Valentine's Card for a Friend

Yesterday we were trying to keep busy in the house since Doug had the car and Koen has a pretty intense cold. I wracked my brain for some kind of season-appropriate craft. Remember those Valentine creatures you made in the 1st grade. Yeah, that's all I could think of. But it was a huge hit! It was so sweet because I said to Koen, "how about we make a big Valentine for Delia?" And he said, "well, how about we make it for Dhini? She had surgery this week and I want to make her feel better." So sweet! Yes, buddy, we can totally make it for Dhini (don't worry, Delia, we'll make one for you another day for sure). Here's Koen working on the writing...Here's the proud creator with his creation...It's alive! Pretty cute, huh.We will deliver the Valentine tomorrow. Koen can't wait! He told me today not to tell his teacher about it because he wants to surprise her at school tomorrow. So sweet.

Snow Day

Well, today was Koen's first snow day of the 2011-2012 school year. It's laughable actually that school was closed today. Growing up in NH, a day like today would never have meant a school delay let alone a closing. The snow stopped at midnight and the roads were treated when we woke up. It was frigid, but nursery school isn't supposed to be cancelled for that reason since they do not rely on buses to transport the kids. I was quite frustrated at first, but thankfully it was Doug's day off, so I had the relief that at least Daddy and I could tag team. Koen was thrilled he had an extra "day off." Doug and I were actually expecting some friends for brunch since we thought we'd just have Tavin with us, so we just added a place at the table and involved Koen in the prep process. Koen helped me make muffins and cooked an omelet with Doug. Tavin saw brother on his step stool and felt he needed a big boy job too. I let him help me wash dishes, which has become a new pastime for the little guy. All he does is holds his hands under the running water while I try to wash the dishes in the stream as well. If I make the water stop flowing on his hands, he gestures for me to move. Hilarious. Not exactly an efficient way to get the dishes done!After our friends left around noon, Doug and Koen suited up in lots and lots of layers and headed out with the sleds to Mellon Park. Koen and Doug got out last night when the snow was falling too to shovel, but we didn't get any pictures. Here's our little snowman...And here's a video of the accomplished sledder...

Tavin and I stayed home where it's warm and where he can move (I don't think he will enjoy snow play this year, last time he couldn't move enough in all the layers and puffy clothing). We colored with markers and then he covered himself with Thomas stickers. Look how intent he is! Precious!
So, it turned out to be a great day despite my negative attitude about Koen's school cancellation. Although I do need to mention that Tavin woke up way, way, way too early from his nap, but thankfully he's now finally chilling out again and not complaining too much about still being in rest time.

Tonight we invited some friends whose husbands are out of town to visit for dinner (Doug's speaking engagement got cancelled) and we are looking forward to watching the boys play with their buddies, sharing pizza and chatting with friends to finish off this snow day.

Marble Works Video for Grampa

Dad, I mentioned to Koen today how you were wondering about his progress with Marble Works. It inspired him to work on a big project to impress you with when Doug got home. Enjoy!

I Love Wednesdays!

Today was Koen's second day of Lunch Bunch. It came as even more of a relief this week because he didn't have school on Monday due to MLK Day (I'm thinking of starting a movement that children should still have school on MLK and Presidents' Days. Whoever made those laws do not have young children or live in a cold climate where they are just then trapped in doors with no museums or libraries open on those holidays to go out and keep busy at...disaster! I think it much more honoring to those great men to keep the kids in school and just mandate that those days they have to study the subject of that day. Doesn't that sound like a good idea?).

Anyways, Tavin and I saw Koen off. Tavin was a little upset because Koen chose the lunchbox that Tavin had bonded with last week. I was able to cheer him up though by telling him that when brother got home we would switch them again. "Switch" says Tavin with a smile on his face. Ok, I guess he's fine with that plan.

