Carpentry

Counter space is lacking in our kitchen, as is cabinet space. Aaron built me a new cabinet that is where our portable dishwasher used to be. May I say that he is awesome and I am so lucky to have such a handyman under the same roof...

There is a little nook on the side that discreetly houses the garbage can.

We had a spare piece of counter top left over from when we moved in that Aaron was able to use for the top so it fits right in to the kitchen.

And of course every new cabinet must be filled, and what better to fill it with than little boys. Oh...p.s. this will be painted tomorrow.

Haircuts

Yesterday I cut everyone's hair but my own. With the money I've saved I can now go to a salon to get my hair cut (sorry Facebook friends for the repeat info.)

Here is everyone who had their hair cut. Sophie's hand is indicating how long her hair was before the cut.

I wanted to add this picture because the Land's End romper that Jacob is wearing is one that I bought for my nephews when I worked at Once Upon a Child (I think...April???) I guess when you buy quality, it lasts. Oh and for some reason Jacob felt it was important to show us his ears, so that is what he is doing in the photo.

Snow Play...Again

Here is our snow play for the day. The sun was shining so brightly it almost hurt. It was a bit deceptive though. It was COLD and the wind was blowing. It never stops the kids though. I finally had to call the kids in when Sophie's cheeks started to get frostbite!

The theme of the day is tongues. For some reason the kids have them out in every photo. I am surprised they all still have tongues, you would think that they would have frozen.

Jacob loving the snow. He was just laying in it and grinning :)





My three monkeys in the tree.

This is the "house." Sophie frequently sweeps it clean and gets very upset when the boys bring the shovel or diggers into the house and make it messy because then she has to sweep again. Maybe I am overdoing the house cleaning lately...? They have a cook stove and refrigerator (milk crates.) They also have a pet watering bowl and sand bucket that are important, but I can't remember what they are.

Where would this boy be without a shovel?

Snow/Nature

Just a random collection of snow pictures I have taken recently.

I laid down in the snow and these are the wrinkles from my coat. I just thought it was kind of cool. They almost look like a ski slope.





This is just a rotten knot on our french lilac (I am not sure if that is really what it is, but oh well close enough!)

When the sun is shining but it is still below freezing the snow s-l-o-w-l-y melts off the roof and refreezes as it hit the cold air. It curves in a really cool way and even gets icicles on it. I like the way it leans.

A pretty trail into the woods. It isn't so pretty when you consider that it is the V.A.S.T. trail (snowmobile trail, ) but it is pretty when the snowmobiles aren't around.

This is just a dirty snowbank that did the same thing as the roof by melting and refreezing. Once it got a new coat of white snow I felt it was photo worthy.

Knitting

I am doing childcare for a friend on Friday mornings while she teaches a fiber arts class at the college here in town. In exchange she gives us fresh meat from their farm (beef, lamb, deer...) but one of the Fridays she taught me how to knit a gave me a bunch of hand spun wool yarn to get started with. She also gave me some cotton to make dish cloths.

This is my first completed item. There is a hole, which she told me I used the technique to make lace to create, so I am actually quite advanced. Making lace on my first try and all...anyway I really enjoy it and can't wait to learn more, and maybe get a sheep so I can make my own yarn...but we won't rush things!

Chore

Yesterday Sophie had a chore to make a special treat for the boys (it's a long story as to why, but we don't need to go into the details.) Probably the best treat about it for the boys was that Sophie let them help.

Sick

This is old news at this point, but I thought I would add it anyway. Last week Ben was sick all week with a high fever (the highest was 105.1!) I thought he was better at one point and sent him to school. When he got home he asked for a blanket then laid on the floor and fell asleep.

For those of you who personally know Ben you will probably find this as unusual as I did. I transferred him onto the couch and he slept for about 4 hours. I finally took him to the Dr's on Thursday and heard the words every parent hates to hear..."It's a virus." This translates into, sorry we can't do anything for him. He is fine now though.

Play

Yesterday Sophie put on play for us. It was long and quite involved. In the first video she explaining which instruments are used to represent the different characters. The second clip is a snippet of the play.

Moon, Moon, Moon

Jacob found this cozy little spot to cuddle up with a good book. He was so excited to see pictures of a moon in the book. The video is him singing one of his favorite Laurie Berkner songs; Moon, Moon, Moon. He of course stopped a soon as I pulled out the camera, but with some prompting we get a pretty good sample. It morphs into something else in the end, but it is still cute, at least to me.

Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit...

Ben's school has a bean table that is the easier to clean up version of a sand table. The beans are EXTREMELY satisfying to play with so I completely understand why I have to drag Jacob away from it every time.

Today I had the epiphany that I could make a bean table here at home (there is a note of sarcasm to my statement...)

Jacob had loads of fun, had a positive experience with beans (we are trying to get him to actually eat them, and I count this as exposure, ) and I just kind of think that beans are pretty.

