Inside fun

We've been stuck inside with the cold weather, but so far so good. We've played with play dough, made cookies, read books, had dance parties, given the kids lots of baths, taken a trip to the library, and played with toys. 

Jake's imagination is growing like crazy, and I'm so excited! I love pretending with him. He's at such a fun age. 

McKenna is loving eating more and more like the rest of us- with a fork and spoon all by herself. She loves that she now gets ketchup and BBQ sauce with her chicken nuggets and refuses to take bites if I try to feed her. She essentially growls and grunts until the fork is in her hands. She's such a character! 

She's such a messy eater, but she loves that coating herself with food gets her much-loved baths. She squeals with delight and tries to climb in the tub when I carry her up the stairs and set her down in the bathroom. I'm glad both my kids like baths and that they don't mind being in the tub together. I'm hopeful that we will continue to stay warm and happy this winter!

Snow

Today it snowed for the first time this winter. Boo :( Jake's happiness almost makes up for how miserable Andrew and I feel about it. And McKenna seems pretty indifferent. She was fine with being out in it as long as I was holding her. She wasn't overly thrilled when I put her down. 

Jake would have played outside all day- I feel like we lasted quite awhile, but then he ran right out of one of his boots. He didn't miss a beat or seem to mind, but I'm sure letting my 2 year old play in the snow in his socks (even 2 pairs) doesn't win me good mom points. And after I bribed him inside with a movie, he probably asked 20 more times throughout the course of the day to go back out. Maybe next time we won't go right after breakfast :)

Jake lost a boot while we were out there, but at least he has boots. Poor McKenna wore a regular pair of shoes with quart sized zip lock bags covering them, secured with rubber bands. No wonder she wanted me to hold her :) They might not have been too classy, but they did the job. Her feet stayed dry and warm. 

I'm afraid we're going to spend a lot more cold days playing in the snow over the next 4 or so months, but at least Jake will be happy and we can get some fresh (albeit freezing) air. Please be kind, Ohio winter!

Kisses

Today had some highs and lows, but the highs were pretty sweet. McKenna took an interest in kissing Jake today ❤️ and by some miracle, Jake not only didn't push or hit her, he asked for more!

Jake was playing with some toys in his tunnel when McKenna crawled in and gave him at least 30 separate kisses on his forehead. He ignored her at first, but I made a big deal about how sweet it was, and after 15 or so, Jake would say "more" each time she planted one on him. She was even kissing him during their bath tonight. I'm sure I looked like a goon with an obnoxiously big smile on my face, but I LOVE moments that make me think they'll be friends someday :)

McKenna hasn't mastered the art of kissing yet- if she decides she wants to kiss me, or if I ask her to give me a kiss, she mostly just rams her forehead into my mouth. But it is so sweet. That girl. Oh how I love her. And Jake. And that they love each other ❤️

Soup

Despite seeing the first snow flurry of the season, today was a good day. The kids and I spent the afternoon playing at COSI, and we leaned that the afternoon is so much less crowded than the morning hours in which we typically visit. 

This evening we had black bean soup for dinner and McKenna ate all by herself- with a big girl spoon (actually 2 of them) and bowl- for the first time. And she loved it! 

Andrew calls her dinner habits "bath insurance."  She's big into loading her hands with food and rubbing it in her hair. Seriously. Every night! The kids get so many more baths now than when Jake was the same age; or really, even more than a few months ago, before she discovered that coating her hair and face with food won her a bath every time.  I won't complain. Bath time is a happy time for both kids, and they get along great in the tub. I love my messy little cuties!

Shark!

McKenna has only ever pooped in the tub 3 times. Unfortunately, 2 of those times have been in the past several days. The most recent one I don't want to forget, so even though this might embarrass Jake someday, it has made me smile every time I've thought of the "shark" encounter.

I was sitting next to the tub, filled with kids, bubbles, and bath toys, while Andrew was reading to us. I must have looked away for a second because all of a sudden a turd flew out of the tub and landed between my legs with a thud. I looked in surprise at Jake, who looked like he too was going to poop out of fear. He yelled "shark!" in terror, and for the first time that I can remember, he was ready and beyond willing to get out. I laughed and laughed, but mostly because I knew Andrew would clean it up for us. I married such a good man! 

And Jake is winning the poop in the tub contest. Only 1 incident to date. Way to go, kid!

