Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Video Backlog Blog

Dagny trot trots to Boston while Finley has his sports class:


Dagny (and Finley in the background) plays around at the table after dinner. Finley recently taught her the "hokey pokey" finger in the air dancing move.


I saved the best for last.  This video really captures our two kids in action these days, goofing around together with lots of squealing and laughing.


Did you hear Dagny say "top on" as soon as it was finally off? She just loves this hide and pop out game!

Jamming at JamTime

There's a small indoor playspace near us called JamTime and we end up there once a month or so -- sometimes to escape the rain, cold, or just to take a break from our own indoor basement playspace :)

When we went in November, it was Dagny's first time in a bouncy house and she loved it!
When we went last week, Dagny climbed into this foam circle on wheels and quickly said, "push push" so Finley kindly obliged and pushed and pulled her around for a while.
 He'd stop to catch his breath and Dagny would adjust her position, put her feet back up, and say "push push" and Finley would again be a good big brother.  On the third or fourth request, Finley wised up and said, "Okay, Dagny, but just one more time"- if only he could see the irony!
Hard to believe that a year ago, Dagny would go to JamTime with us sound asleep in her baby carseat!

Sunday, December 15, 2013

The Snow Bowler

Last night with snow in the forecast, Finley Dan and I headed out to the Agannis Arena downtown to see a BU hockey game with some company seats from Dan's office.  The driving was slow at times, but we made it in time to snap a photo before the BU team took the ice to play Bentley.
The game was fun and Finley even high fived a mascot, the BU terrier.  This was shocking since Finley is 100% afraid of costumed people, but when the mascot pretended to cry since Finley didn't want to give him a high five, Finley said, "Oh alright, I'll do it!" He is a compassionate guy, afterall :)  We had left Dagny home with a neighborhood sitter, so during the third period - we headed home in the snow.  It was a painfully slow and somewhat slippery ride, but Dan was an expert driver and we made it home in just under an hour.  Finley was totally exhausted and so Dan put him to bed while I chatted with the sitter and sent her on her snowy way.

It snowed all night, while all of us (yes, all four of us) slept peacefully. The kids were super excited to see the snow covering all they could see when they woke up.  Dan occupied them in the basement while I cooked up enough waffles for breakfast and some to freeze.  Finley had barely finished his first waffle when he told us that he was ready to go out and shovel.  It seemed to take forever to get all four of us dressed for the snow, but Dagny won the prize for being ready first and not asking to go to the bathroom right after.
Finley was a close second.

They were quite a bundled pair!
Since Dagny was an infant this time last year, we are counting this as her first real snow experience. We got outside and she showed her naivety in terms of snow -- as she didn't want a shovel and preferred a broom. 
 The kids moved some snow around near the garage but Dagny wasn't too excited to be walking around in it and Finley wasn't thrilled that Dan was firing up the loud snowblower.  So Plan B: put Dagny in the baby sled and tow her down to the mailbox with Finley trudging along beside us.
We put the mail behind Dagny in her sled and then made our way over to our nearest fire hydrant to dig it out, our civic duty.
Oh, we also saw rabbit and chipmunk tracks in the snow, which fascinated Finley.  We then made it back up the driveway where Dan had snowblowed us a path, but both kids were pretty much done being outside.  Sigh.  I took them in and Dan finished snowblowing.  Dagny LOVED watching Dan and the "bowler" through the window, she kept asking me "bowler all done?" "Daddy do bowler?" "Where bowler go?"  Yes, bowler instead of blower.  Pretty cute.  I made some warm (not hot) chocolate for the kids while they watched the snowblower and slow moving cars pass by.  Dagny was an expert at scooping out her marshmallows and then drank most of the cocoa through a straw.  Hooray for Ovaltine!

Finley, on the other hand, did great dropping in and scooping out his marshmallows but wanted nothing to do with drinking the cocoa itself.  
Then, Dan came back in to tell Finley he was done snowblowing and the boys suited back up for more shoveling.  Finley was a champ "helping" Dan tidy up the driveway, front walk, and stairs.  Plus, he hung out on the driveway while Dan used the roof rake.  They came in for lunch and while Finley was disappointed that the snow wasn't a good consistency for snowman building, he had had a blast outside with his dad.

Nice to have all this snow on a weekend so we can enjoy it, clear it away, and then take naps!

