January

I know that it's winter and everything, but we are quite ready to be done with winter weather around here. In January, we have had several bouts with snow, one that dumped several inches on us and shut down most schools for a week. We tried to make the most of it on the first day by building the requisite snowman. The kids had fun for a while and the snowman stuck around for several days...because it took that long for temps to get back above freezing! After the snowman adventure, neither kid expressed any interest in going outside for more snow play--which was fine by me!

Very little happened during the month that was truly blog-worthy. But I did capture a couple of slice-of-life moments that I want to remember. First, it must be tough being a little brother with a big sister. Ethan looks up to her so much and wants to do everything she does. So it makes perfect sense that when Kaitlyn dresses up in a costume necklace that he would want to participate as well. And Kaitlyn eagerly indulges him. I wonder at what point he will realize that boys usually aren't thrilled to wear pink necklaces?

At least he has a "manly" shirt on :)

My birthday turned out to be a gorgeous day weather-wise--finally a much-needed break from the cold dreariness! So we eagerly packed up the kids and headed outside for the day. My aviation-loving husband suggested we go to the Fly-In at a local airport. The kids, of course, absolutely loved seeing all the planes up close. And there was plenty of room for them to run around and work off lots of energy.

They had an old restored World War II (?) fighter plane at the Fly-In. We got to watch it take off and fly around a bit. Pretty cool!

Kaitlyn is really, really into artwork these days. Give her some paper and some writing utensils (preferably markers or colored pencils), throw in some stickers, and she is good to go for at least an hour. She loves writing her name (and other words) and drawing pictures of things--things that I can actually recognize! She can write about half of the alphabet well and the other half--well, she's still working on those :) Ethan, of course, is right there with her, coloring on his pages and making his own art. Every once in a while, he'll bring me a crayon and announce its color, then he'll return to his project. It's really quite cute--not to mention a life-saver when I really need them occupied for a while.

On this particular day, the kids were happily coloring together when I decided to get out the Dustbuster and clean a bit. Both kids love to help with chores (in fact, they're downright giddy when I announce that it's time to put away laundry. Wonder how long that will last?). So Ethan dropped his crayons and came begging to help with the vacuuming. Notice that Kaitlyn is still at her art table, a little less eager to leave her project...until she sees Ethan with the Dustbuster. Now I've already mentioned that Ethan loves to do whatever Kaitlyn is doing, but it's actually a two-way street. Kaitlyn can't stand to see Ethan getting a "privilege" that she isn't getting, especially one that comes with attention from a parent. So about 2 seconds after I took this picture of Ethan below, guess who drops her crayons and comes begging for her "turn."

Yep, you guessed it! Now if I could only find a way to foster this enthusiasm of chores so that it doesn't fade as they get older!!