My Winter Friend

Ice is my winter friend. I just think it is so pretty. It kind of gives me something to look forward to during the winter chill.

These are some ice crystals that formed on the porch railing. They were so much prettier in person.

Photo Contest

Sophie is entering a photo contest so this morning while the sun was shining so nicely on the snow she went out to snap a few shots. When she was done I took the opportunity to snap a few shots of her.

The pensive face is because she took all the photos with her gloves off and her fingers were so cold. It was 6 degrees at the time.

Rules

Several weeks ago we had a series of Family Home Evening lessons. The first week we talked about being nice and made a poster of examples of how to be nice. The next week we talked about being clean and again made a poster with examples of how to be clean. The last lesson in the series was about being safe, and this poster had a list of important safety rules i.e."Sharp things are not toys."

One of the major rules (because we have a major problem with it,) is "no climbing on furniture." Jacob had the unfortunate opportunity of learning exactly why we have this rule when he dove off the couch to tackle Ben.

I was in the bathroom of course which is so awkward because you can hear your child screaming, but you are kind of in the middle of something...

Anyway a few ice cubes later he was all smiles, though a significantly altered smile since he had a fat lip.

Silly Ben

Just Ben doing "The Silly Dance" while he waits to go to school.

All Wrapped Up

I had to wake Jacob up yesterday to bring Ben to school so we wrapped him all up in his blankies, which he found very appealing I guess...


I like this photo. I think it is pretty...in a masculine way of course.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day All!! Here is what Valentine's Day has brought so far.

Heart Shaped pancakes with strawberry puree so that they would be pink. Didn't come out exactly like I wanted, but they tasted good! Aaron had the added bonus of heart shaped sausage patties (kind of an oxymoron isn't it?) I took a picture of my Valentine, but he pleaded with me not to post it since he wasn't showered etc...yet.

Blanket tent for the kids. Sophie is the first one to enjoy it.

Ben woke up with red rosy cheeks for Valentine's day. He says his head hurts. I took his temperature...103.3. We will see what this virus brings. I have heard there are some nasty ones going around. It looks like he is asleep here but he is turning around because he didn't want his picture taken. Who does really when they feel rotten?

Sledding

I tried to post this the other day, but it wasn't working. I am not sure if you can tell, but we had some really warm days with some rain and then the temperature dropped. The snow was so icy and treacherous. There was absolutely no give to it.

I went down once with Ben and thought I was going to die. I asked Ben if it was scary and he eagerly said yes. The next time we went down I put my legs out to slow us down and just about broke my legs. After we stopped Ben climbed out of the sled and disappointedly said "It wasn't scary that time."

Winter Play

Yesterday the sun was shining and I thought, "what a perfect day to play outside." Little did I know that the sun was actually on vacation and had a very convincing look alike in its place. It was freezing out there!!! Still the "sun" was nice and the cold didn't stop the kids at all. Jacob's socks were even bothering him so I took them off and he was barefoot in his boots. His toes stayed nice and roasty toasty.

Even though Sophie is mid-word here, I still think it is a cute picture of her. She was collecting chunks of ice as rare crystals and selling them. Small remembering crystals were $1 and large crystals were $50.

She also had little icy balls of snow that were dinosaur eggs. She built a special nest for them. I am a little envious of her imaginative skills.

My sweet little brown eyed boy...

...who cannot keep the snow out of his mouth. I would like to say he is discerning about what kind of snow goes in his mouth, but he doesn't care, no matter how many times I tell him.

Jacob also likes to eat snow, though this is not a photo of him doing it. What is it about snow that makes it appealing and edible to a kid?

Jacob was picking up chunks of icy snow and throwing them off the "mountain" (much to the peril of all of us!) At one point he threw a piece, lost his balance and hit his face on the snow. Because of the melting and rain and then freezing we had, it was not nice snow to fall on and he got a scratch on his nose and forehead that is still visible today.

Palm Pilot

Sunday we were at my parents and my dad wears a palm pilot/cell phone on his belt. Yesterday Ben made a belt with a palm pilot to be like Poppa Gramps.

Modeling the belt...

Here is a close up of how he made the belt. It is a dog collar with battery clasp and calculator "palm pilot." I think Ben is a pretty cool kid!

We're Back

Ok I decided that life was just not as fun for me or the kids if I wasn't photo documenting so that I had "stuff" for the blog, so we are back!

Ben and Jacob both chose red shirts yesterday. They have some very different facial features, but there is no question as to whether they are brothers! Different hair, teeth and eye color, but same chin, nose, eyes...

Jacob really thought I wanted a photo of this connect four coin. This is the only photo I could get of him without him shoving it right in front of the lens.

Ben learned about patterns at school and he made this pattern all by himself. Well actually Jacob kept "helping" him and Ben would pull out the coins and fix the pattern.