Christmas Spirit!

Dyleva has been ready to begin the Christmas season for weeks now.  However, we always wait until after Thanksgiving.  So we came up with a plan.  

Their Dad went into the woods to "look at deer" for the weekend.  We decided to begin Thanksgiving two weeks 
early.  The three of us went shopping and created a menu.  

The next day we started cooking to get ready for Daddy to return.  Turkey, homemade stuffing, mashed potatoes, and 
cranberry sauce.  We also had vegies and rolls.  Yum!

Dyleva met Daddy at the door with "Happy Thanksgiving!"

The Christmas lights went up the next day.

So this weekend the ninos continued on their delivery of Christmas cheer...with a sprinkle of sibling spats in between of course.

On Friday we decorated the house.  Dyleva successfully took every decoration out of the box, unwrapped it and randomly placed it around the house.  Every two seconds I heard, "Mommy!  Look at this one!"

That night we went to visit family from out of town.  Uncle Starch and Erin were in town from Indiana.  It was great to catch up with our cousins.  It was also Avery's birthday, which made the get together even more special. 

The next day the cheer continued.  First, we went to a local toy store.  (Yes, I know-crazy parents dragging their children to a toy store 3 weeks before Christmas...but we had a good reason!)
I told Eva she had to ask Mr. Herr, otherwise known as Tio Pete, to sign her book.  It was a book-signing event on Small Business Saturday.  We couldn't be prouder of our Uncle Pete that has worked hard to get his book published.  Well, Dyleva thoroughly enjoyed themselves at the toy store.  Dylan kept picking up boxes bigger than himself and dragging them to the register.  "Mommy, I need this."

Later, the party animals continued with a pizza party at the house, and then a quick departure to the Lancaster Fire truck parade with our cousins.  It was loud!  Dylan was mesmerized, or frozen.  Eva was just out to collect the candy.

And still, more holiday cheer the next day as we went to get a tree.  More exciting was the game of hide and seek we played in between the trees.    

What a great holiday weekend we have had.  Enano, our elf, has also put in an appearance and has been keeping Dyleva on their toes. 

Snow Day!

It turns out we live in the perfect location.  We got snow.  We got enough snow to play in, sled in, and have snowball fights in. 
However, about 1 mile north of us, people received no snow.  That's no fun.
And about 1 mile south of us, families got 5-7 feet over three days. 
We did not take these snow days for granted!  We appreciate the unfortunate position some people found themselves in, like being stuck on the thruway for 20 hours.  But this was Eva's first snow day(s)!

We played hard!  Indoor and out.  And to think we were given the gift of 4 snow days!  That is unheard of. 

We took our back path along the silent thruway and went sledding every day.  Dyleva learned how to make snowballs, and destroyed the fort I tried to make.  We created a mini-mountain and the ninos flew over it in their plastic blow-up sleds into a snow bank.

Indoors both Eva and Dylan made a Christmas chain and individually decorated each link.  (Thirty-five days till Christmas just in case you were wondering).

We made a fort in the living room and played Hide and Seek.  We watched a lot of movies.  We painted sticks and pinecones to create something later.  Eva created a hospital for her baby dolls.  Dylan made roads and ramps for his cars. 

We kept busy and I loved every extra minute I got to spend with my babies.

The Silent Thruway
 

Colors of Christmas

Eva has been learning about colors at school and I am assuming it inspired a lecture for her brother the other day.

"So Dylan, do you know what the Christmas colors are?"
"No."
She proceeded to educate him.  "The colors are green, white, and red.  Do you know what red is for?"

"No."

"Red is for Santa's clothes.  Do you know what green is for?"

"Grass."  I said

"No Mommy.  You are close though!  Trees!  The Christmas tree."

"And the last color, white.  Do you know what white is for?"

By now Dylan is completely uninterested and totally focused on his afternoon snack.

"Marshmellows."

"No Mommy!"

"Clouds."

"No, snow!"

"Oh wow.  It's a good thing you cleared that up."

Our Adventure Walk

Eva just fell in the creek.
 

I love days off and playing hooky with the ninos. 
This morning we wished Papa a happy Veterans' Day, and then we looked outside.


Gorgeous, sunny, sixty-degree, winter-fall day.
I remembered the place I took a gira last week with my students.  We were off.

