Frosty

Every year, Steve and kids try to build a snowman in the front yard ... and then affectionately name it, "Frosty."  Last week, we had the perfect snow for snowman-building  activities -- wet and heavy.  Before naps, the kids headed outside and set to work ...

Rolling the perfect base for the snowman:

Always my smiling little girl, even in the frigid winter weather:

Even Jack joined in on the fun:

My two "men:"

Steve and his girls:

Putting the finishing touches on Frosty's body:

Using some long sticks from the woods as the arms:

Posing with their masterpiece:

(Never mind Sophia and her crying face -- while she is usually my content child full of smiles for anyone and everyone, she can also change expressions quickly ... when she is tired and ready to head inside).

Frosty was a wonderful addition to our front yard for the two hours that he lasted!  Thus, is a Michigan Winter ...

The Gingerbread House of 2014

For some reason (which I now know what that is), we don't usually put together gingerbread houses as part of our annual Christmas traditions.  We have so many other things that we do instead, and the kids have never really asked me to do one with them.

After Christmas this year, while I was pushing my gigantic shopping cart, with all three kids on it, through the store, I saw that the gingerbread house kits were on clearance.  Steve was out of town traveling and I thought that it would make a good (and now cheap!) activity to do together.  Especially on a snow day.

The girls were filled with so much excitement over the whole idea and could hardly wait for me to put all of the groceries away.  After lunch, I promised them that we could put it together ... not realizing that it was ME that really needed to put the foundation together first.  Then, they could go all out with the candy decorations. 

Here's the thing:  I am not an engineer.  That's why I married one.  I am crafty and can pull together projects from various odds and ends, but when it comes to building something rather structural ... well, it's not my strong suit.

So, when Jack dropped the box on the floor and broke off a chunk of the roof, I could see that this was not going to be an easy task. 

The frosting was not holding anything together and the plastic tray that was provided did not keep the house within its barriers.  At all.

So what did this momma do?  Well, I grabbed my overused glue gun and declared to the girls that we would be doing something a little different.  Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a look that the girls exchanged.  They know that I practically own stock in the glue stick company.  I mean, I use hot glue for everything.

Well, for the first time that I can ever remember, hot glue did not work.  You see, the gingerbread was greasy and the glue just peeled right up.  But I was determined to make this work.  After all, I had two little girls counting on me.

So, I fashioned my own set-up and somehow made it work.  And when the roof started to separate at the top, we stuffed cotton balls in the giant canyon ("look girls, it looks just like snow!").  They didn't know any different.  Instead, all they have are the memories of working together to create a special masterpiece all of their own.

As for me, I will not be putting together any gingerbread houses in the future ... unless my resident engineer is here.

While I was desperately trying to adhere four sides of the gingerbread house together (and mumbling under my breath), I assigned the girls the task of putting the various types of candy into bowls to make it easier to work with them.  (Sam loves to wear her dress-up glasses as often as she can).

Jack heard the sound of candy pouring into bowls and came running:

Can you just sense the excitement?!

At long last, the girls were ready to start decorating:

You will notice that Jack's role in all of this was to sneak and sample the different kinds of candy, as evidenced by his full chipmunk cheeks in the background:

They worked so well as a team:

The masterpiece:

Jack is 20 Months Old

In four more short months, I will have a 2-year old little boy.  Sometimes, it seems surreal; as I know that that means that my monthly updates on him here will stop.  And then there are other times, that I find myself reeling from the fact that he flat-out just seems so much older than that. 

His communication is growing by leaps and bounds every day.  He surprises me regularly with new words that he repeats now without me asking him to do so.  He'll point to something and just tell me what it is.  For example, Sophia and I put a bunch of Valentine's Day "clings" on the window the other day.  Jack "helped" with that task and must have overheard us refer to the sticky pieces of gel for the windows as "clings."  The next morning, as I was bringing him downstairs, he pointed to the window and said, "clings."  Such a random word, but he used it correctly.

Jack gestures (like a game of charades) if there is something that he wants us to understand.  He's good at the game too.  Rarely do we not know what he wants.

