Quirky kids.

Warner's Cars scooter is definitely on his short list of favorite Christmas gifts received this year. Since we have snow on the ground, the scooter has been an indoor toy thus far, and I must say Warner has learned to maneuver it pretty well around the house. The funny part is how he often insists on riding the scooter from room to room, instead of walking there. For instance, he rode his scooter to the door this afternoon before we left to go to the library and grocery store. When we got home, he needed to go to the bathroom immediately, so he hopped on the scooter and "rode" it to the bathroom. The best part about this is that it's about 4 feet from the door to the bathroom.
As Warner was using the restroom and I was unloading groceries, Maren was hard at work mastering her new favorite skill: putting on shoes. She adores two specific pairs she owns - both black, with a strap. I think she likes them because they're easy to put on. So, after about 5 minutes she emerges from the basement with a very proud smile on her face ...
... and a different shoe on each foot. At least she got the right/left thing correct.
Warner is funny about getting his hands dirty. He's not so fond of it. So when I did a craft I saw in Family Fun magazine with the kids last week that involved homemade cornstarch glue, my sweet son was less than thrilled about the mess it created. Maren, on the other hand, loved the mess. However, Warner doesn't mind overlooking a mess when it involves baking. The kid can have brownie batter caked on his hands, arms, and face, and not be upset at all. I suppose the chocolate is worth the mess in his opinion. I tend to agree.

You might have noticed that my children are in there jammies in these pictures, once again. We wear our jammies a lot around here, especially in the winter. That's just how I roll, so my kids are forced to go along with it. Perhaps it's not the kids then who are quirky, but their mother, and all of my quirkiness is rubbing off on them. Poor kids. They don't stand a chance.

Pigtails

Yes, those are pigtails. I can hardly stand it. If I loved these kids any more, my heart would absolutely break in two.

For the birds

Warner and I made pine cone bird feeders last winter and it was a huge hit. Ever since the birds picked all of the seed from the peanut butter, Warner has been asking to make more. He was very concerned about the birds, telling me they were "really really hungry, Mommy!".
I finally found more pine cones at Kroger - on holiday clearance since they are cinnamon scented. I was a bit concerned about the cinnamon scent part, but the birds don't seem to care. As we trudged through the snow to hang the feeders on our birch out front, Warner told me: "the birds be so happy we give them food. They say: thank you, Warner and Maren. You're the best!".The birds have been very happy with the food. In fact, I'm pretty sure every bird in the Tri-state area has stopped by. I often find the kids with their noses pressed to the window, watching our winged friends. It's amazing how much fun they have observing them. Well, I'm not going to lie ... I enjoy it too.

Another sticker chart

It began with a meltdown at Kroger this week. Warner found two of the Disney/Pixar cars he wants for his collection - Snot Rod and Wingo - while we were grocery shopping. They were $6 each, and besides the fact that I was not willing to add $12 to our grocery bill, I thought this could be a teachable moment for our son.

I was about three seconds into my "you can't have everything you want" speech when he started crying. By the time we got to the checkout lane, he was screaming. At one point he was lying face down near the poor kid bagging our groceries, kicking his legs and flailing his arms. I couldn't make this up if I tried. I was so upset and embarrassed, between hissing "Warner, stop right now or I will ... (enter any number of threats you can imagine)" I kept looking around the store desperately, hoping no one was watching us, and wishing the dang cashier would hurry up with our order.

We made it home. And then Warner had the audacity to ask for Snot Rod and Wingo again that night, and the following morning. So, Kevin and I came up with a plan.
We bought Snot Rod, Wingo, DJ, and Boost. They are sitting on top of our refrigerator at this moment, waiting to be "earned". We have a new sticker chart on the fridge, with each of the cars listed on it. Warner earns one sticker for something Kevin or I decide (for instance, getting through Target without throwing a fit or staying in his room until 7am in the morning). Once he has five stickers, he gets one of the cars. He can also earn money for his piggy bank and pay us $.25 for one of the cars.

