Strawberry Volcanoes

Will enjoyed church yesterday.  He complained less about getting ready to go and after Sunday School he decided he wanted to stay for Children's Church too.  He made the same decision last Sunday, but I was a little worried this time because Lindsay and Jesse left after Sunday School which meant Natalee wouldn't be there to play with during church and Children's Church.  He did great though, and even stayed in Children's Church without clinging to me.  I think it helped that Drew, a little boy he knows from church and preschool, was there too.

This morning at breakfast Will started talking about snakes (we had watched an episode of The Cat in The Hat featuring a snake).  He said he didn't like them but he liked to cook them and eat them up - where that part came from I have no clue!  Then he told me that Grandad Mike had taught him how to cook snakes "a couple of years ago."  A minute later he said Grandad Mike had also taught him how to sleigh ride, and then asked if he was up in the sky.  I told him yes, that he lives in heaven.  Will thought for a second then asked if he has a car.
"Yes, he probably has a really cool Jeep."
"Does he have any toys?"
"Yes, I imagine he has lots of toys."
"Who does he bring them to?"
"Well, Jesus lives in Heaven so I'm sure he plays with Jesus.  And Grandma Nelson is there, so I bet he plays with her too."

Thankfully he didn't have any more questions after that because I couldn't answer any more.  I think I made it to the tissue box before he noticed my eyes!

Later today Will got a card in the mail from Jenny.  He's always so excited when he gets mail.  He tore open the envelope, looked at the card and got a little funny look on his face then said "It's a card."  So I read it to him and gave him the "hugs and kisses" from Nenny.  Then he opened up the card and found the two dollars inside.  He got all excited and threw the card aside and asked if he could fold up his money.  A few minutes later he came back over and said "Mommy, I don't really like cards, but I LIKE money!"  It was just funny because that was the first time that he wasn't excited about just the card.  It sounds like Nenny, Grandma Marchita, and Grandma Margie are all spoiling him with presents in the mail!  : )

We met Jerry for lunch today at Paesano's.  On the way Will was so excited to see Jerry (he absolutely idolizes his Daddy).  He got quiet after a while and I asked him what was wrong - if Will is quiet there's a problem!  In a little wimpery voice he said "I don't want Daddy to have to go back to work."  He gets sad when we have to leave after lunch and he was already thinking about Jerry returning to work while we went home.  Sure enough after lunch he was really sad all the way home.  To brighten the afternoon we had a snack of strawberry volcanoes with whipped cream lava...

On a parting note to an incredibly rambling post I'll provide a quick vocabulary update...

The past tense of "write" is "rooted."

As in "Mommy, where is the star you "rooted" on my underwear?"  (I drew a star on them so he would know where the back was since they don't have tags.)  I just love it because you can see the progression of learning English grammar.  He's got the add "ed" rule worked out, and he knows it's not pronounced "writed" so he applied the rule for "know" and "knew"!   
   

Ridenour Overlook

It was lunchtime before we finally decided what we wanted to do today.  I am so thankful Jerry always comes up with great entertainment ideas for us.  He suggested that we pack a lunch and go to the Ridenour Overlook to enjoy some of the sunshine we had.  When we got there we were disappointed to find the gate was closed.  Though we didn't really remember how much farther the overlook was, we decided we would not be deterred by the closed gate.  So we parked the car and started walking (through an inch or two of snow that was still on the ground).  Luckily we carried the diaper bag with us because half way up Will fell while chasing the dogs and soaked his pants.  It was a bit farther than we remembered - I guess any distance covered by foot always seems longer than an equal distance traveled by car!

We made it to the top and were rewarded by a nice sunny spot to have our lunch.  The dogs especially enjoyed the trip.  They really haven't had any exercise outside all winter.  I assumed they would be tired when we arrived back home but Napoleon promptly found his ball and brought it to Jerry for a game of fetch!

Will caught a ride on Mommy's back on the way down.
And the dogs followed close behind.

 

Learning to Build a Snowman

Will taught me how to build a snowman today.  : )

We went outside after lunch to enjoy the snow a little more.  After we rode the tube a few times Will wanted to build a snowman.  So I started trying to roll a ball (which I have no talent for)!  I told Will we needed Kristen here to build it for us because she is great at making snowmen.  He said "That's ok Mommy.  Just stop and watch what I do.  I'll teach you how to build a snowman.  Ok, lesson two - get a pile of snow in one hand.  Put it here like this (applying it to the snowball).  And now pat it with this hand".

He took great pride in teaching me the "lessons" on how to build a snowman.  When we finally finished he was proud to pose for a picture with his snowman. 

I love how round he looks!
I mean Will in his puffy coat, not the snowman  : )

I guess Will just wanted to be sure he was in the picture too!

More Winter Weather

It is hard to believe that only five days ago we were playing outside in the warm sun!  It snowed last night and we got about six to eight inches!  It's beautiful today because the sun is out but it's cold enough that the snow is hanging around.  Will and I went out to play this morning.  I shoveled the driveway while he hauled away the snow in his dump truck.  Then we had a snowball fight.  After that we blew up the snow tube and went tubing on the small hill in our front yard.  I think I had as much fun as Will did on the tube!  He was especially glad when I found a rope to tow him back up the hill.  (I don't ever remember being towed back up the hill - Mom!)

It started snowing at about 6 p.m. and was still snowing hard when we went to bed at 10:45 p.m.

