The Many Faces of Gavin!

Gavin is so animated and loves to make faces and is just so silly. He loves when I pull the camera out and is usually quite willing to pose for pictures. He also loves to do crazy faces and set up toys for me to take pictures of. I indulge him because I would rather he be willing to have photos taken of him and if that keeps him happy and willing to sit for nicer pictures when I ask, I am happy to have more pictures to remember his silliness and involvement.

New Tricks...

Dane is doing so much that Gavin does, it is both awesome and stressful to watch depending on what he is copying. The climbing is stressful because he is doing it earlier than Gavin did. The playing with cars - awesome. He makes car motor noises and pushes them around in various ways that he watches Gavin do all the time. It is really fun to watch them play together and for Dane to pick up on things Gavin is doing and to mimic them right there and then do it more later on his own. I am sure he would have figured out plenty of this on his own in his own way, but it is really cool to see him learn from Gavin as they play together!

Winter Wonderland!

Well, after not having much snow last winter, we have certainly made up for it now! After getting 12 inches a week ago, we now have another 20 inches on the ground with more coming in the next week (although the next few potential storms are predicted to only leave an inch or two). It has been nice that most of the snow we have gotten this winter has been during the day, so we get to have the pretty scenery of snow, bake, play, make fun comfort food type dinners, go outside, warm up with hot chocolate, and enjoy being snowed in. We have spent a lot of time outside, when we are home, playing in the snow. Gavin and Dane both love it and can't seem to get enough. While I do enjoy being outside, especially given how excited they both get, the bundling up three people and then un-bundling three people (and hanging all the snow attire to dry) is exhausting.

This particular snow was huge. We ended up with a little sleet/freezing rain mixed in during the middle, but it was mostly just snow and a lot of fun to watch Gavin try to walk though. Dane just relied on being pulled on the sled and carried because 1-2 inches is about all he can maneuver through. We walked all over the yard, back into the woods, and down the road a little way.

It was a huge job to clear all the snow and Scott is still working on it. I helped where I could but I can't easily run the snow blower, especially with Gavin and Dane outside with me so that is up to him. Gavin helped me clear off Scott's truck and break down some of the higher piles so Scott could make fewer passes with the snow blower. We also cleared as much as we could off of the deck, twice. After we got most of it off, Scott went up on the roof to clear off the roof (because 3 feet of snow is way too much, especially given the potential for more and potentially warmer weather as well). So we cleared as much of that off as we could manage as well. There is still quite a bit of snow because some areas I couldn't easily clear off, but it is better than it being covered in several feet of snow.

Scott still had a lot of IBM work to do, so he tried to get as much done outside as he could before he had to head inside to get as much IBM work done as possible. He had already had to spend the previous day in the office while it snowed because he is so busy. It is a good thing he has a truck that can handle the snow so well and he has brand new tires on it - they are definitely getting some heavy duty use this year! We spent a good part of the day outside before coming in to make dinner and have some hot chocolate. We weren't able to clear very much of the remaining snow on the driveway or back into the yard area that Scott always clears (so that we have more space to play, a place to give more room getting into and out of the garage with the Terrain and also a place to put more snow if we ended up with more snow) but we did at least try to break it down some to make Scott's job a little easier tomorrow when he has to try to finish up that and the snow from the roof that recovered the walk way up to the house.

I am wondering what our new neighbors think of all this snow. They just moved in last week, right before the foot of snow we got. Now this. At least they are getting some serious use out of their new (or maybe just new to them) snowblower. I imagine it isn't much fun to have just moved in and be getting this much snow right away. It is really crazy to see so much snow outside but it really is deceiving until you are actually up next to it. It looks so pretty. We are looking forward to lots more time outside playing in it while it is around (which I am guessing is going to be quite a while unless it starts warming up soon). Yay for pretty snow!

Dance Party!

We very often have music on during the week. The weekends it is almost guaranteed and Scott takes over and plays different music than we listen to most days. It frequently turns into a dance party of at least 2-3 of us (if not all 4) dancing around being silly. Today Gavin and Dane were celebrating that I cut up the cantaloupe we had and were eating it and dancing around the living room. They are so silly! They managed to eat almost the entire cantaloupe. Crazy boys!

Yummy!

Dane loves food and unless he isn't hungry, he won't turn anything down. He loves yogurt. If you pull one out, you better be prepared to either share it or hand it over because he is going to demand some - even if he just ate an entire cup already! His first attempt at eating it himself was quite the adventure. He had a great time and looked adorable. We all enjoyed watching him try to get as much of it in his mouth as he could manage. I think we will stick to us feeding him most of the time for a while still - yogurt is not fun to clean off that many surfaces. At least he had a good time!

Snow!

Well, we finally have lots of snow to enjoy! We got about 3.25 inches Monday (1-3 was predicted and we almost never get the high end of the forecast!) and we just added about a foot to that! So we have about 15 inches on the ground and it is an insane amount of snow to walk through. Gavin and Dane love being out in it, although Dane has a bit of trouble navigating more than a couple of inches, he still loves being outside and the snow just makes it better! They both love to eat the snow, be pulled around on sleds, push the shovel, and explore.

It snowed all day today. The heaviest snow fell overnight (there was already 9-10 inches outside when Scott went to clear a path to leave for work - he ended up having to clear the whole driveway) but it continued to snow all day with just a little bit of freezing rain mixing in before changing back to all snow. We went out while Scott worked on clearing the driveway and spent an hour and a half playing and even took a walk over to Valkill. They had plowed the roads once already, but they were still covered in snow so I had Dane ride on the sled and pulled him and Gavin walked. I ended up having to carry Dane home and pull Gavin on the sled because Dane didn't want to ride on the sled anymore and Gavin insisted he was too tired to walk. It was an interesting walk home. It was a lot of fun. If we hadn't needed to go inside because Dane was ready for a nap (and I was hungry for lunch), we would have stayed out much longer. Gavin was plenty warm and didn't want to go inside.

While Dane napped, Gavin helped me start dinner and do some picking up around the house. Once Dane was up from his nap and had eaten a late lunch, we headed back out and spent another hour and a half outside. I even agreed to walk back to Valkill. It was a much better trip the second time even though there was far less snow on the roads because they were working on clearing the roads again.

I was able to get a few pictures when we went out the second time. Dane is so funny, he loves being outside so much (just like Gavin) that as soon as he hears the garage door start to open, he is running as fast as he can manage (pushing anyone or thing out of his way) to get out first. It cracks me up every time.

We had a great time and are really looking forward to enjoying the snow while it sticks around. While I am looking forward to spring for warmer weather and longer days, I am glad we have some snow to entertain us on the days we are at home now!

Dane's Favorite Pastime...

Now we just need some snow to go with it... possibly happening this week! Wahoo!