Weekend Stuff

This weekend was one of those that is completely soul-nourishing and relaxing.

We had zero plans (except to make yummy food and get to the library on Saturday morning) and spent the whole time home as a family - with Craig and I often down on the floor just playing with the kids.

These kinds of weekends are what I look forward to most about winter.

Except for December... when all the holiday craze arrives. I just looked at my calendar and found that we have a party every single Sunday in December, not to mention the Eve and Day of Christmas or the other special activities we like to work in. Yikes! Better start getting organized now so I don't become swallowed up in the madness. I was thinking of getting our winter "to-do list" made and also thinking ahead of dishes I'd like to bring to parties and days where we can squeeze in some family fun.

So, this weekend, we:

1) Pretended to be turkeys since Sophie learned this new animal sound. :)

(they were running around flapping their arms)

A second before I took this, he was pecking the ground to "eat" like a turkey. ;)
2) Visited the library for a new round of books.
3) Read lots and lots of books. (Wait till you see my reading post with some funny reenactment pictures from one of Will's favorite library books. Ha!)
4) Sang the Dora theme song about a hundred times. Sophie LOVES it when I sing this to her and laughs every time I say "Oh man!" with a snap of my fingers. :)I have a sad confession to make: our daughter has suddenly become ADDICTED to Dora & Diego. By that, I do not mean we let her watch it all the time. But she does request it ALL. THE. TIME. She can say "Dora" and "Dee-go" or "Day-go" and she runs over to the couch (she and Will even set up their own designated "spots") and climbs up to her spot. The kids both know Craig is more likely to put it on for them than I am, so they usually ask him. Sophie will say "Day-go, daddy! Day-go!" Isn't that sad? A whole year before Will had any idea what any TV characters names were, Sophie is their newest, little (huge) fan. We just never even turned it on for Will. I know he saw them at the babysitter's house, but he never requested at home and I don't think he realized that our TV could show the same programs as hers. (And, yes, I just said "programs"... I'm 29 going on 70. LOL) Even the couple of times that I tried to get him to watch a movie with me, he wasn't interested. But I think now that Sophie sees Will watching a show here and there, she has shown an earlier interest. And she sits so still for the entire episode! We really only play Dora or Diego but we have a bunch of them saved on the DVR at any given time and Craig just discovered an on-demand channel that plays them. Oy!

Poor Sophie... She's in her "spot" and mommy is denying her request.

I try to rally her with puzzles and books, but instead she self-soothes with a fun game of:

5) Climb onto the back of the couch!

Then she'd slide down and climb back up... and repeat.

6) Played outside with a new-to-us remote-controlled Jeep from a friend of Craig's. Will loved this!

He is amazed at his new found power.

Oh good grief. The fascination in controllers and such has only just begun. Do you think it's possible that I could raise a child that has nooooo interest in video games... ever?

The good news is: Will apparently thought he could work it better by chasing around behind the Jeep. :) So at least he got some exercise with this. Haha!

Will needed his mittens off to work the controller, so when his hands got cold, I talked him into wearing the mittens and...

7) Racing up and down the driveway with me. We always race from the garage to the front porch and back. Will still loves running and "racing". Following our foot-races, we raced on the tricycle and tractor (LOL). Will thought this was hilarious:

Remind you of anything? I really should act my own age and size, shouldn't I?

8) In the evening we had a jolly game of (lightly) pushing the kids down on the couch using a soft ball, followed by squeals of laughter and popping back up for us to do it again. :) This went on for a LONG time and didn't get old for them. We took a video - I should upload that and post it. Have you ever seen that You-tube video of the baby who's sitting on the floor in a kitchen(?) and his dad holds out a piece of paper for him to rip? He rips a small piece off and laughs this sweetest, so-funny laugh like it's the funniest thing in the whole world. That was Sophie's laugh during this game. No kidding. It was so much fun. :)

9) After Sophie went to bed, Craig and Will and I got into a fun game of "dump truck crash" (sorta like bumper cars) where we each had a toy dump truck that we raced around the living room trying to crash into the other person's truck. (Ya. I know. Kind of a loud game to be played after the baby's in bed, but she never minds noise and didn't make a peep.) Craig was insanely good at this and could not be hit! He dodged everything with lightning fast reflexes, and we laughed so hard it hurt. I have no idea why but it was just so hilarious. We were all just falling on the floor with laughter. Good times. :)

We also ate some good food and got lots of rest.

Looking forward to more "winter" weekends like this.

Home is my favorite place to be.

P.S. How are you adjusting to the time change?

I loved that extra hour! Sunday felt ridiculously long... in a good way.