Mid-February Update...

We don't have much new to report. Thankfully, we haven't had to deal with the flu lately, unlike many of our dear friends. We just can't say enough about being healthy!


We continue to head out to the sledding hill about every other day. Saturday, our god-daughters, Rosie and Lilly, came over to do some sledding. The sun was shining and the temps were in the 40's! There were patches of grass poking through, but still enough snow to have a great time. Also, since I've mentioned "night-sledding" before, I thought I would include a few pictures from this week.




Over the last week, Joey has started walking a little more. He finds it extremely funny when he loses his balance and bites it...on the carpet of course. He has also picked up even more words since our last post. His latest favorites are "Go!" (usually used at the top of the hill and at the top of the stairs when he wants to slide down either) and "cookie" (thanks to the Valentine's Day cookies that Marie made). He does a lot of mimicking, trying things like "shoes, socks, fish, truck, and car." He also has a favorite book that he reads, "Go, Dog. Go."


We still have not broken his habit of abruptly throwing things. Today at church, he hit the woman in the pew ahead of us with the small book he was holding. There were no serious injuries, but it did startle her. Anyone who sees us in church should probably consider this for their own safety. :)


I'll leave you with a quick kid story from this week...

Joey chucked a magnet beneath the stove. (He likes to put them there and also beneath the fridge.) I got on my hands and knees, trying to locate it. Joey crawled over, put his head on the floor to take a peak himself and said “uh-oh.”

I proceeded to get a spoon out of the drawer to try to fish it out. At this point, I must admit that I haven't cleaned under the stove since we moved into our house about a year an a half ago.

Marie, walking over: What are you doing?
Peg: Trying to get the magnet out from under the stove.
Jon: Marie, don’t go over there.
Marie: Why not?
Peg: Because it’s really dirty under here. Did you know that the people that lived here before us had a dog. Look at all this dog hair that was under the stove.
Marie: Why was the dog under the stove?

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's hard to believe that a whole week has gone by since we celebrated our god-daughter Rosie's 4th birthday! Rosie is full of energy and such a sweet little girl. It was great to spend the afternoon with her, her little sister (and another g0d-daughter) Lilly, and their parents, our good friends Brian and Laura.


Marie and Rosie get along wonderfully. While they have somewhat different personalities, they have so much fun together. Marie, who has been talking more about her "friends" lately, considers it a real treat to get to play with Rosie. I think the same goes for Rosie. Watching them just melts a parent / godparent's heart!

After a yummy pizza lunch, everyone dug into the amazing castle cake that Rosie's grandma made. I couldn't believe that she made it in just a couple of hours. (This also indicates to me that I must be inefficient when it comes to my cake-making / decorating abilities!) Brian and Laura had a fun craft planned for the girls. They all got to decorate a picture frame to bring home. We made sure to get lots of shots of the girls so that there would be a good photo to put in the frames. Finally, it came to be time for the opening of the presents. What a whirlwind of tissue paper! Oh, to be four again!


All in all, it was a great day. Rosie, as sweet as she is, even sent Marie home with one of her helium birthday balloons.

Believe it or not, at the time of Rosie's party, we had NO SNOW! That sure changed during the course of the week. We got ~12" in our neck of the woods on Tuesday and have had a couple of minor flurries since then. (That doesn't sound like much considering what parts of the rest of the country has been getting!) Of course, we've gotten out to the sledding hill a couple of times. The powder is beginning to pack down a bit, so that makes the runs more fun, much to Marie's delight. She has been known to say, "When will we be able to go faster?!?" We're guessing that the snow will be around for awhile, so we'd love to have visitors!

The kids are doing well. We have had a touch of the stomach flu, but nothing that has really lasted more than a day at a time. Joey is starting to say a couple more words. His first word was "cracker." He's been saying that for a while now and it basically applies to anything snack-like that he likes to eat. He has "bye-bye" down pretty well and has lately added "bear," "gink" (drink) and "gulk" (milk).


We think Joey's going to be an even later walker than Marie. He takes a few steps here or there, but is really just too fast on his hands and knees. He would much rather crawl. He also loves the stairs as much as Marie did. He's been known to crawl all the way up, throw his teddy bear down, and then slide down on his belly (feet first) giggling all the way. It is definitely nice to not worry as much now that he has gotten proficient at maneuvering stairs. Though, he thinks it is funny to get caught climbing up while standing and holding onto the banister. He is definitely in a phase where he wants anything that Marie has...and vice versa. We might have to invest in a helmet for Marie. Joey also likes to (out of the blue), throw anything and everything. He nailed Marie with a wooden block the other night. Ouch!