Well, we are enjoying another snowy day at home today. It seems like every other day we are getting more snow for the last month. It is a little hard when we are constantly having to reschedule and cancel plans, but some would have been cancelled for illnesses anyway, all just part of winter. So, we are making the most of it and trying to enjoy the snow and each other. We have had a lot of fun the last few days.
Gavin has been asking for weeks to pull out paints again. So, last week when we picked up in the basement, we also reset up his art easel. Then we covered it with paper to paint. Gavin had a great time painting. He loves to use all the colors and mix them and smear them around as much as possible. He gets so excited and is so proud of anything he paints. It is very enjoyable to watch. Dane was able to enjoy a much needed nap in peace.
Gavin and Dane have been helping me a lot more in the kitchen. Dane comes running to help stir, pat, dump, wash, or anything I may need, as soon as he knows I need to go start a meal. Gavin is often not far behind, but doesn't usually stick around the whole time. Dane has far more interest than Gavin ever has, although Gavin did used to have more interest than he does now, he would rather be off playing with his toys now. The really enjoyed getting to use their own rolling pin to help roll out tortillas. I was very surprised at how well they both did. Gavin has helped roll out pasta dough before, so he has had a little experience, but they both were able to roll out tortillas fairly evenly and even somewhat round. They tasted great too! It certainly can be a lot messier with them wanting to help, but I try to just enjoy that they are excited to help and want to learn. I do sometimes send them off to play instead, but I try to limit how often I do that. Thankfully, they are pretty good about when I say I just need them to play. I hope their interest and involvement continues and serves to give them the ability to better take care of themselves (many, many) years down the road.
This morning, we covered part of the kitchen floor with towels and brought up some buckets and toys. We filled the buckets with snow and the boys had a great time exploring the snow. It was so easy to clean up as well. We all enjoy going outside, but we can only spend so much time out there and it is exhausting to do multiple times a day since it takes at least 20-30 minutes to get everyone dressed and out the door and then another 10 to undress and hang everything up. Even though Gavin helps get himself partially dressed, it still takes a long time. We will definitely still spend time outside, but when we wouldn't be able to be out for long or it is a particularly cold day, it will be fun to try it again so they get to explore the snow and stay a bit warmer as well.
This afternoon, we spend some time outside. Before we went out, I decided it would be fun to try something new. We have a few empty spray bottles laying around that the boys have claimed as toys and they use when they help clean. So, we grabbed those and a couple of squirt bottles I have and filled them with water and a little food coloring. We did red, yellow, blue, and green. We then got all ready and brought them outside with us to color the snow. It was so much fun. The boys preferred the squirt bottles, I think the spray bottles were harder for them with their mittens on. I really liked the spray bottles because it gave more options in trying to make pictures and covering more area. We ended up refilling the squirt bottles with the colors from the spray bottles since they boys liked those better. We had a great time coloring the snow!
Thank goodness for Pinterest! It has given us lots of fun projects and experiments to try out. I may not be a very creative person, but I am a pro at following directions and there are lots of great ideas out there for us to try! We look forward to trying more out since there is no end to the amount of snow days in sight! Yay for snow!
