Marshmallow & Toothpick Town

I brought out a bag of marshmallows and the box of toothpicks today hoping for some indoor creativity.  It took a little convincing to get Peyton to try it, but once he did the creativity oozed for over an hour.  And it only took about 10 minutes for me to hear, "Let's build a whole town and cover the living room before Daddy gets home." 

Here are some pictures of the results.  I took these about halfway through the process and didn't get pictures of the swingset, sidewalk, bench and fire that Peyton built.  And the only reason he stopped...we ran out of toothpicks. 

Layla was limited to flat structures, but did contribute the lake and the multitude of sticks and flags.  She was definitely eating more marshmallows than building, but still had a great time imaging with Peyton.

 

 

Love the smile on L's face

but very determined to accomplish this task

the beginnings of the town

Peyton's car

and Mommy's house.  why does Peyton's car look more stable?

Peyton's person

a sky view of the town.  Sorry it's blurry it  was just hard to get high en ough

 

This was a very fun project and something I definitely plan to pull out again when cabin fever strikes again (hopefully not for awhile!)

Sledding, A Year Later

We tried sledding again today.  You may remember, it was a big fail last year, so I was a little nervous to take them by myself today, but they seemed excited, so what the heck??  Off we went!  And I say it was by myself, but we were really going with the youth group from church and Peyton & Layla's favorite person from church, Tim.  Here are the results.

 

Peyton ready to take off for the first time...will he like it any better this year?  He has a brand new sled, too.  Thanks, Grandpa Gene & Grandma Jean

  

Peyton wiped out almost every time, but got up laughing and running up the hill for more

I went down several times with Layla.  Every time at the bottom of the hill, I had to ask if it was fun and she'd always take her hands away from her face to reveal a huge smile and say, "YES!!"  She covered her face the whole way down to keep the snow out, that is what she hated last year, but whatever works.  I agree sometimes it is less scary if you just don't see what's coming.

It was so much fun.  Daddy is talking about taking them again tomorrow.  I wonder how those results will be.  I'm hoping for more snow so we can all go sometime with fresh snow (it was a little sparse in spots today).

I also have to say, Layla is not fond of wearing clothes right now.  Part of my worry beforehand, was how big a fit she would throw putting on all the multi-layers of clothes and would she leave the warm stuff on once we got there.  As you can see, the hat was NOT worn at all, but she did leave the coat & gloves on so that's good.  She did cry most of the way there because something was wrong with her pants or her shirts or her boots, but once there the sledding was worth it.  I'm sure she won't remember that next time, though.

Snow Play

We had our first big snow this week and today Daddy came home early and the kids got to play. I ventured out just enough to get these pictures.

All three of them had a good game of tag.

Then, Peyton and Daddy found a soccer ball and tried to play through the snow.



Layla loved eating snow, hence her face is beat red and she loved being covered in it, hence Daddy played beach with the snow and a shovel.



Also, our kids love to run and jump into anything (think piles of leaves, bean bag chairs, Daddy's back, Mommy's lap) and so Daddy's ability to make a big pile of snow was a huge hit.

The kids loved it so much and I know it's good for them to get out and play. I guess I hope for more snow this winter so we can have more fun, but I am so NOT a cold weather person. I do have to say, I've been trying to take them out more this winter and we've had our fun too, (no pictures to prove it because I'm too busy playing) and it's much better with snow as opposed to just cold. If there's no snow, it's hard to tell Peyton we can't play golf or baseball because the balls might get lost, but it's just too cold to stand out there and play those nonactive sports. So, come on snow (I can't believe I just said that)...I'm changing it! Come on spring!!