Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

Hanging out in the snow fort

Mike has my nomination for SuperDad after spending some recent LONG afternoons out in the snow with the kids (well, primarily Laura).  The fresh snow and relatively nice temperatures after Christmas made for some good weather to go out and play!  Not only did he pull Laura around the yard and uphill in the sled, he made her a snow tunnel, built a gigantic snowman, and constructed a pretty cool snow fort complete with slide.  They spent hours sledding, throwing snowballs, and playing in the fort, sometimes even until it turned dark outside.  This cancels out the fact that he sent Laura flying down the sledding hill and thought she lost an arm when she collided with the neighbor's chain link fence.  It was the kind of play that sent Laura in with sopping wet everything, rosy cheeks, and the need for hot chocolate.  I got to stay warm inside, enjoy the quiet, and take photos!  Ryan mostly hung out with me after an unhappy ride in the sled, but did venture out another afternoon for at least an hour and happily messed around in the backyard and took a winter walk around the block with Dad.  Too bad the cold temps came around and put an end to all this outdoor fun.

Laura in the tunnel her Daddy made

Someone is pretty proud about this fort.  Notice it has a beer holder.

Laura took her visiting preschool friend Pete the Cat out in the snow

Dad sending Laura down the sledding hill

Ryan feeling tentative about the snow

Fox On Wheels

Laura reads (MEMORIZES) the words to Fox on Wheels.

*Sorry, I ran out of video space and the story gets cut off before the good part. Have to read it yourself to see how it ends.

Flu Bug Attacks

Ryan, Laura, and I have been bitten by the flu bug. In fact, Ryan has had it twice in two weeks. It's an awful, helpless feeling to watch our kids feel sick and throw up. But, I must confess that there were a few moments that Mom and I giggled when Ryan was doing it. In the middle of performing the act, he would say, "Oh Noooo!!!" Super cute, yet sad.

In other news, Ryan's behavior has been testing us and our daycare provider. This is new to us. We hadn't dealt with tantrums with Laura, so this has been a learning process. The other night Ryan got so mad, he jumped out of his crib. That was scary but it didn't phase him at all. Now his crib is down to the lowest level possible. With all this said, the kid is fricken cute and so much fun to play with. He drives a car on my back and makes a car sound.
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Mom's perspective:
This was a rough few weeks in our household.  Dad picked it up first on Thanksgivng (his favorite holiday, no less) and was completely out of commission.  He spent the day on the couch, and not because he ate too much turkey/stuffing/potatoes!

Two days later, Laura and I arrived home from a movie to a lethargic Ryan who was acting kind of weird. 10 minutes later, he throws up in my lap.

Next up?  Laura gets it early on the following week.  Logically, she attempted to make it to the bathroom, but not in enough time, so the carpet was hit and I had to spend some quality time in there with Resolve and a rag.  She stays home for a day and then comes around.

That weekend, Ryan naps super long - yes!  Finally he wakes up around 4 sobbing, walk into the room and everything is covered in puke.  So. Much. Laundry. when everyone is throwing up all the time.  This round was rough and Ry threw up consistently for hours until there was nothing left.  As Mike mentioned above, the sad pathetic "Oh no's!" happened between heaves.  He needed a lot of love that day.  Funniest thing about all this is that whenever I pull out the puke bucket now, Ryan points at it and says "Yucky."

I fought hard not to come down with this same bug, finally got all those flu symptoms one day but managed to fend off the actual throwing up which was a relief.  Luckily Dad stepped in and let me sleep it off.  I feel strongly this should be our one and only round of house-wide winter sickness...we can only hope!