Gymnastics

I love how much Daner is enjoying his first year of gymnastics lessons. Maybe some day he will be able to pronounce the word, but for now he really looks forward to 'nastics! Today we walked into the gym and the teacher yelled "BIG D! HOW ARE YOU?" My little man has been given his first nickname by a girl. A 17 year old beautiful girl!

Hi Grandma Kris!

Snow Fort

After driving home yesterday from Alexandria white-knuckled and listening to Ava say prayers for our safety, I did not think venturing outside today would be on the agenda. We woke up to a beautiful warm foggy winter day. As usual we drove during the worst of the storm. The ice storm followed by snowflakes the size of dinner plates left our yard in perfect condition for building. Snow fort building. Ava and I (Dane was finishing up his napper) started by digging down into the snowbank in our front yard to create rooms. Then we dug tunnels out of the rooms into the yard. It was precious to see her little face through the tunnel as we "met in the middle".

The foggy air caused her already amazing hair to curl up and her icy blue eyes were shiny and bright - all of this accented by the colors in her brother's monkey hat. Jason left his igloo project in the backyard (more on that later) to make some bricks to build up the walls. But, as with most men, the small bricks were not enough and he graduated to using Rubbermaid totes. Future hernia surgery aside, it was a fabulous idea! I couldn't stand Dane missing out on the fun any longer so I ran up to his room yelling "SNOW FORT! SNOW FORT!" and he sprang out of bed. The first words out of his mouth were, "I need PANTS!" and we were off running down the stairs. He "lubed" the snow fort the minute he saw it and helped us continued to build. As we neared the end of construction we decided to paint the fort with food coloring mixed in warm water (it also helped to warm up our cold hands). The next obvious step was decorating the house, then furniture was necessary, and once we had furniture why not a snack? The wind picked up after 3 1/2 hours outside and I was ready to drag the kids in when our friend Greg brought over a periscope he had made for the kids. What self respecting snow fort inhabitant could live without one? How else would we spot the enemy approaching?

All in all, one of the best afternoons of my life....so far..... but tomorrow is another day.

The finished product.

Popsicles and snow forts make for the perfect combo, right?!

Awwww...

Lets meet in the middle.

I need some pants!
Man sized bricks.

A pathway out.

Hard work but not a single complaint.

Cardboard Box Houses

I must admit that it was not a model Friday. In fact I would be fine if we never repeated this particular Friday. The kids were at each other all day and my mind was elsewhere. But we did find a repreave from the tears and timeouts. Jason brought some boxes home from work and the kids quickly gathered materials to make doll houses. Project pages from the morning became the wallpaper and paint for the house and furniture from the toy box fit perfectly. Dane used some of his "duys (guys)" and Ava dug out her little family of dolls to finish out the scene. Daner's house. A typical swinging bachelor pad. A toilet next to the double beds. Hmmmm.

Ava's house. I would really like a bathtub next to my bed. Wouldn't it be nice to just slide from one to the other in the morning? Plus, a baby cradle at the foot of the bed. Perfect.

Pushed together they made an apartment building.

Smile!

Getting Dane to smile for a picture is about as difficult as convincing his father that he doesn't need to check the classified ads every day (what IS he shopping for any way?). It is not unusual for me to take 10-15 pictures of him just to get one of his beautiful smile. We were sitting in the van waiting for Daddy and Ava to finish ice skating - Dane was done after about 20 minutes - and I attempted to get a shot of his rosy cheeks and frozen boogies.

Naughty!

Winter has been hard on our house. No, not the outside, the inside. The naughtiness began as soon as the snow hit the frozen ground. It started with small things - sneaking snacks from the freezer and progressed from there. Dane cut pieces out of my Christmas sewing projects. Ava painted Dane's face with lipstick. Then they graduated into full on "destructo mode" (as Jason calls it). They took the opportunity of distracted parents visiting with family to draw on the upstairs walls with my fabric crayons. Several packages of "magic erasers" later and I no longer believe in magic. They created their own waterpark in the basement the same day. But, the day that they descended the staircase to show off Daner's new "skirt" was the best of the worst. Ava took my new *super* sharp sewing scissors and cut Dane's SpongeBob SqaurePants jammies into little strips.......while they were still on his body. I was thankful that my boy was still a boy (if you know what I mean!) but still very unimpressed by the whole thing. I wonder what they will come up with next. In fact, I think they are probably doing it right now. Gotta go!

Ice Fishin'

Ava working on her patience.


Daddy time is priceless.



Yes, this does freak me out a little bit.




Beautiful. I love the sun sparkling off of the water.





Patience.



Jason called this Dane's "geezer shot".



Too cute!





You can almost smell the gas, right?