Soaking it in

So a huge cold front came through last night. Tear. Actually lots of tears. I'm not looking forward to MONTHS of entertaining the kids inside without the zoo, parks, or stroller rides to keep them (and me) happy. Is it spring yet!?

To fully soak in the last couple days of warmth, we hit the park on Monday and the zoo Tuesday. I'm still hopeful we'll have a few warm days here and there, but I guess I need to start coming up with some fun indoor activities. 

McKenna loves seeing the animals and Jake just likes being out and about. Despite the impending winter, I'm so lucky to be able to stay home with the 2 little cuties that I love more than anything!

Halloween Fun

In addition to trick-or-treating, Andrew and I had some Halloween fun with our kids. We visited boo at the zoo, put on by the Columbus zoo and aquarium. They handed out lots of candy, but really it was just a fun excuse to put the kids in their costumes :)

Poor Jake wants nothing to do with dressing up. So he fell asleep on the way to the zoo and woke up in his stroller dressed as a fire fighter. He handled it really well and didn't seem to even notice much. McKenna had no idea we dressed her up, but she had fun with so many people "ohhing and ahhing" over her. It was fun to have Andrew at the zoo with us and to see the Africa exhibit for the last time of the season. 

We also went to our church Halloween party, which was pretty impressive. They had lots of carnival games and fun things for the kids to do. 

And on Halloween night, Andrew and Jake carved Jake's first pumpkin. Luckily Kim and Darrell were at our place and brought their pumpkin carving kit, which waved a lot of agony for Andrew. 

All in all, if call it a very successful Halloween season!

Weekend Fun

Last weekend we had so much fun with my family. Kim and Darrell came Friday night and helped us carve pumpkins. We had fun staying up late and chatting, and as always, the kids loved having them. Kim and Darrell are awesome at being an aunt and uncle. 

Saturday morning my parents came to join in the fun. My mom, sister, and I did some shopping with Jake as our little side kick while the boys watched sports and played with McKenna. 

Saturday night Jake and McKenna had the 4 best babysitters while Andrew and I had a blast at the OSU football game. 

Sunday my parents went to church with us and stayed for a yummy dinner of Andrew's homemade pizza. We are cherishing the time we have so close to people we love so much! It was a fabulous weekend!

Go Bucks!

This is Andrew's last year as a student (hallelujah!!!), and thus the last chance we have to get affordable football tickets. We split 4 tickets to the Big 10 games with my sister and brother-in-law, and last Saturday was my night to go with Andrew.

I am not a huge fan of football, and I hate the cold, but it was a fun experience to go to Ohio Stadium to cheer on the Buckeyes with my main squeeze. 

It was crazy cold- the "real feel" temperature was 22 as we arrived to our car after the game was over. Brr! Luckily I wore 3 pairs of pants and tons of shirts with my moms warm winter coat. And my dad shared his hand-warmers with us. I didn't really feel cold until the 4th quarter, which I think was related to how many people had left, so the wind was getting to us a lot more. We drank hot chocolate and enjoyed a night out sans our kiddos, cheering the Buckeyes on to victory. And we stayed until it was over! It was a fun experience, but I think my dad is going to go with Andrew to the Michigan game. He'll appreciate the experience a lot more than I would :)

O-H-I-O let's go bucks!

COSI with friends

Friday we went to COSI, Columbus' science center. We hadn't been in several months, and I think the kids are finally at a good age to really enjoy it. 

We met up with some good friends, and it was great for me to have some girl chat, Jake loved having 2 kids to run around with, and McKenna had so much to see that she was happy to stay in her stroller for a couple of hours. 

There is also a great kids area where there are tons of fun things geared towards kids under 5.  I'm pretty sure Jake and McKenna could have stayed all day!

I'm thinking that now that winter is upon us, we'll be spending lots of time at COSI. Thank goodness for inside fun!

Zoo Fun x2

The weather is starting to turn colder now that it's mid-November:( There were several nice days this week with the forecast of extreme cold coming in a few days, so we took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and hit the zoo twice, and we even had Andrew with us-both times!

Monday we picked Andrew up from school and went to the zoo directly from OSU. And yesterday we met up with one of Andrew's friends from his summer internships at Chase Bank and his little boy. 

Last night they were putting lots of lights on the trees for Zoo Lights, which start in a couple weeks. I'm loving that even though the cold is miserable, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas :)

I love this fun time with two little kids that enjoy the zoo!