After we saw Koen off, we headed into the kitchen and played on the floor for awhile. I just love how laid back it is to play with the one child. I remember those days with Koen and for the most part, the sibling thing is a lot more fun, but I cherish this one on one time with Tavin and I can tell he likes it too. After some floor play with the ambulance toy he loves, he wanted to color (with markers specifically). Look how happy and proud he is!Pretty soon after that we headed upstairs for what turned out to be the rest of the morning! I couldn't believe it. When Tav and Koen are upstairs together it doesn't last long due to the silliness. Everything just seems to be crazy silly, then Tav gets hurt, then it goes back to silliness and then Tav gets hurt and back and forth, etc. So to spend so much low key time upstairs enjoying the playspace and the toys was so refreshing. That's what it's there for. I can't wait until they can play together better and enjoy it themselves rather than just meeting in the middle with super silliness! Anyways, Tavin and I Skyped with Gramma and Grampa for awhile, which was a great treat. Tavin really enjoys it. Anytime Grampa went away from the webcam, Tavin was all concerned and wanted to see him reappear again. So cute! After our Skype session, we played with toys and then I got productive while also engaging with Tavin. He loves getting to just do what he wants without fighting off his big brother, so he just loved being around what I was doing, taking me up on my suggestions on what to do next and chatting with me about what he was working on. Sweet time! Not to mention, I dusted the third floor, changed the sheets on the bottom bunk and vacuumed the third floor. Here's Tavin keeping busy...He loved the rocking horse today. I think he did it for 20 minutes straight. He would ask me to help him off and then he'd get right back on again. So cute. He says, "neigh!" I asked him if he was a cowboy and he said, "Yeah."As you can see from the pictures, Tav was in his PJ's for most of the morning, but I did finally change him before lunch. Not worth it though because we had grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch and he loved, loved, loved the soup, but it was all over his shirt and pants. Such a mess. Oh well, it dried into a lovely design and I have to say I just left him in it for nap anyways. =) After lunch we waited on the couch looking out our front window for Koen to pull up. We played trucks together on the couch cushions. Tavin loved it. It was precious. He actually tried to teach it to Koen when he came home. I guess he liked my little play game. Koen loved Lunch Bunch again, but was tired when he came home. After days of not napping in the afternoon, he fell asleep with no problem and I'm not bothering to wake him up early (I've been waking him up at 4pm lately to help him be tired enough at his regular bedtime of 7:30pm). The boys are still asleep, which is great since we have a cold going around our house it seems. I'm wrapping up my downtime and heading to get dinner started while also already looking forward to next Wednesday. =)

Old School Compare Picture

At Christmas my mom brought down an old picture of me. I was probably younger than the picture of Tavin I'm comparing it too, but maybe by just a month or so. Tav was pretty small in this 6 month picture as it came after his bout with pneumonia. We aren't identical, but you can definitely see the family resemblance.

Birdhouse Project

When Nana was here last weekend she gave Koen a paint-your-own birdhouse kit. Last night I decided it would be a fun activity for Koen to work on after naptime. He was thrilled with the idea. He dove right in and on his own initiative chose the colors and where they would go.Tavin, of course, needed to feel like he was involved, so I set him up with stickers, crayons and markers and scrap paper. The markers were a big hit (and as you can see he also went crazy with the stickers).I didn't think we'd be able to do the whole birdhouse in one night, but Koen was so focused on it and enjoyed it so much, that he did end up using up all the paint. I think we might continue decorating it with other paints some other time, but for the most part, it's done. Here's Koen showing it off for Nana. He was so proud of himself!I was making too much of a big deal over Koen's accomplishment apparently, because Tavin was following me around saying, "Cheese!", so I took his picture too. He's pretty cute!Good job, Koen and thanks so much, Nana!

Funny Comparison Photo

After posting the gloves photo of Tavin the other day, PopPop emailed me a picture from years ago of Koen doing a similar "try on" activity. Great memory, PopPop. Thanks for sending! Koen was less than 2 in this picture, so they aren't quite the same age, but size-wise (and hair growth) they look very similar.

You just can't miss Koen's huge cheeks. I miss those chipmunk cheeks!