Sunday, January 30, 2011

Shoveling

As Aiden does not like staying out too long in the snow, Owen and I used the weekend to really have some fun in the snow. Omer stayed in the nice warm house with Aiden, and Owen and I went sledding, nature exploring, built another snowman and shoveled our walk. He got his own shovel and really wanted to help. Good times in the snow.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Pajama Parade

A couple weeks ago we had our friends Addie, Sylvie and Leila over and for some reason Owen and Addie decided they needed to have a PJ parade, but it was late and time for them to leave. But I decided to have their whole family over for dinner and let the kids have their parade. Both kids asked several times when this was going to happen, and I know Owen was EXCITED when the day came. All the kids were super cute in their PJs. They enjoyed some playtime, dinner and then the "parade" began. Addie and Owen got instruments and marched around the house. Then they wanted to sing. Owen sang his favorite "Mean Old Witch". Addie tried to sing "God Bless America" but she got shy....which has never happened. Aiden even tried to join in and sing "Frosty" and "Caillou". It was very cute and hilarious!

Snow & Story

A local indoor ice rink holds an event for preschoolers call Snow & Story. One of the moms in my group coordinated a time and I thought it would be something different to do. However, it of course had to fall on the morning after all the lovely snow. I would have much rather gone sledding but felt bad bailing so we went. The boys had an okay time but not sure we would go again. It was good to see some ladies I haven't in a long time, and the boys had their friends to scoot around on the snowy ice. Here is a little taste of what we did.

Spring in the Snow

We have been enjoying the snow every day; sledding snowball fights, snowmen, digging, etc. This afternoon though the kids enjoyed some common spring weather activities in the snow.

The sandbox was covered with heavy ice snow but Aiden really wanted to play there, so I got half of it off and he played in there for an hour. He would much rather play in the sand than the snow.

Then Owen and I cleaned off the slide and he had a blast sliding down into a snow pile.

We built two more snowman also, some actual winter activity.
Aiden finally got out the sandbox to push his dump truck around
We ended our time outside with another winter activity and had snowball fight. The boys got really into it.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Real Snow Day


We finally got some measurable snow and it was AWESOME. The boys and yes I were very excited. The best part is it was perfect sledding, snowman making and snowball fights. I also got to take the pups on two snowy walks through the woods, really one of my favorite activities.

Right after the boys finished their breakfast they wanted outside. We had a blast minus it was really crunchy on the top, but we built two small snowmen, went on nature walks in the back, and yes the boys ate a lot of snow. Owen loves it and could stay all day but Aiden gets cold, bored, not sure and walks back inside. Good to have both parents at home so we can split.

Then once Owen was ready to come inside some very fun and interesting games took place and one really sweet moment. The boys were becoming a bit pesky so I told them to go upstairs. They ended up in Owen's room. All I know as they read, played, took a pretend nap together, and best of all had fun.

Then after rest time we all went to our sledding hill. It is perfect for the kids, just a couple houses up and great size hill. Not tiny but not huge. Pretty fast and lands in the woods. The first run the boys wanted to go together. I can't put into words how cute they were. They took turns being first. When Aiden was in the back he would hold onto Owen's coat and when in front just bumped all around. Hilarious! Then the boys wanted us to come. Yippee! We love to sled too. So we all piled on and went. Aiden also surprised us by climbing up the hill every time. When we tried to speed it up and pick him up, "Down please!!!" he would say. He is so independent. The boys had an awesome time and so did we. Then back home to build Frosty. Owen tried to help and was great at decorating him. We put birdseed and pine cones on him because of a book the librarian read a week ago. Aiden got cold and wanted inside, so I took him in while Omer and Owen finished. Aiden enjoyed playing in the warmth and watching Frosty be built. We had a wonderful snow day!





Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Singing and Puzzles

Two of Aiden's favorite things. He is absolutely obsessed with puzzles, and is really good at them out of nowhere. A huge portion of his day is putting all different puzzles together. On top of it he loves to sing. He sings Frosty, Jingle Bells, Caillou, Twinkle Twinkle. The awesome part is he only sings a couple lines from each and will often combine them. It is so cute but I never seem to be able to capture it. Tonight while Aiden put together his favorite truck puzzles he kept singing Frosty. He only really sings "Frosty the Snowman, a happy happy soul." He sometimes will sing corncob pipe or button nose, but most of the time it is just over and over, but he sounds so cute. It is also hilarious that he WILL NOT let Omer nor I sing with him.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Puzzles

For the past couple weeks Aiden has really been honing his puzzle skill. Now he is obsessed with doing them and has gotten really good. He can completely put together the Melissa & Doug wood puzzles - the little truck ones, the animal puzzle and even the large dinosaur one. We are proud of him for this accomplishment and he is too. He will do some pieces run to find one of us and show us with pure happiness. He is a very cute little puzzle maker.

Working on a Truck Puzzle Funny FacePuzzle Complete "WooHoo"

Jungle Creation

For Christmas Santa gave Owen a treehouse and it has been a huge hit in the house. All different play has happened with this one toy. Today Owen cleared off the green couch and created a whole jungle surrounded by the tree house. I love watching his creative play.


