Who needs fancy toys?

Elizabeth put herself in and took herself out (sometimes by tipping) of Ben's $2 Goodwill mixing bowl at least six times yesterday afternoon. I'm not quite sure why it was so fascinating or how it could be comfortable, but she thought it was pretty cool. She was rather upset when I put it out of her reach after she tipped over multiple times.

Snow Day

 

After receiving virtually no snow since February 2011, we got hit hard by a late-Winter storm yesterday.  At various times, snow was falling at a rate of 4 inches per hour, and in all we got 12 to 14 inches of it (it's tough to tell exactly how much, considering the drifts).  It shut the city down, and we all stayed home rather than chance the roads. Ben was quite excited by it all -- he spent a good portion of the day yelling, "Thundersnow!" (which was an accurate description of the storm), and asked repeatedly if he could go outside and play in it.  When the storm finally abated, we let him do just that.

He had a great time tromping around in the snow, throwing snowballs, and making snow angels (not the easiest task, as the snow was crusted with a thin layer of sleet).  Emily joined in to show him how it's done.

 

Elizabeth was much more interested in the snow than she was earlier in the winter; she most emphatically did not want to play in the dusting we received a couple months ago.  This time, she enjoyed patting it, making a small pile of it ... and crawling around after Ben, of course!

 Note the makeshift boots made of plastic grocery bags.  We're classy, sophisticated people.

 

 

Ben's valentines

After denying last week that his teachers had said anything about handing out valentines to his pre-K classmates, Ben changed his story and decided a) they were handing them out and b) he wanted to bring some. My requirements for the valentines were that they were simple, inexpensive, and didn't have candy or animated characters/superheros he talks about but really doesn't know anything about on them.  Pinterest saved the day and pointed me toward these cute magnifying glass valentine printables from Dandee. Ben loved the magnifying glasses they had in his last classroom and adores PBS' "Sid the Science Kid" who uses one frequently, so I thought it would be a hit. As a bonus, 12-packs of magnifying glasses were only $3 at the party supply store! Ben had fun either writing his name or using rubber stamps (or both) on the valentines and was excited to have his very own magnifying glass.

And here are a couple random pics from the last few weeks of us playing Ben's new favorite game, Crazy Eights, and the kids cracking each other up!

Little Wing Nut

Elizabeth was all decked out in appropriate gear to cheer our Detroit Red Wings onto victory against the St. Louis Blues, 5-3. We are still working on her octopus-throwing skills. Her current method involves a lot more drool and chewing than is typically recommended by expert octopus throwers.

Catching up on December & January

The last month and a half has been predictably busy with Christmas and both kids' birthdays.  Both Ben and Elizabeth have moved up to new rooms at daycare- Ben to pre-kindergarten and Elizabeth to young toddlers. Elizabeth is adjusting fine and Ben seems to be gradually getting used to the new routine, though change is always a little hard for him.

We missed posting Elizabeth's 11-month photos on time. She did not want to sit still but stayed put for a few seconds when given the echo microphone. She loves hearing her voice echo in the microphone and any hollow object!

On New Year's Day, we got a little snow. Ben was so excited to build a snowman, but it wasn't really good packing snow. Ben and Dave managed to make a tiny snowman (and Ben didn't understand why he couldn't retrieve and eat the carrot nose after the snowman melted) and threw powdery snowballs with Dave. Elizabeth was content looking at the snow from the safety of my arms but did not like it touching her.

Ben in one of his goofy bedtime moments:

My parents flew out for the kids' birthday party in January. We'll have a separate post with the frosting-filled pictures from that, but here are a few from the rest of their visit.

Grammie reading Rhyming Dust Bunnies

Papa and Elizabeth at the piano

My dad wanted to take Ben to a hockey game, so we loaded up everyone and made our first trip to see the Missouri Mavericks at the Independence Events Center, which is a great smaller arena just a few miles from our house. Unfortunately, the Mavericks seemed to be half-asleep and lost 4-1 against the last-place Tulsa Oilers, but it was still a really fun evening.  Ben chatted up the girl sitting next to him and Elizabeth charmed a grandma in the row behind her who had sparkly bracelets that caught Elizabeth's eye (and her grabby fingers)! Both kids made it through the whole game and were fascinated by all the things and people to watch.

Elizabeth spent part of the game snuggled in her baby carrier with her yellow ducky.

The refs were exceptionally lazy for the first two periods and hardly called any penalties on either team, despite both deserving several. One fan was prepared to point this out.

Due to the number of missed opportunities by the Mavericks, Ben quickly learned the "Come on!' What was that?" motion.

Ben enjoyed the hockey game a lot and was also excited to hear that my Detroit Red Wings have "stopped fighting" (i.e., ended the strike) and are playing again. He has been asking for score updates and keeping his poor teachers informed of game results, whether they're interested or not!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We didn't exactly have a white Christmas in Kansas City this year, as most of Thursday's snow already melted, but it was a lovely, crisp winter day. We joined Dave's mom for 4 p.m. Mass yesterday, then went back to their house for Christmas Eve dinner and presents. Dave, Ben, Elizabeth and I celebrated Christmas morning at home, then went back to Herb's & Jerry's in the early afternoon for what we had to keep reminding Ben was a combination of lunch + dinner (he gets confused when meals are not in his standard 3x + afternoon snack structure!) and enjoyed time with Herb, Jerry, Jeff, Grandma Anne, Uncle Kenny & Aunt Lynn.

Here is a quick photo dump from our last few weeks. My grandma is at my parents' house until tomorrow so I wanted to make sure she saw some extra pictures of what we've been up to lately!

Ben enthusiastically shaking his jingle bells & "rapping" the chorus of "Jingle Bells" at his daycare holiday program (As a 3 yr old, "rapping" apparently= "yelling")

Talking to Santa at the daycare program

Kids being goofy & making each other laugh before bedtime. E thought it was really cool to get to sit on the big bed for a few minutes!


The next set is from the traditional cookie baking a few weeks ago.

Elizabeth's first (highly supervised) sprinkling foray

Elizabeth got to test a little bit of a cookie. She loved it. Ben wanted to help finish the rest.

When Ben got tired of helping with the cookies, he watched Opa light the menorah for the eighth day of Hanukkah and they played dreidel. Ben is getting very competitive at dreidel and gets very excited when he spins "gimel," which gets him all the gelt on the table!

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day photos:

Santa brought him a Royals shirt.

"Ben's shoe! Just what I wanted!"

Santa's helpers

Exhausted, belligerent Ben on Christmas Eve. Mad that Santa got a peanut blossom and he didn't, but also just tired from not taking a nap and being up past bedtime.

New Royals shirts

Dave pretending he is surprised and that Ben did not blab about me wrapping up this gift from Tony & Jen the moment that Dave got home yesterday!

Book title: What's Going On In Here? (0-5 year-old brain development!)

Listening to Papa's recording of the Charlie Brown storybook from Great-Grandma.

Hobby horse from Great-grandma Anne

Insisted on taste-testing most presents, whether or not they were hers.

Links also make a nice crown.