Alright, so the new comforter theory didn't work. Ian and I still had to go 'round and 'round till he got tired enough to give up and go to sleep for nap time. I even tried giving him a couple of toys to play with in his room. I have a feeling I'm going to have to take more drastic measures. Maybe I'll put his new toy garage in his room. Payton has a doll house in hers. Hopefully, this is just a phase that he's going through and he'll come to appreciate quiet/nap times. Payton has in her own way. She can stay in her room for up to two hours (on good days) without complaining. She reads and plays with her toys. I realize she is probably the exception when it comes to young children and naps, but I'm hoping that Ian inherited whatever Payton has when it comes to quiet time.

So, today is not nearly as cold as it has been. The temperatures in the 30s actually seem mild in comparison to when the temperatures were in the single digits and the teens. But the kids still don't want to go outside (actually neither do I). So why not have a TP party when you break open the huge pack of  toilet paper from Costco?

Bye-Bye Crib

The crib is gone. The baby bedding and decorations are gone. sniff, sniff. I'm a little sad. My baby is grown up and now comfortable in his big boy bed. Ian has actually been in a big bed for several months now, but I didn't do anything about the crib in his room. I don't know why - maybe laziness, maybe I just wasn't ready to let it go. In any case, Ian and I had a moment this week that pushed me to change his room.

I always read a book or two before the kids take their naps or have quiet time. After books,  I tried to lay Ian down and he started throwing a temper tantrum. He wants me to stay with him until he falls asleep and I refuse. I had to put him back in his room 3 times. Finally. I had to hold the door closed so that he would settle down. This all took us half an hour before he finally gave up. I know that if I just stayed in his room and sang to him he would go to sleep, but I can't do that every day. So, after the 30 minute fight with him, I decided that maybe if he loved his room, he wouldn't mind taking a nap in it. That was Friday night - the night that the family and I braved 20 degree weather to buy Ian a new comforter/sheet set.

Ian loves his new sheets, but I don't know if it'll be enough. The last two days he's fallen asleep in the car on his way home from somewhere, so I haven't had to battle the start of nap time. We'll have to see how it goes tomorrow.

Since the temperature at 3 pm yesterday was suppose to hit 32 degrees (F) and it suppose to stay below freezing for a couple of days, I decided to perform a little experiment with the kids. We filled different containers with water and set them outside. We talked about what would happen. Payton understood, of course, a lot more than Ian. Ian just liked playing with the food coloring that we put in the water to make it look pretty. Before we went to bed there was a little ice on top, but by the time the kids woke up, the water was frozen solid. They had more fun playing with the colored water this morning. Payton didn't want me to throw it away. We had to do a second ice tray with toothpicks and colored water. I also tried layering different colors (picture on right) but they seemed to diffuse together. But it was still fun.

This morning it was in the mid-teens, but we went to the gym anyway. It's not icy - just flippin' COLD. Tomorrow the low is suppose to be 8! I don't think we'll be doing much outside.

Ups and Downs

Last night Payton went to her first birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's. The birthday girl is from Payton's class at school and turned 4 years old. Payton was on cloud 9. She had the best time with her classmates. What's not to love about pizza, cake and a singing mouse? It was a little much for a school night, but Payton actually didn't take long to settle down to go to sleep. Daddy took Ian to the mall for Chick-Fil-A and the play park, so he wouldn't feel too left out. They seemed to have a good time as well.

Yesterday afternoon, we ventured out into the 40 degree weather for a play date at a park near by with Samuel and Sarah. Their Mommy brought me hot chocolate which made the cold easier to bear. The kids didn't seem to mind at first, but after about 40 minutes Ian was ready to go because his hands were cold. I tried to get mittens on him, but he wouldn't have it. After me holding him for about 10 minutes warming up his hands, he was better and played a little longer.  It's nice to get the kids out and let them run around. Playing inside all day gets very old! I don't know how people do it farther north. 

Today, we're suppose to get the arctic blast of cold air. As I write this morning, I think we are nearing our high temperature of 37 degrees. By this evening it should be in the teens. I don't think we will be playing much outside for the next couple of days. We just don't have the appropriate clothes to enjoy that weather. Does anyone actually enjoy being this cold? 

Weekend at Uncle Kevin's House

The last weekend of our trip was spent at Uncle Kevin and Aunt Dawna's house. Payton loves their house because they have a trampoline in the backyard and a playground right next to their house. There was lots of playing with the cousins. My children were getting pretty tired by the end of the trip. Being away from home, their own beds and their usual routine was starting to wear on them. Thus, napping on Mommy.

We also celebrated Kiera's fourth birthday and my brother's 35th birthday. The kids got to eat lots of cake. Payton only ate the icing. Ian ate everything and then wanted Payton's too!

Let's Make a Deal

Scott and I made a deal. Deals are made often in this household. They are always formed in order to get what one person wants, but usually they benefit both people involved. A lot of times we will make deals with the children like, 'If you clean your room, you can have 2 M&Ms.' Anyway, Scott wanted to play golf this morning, so he said he would get up with the children this morning, and then give me some free time Sunday afternoon. I agreed. Poor Scott had to get up at 6:10 this morning and I slept in till 8! I can't remember the last time I was still in bed at 8 am. So I got up and Scott left for golf.

The children helped me put together and apple pie. I still have apples in the freezer from the trip to the orchard. Frozen apples do not fit neatly into a pie crust. It took an hour and 10 minutes at 400 degrees to get the thing done. I hope it's yummy.

Then we attempted to clean up the play room. (The deal was, that if the kids helped clean up, they could get one of their chocolate gold coins.) This morning was actually very pretty. The sun was shining. It was cool, but very nice with our coats on. We played outside for a while. The kids and I actually had a great morning.


Ian is still having a little difficulty putting himself to sleep after the trip to TX. He always wants mommy to sleep next to him, but I'm refusing to. So he ends up crying himself to sleep. It's kind of sad, but he needs to be able to put himself to sleep without my help like he did before our trip. Today during nap time, he was protesting sleep. After he settled down, I found him in his chair and moved him to his bed :)

The Week With Grandma and Grandpa

We spent the week with Grandma and Grandpa's house, half of it with my brother and his family. There was lots of arts and crafts, playing in the garden (aka: huge sand box), and playing with the cousins. Grandma bought lots of Christmas foam stickers and things to decorate with them.



Grandpa made four large holes in the garden for the children to play in. Payton called them houses in her neighborhood.





One day we went to a play park right on the bay front, next to a pier. It was a beautiful day for the outing - sunny and mid-70s. Ian was asleep for the walk on the pier, but we woke him up for the park.





After Kevin and Dawna returned home, we picked up fried chicken on day and brought it over to Great-grandma's house. The kids had a great time playing with all of her toys. She had some toys that Grandpa used to play with when he was a child. Ian especially liked all the tractors she had.