She'll be chugging round the island ...

Pip challenged his train set to make it all the way around the island. I was skeptical that it could do it, but we organized our pieces and set out to the task. Sure enough, we made it all the way around with a few extra tracks to spare! Made cooking and cleaning in the kitchen area a bit difficult for a few days.



Finally I was able to convince Pip to relocate his infrastructure to the eastern front and they meandered around and under the kitchen table for a few days.

Cuddles

We decided to watch a couple videos after bath tonight. Both kids were beat after long days with no naps. I was delighted to get cozy cuddles from both.

Earlier Vivie and I were shopping at the grocery store and she introduced me to this game I'll call "double take". We both look away from each other, kind of keeping one another in our peripheral vision, and then do a double take back to look into one another's eyes. You want to give a good head shake for effect and be the first to establish eye contact. Had us both in stiches while we waited to check out.

She played a little bit with me again when Daddy was taking our pics.

Breaking out the Paints!

The paints did not make it into the temporary apartment, due to their messiness, so when we finally broke them out today it was a fun event. I must say, using the island was very nice. Kept the ness contained and prevented the kids from running around in between drawings.

Vivie (in her 80's work-out gear post doing a few arm circles with Daddy this morning) had the longest staying power. She still loves to start out with regular painting and then ends up painting her hands and making hand stamps.

Pip on the Bowflex

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, I don't think I can count on constant shoveling of snow to get me into shape for the spring rugby season. So I dusted off the Bowflex (well, at least cleared away a space in the as-yet unpacked "junkroom"). Pip got all fired up about it, and I think he's going to be a fine gym partner to keep me motivated. He was up this morning at about 7, chattering in my ear about doing some exercises. His favorite routine involves a hybrid bicept curl/squat while standing on the bench. Here he is cranking out a few reps and then showing off his guns.

Lite Brite

We're goin old school around here. Found this in a catalog over Christmas, but apparently so did lots of other people and it was backordered. It finally arrive this week! I was thinking it may be something to keep Vivie entertained kind of on the level of Pip's legos. They both actually liked it! The only downfall was that the little lights wanted to pop out when you pulled your finger away so it took a wee bit of finess and technique.





Obviously, the fact that there are 400 teeny tiny lights that spill all over my floor is not ideal. They should make some sort of toy magnet which picks up tiny toy pieces and sorts them into canisters for you. Moms would go crazy for it.

Sledding on the stoop

When you have this much snow you get to the point where there's not lots of places left to put it. So Phil figured why not shovel half the steps onto the other half and make a sled path. Sounds reasonable.

Vivie took a turn but was not impressed.


Here's Pip's ride:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqz9n-IPm9Q

Hanging upstairs

Pip and Vivie discovered they have a very nice angle when they are upstairs. They can sit up there and hang their legs over and watch what's going on below. Pretty cool!