Dylan was ready first for his adventure walk.  He was all excited because I told him he could walk in the creek, if he wore his boots. 



Surprisingly, there were no battles with Eva over her attire either.  A good start to the day.




Daddy was coming too.  We were concerned, because yesterday he fell off the ladder from the roof.  Seriously.
But the doctor cleared him.  I believe something about being "lucky as hell."

We name all our parks, but this one in particular, is not necessarily near anyone we know.  So I told Dyleva about the cranky old man that loved to paint, and didn't care much for children. (Charles Burchfield).  So we named it the "Cranky Old Man Park."


We explored the creek first.  Jeff couldn't get the word 'slippery' out fast enough and Eva was down in the water.  She was upset, but it was warm out and she was laughing about it by the time we left. 

Our coolest exploration is difficult to describe.  After we crossed the creek, we found an area of the park that looks like it was created for 4 wheelers.  There were about 40 "baby cliffs, hills, mountains." 

They were mostly made out of solid dirt and of course Dyleva loved scaling them.  Some were very high!  A little scary for Mommy.  I am just soooo thankful not to have discovered this area of the park with 15 first-graders last week.

We walked, explored, had a picnic, and played.
Aside from muddy, wet, and a few slivers, we returned in good shape.















It was a beautiful day to play hooky. 
 
 

 

 

Earthquakes and Big Blue Blocks

This morning when Dylan woke up, he said we are going to the museum.

Just, out of the blue.  "Mommy, we are going to the museum today."

I lazily looked outside at the cold, freezing rain.  It seemed ambitious. 

I asked Eva.  She was on board too.  So, we went ahead with Dylan's "great idea."

It turned out to be a fabulous idea.  We took our time.  It wasn't crowded. 
Eva spent 20 minutes playing with a bird puzzle, and she was as content as could be.

My highlight of our trip, was watching Dyleva play with the big, blue, foam blocks.  We spent an hour doing so.  During this time, several other ninos joined us.  And as I watched, cringing, waiting for the first explosion, it never came.

Dyleva did an awesome job sharing, using their words, and being patient.  Even when one little boy came and knocked Eva's castle down, she said, "That's okay, we can put it back up again." 

We left a little time to explore the upstairs.  Dyleva really likes the exhibit, "Wonders of our Earth,"  (I think...or maybe "Forces..")

A new spot Eva found fascinating is the earthquake simulation.  There are blocks where she would create a house or building.  When she finishes, there are three levels of earthquake that she may choose to destroy her construction.  Very entertaining.

So as we returned, very tired and ready for a nap, I looked over at Dylan. 

"Hey Dyl."  He looked up.

"That was a great idea you had today; going to the museum."

"I know, Mommy." 

A New Cousin

On October 28 Emmy Jean was born!  Tia Jill had her baby and that means another new cousin for Dyleva!

Today we went to meet the precious package, and she had quite an impression on my children.  They both were hesitant at first, but then ended up holding her, and being oh so gentle with her.

Later, Eva asked me to dig out some random baby from the Little People, stored in the basement.  I didn't think anything of it.  When I saw her later, she informed me that the Mommy in the dollhouse had a baby.  She needed to nurse her baby, so of course she had to take off all the Mommy's clothes to make the milk accessible.  She even found a pillow to put the baby on while nursing.  What is even more amazing, is that Eva was getting frustrated that the baby was falling off the Mommy's lap, so she used putty, to stick all the pieces together to create the perfect nursing experience.

Ironically, Eva never even watched Tia Jill nurse Emmy.  So seeing the newborn baby must have brought back a lot of memories of when Dylan was a baby. 


Emmy also left an impression on Dylan.  He later asked me, "Mommy, why was the baby crying?"

"Oh, Dyl.  Emmy was probably hungry.  She doesn't have words like you do, so she needs to cry to tell Tia Jill she is hungry."

"Will she get words?"

"Yes baby, when she is older.  Sometimes you still don't have the words, but it comes as you get older."

"So, Mommy, kind of like you can't pick the calabaza, because if you do it won't grow anymore."

".....yes, Dylan that's right."

He paused and let that sink in for a minute.

"Well when she gets bigger, she won't need a baby seat anymore."

No Dylan.  She will grow quickly.  Too quickly.