So far he has three stickers on his chart. Is this bribery, or a lesson we're teaching? I'm not sure. Where is the manual on parenting when you need it?

Park City

We left for Park City Utah the Monday after Christmas and returned the following Saturday. Our trip got off to a good start in Warner's opinion with our first stop at the airport being Cinnabon.The flights there and back were a bit rough. To save money, we flew out of Dayton ... and had a layover. Ugh. We've vowed to never do that again.
My parents were waiting for us when we arrived in Salt Lake City. We spent one night in Salt Lake, then drove to the mountains to the condo we stayed in.
When we arrived, Warner asked: "why did Bobbie get a new condo?" In his mind my parents now have two places - one at the lake and one in the mountains. He also thought we got a new car - the one we rented. He kept asking why we didn't have our van anymore.The first day we didn't do any skiing, just sledding. Our condo was a ski in/ski out, so we sledded down the trail nearest to us. The skiers didn't seem to mind.Warner loved the snow. Although we left snow on the ground in Cincinnati, there was much more in Utah - it was up to Warner's waist. Then, we got about 12 more inches during our stay. Kevin and I skied/snow boarded together two days. It was just like the old days (pre-kids), and we enjoyed it so much. My parents were wonderful and took turns watching the kids at the condo while we played.Although you can't tell, that's Kevin behind all of that clothing. It was really cold.
View from the top. Between the view and the powder, it was an amazing skiing experience. I now see why they say the best snow is in Utah. While we skied, Warner went to ski school. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen. He was excited to go, and spent 6+ hours there. We stopped to watch him for a few minutes in the afternoon. Hopefully he wasn't too embarrassed by us (and me snapping hundreds of photos).
Going down the "hill" with his instructor, Cody.
Arms out for balance.And, he's down. Skis can be so awkward.
Riding up the magic carpet to the top of the hill. After we picked him up from ski school, we went to the lodge for hot chocolate. As we were walking, Warner said: "Mommy, I like this place. I like this place a lot". Melt my heart.My boys.
And then he crashed. Skiing all day+no nap=sleeping boy on the way back home.
At this point, you may be wondering how Maren held up during the trip. She received her grandparents' undivided attention, was fed whatever she wanted, and was allowed to run around the condo like a crazy child for 5 days. She had a blast. Notice the chocolate on her face in this picture.Our final night in Utah was magical. We rode in a horse-drawn sleigh up the mountain to a restaurant for dinner. Here are the kids with my parents before our ride. You can sort of see the horses in the background.The ride was about 20 minutes. It was really cold (8 below, to be exact) but we were bundled up and the sleigh had big blankets for us. We sang "Jingle Bells" as we rode - Warner and I had been working on the song for this occasion for a while.Dinner was in a rustic cabin, complete with two huge fireplaces and twinkling lights hanging everywhere. They served us hot cider and hot chocolate as soon as we walked through the door. It was seriously the neatest thing I've done in a long time.Maren enjoyed the night as much as Warner. She clapped and squealed in delight at the horses and danced as we sang on the sleigh ride. To say our trip was a wonderful way to spend Christmas with my parents is a huge understatement. We had a blast. I hope we get to do it again soon (hint! Mom and Dad!).

Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas festivities spanned a few weeks this year. First, we traveled to Somerset to celebrate with Kevin's family and returned late Christmas Eve. We had a wonderful time, even though it was a quick visit. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins, the gifts, and the food.Warner's favorite was probably a tie between this shake and go Lightning McQueen car and Mac the truck (also from Cars) that carries a smaller Lightning McQueen (or "Lighting A-Keen" as Warner pronounces it).
Maren's favorite is this Thomas train that follows the flashlight, and also a shake and go car she received. I wonder if she'll ever like girl toys as much as boy ones.The kids woke up to gifts from Santa on Christmas morning. Warner's wish list from Santa included a Cars fishing pole (we're not 100% sure where this came from since we don't fish, but whatever), a Cars scooter, and Bertie the Bus for his train set. He must have been good this year, because Santa brought all three gifts.Maren got three gifts from Santa as well, including a Thomas the Train tent/tunnel combo. She thinks it's pretty amazing. However, she was equally impressed with the juice box in her stocking. Pure juice that has not been watered down is apparently a big treat around here.
Bob the tomato and Larry the cucumber stuffed animals were another hit with Maren.We had a relaxing Christmas Day. Mostly the kids played with their new toys while Kevin and I tried to find places in our home for all of the new stuff. Talk about a challenge. We will be donating a lot of old toys to charity soon. We left Monday for our ski trip to Utah ... more on that later!

