Cold Weather Fun

With the recent cold weather, we've had to get a little creative with our indoor activities. Warning, there are a lot of photos in this post. I'm doing a long one since my blogging might be sparse in the coming weeks. Holidays and returning to work!

Exhibit I: Sensory tub/pool.

This started as a small sensory tub but quickly turned messy. You can probably guess why! I kept telling myself, "the beans are going to get on the floor....but that's OKAY. The floor will clean, it will be okay." Well, my pep talk didn't last long and my heart started racing after the first scoop ended up all. over. the. place. I had to think quick!


Plan B -- Get the pool out and put the sensory tub inside the pool. Surely that will keep the beans contained a little better. And it did/has! I cannot believe how much time this little girl has spent in the pool over the past several weeks. She will seriously play in that thing, by herself (!), for up to 25-30 minutes at a time. Love it! And, I don't even mind a few of the beans straying from the pool. Keeps the cats busy too.

I love her facial expressions. We get a of "Ooooo's" and "Ahhh's", especially when I add new toys and kitchen accessories into the pool.

She's been practicing her counting too. Plus, she is learning her A, B, C's. Typically we only hear "A" and "B" but that's a start.


And check out those pigtails. Love them! Too bad she doesn't and usually takes them out quickly.


Charlie Brown even wanted in on the action!

Exhibit II: Bumbo work out

Leah loves sitting in the bumbo and she has gotten pretty good at it. At first her head bobbled a lot and we had to sit next to her to ensure she didn't get too out of control. Now she does really, really well and would much rather sit there than lay on her back under the activity mat.

Exhibit III: Cookie Cutter Drawings


Lesley loves unloading the cabinet in the corner but had yet to find the cookie cutters in the boxes packed towards the back. I decided they might keep her busy for awhile and brought them all out. I quickly decided to scale back because she doesn't really need 100+ cookie cutters to drag around the house. I picked out the Christmas ones along with the airplane, the train, and a few others she could recognize. We then started tracing them so she had some homemade coloring "books". It was fun to have to color the objects she knew.

Exhibit IV: The trusty old activity mat

We get lots of smiles out of Leah these days. Mostly for Mama, but she's also a fan of Daddy too. She still isn't sure of Big Sister yet and her eyes get really big when Lesley is in the area. Sort of the look of fear, i.e. is she going to pet my head and "nice" or accidentally trip on a toy and fall towards me?

Exhibit V: Bowling with a purse, a hat, and a tutu

Although we don't have an XXL tutu for Daddy, Lesley had a great time bowling in her dress up clothes. A few nights after this, we found the bowling pins lined up in a row near the door. She had done it all herself. What a quick learner!


Exhibit VI: Daycare creations
Lesley has been busy at daycare these days. These were a few things she made the last couple weeks. I guess she has decided to be one of the big kids and insists on craft time with the older ones.

She was showing us her "potty chart". Last week she was really into using the potty and would get a sticker when she used it. Plus, the other kids would cheer and clap for her. At home when I would ask if she used the potty at Chris's, she would start saying "Dance" and start moving around in circles. Makes me think there is some sort of potty dance at daycare when the kids use the potty. Love it! We use chocolate covered marshmallows at our house since we don't have a 3, 2, and 14 month old to cheer her on.


Exhibit VII: Swaddle her up!

One night after Jason swaddled Leah up, Lesley was insistent that he swaddle her too. Okay silly girl, whatever you say!

Our toddler burrito didn't last long though! She was a lot more efficient at escaping than Leah is when she is swaddled.

"Bye-bye choo-choo"

Lesley continues to be a big fan of trains. She frequently will let us know when she can hear them from our house. She's got ears for the train whistle, that's for sure! A couple weekends ago, we decided to go to Crown Center for a special Holiday Crayola exhibit. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that Santa was going to be inside the exhibit, making the lines LONG just to enter. We had assumed Santa would be in the lobby area and didn't expect a line into the exhibit. Santa wasn't on our list of to-do's that day, but he did make us rearrange plans.

Luckily, there was a really neat gingerbread train display at the opposite end of the shopping area. Lesley could have stood there and watched for hours if we would have let her. I think we did stay for about 25-30 minutes. She was mesmerized by the trains. It made the trip to Crown Center a success! That and meeting some friends for lunch at an old favorite "Harry's Country Club". Thankfully even though they do not have children, they tolerated diaper changes, fussiness, and hungriness from our kiddos. Thanks Brian and Renee!



This past weekend, we headed to Union Station for visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus and to see the Polar Express which was in town for a few days. The Santa experience was just what we expected. Lesley wasn't a fan. The Polar Express was okay, kind of cheesy, but still worthwhile. Free and we didn't have to wait in the long line since I had secured tickets ahead of time. It basically was a handful of train cars you walked through. A couple of the train cars had miniature trains to look at and the others had about every Christmas knick-knack you could think of. Lesley liked the trains, but like her Mama was not impressed with all the random knick-knacks.

Classic!

Daddy helped a little bit. Notice, no Leah again. Sound asleep the entire adventure.

I did like these train ornaments and really need to find one for Lesley this year.

Elk!

My favorite part of the trip was on the way home. As we drove away from the "depot", I told Lesley to say bye-bye trains. She immediately started saying "Bye-bye choo-choos". She said it over and over again on the way home. It would be quiet in the backseat for a few minutes, and then we'd hear "Bye-bye choo-choo" again. So cute!

Decking the Tree

We actually put our tree up several weeks ago but I'm just now getting to posting a few photos. Behind continues to be my middle name. Ugh.

