Mr Cozy

Mattias has long liked to pile stuffed animals into his crib with himself and sleep under and around them, and now recently he has taken to using his duvet cover as a sleeping bag. He crams his animals inside and then climbs in with them.  Cozy!

(And I have photographic evidence of this because I still have to wake him up from his afternoon nap almost every day, or he would keep sleeping!)

Thanks, Mom

Thank you, Jaja, for coming to be with us for 4 days while Jim was away! Especially since we got a bit of snow & ice, and were mostly housebound for the first 3 days, we were very glad you were here. It helped keep us all in a better mood - and well-fed (and I even got to sleep in a bit), most notably!

Watching the bubbles and getting ready to punch down the bread dough

Unfortunately Hawk got another cold this week but he does love his Jaja (and for some reason looks huge in this picture! I can verify that he is still small and lightweight. I checked my notes and he is almost exactly the same weight - at 8 months - that both Gemma and Timo were at 4 months.). He particularly enjoyed the "touch and feel" truck book that Jaja brought. Very cute to see him pointing his fingers and feeling the textures.

The weather warmed up on the last 2 afternoons, so we were able to go out for walks. The first afternoon the boys had a great time showing Jaja a few spots along Main St (including the gallery where Gayle has some prints, and the antique store with a kids' play area), and the next day we all walked a bit further around the neighborhood.

Good-bye, and see you again soon!

Snow day

Jaja arrived yesterday (Tuesday) midday, to help out and be with us while Jim is gone to Cape Town for the week - and last night we had a lovely 2 inches of snowfall (with a coating of ice underneath). It was nice to wake up to the sight of beautiful snow outside! Although the temps are lower so the snow is light and fluffy (and the air is COLD on one's cheeks) and not dense enough for building or throwing. Still the boys had fun this morning brushing snow off the cars, experimenting with tracks in the snow, and walking down the driveway following after some cat paw prints. Later in the afternoon Timo and I went out again for a longer walk down Main St, seeing which businesses were open and which were closed, and knocking icicles off all the benches.

Testing out the bike to see its snow tracks

Mattias insisted on pushing the doll stroller down the driveway!

Timo followed the cat prints down the driveway and then up a hill in the neighbor's yard, and then lost the trail - and was disappointed not to find the cat hiding at the top of the hill.

standing on the fence in the backyard

Sunday night

8 months old, and Hawk loves to "walk" around! Already he wants to keep up and get into whatever his brothers are doing. The biggest grins and laughs that we get from him are when Timo or Mattias are singing a song to him and waving his arms around, or when he is being tackled and wrestled. (parent-approved, safe wrestling, that is) He also has his two bottom teeth now.
                                                                         

And here's a testimony to simple Sunday night suppers. I didn't plan ahead or think about what to have for supper, until about 5:30 PM - so we had popcorn and fruit and peanuts, and Timo announced, "This is a great dinner!"

Mattias is quite particular about his cups; this is the one he likes best right now.

Cheers!

Long, cold week at home

Since coming back from our Christmas trip, we've had very cold weather (like many people around the country getting the Arctic front) and although we haven't had snow or ice, schools have been closed (heating can't keep up), some water pipes froze up, and we've had to stay inside and close to home. The boys have been very content with their new toys - dinosaurs, sticker books and cars - and are playing really well together these days, although there are plenty of loud and wild moments too, because we just need sometimes to use our muscles and get outside!!! I need to problem-solve some more ideas for this winter but there aren't many options in this small town (besides the library and Wal-Mart). Oh, how I wish we had a YMCA or gym. Also baby Hawk got a cold and teething troubles, and he was very fussy all week and not eating much.

Finally today, Tuesday, Timo went back to preschool, Mattias got to ride his bike around the driveway, and Hawk is grinning and playing, so we're feeling more even-keel. Now to sort out a new rental, the stress of which is really starting to weigh on us... Just over two weeks until our lease is up and we're still trying to find something. Or at least a short term backup where we can stay a few weeks until a long term becomes available.

On to some house scenes... Just before this photo below, I overheard Timo say, "I love you, Mattias," and hugged Mattias around the neck.

They love reading together. 

"Wow, these dinosaurs are made in China. They did a really good job. They must really know how to make dinosaurs in China." - Timo

Arranging the new dinosaurs

How to keep Timo happy - stickers and a new audiobook! He spent 3 hours one afternoon listening to it, and after supper returned to keep listening. We had to make him turn it off at bedtime. (The series is called The Land of Stories.)

still in pajamas and doing the stickers

Plus, BrainFlakes from the Welty cousins have been a BIG hit, particularly with Timo, who has created all sorts of vehicles and given them different names, like "M-360 with 800 pounds of thrust and goes 96 miles per hour" etc. They are also Hawk-approved because they are fun to grab and taste. Sorry, bad photo - I couldn't get Timo to hold still for a photo while building, or Hawk.

Finally, my new cookbook is keeping me very happy and inspired for the new year. This (The Minimalist Baker, though 'cook' is more accurate) is my favorite food blog right now (and has been for a couple of years) and Jim wisely gave me the cookbook for Christmas, so I don't have to keep checking recipes on my phone or writing them down on scraps of paper and sticking them to the fridge in mish-mash piles. I love the way that she cooks (although once in a while I tone down the spices)! She uses a lot of ingredients that we love and eat regularly, like chickpeas, butternut, kale, tofu, tempeh, peanut butter, curry, noodles or pasta, beans, tomatoes, and with variations like Thai or Indian or north African or Mexican. Plus they are easy recipes and open for lots of variations. Non-perfectionist-non-recipe-followers, unite!

With time for one more stop

Since we flew in/out of Durham for our flight to Chicago, we had a two night stopover with the Durham Hawkins. It was wonderful to see how much Caitlin is growing and learning!! She's even doing "army crawl" now, so watch out - if she sees something nearby, she can make her way to it pretty quickly. Isn't she cute in her little floral bandana bib?

Don't get any ideas, Uncle Pete. We're Carolina Blue in this house!!

Since we were still in the 12 days of Christmas, we even had an afternoon to open stockings and exchange a few presents. It's very important to get Nutella in one's stocking. And in general to litter the living room with ribbons and papers and happy sounds.

And then the cousins came

We were SO glad that the Brink cousins came up from St Louis (after they spent Christmas with their family in Memphis) for the last two nights of our visit. We parents enjoyed seeing how much the cousins loved playing together, usually involving chasing, squealing, Legos and stuffed animals. And it was good for us adults to talk about life over the last year and what may be coming for 2018... with uncertainty for both of our families. Somehow we try to hold to hope and not worry about what is two or three steps ahead - but just take the challenges and process one thing at a time. (Sadly we didn't get a good family photo of everyone this time!! Argh!)

Nonna with Millie, Hawk and Elsie

Jim and Granddad took the oldest three over the the campus gym for a 'game' of soccer and run around the track. Boy it's cold out there!!! So glad we have a gym we can go to!

a fun morning at the Lego play-place

On our last afternoon some new snow began falling and everyone rushed out to play before it got dark. Perfect end to our trip!

Mattias did pretty well shoveling, too!

Christmas - in which all the adults...

...get their photo taken with the cute baby in striped pajamas!

And meanwhile the older two had a wonderful Christmas Day getting ALL the attention from their grandparents.

new re-usable sticker books!

 

After stockings, cinnamon rolls, presents, Christmas books, and more playtime with GI Joes, everyone was ready for some quiet.