memory

My Aunt Peggy was cleaning out her house (getting ready to move) several years ago and sent me home with a grown up // baby animal memory set that we all love.  Noah finds anything that looks like one of his buddies (yakyak! puppy! panda!) and hugs them tightly to his chest, not to be shared.  He goes to his room, throws said buddies down the stairs, and lines them up against the couch - each looking at its own match, naturally.  Adam thinks the idea of turning a card over and then back over facedown is complete nonsense.  Seth and Paige and I play it often.  Sometimes one of them distracts the other two of us and then slips two or four cards out of the lineup.  This keeps us hunting for nonexistent matches and them chortling - and then they remember that they never looked at which cards they nabbed...so they are in the dark just like us.  They are so funny.

PS the photo is blurry but that is such an awesome little boy book that Adam is looking at.  I pick the page of ships or farm equipment, but it is all about the construction site for this guy.

all day long

Noah was in charge of chocolate-cake-making cleanup.  He bore the responsibility quite well.  He has become super interested in all counter-height activity, as he should be.  Thankfully the magnetic strip on the fridge door seal is too strong for him to open, whew.

I must have smelled Playdoh too much when I was pregnant - now just a whiff makes me want to rub my tummy and sweep the floor and throw up, all at once.  Should we move on to modeling clay?  I saw on Pinterest that you can make play dough out of jello - then it is colored and flavored!  Do you think it dyes everything it touches as well?  I don't know if I'm willing to find out.

There are things growing out of the ground and I am so excited.  They may have a hard freeze and die, of course.  But the wonder of it all!  The winter sky has been lovely and gray lately.  The peeps drew it recently and it was so fun to hear them dither over which specific gray they wanted for this spot and this and this.  Painting would be great for it, but I still struggle with flashbacks to the Paint Fiasco of 2008 and Paint Disaster of 2012 whenever I consider letting them run for the acrylics.  They have been using watercolors lately and I can handle that without needing a paper bag.  It's very soothing to watch them work and know I can just wipe it all up.

This is also the time of year that I share random ideas about summer all day long, any time I come into contact with Dustin.  I *think* he enjoys it (most of the time), though he did cover my mouth and say, "Allison, it is February." Just once though.  And it was really late and we were nearly asleep.

vroom

This boy is down with cars. And blueberries, cashews, bagels, and juice boxes.  He was living quite large after Seth's surgery - the sudden and consistent availability of juice boxes thrilled him.  The racetrack above was a gift years ago that has provided Noah with hours of amusement.  It clamps onto tables and chairs and shelves and stools.  He sets a bucket (sometimes a pillow) at the end of the track to catch the cars, and does it again and again and again.

Other current favorites include: The Big Red Barn, showers, yammering, taking off his pants, singing in the car, scooters, roaring, dancing, and doggies.  What a delightful age.

the volcano and the igloo

Dustin insisted on moving us to smartphones several months ago. Now that I don't need Skype to message him (w/o video, before you wonder), I find myself rarely in front of an actual computer. This is the first time I have dropped photos off the camera for more than a month! So I think about posting pictures, but my follow-through has been lacking. To tell the truth, I don't get my camera out nearly as often anyway.

The peeps planned out a fabulous tea party a while back and it was a rousing success. I thoroughly enjoy that they eat so much more food when it is put into small cups. Paige has taken to menu writing and placecard making - two things I loved as a little girl as well.

Noah likes to take off his jammies. Apparently our safety pins are cheap and flimsy, because he Houdinis himself free lickedy-split and we redress him after he is asleep most nights.

We got that little level with something that was purchased (to assist with its hanging) and it did not occur to us that the level might not be level.  So we have a small level that is useless. And we have a large one that I used while building the retaining wall in CO - unknown to me this was a bad idea because even though my wall turned out nice and level, I got a slew of tiny rocks/dust inside the level and now it is nearly impossible to see the bubble. Gah.

Have you ever filled a plate with baking soda and given your peep the plate + a small cup of vinegar + medicine syringe? Volcano! It is a rainy/cold weather staple around here and has been for years (really, I buy baking soda in bulk anyway). Super fun.

buh-bye tonsils

So those were Seth's tonsils when he was "healthy" (you would not want to see a pic of them when he had strep).  He did hit the ENT after that last post, and he was scheduled for surgery the following week.  No time to waste!  He had them out December 26th and had a miserable first week and a second week full of setbacks.  He is thankfully back to his old self - minus a few pounds and the snoring.  Yippee.