Trick Or Treat

We had fun taking the kids trick-or-treating this week.  We had to wrestle Jake down, and it took both of us to get his costume on as he kicked and screamed, but we tortured him anyway and dressed him up as Buzz Lightyear.  And just as I suspected, he was happy to be dressed up by time we got to the 2nd house and he realized he got candy for it.  We dressed McKenna up as a ladybug, and she was as happy as could be and loved all the attention.  She loves seeing people and having everyone dote over her was right up her alley.

It turns out Jake and McKenna both go gaga over chocolate- they really are my children :)

We let them each eat several pieces of their spoils when we got home, and we could definitely tell at bed-time that they'd had way too much sugar!  I guess you'd call that a Halloween success.

Father's and Son's Campout

Andrew wrote a blog post about his fun camping trip with Jake :)

Jake and I went to the fathers and sons camp out this weekend. It was his first time camping, and he was in heaven. Because I had to work earlier that day, we didn't get there in until after dark, but he thoroughly enjoyed taking stuff to and from the car. He kept calling the tent our "castle", because Barb and Jerry have a little castle tent for him to play with while he's there.  One of the times were walking back to our car to get more stuff, I saw a mouse, and told Jake to come over. Unfortunately, he didn't see the mouse, but every time we walked past that spot, he said "mouse  sleeping?" Right in the same area, there was a dried up ditch that he liked going up-and-down. He really likes running up and down hills, and will say "down da hill" and "up da hill". He also thought the campfire was cool, but was pretty cautious about it, because he knew it was very hot. Andrea has trained him really well what he is supposed to be afraid of because it's hot. 

He and I stopped and got KFC on the way, which we ate in our little camping chairs next to the tent after we put it all together and moved all our stuff. We went over to the fireside by the mission president. It was a nice little message. Jake was having more fun throwing dirt at me then listening, but it was fun.

This whole time, from when we first arrived at the campsite, it was dark outside. Jake was having a blast carrying around a flashlight. It was really nice having him hold it as I put our tent together in the dark, and we moved all our stuff from the car to the tent. He was truly in heaven when I pulled out my laser pointer. He thought that was the coolest thing he'd ever seen. And all the seven-year-olds were incredibly jealous, I don't think they could believe that this two-year-old had such a cool thing. Note that it was a green laser, which at least at this point in time, are a lot more rare compared to the commonly used red ones. I was a little worried someone from the stake young men's presidency was going to come over and have a little chat with me about how lasers were dangerous, but it never happened.

After the fireside, Jake can I returned back to the tent. He wasn't ready for bed, but thought it would be fun to hang out in there. He then proceeded to eat most of our entire bag of caramel and cheese popcorn, Chicago mix, that after a couple of kernels he decided he absolutely loved. When I first heard about Chicago mix popcorn, I thought it sounded super nasty, but since we used to live in the Chicago area, I figured I had to try it. I'm very grateful that I did!  And apparently Jake is grateful too!

We took a few more trips around with the laser. We spent a little bit of time talking with the Zimmermans, and walking around the campsite with them. Brigham, an eight year old, also really thought Jake's laser was cool, and he persuaded Jake to let him play with the laser  for a few minutes which was a miracle. It is a pretty good evidence of Jake's improving social skills. He is getting along a lot better with people, and really seeking out friends.

Jake was a little sad we had to go to bed, and he crawled up in a ball in the very corner of the tent, not wanting to sleep on his nice mattress with lots of blankets. He didn't end up going to bed till around 11:15 though, so I think he had a pretty good evening. Fortunately, he fell asleep before I did, so I was able to put him on his mattress and tuck him into a large quantity of blankets. He woke me up maybe two or three times throughout the night and needed a little bit of attention, mostly he stayed asleep though. He does move a lot in his sleep.

The next morning, we ate a nice breakfast provided by the stake and did some more exploring. Jake threw rocks into the reservoir, which he thoroughly enjoyed. It was fun to see how excited he was just to throw a few little stones into the water. There are mostly leaves right by the bank, so we had to walk up the trail little bit to get rocks, but I guess they give us more steps for the day.

Jake again enjoyed packing up the car. He really wanted both times to ride on top of his mattress instead of in his car seat, but obviously that's not doable. We had a really nice time together, and I am grateful that we had the chance to come. It's really nice spending good quality time with little Jake by himself.