Happy Valentine's Day

The boys made fish-face valentines that will hold goldfish crackers.  Seeing them make the fishy faces was a hoot!

Jude Lately

Jude
3 years 8 months

Common Phrases
That's not how it goes!
I want up
I want a treat
I stayed on green; I get a treat
Grill = girl
Snowing = sewing
I beat you up = I beat you (in a race)
STOP (usually toward Tamlin)


Hates
being alone; when Tamlin copies him; many foods; being ignored;

Likes
Sweets; trains especially magnetic trains; his monster; croc shoes; music and singing; little toy horses; singing birds and pretending his hands are birdies; drawing, colors, and stickers; being tickled; snuggling and sitting in your lap; "Snowing" with momma (sewing on machine); french fries; brown monster and new monster; singing ABC and Twinkle twinkle Christmas star

Accomplishments
Can get all clothes off;
Can count to 20;
Spell and recognize his name;
spells Tamlin;
fully potty trained for several months now;
knows colors and can spell some thanks to Tamlin;
hanging from anything (doorknobs, kitchen table, monkey bars);

Jude is still our snuggler.  He hates (HATES) to be alone, esepcially at night and often ends up in our bed.  He also hates being cold, and would much rather snuggle and suck warmth from a family member.  Jude is my dramatic child; he has such big, big feelings, in such a little body.  He wants things now and does not want to wait, though he is gaining patience.  He insists that he is no longer a little boy, but a big boy...but I don't want him to grow up so fast!

Tamlin lately

Tamlin 6 years 2 months


Favorite sayings:
"What?!"

Likes
Pokemon; Skylander wii game; running around like crazy; making up games to play; school and riding the bus; transformer toys; Ninja turtles and pretending to be ninjas; playing with his brother (at times); racing and running; chocolate; Electronic Company TV program; dancing.

Hates
When Jude copies him
Gets more upset when tired
Getting frustrated when he can't do something or something he builds breaks

Accomplishments
100+ common words are recognized including colors;
Starting to read simple books & sound out words he doesn't know.
simple addition and subtraction, but may use fingers;
can count to 100;
knows his birthday;
knows his house # and address;
writing legibly and small;
writes his name with upper/lower case;
draws people with recognizable body parts;
Tamlin is a passionate little man.   He loves with his whole being and is Mr. Personality.  He wants to be your friend and make you happy.  He loves to give hugs and tries to console you if you are upset.  He would love to video games with you, or board games, but he still has some trouble not winning.  He doesn't like wasting time doing busywork, especially coloring worksheet (scribbles madly).  His smile is genuine and I love his quirky ways.

Watercolor/crayon hand-sunflower made in art class

 Super-Turkey, the monster truck driving super hero that we designed as a family.  He won 2nd place in his class.

Hand-print pilgrims sailing on the mayflower.  I love their little hats!

 

"My goal is to to be a btr cuc" = Which translates into "My goal is to be a better cook"

A love note from my son :-)  My heart melted!

Ice Festival

This past weekend was the annual Ice Festival in town.  Nana Margie and Papa John came to visit for the snowy weekend festivities.

I bundled the kiddos up in their snow geared and we all tramped around town checking out the stores, the ice sculptures, and interacting with the visitors.  We lucked out with the weather...just above freezing, no wind, and no additional snow. 
Tamlin was all for it, though Jude had a rough morning and decided that Brown Monster was an essential companion for this excursion.  Note Tam's awesome knit hat, which was mine, brought back from Ecuador back in 2000!

The ice sculptures were awesome looking; I didn't know they could add in color for emphasis.   We saw logos, jumping dolphins, lighthouses, Olaf from the Frozen movie, and even a pair of legs kicking in the air (for a varicose vein company).



We, of course, had to take a photo the YMCA ice sculpture :-)  The boys love going there for daycare / school.  And we all love the teachers who work there.

There were several wintery characters walking around and mingling with the crowds.  The boys got to say hello to Frosty the Snowman (Jude wasn't too sure about him).  They also got hugs from Princess Elsa from Frozen.  We also waved to a wandering penguin.

There were awesomely huge piles of snow that just begged to be conquered.  The boys became mountain-climbers and scaled these tall mountains...only to turn and slide down the slopes after reaching the summit.

We did detour from the snow to the library for the chocolate tasting.  Unfortunately, we arrived on the late side after much of the chocolate had been devoured.  We did manage to snag a few samples of home-made chocolate goodies, including some very yummy chocolate pizzels.  I was glad to see the library so busy and able to raise a good chunk of change with this fund-raiser. 

 This was a recurring theme, as they clambered up more snow piles all around town. Yep.. here's a snow pile that was nearly as tall as the lamppost.

After all this cold walking around, we needed hot beverages.  We stopped at our local coffee/tea shop to warm up.  Their hot chocolate is divine, as is their hot teas.  Yummy!

We had to stop by the beach to admire the cold, frozen, Lake Erie.  I love living here and seeing the Lake go through all of these seasons.  Currently the Lake is frozen, so the littles were able to walk a bit away from the shore.  They had a blast climbing a snow-fort and rolling snowballs around.  The adults hung back on the deck to admire the peaceful, quiet view.

Through the course of the entire morning, Tamlin had been creating a snowball out of scoops of snow he had snagged from any random drift he passed.  He lugged his creation around like it was a precious baby.  He even worried about it breaking or being smashed when he left it outside when we went into shops.  He did have a moment of panic when it had a minor split on the beach...but luckily snow is easily smooshed back together.  I did draw the line at taking his prized snowball in the car to home.  We compromised by finding the perfect spot for it to hang out: near a huge snow pile and fire-hydrant.  The boys insisted on a photo to remember the moment.

Overall, it was a great morning in a great little town.