We woke up to about 8 inches of snow.

Will checking out the newly fallen snow.

He agreed to smile for a picture - I couldn't believe it!

Following the tracks Jerry made on his way to work.

Our hill is small but we could go pretty fast in the tube!

The only thing that would make the tow rope
better is if Will could tow ME back up too!

I loved the snow piled up on these plants.
It looks like a miniature mountain range.

A Trip to the Park (in February!)

We went to the park instead of story time today.  I couldn't stay inside when it was so sunny and warm.  We were actually shedding layers as we played because it was so warm in the sun.  : )  We had a nice picnic lunch and we even played in the driveway for a while after we got home.  It was great to get some fresh air!

These photos are courtesy of our friend, Lindsay.  I remembered my own camera and took several really good pictures.  When I went back to review them however, I wasn't rewarded with a cute picture of Will but rather a black screen reading "No memory card inserted."  Oops!  


I love the hair!!  That much static electricity could power a small city!



Will started coming down the tube slide (which was rather steep) head first. 
It was a wonder he didn't break his neck at the end as fast as he was coming down!





Will riding the motorcycle with Brady in the side car.

Enjoying the Warm Weather

It got warm enough today to play outside for a while after lunch.  Will was so excited to get out and ride his bike.  Even the dogs enjoyed some time outside with us.  I think they were happy to have some grass to sniff (and "mark" in Napoleon's case).

Napoleon was thankful for the sun because of the resulting shadows - he was thrilled to play
a quick game of chase the hand shadow!

Happy Valentine's Day

Will was so excited to get mail for Valentine's Day today.

Will got a Valentine from Grandma Margie.

He had Jerry read him that card over and over again!

He was excited to find 2 "wollypops" AND money!

We also got a Valentine from Grandma Marchita.

Will read the front of each one to find out which was his.
He made it clear though that we all had to share (with him)!

He was glad when he finally pulled his from the envelope.

I think Josie wondered where hers was.

Calling our Grandmas to say "thank you and we love you too!"

Day Trip to Johnstown

It was so warm (almost 50 degrees) today that we wanted to go do something outside.  There's still too much snow on the ground to enjoy the park so we decided to ride to Johnstown to look around after church.  Jerry looked online and found the Johnstown Inclined Plane.

"Constructed as a "lifesaver" after the Johnstown Flood of May 31, 1889, the Incline has more than lived up to its original lifesaving purpose. Flood waters again swept through the Conemaugh and Stonycreek Valleys on March 17, 1936 and July 20, 1977. On both occasions, the Incline carried men, women, children and vehicles to safety and help. It is one of the longest and steepest hoists in the world and one of the few transportation systems of its kind still in existence."

We rode the incline, which Will really enjoyed, then went to the mall where he could expend some energy in
the play area.  We also made a stop at Gander Mountain so Jerry could check out the shotguns. 
   

The incline is designed to carry cars too (originally for horse and buggies) so you can drive right across this bridge and drive your car onto the lift.  We just walked though.

It was quite intimidating watching the other car come down the tracks!

Three deer crossed under the tracks right behind us.

This was where you could stand to go up - it wasn't enclosed at all.  It was cool, and just a little scary!

Will making a pouty face at the overlook because he didn't want to have his picture taken - as usual.

Dinner at Mimi's - Yum!

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

Baking Valentine's Day Cookies

Lindsay invited us to bake and decorate Valentine's cookies with them today.  We all had so much fun!

Rolling out the cookies...

Note the nice clean work area we started with...

Decorating with LOTS of M&Ms and sprinkles!

Lindsay had the cool idea of painting on icing - talk about fun!!

I'm not sure if there was more icing on the cookies, the table, or on Will!
(And there was LOTS on those cookies!)

But check out the end result - Delicious (and sweet!!)

My Conservative Son

While I was cooking dinner today I got too warm so I took off my overshirt, leaving just my tank top on.  Will came into the kitchen, looked at me and laughed, saying "Mommy, that shirt is too small!  Look at yourself!  Your shirt should come all the way up to your necklace!  You're going to get cold right there (pointing to the top of my chest). 

I told him that I took my outer shirt off because I got hot while I was cooking and he said, laughing, "If you're hot you should go open that door right there and stand in front of it!" 

I can only hope this conservative streak will last! 

(Or maybe it's not that he's conservative, he just isn't happy to see so much flab!) Hahahaha!!  : )

Mail from Grandma

Will was excited to get a special package from Grandma today...

Writing Practice

I worry about Will developing writing skills because he seldom has any interest in drawing, writing, tracing, or even coloring.  If he ever does draw, it only lasts a minute or two.  A woman at play day told me about an activity she saw in a book where the child "helps" one object on the page "get to" another object (eg. a helping a puppy get to a bone) by tracing a line between the two. 

We did that a couple times yesterday but Will didn't have the attention span to maintain the focus needed to trace the line.  So today I stooped to bribing.  I got a bag of M&M minis and put one candy at the end of the line.  I told Will that he needed to help the car/fish/puppy/etc. get to the prize.  The extra incentive seemed to help keep his attention.  He finished three pages of practice and I put the pages away before he got tired of it so hopefully he will be interested in doing it regularly.

If you look close you can see the tiny M&M in the fish bowl.

He was so excited to finish and get that candy!  He certainly worked hard
for those eight M&M minis he earned!