Here and there

Yes, these frigid days have been keeping us inside. Yet, we have been finding ways to entertain ourselves both here and there, but mostly here...

We play in cardboard boxes...


We play dress-up: I came upstairs to witness (and obviously photograph) a princess dress-up session which included Tobias starring as "Snow White" - assisted by daddy.




We play bubbles in the sink after dinner...


We visit friends (and meet their adorable new puppy)...


We play cars...


We humor mom as she practices her photo skills...


We decide to take up playing guitar

We take a trip to Adam's County and the Explore and More museum
Apple Orchard

Talk about living in a bubble ;)




My little baker

My little painter






More words Toby knows (he will SAY almost anything to repeat it):
“goose, cheese, hand, help, one, milk, nose, car, hungry (hungy), tub, cup, banana (a-mee-nah), “oh no!”, sheep, kitty, whoa, gum, puppy, ham, mine, NO”
Finishes the phrase, “Ready, Set,…” with “GO!”

To our shock and satisfaction, Tobias has pooped in the potty 4 times in the past couple weeks. It starts with keen observation of gas activity. We ask him if he needs to poop and he responds, “POTTY!” Lydia did not demonstrate this interest so we are understandably pleasantly surprised. I have no grand visions of saying “goodbye” to diapers any time soon, but am happy we are putting our foot in that direction.

Toby also is somewhat obsessed with light switches. When he spots one, he will lunge out of our arms with his arms outspread pleading, “On! On!”

Over New Year’s my mom watched the kids while Mark and I worked. When I returned home she exclaimed, “Lydia dressed herself today!” I thought, “Wow, I guess I really should be working on that with her.” Well, since then she has really started to show an interest in dressing and undressing herself (before she would beg for help) and is really getting quite good at it. In the way that saves me time and energy, I love that she puts her coat and shoes on before we head out in the cold, but in another completely motherly way my heart aches as my baby is acting like a “big girl.”



We are trying to beat away the winter "blues" and find the joy of the Lord in each day. :)