Puzzle Time...Updated....

Well, I got my camera charged enough to take a few quick pictures of their puzzles before I cleaned it up. Here are the updated pictures to add to the original post below. :)

Tyler finished the puzzle he was working on and celebrated by running laps around the house. These are "action" shots that I tried to take while he ran through the kitchen.

Another "action" shot.

Puzzles are hard work. Kevin having a drink before heading off for an early nap.

The first puzzle Kevin worked. He managed to get the horse and cow in....no sheep but he REFUSED to get the sheep anywhere near the puzzle. ;) He prefered to have it on the floor or in his high chair. So by default I call the puzzle a success, despite being technically incomplete, since he actually got two pieces in! Now I just hope that his interest in playing puzzles continues as it was fun to clap and watching him smile when he would get a piece in. And of course it was always fun to watch his joy when he discovered that banging two pieces together made a lot of loud noise!

The "big" puzzle Tyler completed. He sat there so patiently working on it talking away to the cars and animals as he would complete them. Such an imagination he has!

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Here are two pictures from our puzzle time this morning. Over the last two weeks, Tyler and I finally realized that Kevin could play puzzles with us (normally Kevin looks at a book in his highchair). We have lots of wooden peg puzzles and Kevin plays with one (he likes to pull the pieces out and bang them together) and today actually managed to get a horse and a cow back into their spots (the first time he has actually put the pieces back). I was going to take a picture of his "first" puzzle that he worked even with the sheep missing but my camera battery died. So just two pictures of Kevin. Can you tell he is teething?!?! That finger does not leave his month anymore as he chomps away.


No pictures of Tyler. He has been busy working on puzzles since daddy left for work this morning..still in pjs and everything. He is a puzzle maniac these days. And I finally got smart this morning and got a 48 piece one out and he has been patiently working it for awhile now (he just goes through too many 24 piece ones and then I am the one stuck putting them back into the bags and he refuses to do the same one more than once anymore in a given day...so lots of cleanup for me...and since puzzle time is supposed to be relaxing for mommy, out came the bigger ones finally).

Tyler has started working 48 to 60 piece ones on his own (before Christmas he would want me to sit there and help him, so having him sit and work them on his own is fun to watch as his attention span and determination grows). And last week he even had the desire to sit and work a 100 piece puzzle with me. I love that he is getting into puzzles because I LOVE working them myself and enjoy having a buddy to help me do them. :) And hopefully we can start getting Kevin into them as well.

Anyways...here are two pictures of Kevin. :)

Kevin's beach ball

At some point in the last couple of days one of Kevin's favorite toys..a small beachball...became deflated. Today, when he found it he crawled over to me dragging the deflated ball along. So I blew it up. It was one of those moments...with him sitting at my feet looking up at me and me slowly blowing up the ball that I had on camera because you just saw the excitment building as his face lit up with a big smile. And then he was so excited to finally have his friend back....and so I took some pictures. :)

Keeping an eye on Carlie. It seems that both dogs were just as excited to see a new ball in the house.



Keeping an eye on Ellie.

If you look closely enough here...you can see how soaking wet his shirt is! He is drooling up a storm today...and his right cheek is bright red. Definitely think he is working on some teeth today.

Zoo

Here are two quick pictures this morning of Ellie and Carlie. I noticed that they were gone when I was making Kevin some breakfast and found them both asleep in those spots. Of course, I woke up them when I came back with my camera. They just looked so cute sleeping there together.

Yesterday, the boys and I ventured down to the zoo. Even though it was super nice, we ended up just doing the inside parts. This was Kevin's first time to stay awake at the zoo and oh was he shocked! We spent a good hour down at the tropical aquarium looking at fish. Kevin was mesmerized! He would talk, track, and eventually just laugh at the fish. He was alert and having a blast just watching them swim around. This was good because Tyler found another boy his age and they were busy running around chasing and pointing out fish during this time. Those two would just laugh and laugh and laugh, and it gave his mom and I a good chance to talk and just relax while the boys entertained each other. It turns out that they were both born in December...maybe that is why they were getting along so well! ;)

I didn't get many pictures because the zoo was packed! Here are some that I did take. After the aquarium we went and watched dolphins before heading out. We only spent about two hours there, but that was enough for Kevin.

