January adventures

Here are some of our adventures after we got home in January from our trip to Florida!

Since we leave for Florida before Christmas, we often get to enjoy opening presents after we get back! :)  Jason and Ry are putting together a Catapult from Granmommy and Big Dad (from his wish list, since thought it'd be fun for them to do together :))

First launch!  He's had fun with it!  Thank you Granmommy and Big Dad for the wonderful gifts!

We went on a field trip to KidsQuest Children's Museum with Ry's preschool.  This is a special little wind tunnel they got out for his class (the kids could put those little pointy cups in to see how they moved).

Maylee came along as she loves it there also!

Rylan and his friend Megan from preschool

They have face paint available, and Rylan used the mirror to paint this on himself!  He called it his lion mask. :)

Building long tracks using some new tracks he got for Christmas

And Maylee built her own track too :)

Practice using scissors :)

Umbrellas from Uncle Jon, Aunt Joanie and the cousins for Christmas... they are so fun! Thank you guys!!

Maylee likes to grow her flower gardens straight up :)

She also loves to color!  Thank you to Grandpa and Grandma Deb for the markers -- they are a big hit!

More amazing structures

 

Maylee continues to enjoy stickers... these got a little off target while I was away and Jason was working in the kitchen :)

Cutest smile ever??!! :)

A sweet Zoob car Rylan made with Jason :)

Some of Ry's art from preschool

Rylan with his color by number book (uses makers) that he likes to do every once in a while :)... he still doesn't prefer to color often and would much rather be outside playing :).

Working together to build a tower!!!  Just loved seeing this!!  Though it's still a bit of a rare event :) (More often we see Maylee knocking Rylan's things down... Still working on getting her to understand how badly that makes him feel, and giving him time to make things upstairs where she can't get to them.)

On a basket ride!

Cousin Brian came from California for a quick visit at the end of January to work on his project with Jason... so wonderful to see him!  He was great with the kids and they loved having him visit.

Maylee is getting more into lining up cars...

and trains!  She created this long one herself.

More fun lego creations!

Snow!

I had a busy start to the year, and I apologize that I'm waaaay past due for posting some blog updates!!  My plan is to post some recent stuff, mixed in with past events that I'd still  like to share about. :)

We had two snow days where we live this winter (one in early Feb, and one while we were in Florida over Christmas).  In early February, it started snowing on a Saturday night, and the kids were so excited to see it... and then wake up to snow falling too!  We got out while the snow was still coming down that morning... so beautiful, and we just loved seeing how happy Rylan and Maylee were to walk and play in the snow!  We had a blast making a snow man, snow angels, sledding (though you'll see there wasn't a ton of snow) and Ry got in on a snowball fight.  It warmed up and the snow was all gone before the day was over!

Maylee enjoyed the snow much more this winter! yay!

Making our snowman... the snow was just right for packing and rolling into large balls

Snow angels!!

Sledding!

And I even got in on the fun in at the end :)

Snow ball fight with our neighbors!

We also all worked together to build the big snow "wall" on the right that they wanted to construct :)

Jason was feeling adventurous and took the kids out in the snow later in February while I was helping with a Pathfinder Bible Experience event our church was hosting.  I'm so glad he was up for it... they went up to exit 45 off I-90 and enjoyed all the snow there too!  That ended up being their last big play time in the snow for this winter.  Yay for fun in the snow!

Trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue :)

Our cute little man!

And our adorable little girl! :)

Maylee in pigtails

More from October... I was able to get Maylee to sit still long enough for me to try putting her hair in pigtails!  SO CUTE!  And I got photos of her looking at herself in the mirror before she took them out! :) You can see from her expression that she really liked them too.  I was inspired since her hair is so long now and my friend Afsi had the cutest posts of her daughter Zaley in pigtails and reminded me you can't do pigtails forever :).  Mei Mei is used to wearing hair clips now (after pulling every one out until she was about 1 1/2 yrs old), but mostly when I've tried pigtails again she pulls them out just minutes after I finish... but I'll keep trying :).

October family photos

We hadn't done family pictures in a while so we thought we should take some!  These are from October at a new park near where we live.  More precious memories... and Jason did a lovely job taking them, as always!

Pumpkin patch

More catching up :)... We went to Jubilee Farm in late October to visit their pumpkin patch and get pumpkins for Ry Ry and Mei Mei!  We got to ride in the tractor-pulled hay wagon, pick the perfect pumpkins, splash in puddles, watch them launch a pumpkin using a trebuchet, visit the farm animals, and the kids did the hay maze several times.  Such a fun fall tradition for us!

And here's a pic from last year :)