January

Ten days into January and the house is finally somewhat back to normal (whatever "normal" means when you have two small children).  The tree hauled into the back woods, the decorations neatly packaged up and stored in the garage until next year, homes found for all the new toys and trinkets that Santa brought.  We are firmly back in our routine, and though I am always sad to say goodbye to the whole holiday season, I am welcoming back into our lives a bit of boring.  Of course, there are two little men who would argue that life is anything but boring at this moment, with new games to learn, puzzles to assemble, a fabulous crane to fight over (seriously, how many things can we try to lift with a toy crane before that game gets old?), and should all else fail...snow!  So life is actually quite busy chez Stockwell, the nice rhythmic January busy that comes after the holiday buzz has worn off and before cabin fever sets in.

A couple of months ago, we introduced a weekly (or thereabouts) "family game night", which is really nothing more than the four of us sitting around and playing a game or two before bedtime.  But by the boys' reaction when game night comes around, you'd think it was Christmas.  They get SO excited.  Santa brought a few new games this year - Slamwich, Zingo, Operation, Old Maid, and Go Fish, all of which have been big hits with the younger set.  The boys are finally at an age where we can sit down and play a whole uninterrupted game without someone walking all over the board, the cards getting thrown across the room, or the constant refrain of "your turn.  no not your turn.  no wait your turn.  we can't go out of turn, it's his turn.  no it's my turn.  if you can't take turns, we can't play the game. who's turn is it?".  Okay, wait, that all still happens but it's somewhat more infrequent, resulting in a much less annoying and much more fun gaming experience for all.  

Operation is a tricky one!  Adam is petrified of the loud buzzer going off, so he prefers to watch others operate while thumb sucking and horsey stroking.

We've also been enjoying significantly more snow than we had throughout all of last winter.  With a nice solid base of the white stuff, there have been plenty of opportunities for sledding and skiing and snowman making.  Between Christmas and New Years, we spent a few days over at the best country inn in Western Maine Grandma and Grandpa's house, where we were wined and dined and hot-tubbed (yes, they have added a jacuzzi.  as if their house weren't already the perfect winter getaway!) and generally spoiled rotten.  After a couple of amazing skis with my partner in crime (Tom), and lots of whining about being left behind, I decided to take the boys x-country skiing.  

This was Adam's very first time on any sort of skis, and Ethan's second.  And I must say, they did great!  It was about 15 degrees, with wind chills that had to have been below zero, and these boys were moving slower than a crawl, falling every few steps, and yet absolutely loving every second.  Grandpa and Ethan took off ahead of us, and I had the pleasure of helping my littlest guy try to figure the whole parallel gliding thing out.  I couldn't imagine what part of it would be at all fun for him, and kept asking if he wanted to go back (I, myself, was frozen to the bone), but he had a gigantic grin plastered across his face and insisted we keep going and going.  Until, of course, he insisted we GO BACK RIGHT NOW I AM SO COLD MOMMY I HAVE TO GO HOME RIGHT NOW CARRY ME NOW MOMMY!  But until then, it was such a fun and successful outing with my little adventurers.  

Some pre-skiing sledding.  These boys were WORN OUT at the end of every day in winter wonderland.  Fresh air + Grandma's cooking = great sleep for all.

Other than that, we've just been hanging low and playing with all our new stuff.  Last weekend, I can't tell you the number of times I said, "boys, I have an idea.  should we (fill in the blank with a super fun activity)?".  And every time it was met with the response (from all three boys, mind you), "Nah, we're happy just staying home and playing with our new toys."  So while I fear the onset of the inevitable cabin fever, I'm enjoying these quiet times when we can settle in and nest and stay in our jammies all day and be cozy.  Because that's what January is all about.

To anyone who needs a present idea for a 4-6 year old...these are the greatest invention ever.  A dinosaur that turns into a car that turns back into a dinosaur.  Combining cars and dinosaurs and loud noises that say things like "Start your engines!"...genius!  Thanks Brian and Andrew!

This seems like a precursor to some sort of college drinking game...I can't figure out quite how, but the cups and the rapid action is a little to reminiscent of flip cups.

Both boys got cameras for Christmas, and so my photo feed is now cluttered with images like this one (trust me, this was the best of the bunch - most are completely unrecognizable).   Still, it is fun watching them walk around and snap pictures of the oddest things.  And new scrapbooks from Noni and Papi make printing the photos out all the more fun.