Winter Games & Activities

This past winter has definitely been the winter of games. The kids are big into games now. Oh, we've played Candy Land, Memory and similar games before, but now it's the kids really asking on their own. Scooby Doo is very, very big in our house. Not a day goes by that we don't watch, read about or play with Scooby and the gang. This haunted mansion Scooby Doo game was a HUGE hit around here. The gang has to make it to the top of the mansion, but there are traps along the way.

On Christmas Eve the kids received a Smashed Potato Head Playdough game. I have to admit that I find it pretty fun, too. You have to make it around the board without getting either cut in half, turned into fries, rolled into a hamburger or chopped in two.

Besides Legos (which deserve a post of their own), Jared loves his Trio set next, especially one that also turns into a Batcave. He and Steve have spent hours playing with this set. He's hoping to get a Joker set for his birthday in a few weeks.

We've also really enjoyed Don't Wake the Daddy.

Of course, it's always fun to play good ole blocks with Daddy.

Alexa seems to go back and forth with wanting to play with her GeoSafari laptop. She really likes it when others play with her.

What she ALWAYS wants to do is look at globes. She loves to search for different countries on the computer, read about them, and then find them on the globe. I guess my love of all things travel is rubbing off on her!

I love the show Art Wolf's Travels to the Edge. It combines two passions of mine- travel and photography. Alexa really enjoys cameras, too. So, she and I really got into watching this show together this winter. One day she asked to take pictures of the screen to kind of emulate Art as he was taking pictures on screen. Here's one of her shots.

The kids have also spent quite some time with Alexa's GeoSafari Talking Microscope. It's a pretty cool toy for kids who like looking a small insects and spiders and taking quizzes on them.

What indoor winter activities have been big around your house this year?

Thanksgiving Day

When I was thinking about how I would describe our Thanksgiving on this blog, I thought about sharing how wonderful the dinner was with the rolls, mashed potatoes, dressing, green bean casserole, turkey and the rest of the food.

I thought about how much fun we had playing Telephone Pictionary and all the laughter.

I thought about how wonderful it was when Steve's sister's husband showed Jared how to shoot rubber bands to knock off figures from blocks and how much he loved doing that all evening long.

But the memories I'll most remember came from our Thanksgiving circle sharing time. We all sit in a circle after dinner and go around sharing something we are thankful to God about. We do this three times. When my turns came around, I shared how I was thankful that Steve and I can still be crazy silly together after 8 years of knowing each other. I also shared how I was amazed how we need to be thankful about the hard things in our lives because they're there for a purpose we might not even be able to understand for a long time.

But the thing I was most thankful for, the thing I felt most passionate about, was that God has blessed me with the ability to give my children the gift of time and freedom. They are four and a half. I'd only have another 8 months with them before they'd be gone from home a good chunk of the day. They'd not have time to pursue those things that excited them for large blocks of time, and they would constantly be compared to others, tested continually and not living to the fullest.

I thought about the day, how Alexa took the camera from me and followed everyone around, taking silly pictures. I wanted to remember this Thanksgiving as a time of freedom and joy, of unbridled learning and unending adventure.

Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving day as seen through Alexa's eyes.

Art Institute and the Hubbard Street Dance Troupe

The picture above probably looks pretty strange. I wanted to take a picture of the dance floor and couldn't do it once the dancers were on stage. More about that in a few minutes. 

A few weekends ago we went to the Art Institute again for their family festival. We came here last year and really loved it. They had a musical performance last year, and we were able to look at the original drawings from Bill Peet's picture books. We started reading some of his books before viewing the exhibit, and now we're just one book shy of reading all 33 of his books.

Before watching the dance performance, we went into the Ryan Education Center where Jared sat for a silhouette portrait, and Alexa and I read some books together. Steve and Jared joined us, and Jared and I worked on a puzzle before heading to the dance area to get a good seat.

We were able to sit in the very front. The Hubbard Street dancers put on a really nice performance of contemporary, lyrical dance. They played three excerpts of songs and had dancers dance the same choreography to each song, showing how music can change the tone and feel of dance. Then a choreographer came to discuss his dance before it was performed.

While we were waiting for the dance to start, I snapped a cute picture of Alexa and Steve, and then it was Alexa's turn to take my and Steve's picture, and one of me and Jared.

The Art Institute through Alexa's Eyes

Once I started taking pictures at the Art Institute, Alexa, naturally, had to get in on the action, too. Here are some of the pictures she took that day.

When Alexa stood in front of the statue in the picture below, she just stared and then started giggling. She whispered to me, "I can see his private area!"

Christmas Day at Aunt Amy's

After opening presents at home and eating a quick lunch, we headed over to my sister's house to spend the rest of Christmas Day with her, my brother-in-law, nephew, parents, brother and grandmother.

We did the usual: have a delicious dinner, open presents, and just play with everyone. I realized, looking through the camera afterwards, that I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked. We did take some more video, but I was having such a great time just talking and laughing with everyone, that I forgot to take pictures!

Here are some of the best that I have:

The picture above was taken by Alexa.

Alexa's Self-Portraits

I've written quite a bit about how Alexa loves photography. Often she'll ask for the camera, and then go off to take pictures and return the camera when she's finished. Sometimes I don't even realize she's done this until I scan through the pictures. Here's a series of self-portraits I found on the camera a few weeks ago. Most are taken sideways, but I kind of like that quirky aspect to them. Enjoy!

Grammy's Birthday

Well, I don't think she would like it if I printed her age in a public fomat like a blog, so I won't, but we celebrated my mom's birthday in the middle of October. We met at my sister's house, and really had a wonderful time. It turned out to be a pretty windy and cold day, otherwise we would have gone to Blackberry Farm like we did this year, but it really turned out better, I think, to hang out at a house where we had more time to sit around and chat.

Alexa had a great time walking around house taking pictures. I've included my two favorite below.

My sister's son received a doctor set for his birthday, and Alexa really, really liked playing with it. My brother humored her for a while, letting her doctor him up, while of course still looking at his phone.

After all the cake and presents were done, we headed to the garage for some painting. At Blackberry Farm last year, the kids had picked out their own pumpkins and painted them. Since we couldn't go this year, my mom bought pumpkins and paints so we could do it at the house. I think Alexa was a bit more into the activity than Jared, but still, they had a good time.

What captured Jared's attention was his cousin's new trampouline set filled with balls.

I just had to include the picture below. Isn't Jared so darn cute?