The (almost) before. Jason got a little ancy and didn't wait for me to take a true before picture of the dining room. That's where we decided to put the tree this year. We were hoping that keeping it out of the living room where we spend all our time, and away from Lesley's toy area, would help keep little hands off the tree. It has worked okay. She does like one particular snowman ornamanet ALOT, but for the most part she leaves the tree alone. We have noticed that she sneaks between the tree and the window when she is needing to go potty. If you ask her what she's doing, she says "kitty". I think she's trying to blame the kitty for getting into the tree, but there's usually not a kitty in sight. Busted every time.

Said snowman ornament which she is infatuated with.

The star goes "up" according to Lesley.

Again, snowman ornament.

We were trying to get her to pose. Unfortunately the best photo we got included her finger appearing to be in her nose. Nice.

This was going to be our Christmas card photo, except it looks blurry to me. We have yet to do a retake so the Christmas cards have yet to be written, printed, addressed, or mailed. Not looking so good for this year. Sad times. I love doing Christmas letters...and I love getting Christmas letters more. Sorry friends and family.

What is that face Lesley?

I love our tree. Every year it looks better and better. I was so excited to put it up this year because we live in the new house. Last year, we didn't even put the tree up since we had the old house for sale until about December 10th, then were focused on finding a new house, and packing. Plus, Lesley was only 9 months old and wouldn't have remembered anyway. But, this year, she loves the tree. Almost every morning we come down the stairs, she announces "tree" and "lights". Through the years, I have always tried to collect red, silver, and white ornaments. We also buy a new ornament every year to remind us of a special trip or event, i.e. Key West, Washington D.C., Baby's First Christmas, etc.. We have a small collection in addition to the standard red, silver, and white balls. I'm hoping to add either red ribbon or red beads next year. After Christmas sales! I also would love to find some garland to string on our banister and even another tree for the entryway. We have lots of room now and our decorations are currently pretty sparse - the tree, the stockings on the mantle, a few red bows, and a wreath. That's it. Sounds boring, right?

Watch Out Winter!

Leah is ready for all this cold weather!

Her warm "going out" attire:
One of her comfy fleece attires (Thanks Lundberg family!):

Leah's "hangout around the house" sleeper:

Thought you might like some cute photos of our cutie-pie!

Mommy and Me Cookie Exchange

Lesley, Leah, and I hosted a Mommy and Me Cookie Exchange last Saturday. It was so much fun to have some of Lesley's favorite buddies (and Mommy's favorite Mommy friends) come to the house with their favorite holiday treats. We had everything from rolled out sugar cookies to toffee and puppy chow. Lots and lots of goodies! Everyone got to sample one or two (or three) and then take home a mix of the leftovers. In total I think we had 8 mommies and 12 kiddos. Fun, fun, fun!

Unfortunately I got so sidetracked chatting and tasting that I took ZERO photos of the event. Bummer. I was so mad. But, you can see some snapshots of Lesley and I making the cut out sugar cookies. She loves to cook and will now drag a chair from the table over to the kitchen island if she thinks I'm cooking without her.

Daddy, I got some on my boots!

Sweet, I even get to mix the dough.

Don't worry friends, this dough did not get rolled out but eventually went into the trash. I was getting tired of cutting and cooking anyway, and telling Lesley "Don't touch".

This was an after, after photo...everyone had already left and I was in the last stages of clean up. See the plates with all the samples in the lower right hand corner. Those went to the neighbors because we all know that this Mama doesn't need sweets sitting around the house.

These were my favorite of all the cookies. I shouldn't claim that since they were ones that I made. But, seriously how cute are they? Lesley, of course, thought they were elk and not reindeer but nonetheless, they were so, so tasty. We had to send a plate to daycare both Monday and Tuesday so Mommy didn't eat them all.

Christ-mas preparations

There were a few things we wanted to get Lesley for Christmas that just made sense to give to her early. First, the nativity set I've had my eyes on since last Fall.

She was pretty excited, especially about the dog. :) I don't think she recognized the shepherds, Mary, or Joseph, but she sure knew what the herding dog was. I'm happy that after just one night of playing with the new set, she now knows who Baby Jesus is.

She loves how the angel goes on top, lights up, and makes music.

The next gift we gave her was the advent calendar. I have always loved advent calendars and wanted Lesley to have one. She doesn't understand yet why we only let her put ONE new piece in the barn every night. She'd much rather put all the pieces in place at once. But after 13 days of letting her put just one up, she thinks twice before reaching for another piece. We also are working on the word "camel" since she first called it a moo, then a neigh, and finally a baa. I wish we actually had a sound for a camel, that might help since she currently calls animals by their sounds rather then their names.


Hopefully in the coming years, she'll have a better understanding of the meaning of Christ and not just all the commercialization that now surrounds the holiday.

Nigh-nigh

Lesley loves taking baths. She would take one every night if we let her. Lately she has wanted to get in the tub pretty much as soon as she gets done eating. I realized that we don't have any photos of her in the tub. I never think to take the camera upstairs and once she is in the tub, I can't run back down. But, the other night we had the camera in her room so I was able to snap a few photos.


Counting her ducks - 3, 4, 5. She always starts counting with "3". Not sure "1" and "2" are since when Mommy and Daddy count, we start with "1" and "2". She usually makes it up to "10" which is pretty impressive to us.


After she was done and we let the water out of the tub, she decided she wanted to sleep in the tub. "Nigh-nigh". She even covered herself with the bath sponge. It took a lot of coaxing and the promise of her monkey pj's to get her out that night.


Don't worry, we didn't let her sleep in the tub. She slept in her bed with her big billow, monk-monk, bear, 2 little billows, her elk magazine, and 2 blankies covering her up. Her bed is pretty full these days when it's bedtime.