Thursday, January 20, 2011

Aiden's Gym Class

I really wanted to sign Owen up for this science class (which he LOVES) and it just so happens there is a JW Tumbles in the same complex, so I signed Aiden up for a gym class. The time works pretty good as I have to drop Owen off and then head over to Aiden's class. He is the youngest as the class is supposed to be for 2-3 year olds, but it was the only time both were together. You can tell he is the youngest but he also very athletic and brave so he ad no problem trying any of the activities. We they are ready to have the kids do the move or course, Aiden is always one of the first up there. He loved his class as well. Today was the last day for his class and now we'll take a break and probably will be convinced to start it back up soon. :)

Videos

Omer and I watched some old videos of the boys the other night and it reminded me I need to be better about getting videos. Pictures are great but nothing beats being able to hear Owen sing and talk when he was 2 years old or watch both Aiden and Owen walk for the first time with those most infectious giggles. So today I tried to get some of Aiden.

Aiden loves to boogie down and he was dancing to the music of the digger, but he only did briefly before seeing that I was trying to capture that moment and decided to talk to me instead.


Aiden also loves to look through books and find and name everything he knows. He has become quite the little talker, trying to make small sentences of 2-3 words now.



I hope to remember to get more random videos of the boys. If you have a moment just search the blog for video and look back in time a little. And of course the older ones are on my old blog at BlogPress.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

My Sweet Angel

I took Chloe in for her routine, every three week chemo treatment and check-up. I went in thinking all was fine as she looks great and is acting completely normal, but I was surprised when the oncologist came back and told me her blood has risen and her lab shows leukemia cells again. So she has relapsed. We discussed what this means and I already knew from previous discussions that most dogs once they relapse with ALL there are no further treatments. So we are now faced with the fact that she will not be with us very soon. The oncologist said most dogs survive in a decent state for days to a couple weeks and then will start to have severe symptoms. As you can imagine my heart is broken. I still am amazed by my strong, happy, lovable girl who has been fighting cancer for 3.5 years now. I am lucky she has been so healthy and happy for that time so that we could have some more time with her. But still not enough time. I have discussed Chloe's death with Owen and as you can imagine he was upset, but only kept trying to make me feel better and then kept giving her kisses and snuggles. He kept trying to solve it by asking about possible solutions, ie how about magic medicine. I am trying to keep my chin up and just enjoy the rest of her life. She has been such a joy to me and to my family. As of right now she is acting normal but I have been warned it progresses quickly. Please just keep her in your thoughts.

My Sweet Angel
Snuggles with Mommy (Owen took this for me)
Love from Brother Chester
Playing Tug-o-War
Kisses for Owen

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Aiden and Flour Meet

Owen has been playing trucks in flour for a long time and today Aiden finally got to take a turn with the fun activity. Aiden LOVED playing trucks in flour and played it for a straight hour and then more after a dinner break. He was doing pretty good about keeping clean until the last 20 minutes, and slowly started to get messier. This is one of the best free fun for my boys.

Driving Trucks
He filled them up with flour and dump them.
Flour Face
At one point he put his flour hand on his head. Flour Handprint
Still driving trucks with a little more mess
Flour Fun
Full On Flour Face

Bounce in the House

This is totally over the top but we did it anyways. A friend mentioned about getting an indoor bounce house, and got me thinking. I looked at Craigslist and found an awesome deal on one. This will definitely be an item that comes out here and there, no space for permanent use. Owen right away loved it, Aiden was a little apprehensive. It actually took Aiden until the next day to get in and bounce away. The boys are having a blast with the bounce house.








Saturday, January 15, 2011

Fun at the Farm Museum

Omer went skiing all day so I thought I would get the kids out of the house and go visit our local farm museum. We haven't been since last spring and had such a good time. The boys only had to share the place with two other families. They played lots of different games together and we all had a great time.

Owen Riding the Big Green Tractor
Aiden on the Big Red Tractor
After exploring some of the other items in the museum, Owen found the baby cow in the museum portion and called for Aiden because he knows how much Aiden loves cows. The cutest part is the Aiden calls cows "Cowboys".
Then Owen showed Aiden how to feed the cow hay. This was by far a favorite for Aiden. He fed that cow LOTS of hay.
Then Owen gave the cow a hug
And Aiden had to give some Cowboy snuggles
Owen tried out some of the old farm equipment
Owen rode the little tractors around
We all were playing in the pretend general store, filling up baskets, using the register, having tea, etc., when Aiden stood up took his cup and announced, "Cowboy drink". I went to check what he was doing and he was running across the room to give his favorite baby cow a drink. I am not kidding when I say he did this over 10 times. Then Owen joined in on the fun and back and forth they went, pretend to fill the cup up and then give to the cow. Then it went a step further and the boys started to bring the fake food for the cow to eat. It was adorable to watch.

Aiden running to deliver water
Owen running out of the store
Aiden giving the cow a drink of water
The boys did this for seriously 20 or so minutes. They also enjoyed riding the pretend race horses, playing in the puppet show, exploring the model tractors and then there last game started. The boys would fill up the wheelbarrow with chicken eggs, take it back to the general store, drop some off and then back to the chicken coop. This is where the ended our activity. When Omer returned home Aiden actually was trying to tell him everything they did at the farm museum. It was adorable to see how much fun both had.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Winter Fruit

Aiden Enjoying Some Winter Fruit, YUM