and quickly tried to "replicate" the spring picture.

Jonathan's version of "Spring" by Monet

Caleb and Jonathan both contributed to the coloring on this piece of art, but the cutting was left to the big man as Caleb would have surely mutilated this lovely truck.

The Making of Granola

One word: granola. I utter that one word and the boys are sitting at the table, spoons in hand, faster than I can assemble the ingredients and the bowl. They love to eat the uncooked granola, and I just brace myself for the grandiose mess that will ensue.

Visitors from the North

Jamie's brother and three kids came for a visit about a week ago, and we enjoyed the reprieve from the sameness of winter. We attempted ice skating, which was a little sketchy for our family after Jamie was called to the hospital on a work call. Marc's older kids did pretty well, but my kids are kind of doomed if they have my skating abilities. (NONE!!) Nic could set up the best car ramps, and this kept Jonathan and Caleb intrigued for long periods of time.

Car Recycling Facility

Jonathan and Caleb love family movie night. However, we are in a phase of documentaries. On trucks. And tractors. And recycling trucks. We have seen, "Recycling" and "All About John Deere" more times than I would like to count during family movie night.

As a result, Jonathan has decided on a new future occupation:

"Mom, I'm going to be a worker at a car recycling facility. The cars come into the recycling facility on trucks and I'll help them move into the compactor." Aaah, the joys of boys! I now have an extensive base of knowledge about car recycling facilities and garbage dumps.

NO, MY Mommy!

The increasing verbal prowess of the two year old is bringing about a few interesting exchanges between the two boys.

On the way home from church on Sunday, I was the subject of much debate:

Caleb: "She my mommy. My mommy. My mommy."

Jonathan: "She's my mommy, too.

Caleb: "No, MY mommy!"

Jonathan: "She's my mommy, too, Caleb."

Caleb: (shrieking) "NO, MY MOMMY. MY MOMMY. MY MOMMY."

Jonathan: (escalating): "Caleb, she is mine, too!"

Caleb: "MYMOMMYMYMOMMYMYMOMMY!!!!"

Apart from my husband's kind intervention, there would have been constant shrieking all of the way home about this topic. Guess it's good that they want to claim me.

Numbers

7: The inches of snow we got last night.

140: minutes it took Jamie and I to shovel the ridiculously steep driveway of this house.

10: nights that Jonathan has slept in his bed instead of on his floor (since exiting the crib he has slept most nights of the last year and a half either on the floor or on his chair).

"30+60": The numbers that Jonathan uses to refer to a large sum of objects.

3: numbers of nights Caleb has gone potty on the toilet before his bath.

60: minutes of delightful snow play that we enjoyed today.

2: Spunky little boys that live in this house.

1: Tired Momma who is ready to rest.

Car Repair 101

Our car battery died this week, and Jamie showed his mechanical abilities by successfully changing it with his trusty assistant. Trusty assistant's comment: "This is so fun!!!"