It's always great when...

Your husband says to you, "Hey, when you tied Kyle's mobile onto the chain on his ceiling fan would you have thought he might jump off the bed, grab it, and try to hang from it?"

No, seriously, that did not occur to me. Although with this boy such things should cross my mind.

It's official

If you count the days, Erin has now been out in the world longer than she was inside cooking. ;-)

South Haven's Icebreaker Festival

This weekend was the South Haven Icebreaker Festival. With all the snow and ice we've had it couldn't have come at a better time. And the icing on the cake (hee hee, icing) is that it actually felt like a heat wave today since we got into the 30s. So it was even enjoyable to be out.

Our great day began at the library for the Polar Bear Picnic. This fun children's activity included stories, a short movie, a craft, and cookie decorating. They really did a nice job with the program and drew in a lot of children. Kyle and Jack had fun.The train table is always a huge hit at the library.Serious Erin, and then Erin with Uncle Troy and Aunt Beth. We left the library and went across the street to the art center where they were doing a children's craft. There Kyle got to make a mobile of icicles and snowflakes. This was really fun for him since we have to talk about icicles on houses every time we are out in the car lately... Kyle is really interested in them and loves to point them out. After we went home for afternoon naps we went back downtown to check out the results of the ice sculpting contest. There are definitely some talented ice carvers around! This was Erin's first time spending any time outside other than going to the car and back -- she got to wear a snow suit!South Haven's mascot is the ram.

Finally, we got to see a beautiful Lake Michigan sunset before we headed home. What a super day!

Honorable Discharge

Erin has been honorably discharged from the army crawl and is officially doing the hands and knees crawl.

When naptime goes wrong

Quiet times

We're enjoying a little bit of quiet around here with mostly just our "regular" activities. Erin turned a corner last week and started going to town on the baby food, but now she's on strike from it again. Ya win some and ya lose some. Her favorite activity right now is clapping her hands, she loves to clap!

Kyle is still loving the snow. Me, not so much; I'm ready for spring. He wants to play in it all the time. He noticed Mike bought a new shovel, so Kyle thinks he is in charge of shoveling now. By the time he can *really* shovel, he won't want to, LOL.

Oh, and I watched the inauguration with Kyle on Tuesday, trying to explain the significance in simple terms to him. I then asked him who the president was and he replied, "President of Your Mama."

I got to scrapbook with my girlfriends on Saturday all day. It was so fun to laugh, catch up, and make some headway on my scrapbooking. The scrapping times have been few and far between lately, but I think we'll be back to our once a month routine.

Here are some pictures of our goings-on the past week.

Dash & Splash

Kyle goes to Dash & Splash at the gym on Tuesdays and loves it. The kids spend a half hour in the gym and then a half hour in the pool. The group is usually small, and the instructor works really well with the kids. Kyle has learned a lot at it, and the pool portion incorporates a lot of one-on-one swim instruction. Kyle talks about exercising, about making A's and I's (jumping jacks), and teaches Erin how to paddle in the bath tub. We are so fortunate to have such a great activity to go to.

I have to include this picture because it's a rare moment... Kyle is sitting listening, as he should. Kyle is probably Julie's biggest challenge because he is so active. He has really calmed down in the last year, though, and participates much better.

Stretching before they begin "working out"

Balance exercises

Hockey

Putting the goal cone back

Running

Making a chain

The kids form a train to go from the gym to the locker rooms to get ready for the pool portion. They always get a lot of smiles as they go "choo-chooing" through the gym.

The group sits on the steps waiting to begin the swimming time.

Riding their horses. :-)

Kick board time