Indoors

'Tis the season to spend a lot of time indoors ... at least it is at our house. Don't get me wrong, I think playing outside is important and healthy and fun in any weather - even the freezing cold - but it's just such a hassle to get out the door in cold weather. I'm pretty sure we've spent more time bundling the kids up than actually playing in the snow, and that's just not fun. So, we've tried to make our indoor play as fun as possible.
Riding the car double has been a favorite pastime for months now. It still makes me smile to watch the kids roll through the house together on it.Watercolor painting. This was a good idea and pretty fun, but Warner lost interest in about five minutes.Maren enjoyed herself but dumped the cup of water all over the table shortly after this picture was taken. That was the end of watercolor time.I just had to throw this picture in. Maren will eat anything that is covered in ketchup. I'm pretty sure the mess it makes is part of the appeal as well.Warner with Thomas, Annie, and Clarabel. They're his favorite trains.Maren using Warner as a step stool to play with his trains. What a nice big brother.

Thanks to a few trips to the Children's museum and some television marathons thrown in for good measure, we've almost made it through the month of December. Whew. Spring feels awfully far away.

New Traditions

As the kids get older, we've been trying to design new family traditions for our little family. Of course there are still traditions that were a part of Kevin and mine's childhoods that we will keep for our family as well. But starting new things is pretty fun.

I'm particularly fond of eggnog. This is probably because my Grandpa Warner makes homemade, from-scratch eggnog each Christmas. Well, years ago my mom introduced me to eggnog milkshakes. Hello! They're divine. So, this year I decided we'd make eggnog milkshakes the night the Christmas decorations are up at our house. The kids were all over this new tradition.Then last night we went looking at Christmas lights together as a family. Kevin had a great idea to put the kids in their jammies and bring hot chocolate along. I insisted we listen to The Osmand Family Christmas album (THE best Christmas album of all time, by the way, and something from my childhood that I'm hoping will be passed down). We were having a good time ... for about 10 minutes. After that, Warner said he wanted to go home and Maren lost interest in her hot chocolate. And then there are the reindeer antlers. The kids wear these at random times, and have pulled them out more lately. I'm not sure this will become a tradition, but they sure do make me giggle.

Friday nights and snow

Our Friday nights have changed over the years, but our main goal is for them to be fun and different from the other nights of the week. When Warner was younger we frequented our "pizza joint" in Hebron but it has since gone out of business. We began "Friday night pizza and movie night" after that, but we're still working out the details of our new tradition.

For instance, we don't always eat pizza. About every other week, Warner wants tacos instead of pizza (actually it's a burrito bowl from Qdoba but he calls them tacos). And the term "movie" can be interpreted very loosely as well. Sometimes we watch an episode of Mickey Mouse in lieu of a movie. The two constants seem to be 1: the kids get to eat a meal of their choice in the family room while they run around like crazy people, and 2: the television is on during the meal. Whatever the variation of our Friday nights, they're a big hit with the kids.
Saturday we got our first snowfall of the season - almost 4 inches fell. Warner built a snowman with Kevin but knocked it over almost immediately after constructing it.
I think he was more proud of the destructed snowman than the standing one.We went sledding down our backyard hill and Warner couldn't get enough of the digging/running/playing in the snow.Maren loved sledding. She must have gone down our hill 10 times, and wanted more but I was too tired from pulling her by that point. She could barely walk due to all of her snow gear so perhaps that's why the sled was so appealing. The snow sure put me in the Christmas spirit!