No Title

Every Sunday, my title is chosen by the highlight of our week, our 'main' event.  Usually my post begins on Thursday or Friday, I start adding pictures/stories and a theme starts to evolve.  Then I attempt (with my lack of creativity and non-witty-writing way) to infuse it throughout the post.  Some weeks it works.  Some weeks it doesn't.  This week could've been a few things - gymnastics, winter music program, winter playing or a closer peek at our undeniably cute 19-month old.  I couldn't think of a title to include so many events (and Patrick is annoyed I'm on the computer again), so there is no title.  But dang, Hadley is a lot of fun these days...you'll see.

We love home-days, we love jammie-days, we love baking cookies.  I think 50% of the fun is licking the beaters and 49% of the fun is licking the bowl.

Hard at work.

See the marker on Hadley's face?  We learned that smelly markers geared towards children are not washable.  Sister wore that pink streak for two days.

Pink, sparkly TOMS.  A perk of Auntie having three boys.  Hadley will love them and look seriously cute.

Both kids started Gymnastics this week!

I promised Hadley the next formal activity would include her.  Her time has come.  Sister followed the teacher like she's been doing this forever.

The kids are in the same session, but different age-groups.  Finley is on his own with the 4-5 year olds and Hadley is in a parent-tot group.  All ages warm up together.

Finley was so excited to show Hadley what to do.  He took her by the hand and found a spot right next to his.

We are excited to have friends in the same session - Melissa & Elle and Rachel & Owen are in Hadley's group and Carter is in Finley's group.

Hadley managed to squeeze herself right onto Melissa's lap.

Motorcyle-landing...

...get those arms up!

After warming up, we split.  From what I could see Finley did well with his group.  He followed the directions and had a lot of fun.

The trampoline is easily Finley's favorite activity.

Hadley was happy and willing to try many things.

First somersault.

First headstand...Patrick is holding her feet ;)

Hadley's group ranges from 18-months to three years, the skill-level varies greatly.  I remember Finley at this age and Hadley's experience was similar.  There were some things she just couldn't physically do (crawl on a balance beam), so we skipped those.  And there were a few power struggles - no, you can't keep cutting in line for the slide.  Overall, it was a successful first night...

...and just like the others, she couldn't wait to get her hand stamped at the end of class.

Finley had his Winter Music Program at daycare - it was adorable!  He knew the words and actions to all of the songs.

He was very proud.  So were we.

There were refreshments and art projects for the families afterwards.

Awesome job Finley!  And yes, your sister needs black socks.

Patrick dusted off his snowmobile, he has snowmobiling trips planned the next three (yes, three) weekends - I'm thinking he'll be WAY north, we don't have a lot of snow left.  But the frigid arctic blew in last night - literally.  It "feels like" -18 right now.  Finley happily rode around our yard (in yesterday's warmer temps) and has been asking when his 'kitty cat' will be here.  No thanks.

Finley & I were invited for an afternoon of skating, sledding and tubing.  We were at the home of Carly's mom (Carly teaches with me) right on a lake.  When we arrived, the ladies got to work clearing a rink.

Carly's adroable son Brady.  He told me he's been skating 500 times ;)

Due to minimal snow on the grass, there was no snowy hill for sledding or tubing.  Due to a fear of the skates, there was no skating for Finley.  But there was FUN - See mom, I can skate on my boots.  Yes, my fearless one, you can.

While everyone else practiced their double-axels, Finley was perfectly content playing on the ice and snow.

He helped build a snowman...

...we took turns pushing the tube and pulling the sled...

...and he hauled snow.

Carly posted this picture on FB, I look like I'm scolding Finley.  But I'm not.  If you look close, phone is out and I'm taking his picture.

I was trying take a picture of 'winter fun' to post for Grandpa & Grandma in Cancun - it's Finley throwing a snowball to Mexico. 

But then I saw this picture with Finley in the snow (not sand), wearing a cheesehead hat (not sunglasses), eating snow (rather than chips) and had the perfect caption...Happy Hour in WI.

19-months is a fun age. Most of the time.  Hadley is a smiley, happy toddler. Most of the time. She knows what she wants, but is struggling to tell us, which means a lot of begging (her), pointing (her), guessing (me) and head-shaking-no (her). These pictures were taken over three nights in a row. Good times.

19-months can be a destructive age.  Finley was so proud of his "Transformer garage"....

...and Hadley was so proud of her destruction.  She would throw a mega-block, look at us and laugh.

19-months brings a sense of humor.  Hadley thought it was incredibly funny....

...to lay on the pillows so Finley couldn't make his jump.

19-months can be messy.  Each kid received a pencil case with basic coloring supplies and Finley was a super-nerd packing his up.  He packed it and repacked it to get everything properly inside and organized.

He took the cards back out, tapped them onto the table for a tight pile and returned it to the case.  Dang, I love this kid.

Meanwhile, his messy sister took her crayons and notecards...

...threw them under the table...

....and laughed about it.

Oh, and the plastic bag collection?  The best time ever.

19-months can make ME laugh.  The kids were playing and I ran to check the laundry.  2.2 seconds later, my mini-me is clomping down the hallway to show me her stickers.  When I saw her sticker placement, I promptly set her down to take her picture.  Cute Hadley.

Thankfully, the next day she did better.

We love Hadley to the moon and back.  She's adorably sweet and (at times) perfectly annoying.  It's really not her, it's that 19-month-thing.