Ollie the Octopus

Months ago Ali's teacher told the kids in her class that they would each get a turn to take Ollie the Octopus home for the weekend, and we have been anxiously awaiting out turn. Well, this weekend was finally the one! And lucky for us, Monday and Tuesday school was cancelled, so he got to stay extra long:) Ali was supposed to write about what she did with Ollie and read the Sea-themed books that came along with him, both of which she did within moments of coming home from school.

Logan was of course disappointed that he didn't have such a cool toy, and solved the problem by
-how else?-creating one of his own:)

Ollie did everything with Ali this long weekend, including trips to Grandma's house and church, as well as many rounds of ring-around-the-rosies, a game tailor-made for an octopus! I am grateful my kids' teachers are so fun.

A Lovey Birthday Party

I thought kids were supposed to grow out of their comfort objects, but that doesn't seem to be happening in our house, especially for Logan. He was horrified when I told him recently that he would some day not want to sleep with Lovey, and when that happened we would put Lovey in Logan's memory box. Logan has since repeatedly assured me that he will never want to put Lovey in the memory box, but will in fact even want him when he is a Daddy. 

And while I doubt that will really be the case, right now Lovey is truly more beloved with every passing year. Which is why I shouldn't have been surprised when a few days ago Logan told me the next day was Lovey's birthday and asked me to throw him a party. Hesitantly I asked what kinds of things would need to happen for a Lovey birthday party and Logan rattled of an extensive list: decorations, games, cake, and presents of course. I told him I would take care of the cake if he would plan the rest, and plan he did. The rest of the evening he was quite busy, and the next day Lovey (who was invited downstairs for his party--usually he has to stay in Logan's bed) was treated to balloons and signs, several gifts (little toys of Logan's he had wrapped up), a couple rounds of the "Happy Birthday" song, the game Red Light, Green Light, and cupcakes.

Ali and Eli's Loveys were invited to the party too, and I got to spend yet another day thinking how sweet and creative my Logan is.

A Backpack

Amid much giggling, I hear Ali call out, "Look! I have an Eli backpack!" to which Eli wholeheartedly agrees, "Me an Eli backpack, Mommy!" I am so grateful these two are such fun friends!

Sick Day

A few nights ago Logan woke up nauseous, ran into the bathroom, and threw up in the toilet--bless him! It was so nice not to have to clean up throw up for once!  I told him he would be staying home from school the next day and that he could spend the day resting and watching TV. Through the night he woke me up about every hour asking if it was morning yet; I think he was excited for his sick day to begin! The next day he had a had a pretty high fever, but luckily no more throwing up. He spent the day watching four movies, drinking two cans of ginger ale, and loving getting to stay in pajamas and having Lovey downstairs with him. Aside from the not feeling well part, it was basically the best day ever.

The Tale of Desperaux

Over Christmas Break we read The Tale of Despereaux. It was a cute book and fun to read aloud. Then we rented the movie and had fun comparing the two. Now we "play Despereaux" all the time. Behold the Princess Pea, the King, and the rat. I think we will have to look for other books that are also movies to read!

Pockets

 For some reason, I think they look so cute with their hands in their pockets!

An Artist's Snack

This is how our in-house artist arranges his snack of crackers and spray cheese:

Cutest Penguin

"Look, Mom! I'm a penguin taking care of my egg!"

Cold

We have had a very cold winter so far, including a few days of historic lows (-15 with wind chills of -40), but the kids just really don't seem to care. If there is snow on the ground they want to be out playing in it.

Actually, Eli wants to not care about the cold, but he does. He always insists he wants to go out, and then is knocking on the door about two minutes later. Not that I blame him!

On the coldest days I enjoyed the crystals that were growing on our windows. They were much prettier than the layers of ice that coated the inside edges of all our windows!

Is winter over yet?

Friends

Eli makes friends wherever he goes:)