Unfortunately for Kevin, (because he was tired) we had to stop at Home Depot on the way home. He woke up so I could get some stuff for the basement fireplace but quickly fell asleep on my shoulder in the store. It was pretty sweet and I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't trying to push a cart and hold two eight foot things too. But we managed to get to the car and drive home. And on a quick side note...Adam is making lots of progress on the fireplace. We spent Monday redoing some things that we thought we should redo, and then finished up the drywall. Again...when I saw we...I mean Adam. He is working hard at night to get it finished. I will have to take a picture today so you can see it.

Anyways....

Kevin slept the entire way home, and Tyler talked to me. And then Kevin slept until dinnertime (7:00) and was not happy that we woke him up to eat. But he ate a little before heading back to bed and sleeping until 9 this morning!

Apparently, fish wear him out. :) He had so much fun though that I look forward to more zoo trips as the weather gets nicer and can't wait to take him to Shedd aquarium. I think that he will LOVE it!

Downstairs Fireplace

We have never liked our downstairs fireplace, and last week Adam started on redoing it. He started by taking out the brick shelves that were on it, and once he got those out we realized that we should take progress pictures. So the first pictures start without the hideous shelves pictured, and show you what he managed to get done last weekend.

It has been interesting to watch because as we have discovered, my allergies flare up big time if I go into the basement. And so Adam has been forced to do it all on his own. He probably would have done it all on his own anyways, because I am not the greatest at building or with intuition to help the builder. At times though I have briefly ventured downstairs to check on him, or to grab Tyler (Tyler likes to go downstairs and help, but sometimes that just isn't feasible given how small he is and what daddy is doing).

I can also write that we managed to get out of the weekend without any major injuries. And for that I am excited. Adam does have the burn mark of a screw head on his thumb and his hands are blistered from trying to get through the project without a hammer drill. And so that isn't the most fun for him I am sure, but at least now he does have a hammer drill. And I have quite the bruise on my leg from where I ran into the train table, but that was only because I was chasing down a kid and don't always have the greatest depth perception. The boys managed to get through the weekend unscathed, and hopefully we can get through the rest of the project and chaos of not going downstairs without more injuries.

I hope to continue to post more pictures as he continues to work on it. But for now, here are the pictures from the weekend.

Snow Raking and Sliding

After Kevin got up, I noticed an icicle hanging out our bedroom window. Remembering that I never raked that side of the house and since it is nice outside, we all got bundled up. I decided to put Kevin in a backpack carrier once bundled as he would probably enjoy movement rather than sitting in a stroller. This system worked well. Kevin and I worked on the roof, Tyler cleaned off his slide, and the dogs went CRAZY playing and running in the snow. Once we got the sides cleaned off, we headed to the front to check it. And before I knew it we got the sleds out and were having fun just playing. Tyler created a slide on the side of the driveway and Kevin just loved it. He would giggle as he went down on his back. I tried putting Kevin in a sled and pulling it around, but he wasn't a fan at all. He definitely preferred the slide. Tyler though enjoyed getting out the sled and just having fun rolling around in the snow and making a mess. I had my camera handy because once we finished the back I realized how silly I probably looked and wanted to remember raking the roof with a kid on my back. ;)
Kevin smiling up at Tyler after Tyler slide down.

Kevin about to go down the slide.

Tyler about to go down the slide.
Apparently, the stairs for the slide are over there...he was not happy that I would just pick Kevin up to slide down as he wanted Kevin to use the stairs too.


A self-picture. Trying to get a picture of the three of us, but I failed. At least I got me in one though and I can capture the roof raking with Kevin moment. :)

Tyler hanging out in the snow.

Making a snow angel. He seriously loves the snow. He refused to come in and wouldn't even talk to the mailman when he walked by becuase he was so mad we had to stop playing in the snow. And since he LOVES talking to people, that should tell you how mad he was about having to come inside. ;)

Playtime in his crib

Kevin, post nap, playing in his crib. He was just in too good of a mood not to take some pictures.