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Odds and Ends

No creative theme to link all these photos, but here they are:

These days Dagny must wear Finley's backpack out to the parking lot each afternoon and while it slows us down significantly, it's pretty darn cute. 
 Finley was upset when this trend began since it is "his" backpack, but since he doesn't want to carry it lately - everybody wins.
 Air hockey anyone? Sports, sports, sports, sports!
 We have to peel this jersey off of him most nights and even then, we have to pick an agreed upon day when he can wear it again.
 At the Discovery Museum's wind room, Dagny did her best Marilyn Monroe.
 Dagny's a bookworm just like her brother.
Finley in his formal guitar PJs - they are button down and have a pocket, so Finley had asked if they were for fancy occasions.
 Basement antics with Dan as a horse.


Thanksgiving at Home in 2013

We hosted our first Thanksgiving this year and while all I had to do was buy a turkey and bring chairs up from the basement, I still feel like we accomplished something quite grown up. Thank you to my mom for making it all happen and appear seamless.
One table for Thanksgiving:
Second table for both Hanukkah and Thanksgiving:
Our guests included my parents, my sister, my aunt and uncle from Maine and their kids/grandkids (my cousins) who live in Dedham.  That is a total of 13.5 people (sorry, Dagny, you only take up a small space and certainly don't each enough turkey to factor into the size we bought).  Pretty good for our first time, right?
Everyone cooked or brought something, which made life for us hosts pretty simple.  The kids played, the adults chatted, and before we knew it - it was dinner time!
We all ate up and everything tasted delicious.  Dagny enjoyed her first Thanksgiving on solid foods, thanks Aunt Caits for the pict.
After dinner, my sister, cousin, and Mom made the foam turkeys that I had bought for the little kids to do and had a ball doing them!
They were very proud of themselves. Later, Finley wanted to know why I only got turkeys for the grown-ups to make.  Ha!
After dinner, the older kids played while Dagny completed another Thanksgiving tradition she missed out on last year as an infant - watching football.
Happy Thanksgiving (belatedly) to all!

Mixter Crew

It was great having my parents and sister here for the Thanksgiving weekend.  Not only did my mom so all the cooking (and cleaning!) for Thanksgiving, but they entertained the kids and even babysat while Dan and I went to dinner and a movie :)

When we arrived home from school the day they drove up, Dagny climbed right up on the couch to hang out with her giant bear and her Granddad.

She was in heaven and my dad seemed pretty thrilled, too.  Just out of the frame is Finley playing Duplos with my mom, he gave her all of five minutes to get settled before he asked to play "tree trimming."  Grammy's a great sport :)

They also had fun outside exploring the ice pooled in the sandbox with my folks.
Granddad always travels with two guitars to Finley's great joy.

Dagny was all smiles after a nap one afternoon and entertained us all.
Aunt Caitlin got in on the kid fun by playing Hungry Hungry Hippos.
My parents left on Saturday morning, but Aunt Caitlin stayed to play a while longer.  I snapped these great photos of three of my favorite people in the world.
We don't have these guys close by, but when they come it feels like they have always been here.  Family rocks!

Hanukkah 2013

Hanukkah 2013 was one to remember, mostly because it overlapped with Thanksgiving and it was a whirlwind of family, food, and fun!


After putting Dagny to sleep Tuesday night, Finley helped me make Hanukkah cookies! Notice we're both wearing aprons :) Thanks for the photos Grammy!

We started the Hanukkah celebrating Wednesday night.  With Grammy and Granddad's help, we were able to make latkes, light menorahs, and open gifts before bed!
A baby carriage for Dagny!
 
Magnatiles for Finley!
Balance bikes for both kids, thanks Uncle Carl!
 Aunt Caitlin surprised the kids with a trip to Build a Bear for Hanukkah.  Finley made a Bruins bear that Caitlin and I named Puckleberry Finn and Dagny made a calico covered bear.
 The gifts continued throughout the week, Finley's new soccer goal has been a huge hit since we opened it!
 Thank you GG and Grandpa!!
While the dollar store glowballs they sent, have also been providing endless minutes of fun in the light and in the dark.
 
Dagny even inherited a Mixter family heirloom that was made by my dad's father back in 1982! Thanks Aunt Sudie and Uncle Pete!!
 
We celebrated the last night of Hanukkah at the temple with the kids preschool crew.

Finley seemed to really understand the holiday this year.  I suspect this was a combination of being 4 and of getting to learn all about the history behind the holiday in school.  He understood the oil lasting for 8 days and somewhat about Judah Maccabee wanting to free his people and even that the dreidel game came from long, long ago.  Pretty cool stuff.  On the other hand, Dagny mastered the concept of opening presents and what that really means :)
Though it's over now, Dagny will probably continue celebrating Hanukkah for weeks to come...