This has been a week of much family time. The kids did have school some days, but were out because of the snow some as well. In addition to that, this weekend Katherine got a double ear infection and strep throat. So, we have had plenty of opportunities to spend time with each other.On one of the school days, Regan and Benjamin made bird feeders to hang outside. With all the snow, it was only a matter of a day before all the seed was gone. I guess those little birdies were hungry! :)
Benjamin decided to hang his on a tree near our apartment, so that he might be able to see it from his bedroom window. The next day, I noticed that he had his monkey and puppy sitting in the window so that they could see it as well. Of coarse I have a picture of it...just didn't make the cut for the blog.
Since we had some cabin fever to try and cure, the kids and I went on an adventure walk to see what we could see and find. Benjamin managed to find another pile of snow that was a natural fort and great for throwing snowballs at me.
We also enjoyed looking at the semi frozen lake (from a distance). I didn't want to travel too close because the kids are all about ice skating right now, and I din't want them to try to get out on the lake. So, we just looked at how pretty everything was from where we were standing.
Speaking of standing...Lauren's favorite new trick! It won't be long at all before she is running around everywhere. Her other trick is screaming! Not because she is mad though....she just wants to hear her voice (it's about to drive me crazy) I never thought she would be my loud one :) hopefully it's just a phase!
Jonathan took the kids over to knock off some of the enormous icicles.
They decided to make an ice castle out of them once they got them down.
We worked on some math at home. The math turned into how high can we stack the pegs, but hey...we had fun. They actually had to work together and use some reasoning skills in the process. They figured out (on their own) that if they each made a really tall one and laid them on the ground to put them together that they could make a tower taller than Daddy.
Here is Katherine playing our new favorite game...UNO! Can you believe that a two year old can beat everyone in the family? She's pretty impressive. I couldn' t believe it the first time she won. It's definitely fun for the whole family.
With all the time inside, the kids were starting to realize that it had been a while since they had seen their best friends and that this was not a long vacation. Benjamin kept looking at his picture book from his teachers at church saying that he missed Nathan, Katherine slept with her picture of her little buddy, and Regan was looking at her book a lot, too. It was definitely time for some phone calls. The kids each got to talk to their little buddies back in Knoxville and it made them quite happy. Regan took the phone and went back to her bedroom to talk. She seemed all grown up. And that has basically been our week...plus some added language study at night for me and Jonathan (the kids have picked up a few things as well).
Oh, and Happy Chinese New Year!!
