A few years ago, I started following a blog called kissesfromkatie. She doesn't update as often these days (after all, she's 21 and has 14 adoptive daughters!), but I love when she does. Here's a quote from today that I loved.

Maybe I will never sleep past 7:00 in the morning and maybe I will never have time to brush my hair and maybe I will never be able to eat a full meal without getting up and down a million times. It’s worth it. Maybe it will always take me twice as long to do everything and maybe I will never have a really clean house and maybe my days of staying out late with friends are over. It’s worth it. Anything I have to give up is worth just that one minute when they look at me and call me, “Mom,” when those little hands grab mine and those big eyes look at me as if I hold the keys to the world. It’s worth it.

We are on day three of confinement. Ugh. I guess that's what winter is all about. Here's how it started.

Friday night was a fun night for all of us. Our friends from across the park called last minute and invited us over for dinner. She had made a large pot of soup (tortellini and squash... yum!) and decided to share the bounty with us and another family. So our spontaneous dinner party was so fun. Delicious food, great wine, sweet friends. The kids played well and the adults enjoyed time together.

The next morning, A went to the symphony with my parents. He had a blast! They did a special kids event and had time for the kids to touch and play some of the instruments before the concert began. The smile on his face in the pictures says it all. He loved it.

After the symphony, we met my parents and A for lunch. In the middle of lunch, A started coughing as though he was choking on his pizza. We all paused, and though it seemed to last awhile, he ended up being just fine and claimed he was just stuffed up. That is the same cough that has continued since Saturday.

No church on Sunday. No venturing out of the house. Then the fever hit on Monday, so no school today. I thought his fever had broken last night, but it's back again. Grrr... And the cough will NOT go away. Looks like another day inside tomorrow. We are all getting a little bit of cabin fever. I'm really hoping he's better by tomorrow. He'll be amazingly bummed if he has to miss school again on Thursday or even worse, gymnastics on Thursday evening.

So that's where we stand. Anyone have any fun ideas for keeping kids entertained inside in the winter? I think we've played with most of our toys about 100 times each. I'm up for suggestions!

Winter Fun

The boys and I made our first snowman. I know... it's super small, but it was FREEZING and the snow was not very easy to pack. But it turned out pretty cute. We had to rush off to piano lessons shortly after we finished, so I was going to take their pic with the snowman when we got back. We were gone just over an hour, and when we got back, the first thing I noticed was a little color change to our snowman. Some dog aimed right at our snowman's belly! Of course, the boys found this hysterical, so we took a pic anyway. Now every time we walk in our front door, C has to remind us in his super cute two-year-old voice, "Dog pee on snowman!"

P got a pasta maker for Christmas! We've tried making pasta before but could never hand roll it thin enough. The boys loved helping us roll the dough and fold the ravioli, and oh were they delicious. Butternut Squash Ravioli with a Sage Butter Sauce. Makes me hungry just thinking about them.

We took the boys to the Festival of Lights at the zoo. It was a lot of fun, but it was PACKED and FREEZING. I know... it's winter... it's supposed to be cold, but this was one of those nights in the teens. Luckily, the boys still loved it and we ducked into as many indoor animal houses as possible.

We took the boys ice skating on Fountain Square. It was FREEZING (I know... I should be used to it by now, but I am NOT) and we didn't realize until we got there that they don't have any double-runner skates for beginners... only the real, one-runner kind. Made for more difficult skating for the boys, but they had a lot of fun! By the end, A was skating by himself holding onto the wall. Not bad for a kid that could barely walk in the skates at first. I don't know why I don't have any pics of C on his skates. He did skate, and he did have fun. There is video, but I haven't loaded it from the camera yet.

We took the boys to visit my grandma on the day after Christmas. She has dementia, so she doesn't know who we are, but this day she seemed to recognize us or at least she was really excited to see us. It was so fun! She played catch with the boys for nearly 30 straight minutes, then moved on to pushing trucks together. I love my grandma so much, and it just melts my heart to know my kiddos love her too and to watch them play so sweetly with her. They get excited when we get there and love to laugh with her as they play. She told A, "I like you. I like when you come here." And, later she told C "I love you." It was such great time with her. I even got some on video this time, which I think I will cherish forever.

C's Bday party #2

I don't know why these pics haven't been posted yet (except that I've been slacking). Some of C's friends gathered at a nearby indoor play area to celebrate C's bday. It was so fun!

I started taking down Christmas decorations today. I had so much to do during their quiet time that I started while the boys were still awake. Had I known how traumatizing this would be, I would have waited. C walked around for most of the afternoon with a sad look on his face, shaking his head in disappointment and repeating in this horribly devastated voice, "(sigh) Christmas over. (sigh)" Don't worry, little boy. It will come again next year.