He tells me every single time when he needs his diaper changed.  He'll grab the front of it and say "wet" or "ow," meaning that he doesn't like how it feels.  If I ask him if he needs his diaper changed, he'll tell me yes or no, complete with a head gesture, as well.  He is no where near ready to begin potty-training, but I did bring the potty up from storage in the basement and have it sitting in the bathroom.  We talk about it a lot and he totally knows what it is for.  He's just not ready physically for that big milestone.  (I am planning to begin training this summer).

Jack is really interested in books, puzzles and anything with a motor (or that he can push).  He received this car ramp for Christmas and uses it quite a bit.  He giggles whenever he pushes the button and lets the cars race down the track.  And the robe was a gift from my sister -- another well-used item.  Jack can't get enough of it and often wears the robe over his regular day-time clothes!

Pointing to pictures and telling me what they are:

I recently dug all of the wooden puzzles that we have out of the girls' closet and put them in a big plastic tote.  The girls love helping Jack do the puzzles and then sometimes I see that he is working on them by himself.

Along with Jack's zest for independence these days, he has begun testing his limits and figuring out what his boundaries are.  There are a lot of days (a lot!) where I find myself walking away from a situation and taking a moment to just breathe before jumping in and disciplining him.  This is often the look that I get before he decides to do something that he knows that he shouldn't be doing ...
 

He has a strong aversion to the word, "no."  That is to say, if you use that word when talking to him, he just breaks down and has a full-blown toddler tantrum.  And he's loud, so loud. 

Exhibit A, the drama:

This week alone, there have been multiple incidences with markers (coloring on his pajamas), spilled orange juice, a broken trash can (he sat on the plastic insert, but I think that my duct tape repair may make it salvageable), near-destruction to the drywall in the basement with a golf club and a mess with an entire tub of wax for a car.  Now, every single one of these events could have been avoided if certain individuals did not leave things in the vicinity of a near-two-year-old, but it's hard to live on full-alert at all times.  Like I said, Jack manages to keep me on my toes.

At the end of day, Jack is often quite exhausted.  (And Momma too!).  And that exhaustion can either make him incredibly irritable or it can make him just want to cuddle in and snuggle.  One night, Jack was so tired that all he did was cry.  We gave him a quick bath and then I asked Steve if he would try to just hold him for a bit.  Within minutes, Jack was sound asleep. 

Those curls ...  After his bath, Jack's hair is so curly.  During the day, though, it seems to straighten back out.  Only time will tell if he will have his daddy's straight hair or curly hair like his momma and sisters.

All in all, Jack is such a personable little man.  His sisters adore him to pieces; in fact, they are so patient and calm with him.  Sophia's voice even goes up a couple of octaves when she talks to him.  It is so sweet. 

Nothing holds him back from doing anything -- including giving hugs, kisses and "high fives.  He's not afraid to show love and affection, just as he's not afraid to do anything that borders on being highly dangerous.  Here's to another month of growing ...

An Annual Tradition -- Reindeer Food

It has become one of our annual Christmas traditions to put together some "reindeer food" that can be scattered on the lawn for the deer on Christmas Eve.  We had plans to do this at our house with friends this year, but the friends were sick and we had to cancel the play date.  The girls were disappointed of course, but I promised that we would still make it.

So one night, fresh out of the tub, we set to work.

We filled some bags with marshmallows, oatmeal, crushed potato chips, butterscotch chips, cocoa ... and of course, glitter!  That way, moon would shine on the glitter and the reindeer would know to stop at our house ...

There is no exact recipe, of course.  A little of this, and a little of that.  Maybe a lot of something else.  It's completely up to you.

Hard at work.

And then I caught this -- Jack was sampling his reindeer food!  Just look at those cheeks stuffed with marshmallows!

Momma assisted with the glitter.

So exciting!

Then we labeled each of the bags so that we would know whose was whose on Christmas Eve.

All ready to go.  And we even filled a special ornament that Sophia received from Grammy this year.  It's symbolic of this special tradition that we have because you place reindeer food in the "belly" of the reindeer ornament and then hang it on the tree every year.  Adorable.