My Boy Atticus

Trying to Get Along

The on-going prayer, discipline, crying (mine and theirs), trying again, talking, praying, asking advice, trying again to get along. Today was one of the better days.

Joslins Visit

Monday Laura & Madeleine Joslin came to our house to play, and we all had a lovely time together. Here Atticus & Madeleine play a duet.

Pretty Laura only 9 days away (7 now!) from her due date.

"Snow Gathers Stars" & "Barn"

Brad gave me these two lovely prints for Christmas. We found this local artist, Nick Wroblewski, a couple years ago when we were first married. We fell in love with his work right away, though we couldn't afford the piece we originally wanted. We kept the guy's name in hopes of one day having one of his pictures in our home. This is the first "real" (not just a poster) art either of us have ever bought or owned. How I love my husband's thoughtfulness and how much he showed he really really knows me by the two prints he chose for me. Thank you, Sweetheart.

You can see more of Nick Wroblewski's beautiful work at: www.nickwroblewski.com

Super D

Dietrich has been wearing a kids' home depot project apron around his neck backwards like a cape for 2 hours this morning.

Nomikers

Atticus has been referring to his grandparents as such:
My mom -- Pirate Grandma
My dad -- Chainsaw Grandpa
Brad's mom -- Bubbles Grandma
Brad's dad -- Pancake Grandpa

Rabbits!

Look at this hilarious picture: It is from left to right -- my cousin Todd, my brother Aaron, me, my cousin Lisa. It's at their farmhouse a few miles from ours in Illinois. Those are our cousins' dutch rabbits -- They raised them for fun and for 4-H. I just found this picture on Lisa's facebook page. So funny, Lisa!

Run! Jump! Climb!

So Leah introduced us to Gleason's Gym down in Eagan (a southernly suburb). Wednesday mornings a two-hour toddlers' open gym is offered for a great price of $8 per family. This week was our second time coming with a group of friends. These photos are minutes before the rush of kids and moms arrived. When the 30-40 bodies are swirling about it is pretty difficult to stop and take photos. Lots of supervising, enforcing safety rules, and politeness and helping in and out of places (especially for Dietrich). The boys both had so much fun!

A while later in the "pit" with some of the crowd...

Sledding!

Yesterday when Brad came home from work he said, "Let's go sledding!" After nine hours of getting snow clothes on, we left for a nearby park. It was Dietrich's first time playing in snow. He was interested, though cried every time Brad took him down the hill -- pretty big hill for a 1 year old. Atticus loved the whole thing -- His face was pure joy sliding down that hill. And he climbed back up the half a dozen times Brad took him down. I am so happy for such a fun, adventurous husband and such brave young boys.

Dietrich's first time down...

Atticus' first time down. (They also went backwards once; And then there was Atticus' ill-advised and short-lived solo run down the hill; He's a little too young to go alone on a hill this size.)

On the last run, Brad took both boys together!

I'm Back

Well, as many of you know, I signed up for facebook last week. There was some adjustment time for me to get the settings right, figure out how much I wanted to use it, and just give myself some time to be a bit fascinated with it's potential. Now I am back at our blog. I've been trying to fill our weeks with a morning play dates and one weekly "big" activity -- like the zoo or the gymnasium. We've been doing lots of reading, coloring, playing with cars, cooking (Atticus loves baking), and board games when we are playing with other kids. This part of winter is so long with young children if you don't deliberately plan activities and social interaction.