First Snow

Yesterday morning we woke up to see the first snow of the season. Of course, the little boys clamored and clamored to go outside. I figured I would bribe them. If I spent a half hour outside supervising their snow play, then they would have to agree to spend a half hour in their room reading so that I could exercise. Somehow, we lingered and stayed outside for well over an hour. By the time we came in and warmed up, there was only enough time to throw together a quick lunch and get MS off to preschool. Still, I'm glad I took the time (and energy) to go out with them. They had a wonderful time. Here are some photos of their rosy cheeks:



Amazingly, we managed to scrape together enough snow to build a snowman. Sadly, when I looked out the window after returning inside, it had already toppled over. This morning it was merely an abandoned pile of accessories and it made me think of the novel I have been listening to (for ages): The Time Traveller's Wife.

I spent most of my time trying, unsuccessfully, to convince MS that it isn't really a good idea to eat snow when you have a dog (yuck). They did have a lot of fun jumping on the snowy trampoline:


And, before I go, a few updates. Nothing like a face shot attempting to reveal missing teeth, eh? He's quite proud.

And what was this strange sight I quizzed you on?

It was another of our favorite toys, a magnetic stick from a set of magnetic sticks and balls (wonderful toy, called Roger's Connection Magnetic Building Set, for making geometric shapes, but the little boys tend to disperse them widely). This particular one must have been thrown up in the air and somehow it managed to land and connect to the metal on the top of the lamp in the little boys' room. Of course, the acrid smell dissipated once we allowed MS to leave his room because we reached under the lamp shade and turned out the light. It was only when the smell resurfaced again that my husband found the stick melted onto the light bulb.

Tonight, I took the boys to the dollar store during ES's drum lesson (because they had completed a behavior chart). MS picked out a paddle ball and YS picked a miniature Tech-Deck style bicycle. MS spent most of the evening jealous of YS's toy choice and before the day was done, both the bicycle and the paddle ball were broken. Obviously the behavior chart they filled in was not one for handling their toys with care! It was for brushing teeth faithfully. Methinks it is time to shift our focus from brushing twice daily to better bedtime habits and greater care for toys. No?