Fun At Home

It has to be at home since right now two out of three kiddos are sick. Just the sniffles and, naturally, Zion is running a temp off and on because that is what she does. Still, despite having to cancel a ton of activities we're having fun at home.


On Saturday Gideon got to try a sippy cup for the first time. He took to it right off! Of course, he still needs to learn how to actually tip the cup and swallow instead of letting it all run down his chin but BOY did he have fun!

"Look, Ma, no hands!"

Sometime over the weekend we also discovered something that he won't eat (this and peas) - jarred macaroni and cheese. Can't say as I blame him. It really, really didn't look at all appealing.

March of the chewy-fruity-multi-colored Snoopies. He is just the sweetest boy! And funny, too, I wish you could experience him fully. The blog doesn't do him, or any of them, true justice.

Still have some elephant love goin' on big time! With...

or without the paci. Funny story about the elephant. I always worry that we'll forget it somewhere or worse lose it entirely. Well, when we visited my sister over my birthday we forgot the elephant at her house when we left. I was concerned since we weren't due to visit again until Christmas, weeks later. I was surprised that night at bedtime when this girl, who didn't use to be able to leave the room without her "e'phant", didn't ask for it. Not that night, or the next, or the next. I was clueless as to why not but didn't want to ask her for fear of reminding her of what she was missing. Fast forward a couple of weeks to the Tuesday before Christmas. We drove to my sister's house through a snow storm and the foot of snow my sis had in her neighborhood and finally made it to her empty house. I had prepped the kids that "Tantie" wouldn't be there until later and started unpacking them and the car. Once Zion hit the house she started walking from room to room presumably to find Jamie. The next load I brought into the house she had just come from the family room, scanning away with those blue eyes of her, she looks up and asks "Where my e'phant?" Well, blow me down! She'd known the whole time she had forgotten it at Jamie's, that's why she hadn't asked for it at home. Smartie pants.

Last week my friend Laura (of Laura and Joe prayer request fame) and her two boys came over to play. This is Colton and Gideon checking each other out. We had so much fun entertaining them, Laura is definitely a "fill you up" kind of friend. With all she is going through with Joe's health and his care she never fails to leave me feeling better when we part than when we got together. Seriously, we all need more friends like that (I hope I'm a friend like that).

Gideon got to fingerpaint the other day. I needed some time to work in the kitchen so I plopped some food on the tray and let him go at it. He definitely doesn't have the same texture issues that Gabe did - tee hee.

He is also a HUGE fan of those little cereal puffs that come in a can. Oh my goo'ness, I have to cut him off. He'd eat the whole can if I let him and he's so darn cute about. The second I put some on his tray he lunges at them with both hands and practically vibrates with joy. Of course, he vibrates with joy about many things but still.

Ever had a bad hair day? I tried to talk Gabe into leaving it like this but he wasn't convinced. This was before the hair cut I gave him the other day.

Zion still thinks that the best way to handle your hair is to wear a hat.

Whether or not it is actually a hat or the bag for your markers like above or one of Gideon's nesting toys.

It has been sunny the last few days so it's hard to realize that this was just a couple of weeks ago. Now the snow is gone and you can see that I really should have raked the last of the leaves before winter hit! Now they're just slime piles - ew! OK, maybe I shouldn't have shared that. I just ruined the pretty snowy picture didn't I?

I so wanted to caption this with Shel Silverstein's too many elbows in this tub poem but only because it was so adorable when my friend Amber did it on her blog a while back. *sigh* I just can't get myself to copycat.

Well, I hope you enjoyed some of the fun that's going on in our home lately. We do have something going on that's not so fun. I hesitate to mention it really but it's so been on my mind. Last Wednesday our beloved knucklehead mutt, Towzer, nipped Gabe. Didn't break the skin but still, if I think he'll bite again I simply can't have him in our house with three kids. Tomorrow he has an appointment at the vet to rule out a physical cause of his attitude lately (he's seemed a bit off to me, even before this happened) and then we'll see a behavior specialist. I am not the type to can him because of this, I don't believe you should have a dog if you feel like they are disposable that way, but I do have to figure out if he's a good match for our family. He may be happier in a home without kids. So, that's what's on my mind.