Experiment

With it being so cold outside and me being SO pregnant I have been trying to find some activities for Peter to do in the house so we don't have to pack up in the car everyday. I read that you can make your own finger paint from flour, water and food dye. So I thought I would give it a try.... As you can see he also thought it might be fun to taste it...good thing it was just flour.

Note: as the flour dries it becomes like cement, I will be doing this next time right before bath time! Thankfully it does not stain him or his clothes but I think next time we will go shirtless.

Live action shot of our little painter.

Cousins and Chocolate

After Christmas we drove over to my parents house to spend a few days with my family since we were all going to be in town for the week. It is amazing how fast a house fills up when you add spouses and children. Peter loved playing with his cousins and it became very apparent just how much of tease he really is. I don't think his cousin Kaylee is too fond of him because he teased her the entire time we were there! (Hannah beware) He already knows how to make the girls squeal and seems to know who the easy targets are! We made our traditional sugar cookies and the kiddos had fun decorating them. Sarah and Elijah brought one of his family traditions of chocolate making for everyone to try. When we were all finished we let the little ones have a turn. Peter was very hesitant at first but once he figured out it was chocolate and not lotion he dove right in!

(I have been trying to post a video here for days but it is not working so check back for a an update-hopefully)

Pleased with his chocolate mess-which ended in a bath for he and mom! My cousin was sealed in Nauvoo this week and we attended the reception. Which was a miracle since Peter was throwing up the night before. It was one of those sharing family visits where half the people ended up sick and it started with the little ones and worked it's way up. But he seemed ok enough to make a brief stop at the reception and then we headed home. Which was good because Alan and I got sick 2 days later. On top of everything Peter surprised us with one of his top molars coming in and he is currently working on another one which has made a interesting week for me!

Peter and Dad in their Christmas outfits (you can't see it well but Peter is now the proud owner of a green paisley tie similar to dad's)

Mom and her handsome little man.

And that concludes our Christmas holiday. I have spent most of the past week doing laundry and trying to clean the house while recuperating and handling a teething little boy who has suddenly decided to test his boundaries and assert his strong willed personality. I have also been working on getting things ready for Isaac since he will be here soon! I did get my bag packed yesterday so if he decides to come early I am ready for him...kinda.

White Christmas

As we were relaxing Christmas Eve and doing some last minute wrapping we noticed that it was snowing outside. For those that live in the frozen tundras of the west this might not be big news but here in the Midwest snow for Christmas is a hoped for occurrence. Just in case this was the only snow of the season we bundled Peter up in his snow suit and headed outside. (Lucky for us the snow stayed until after Christmas!) He wasn't very mobile in this bright yellow marshmallow suit but he was warm! Except for his hands since he wouldn't keep gloves on. But he was lucky enough to help dad clear the sidewalks.

And of course he had to make a stop at his flowers for a sniff.

That evening we had some food and goodies with friends then read the Christmas accounts and opened our ornaments from each other. Alan got me this beautiful glass globe that is painted on the inside by hand-it is beautiful!

Christmas morning we slept in, thanks to Peter waking up at 8 am! As Peter was brushing his teeth, he went to explore the new presents under the tree. He was especially curious about dad's big one. It made fun noises every time he touched the paper. ( I am still suprised that he did not touch the presents at all until we started unwrapping, I have a feeling next year will be different!)

We opened our stockings first and nibbled on our Christmas tradition of Panatone, oranges and chocolate. Peter was very intrigued by this big "sock" with goodies in it. His hat came out first and he insisted on wearing it. A book came next which he had to stop and read. And then the most treasured of all things, although you would not know that by his exclamation. (He still gets his words confused sometimes!)

After a short break, some breakfast for Peter, a shirt change (due to some chocolate I believe) and the addition of his tie we were on to the presents. At first he was hesitant since he has been told repeatedly that we do not tear paper, especially paper that looks like pictures in a book. But once he realized it was okay and that there were fun things inside he took a more active role. We were very blessed this Christmas by family and friends and Peter was more than happy to add to his growing collection of balls, cars, books, puzzles and toys.

Showing off his cowboy skills (thanks Gma and Gpa Jensen!)

It was a good thing we saved this present for last, as he sat and played for at least half an hour I think. We have a little builder on our hands! As long as he can learn some more patience we will be set. Every time it would fall or not do what he wanted he would get mad and start "yelling" at the blocks and occasionally the offensive block would go flying.

We had a wonderfully relaxing day spent together celebrating the birth of the Savior and spending time together as a family. We are so grateful for our many blessings and pray that everyone of you had a Merry Christmas as well.

Pre Christmas Festivities

Staying in town this year allowed us to partake of some fun pre Christmas festivities. We started the season out with a trip to the annual Creche and Carols exhibit which has some amazing nativities to ogle over.
We also found out that the zoo does an evening exhibit on the weekends with lights and a few open animal exhibits. The weekend Alan finished his classes for the semester was warm(ish) so we bundle Peter up and took off.

Here we are at the penguin exhibit where I think it was colder in the penguin house than outside but not to be missed since it is Peter's favorite. The zoo had lights everywhere some in animals others in Christmas designs and with Christmas music playing it was a regular wonderland.

We took advantage of Alan having his weekends free and went to the Science Center one Saturday with my sister and niece. Here they are testing out some beam strength together.

This is my favorite "winter" outing with Peter because he can just run and have fun out of the cold. They have this room that I just love called the Discovery Room that is designed for children from ages 3-7 but Peter enjoys it so it is worth the $3.50 every once in a while. They have magnetic toys, water toys, building toys, animals, coloring, anatomy...you name it.

There are lots of different musical toys and Peter loves trying to play them.

Who doesn't love a tee pee with drums and pretend food?

We also had some snow the week before Christmas so Peter got to go exploring. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the snow and was a little sad as he went to explore all the plants and they were all dead. No flowers to sniff for a while!

One of our biggest well most expensive activities but a very much long awaited one is that we purchased a second car for Alan. I think we are both very excited as sharing one car has become increasingly crazy. We got a great deal from the local mechanic down the street and I for one am looking forward to the freedom of getting out of the house with Peter this winter!

I turned 33 this month-I know, I am ancient...Alan reminds me all the time:) I was fortunate that my parents were in St Louis to go to the temple the day before my birthday so we all went out for pizza and since it is my sister's birthday the day before mine Alan made a cheesecake for each of us. They were scrumptious! The chocolate was my favorite.