Friday's Craziness

The last couple of days Tyler has started insisting on getting dressed "all by himself" and given his intense desire to do it, I have let him. I am proud that he is trying to be "bigger" and know that he needs to practice these skills. I just couldn't resist taking pictures of these first tries though because the results have been so cute. He has been able to put on a piece of clothing here or there for awhile, but never been willing to go to his closet to pick out something, grab underwear and socks, and then sit down to get himself all ready.

Yesterday, he managed to get a pair of jeans on backwards and even button them! And he then topped it off with a sweatshirt inside out and backwards with a t-shirt on the right away but with only one arm in. So cute, but he wouldn't get me take a picture. Today, he wanted me to take a picture.

Today he got his pants on right, but wasn't too sure about the ordering of his shirts...or maybe he was. He put on his Hawkeye jersey backwards, and then put the t-shirt to go under the jersey on top and backwards too. He refuses to let me fix it, so I just let him be. It just reminds me of the stories I have always heard about insisting on wearing mismatched knee socks or army green ones when I was his age.





Mid-morning Kevin went down for an early nap. Adam and I suspect that Kevin is starting to teeth again because he has had two nights in a row of waking up in the middle of the night upset...but not hungry...just wanting to snuggle. So, with Kevin sleeping early Tyler and I decided to do some baking.

Aunt Angie sent us an awesome link earlier in the week and we decided to try to make them. They are chocolate chip cookie bars with a peanut butter and chocolate sauce that is then topped with M&M's and various candy bars. Talk about a sugar overload! But they were a lot of fun to make with Tyler and are themed for the weekend. :) Now I just have to figure out when to get brave enough to let Tyler taste them.




Post baking Tyler realized that his apron could be a cape. So off he went to the races. He has been in a LOT of races lately. Thankfully, he has some buddies who are super fast to help him win (they are the red and white cars in his hands....and just so you know...the red one is the dad and the white one is the son). They zoom super fast making Tyler go faster, but they usually manage to win the race. He refused to stop for him because he was trying to win and get to the moon so here are some "action" shots. And yes, he did taste test some of the baking...hence the dirty face. :)

Creative Cook Tyler

Tyler made pretend birthday cakes this morning with his baking stuff...rolling...mixing...and decorating. He just kept asking if we could make a cake, but I kept declining since we just baked cookies yesterday. So he enjoyed pretending and I tried to think of something he could make that would be easy for him to do himself but not a huge sugary creation.

Finally, mid-morning we came up with something he could make and still get to use his baking gear....frozen yogurt cutouts. So, Tyler scooped regular yogurt into a cookie cutter that was on a plate and once he filled it up, he carefully chose the sprinkles (since most things baked requires sprinkles in his world). He picked yellow because yellow is his favorite color and sprinkled them on. Then we let the star freeze for two hours.

We just pulled it out so he could eat it with lunch to discover that the sprinkles had melted and made a yellow star! Oh, how that thrilled Tyler! And what a much less messier way for him to eat some yogurt for a change (normally he is covered from head to toe in yogurt...not sure why...but I think he just gets so excited he forgets to take small bites...he just loves yogurt).

Monday Fun

It snowed all day today so the boys and I stayed home. We played a lot of games, rearranged Kevin's room, and then had some fun baking cookies. The cookies were a result of a few sessions of snow shoveling that Tyler and I had today, and after the realization that we had no gas for the snow blower and it needed it, I agreed that baking some cookies sounded good. It was a fun thought to get Tyler and I through the first session of shoveling, and then the thought of testing one before daddy got home was the fun discussion during our last session. It was a lot of work and we have more to do, but at least now daddy should be able to drive into the garage.

With the fun baking came lots of playing in the kitchen. I got smart a little into the process and brought Kevin toys in from downstairs, and oh did he have fun. It was a nice distraction from playing with my cupboards and dumping stuff out.

A few of Kevin playing with his toys. I can't believe that these overalls fit like this. They were so long during football season! It doesn't seem like he should be fitting in them already!

Tyler actually let Kevin play with his toy (we are working on letting Kevin have some space to play, etc.). I wish I could say that he understands that Kevin needs room to experiment and practice skills, but it is only because Fisher Price was kind enough to send us a toy catalogue, and Tyler decided to start making his Christmas list for next year.

And now for a few of Tyler working hard on the snow in the driveway! He is incredibly dedicated to the task, and every time he has come out to help me, it has been me begging him to go back inside.