Bookworms

I was minding my own business, probably unloading dishes from the dishwasher or some such thing when I realized it was oddly quiet in Ben and Izzie's room. When I peeked around the corner I expected to see them getting into trouble. (I'm not sure how - there's really nothing they can hurt in their room except each other...) But instead I saw this:

Ben is really reading, and Izzie...

Well...

Almost...

She has become very interested in books in the past couple of weeks. She used to bring you a book and that would be the extent of it. You might not even have time to get it open or read anything! Now she will look at pictures and listen to words. She even has a favorite book: Cats Do, Dogs Don't. Meanwhile Ben is trying to read anything and everything and it's amazing how fast he is picking it up... although I couldn't help but chuckle a few weeks ago when I overheard him sounding out the KFC sign as we drove past!

Izzie's Funny Faces

Just Being Silly

I was being silly and calling to Ben with one of Izzie's stacking cups. We all know what happens if Ben sees me do something...

And if Izzie sees Ben...

Exercise

It was time to change the sheets on Ben's bed, and you know what that means...

Exercise time!

Ben can really get some air.

Such a gentlemen helping his sister onto the bed.

Izzie, on the other hand doesn't get any air. But she does look cute bending her knees and having a good time.

A tough workout, but he's still smiling.

Snow!

We finally got enough snow and cold weather that it stayed on the ground for a few days. (I've been waiting for this!) So we bundled Ben and Izzie up, loaded Izzie into the wagon, and headed out to the park. (Not the school, the park - Ben decided he wanted to keep walking.) The wagon wasn't easy to pull because the snow kept sticking to the wheels, but it was still much easier than trying to carry them or walk with both of them. Izzie is not very coordinated in shoes let alone in snow with extra clothing!

I think this picture is interesting because it's so monochromatic except for Ben.

Izzie got to try out the fleece outfit that Ben wore when he was her age.

I'm not sure if Izzie realized the snow was falling from the sky.

Ben has a concept of snow and has for some time, but I don't think he remembers when it snowed last year. He's seen snow this winter, but this was the first time we had enough to play in so he was very excited about the snow on the ground... and also concerned about why it would be on the roof too.

Izzie could hardly walk but that didn't stop her from playing. She loves to wear hat and mittens even inside the house. She brings them to us to put on and if she can't find her mittens she'll bring socks instead!

It was sticky enough to make snowballs. I made a small snowman and was going to take a picture of the children with it... but his head fell off. Shoddy construction. Can you guess what Ben is going to do next? I wouldn't want him to eat a lot of snow, but of course he's going to be curious about its texture and what it tastes like. I thought I'd leave the lessons about acid snow and yellow snow for another day.

One door closes, another door opens...

Every time we turn our backs this little munchkin is trying to close a door! If a door is open, she pushes it closed. If it's closed, she tries to open it... She thinks she is pretty hot stuff now that she can reach the doorknob.

Blanket Fort

Ben wanted me to build him a fort, and after he abandoned it Izzie moved right in.
She's definitely trying to tell me something here... I think it's, "I want my hat!"

The Cat-Next-Door

The cat from across the street has taken a liking to us. Whenever it sees us it comes over for some loving, and usually tries to sneak into our garage. Ben and Izzie love this, of course. Izzie squeals with excitement and pets it (her petting is more like gentle smacking) and Ben was thrilled to hold it while it purred.

Hands-On Museum

We used some Christmas money to buy a membership to the Hands-On Museum in Johnson City. (Thank you, GG!) Ben and I left Daddy with a sleeping Izzie and went to check out the dinosaur exhibit.
Ben found them a little intimidating... he wouldn't let go of my hand. In spite of this he claims that of all the exhibits the dinosaurs were his favorite. I think he preferred the robotic dinosaur that he could control to the ones that looked like real dinosaurs and moved and roared!

Ben trying out the rocket. The best part was the sound effects.

They had a real airplane that Ben loved because he could press buttons and turn dials.

There was also an ark full of preserved animals... interesting, but we didn't stay at that exhibit too long - even Ben thought it was creepy.

The exhibit that we probably spent the most time at was one on music and sound. They had a keyboard that would play a song complete with introduction, drums and other sound effects. Ben sat there for a long time playing along and pretending he was a concert pianist. (Okay, they had a piano too and if you had been there you might have seen me playing along with Ben and his keyboard.) It was the last exhibit of the day and I eventually had to drag him away (I literally picked him up off the bench while he protested that he wanted to play more) because we were going on 4 hours. The nice thing is we can go back any time we want!

Hotel California

This picture reminds me of some of the lyrics to the song Hotel California. You know the ones I'm thinking of: "They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast." It's a pancake, by the way...

Not Again!

I haven't given up yet! Izzie actually thought this was great fun. She kept posing, coming over to see the picture and then going back for more!

Snow!

It snowed for a while this morning so I took Ben and Izzie out for a few minutes figuring it would be gone later on.
Izzie wasn't too sure what to think at first. She didn't want to venture out from under the carport.

Daddy told Ben he could catch a snowflake on his tongue and Ben was very excited about this, but it turned out to be harder than he expected. He told me before we went out, "I'll catch a snowflake on my tongue and then you can say, "Hooray, Ben!"

Hungry, Hungry Hippos

Ben received the game Hungry, Hungry Hippos from Aunt Katie for Christmas and he has been having a blast with it. Because of the marbles we keep it on top of the fridge and only play it while Izzie is having a nap, which probably makes the playing of it all that much more exciting. Ben has many suggestions about how we can play it... he'll direct you as to which hippos you can control and how many marbles to release at one time. He also knows each of the hippos by name. (If you're wondering, they are Harry, Henry, Homer and Happy. I know the names, but I'd be hard-pressed to tell you which color hippo they go with!)

"Mom, can you take a picture of this?"

Reading

Ben and Izzie Out-takes

I take a lot of pictures... and last year after Izzie was old enough to hold her head up and sit in a Bumbo I started trying to get some pictures of Ben and Izzie together. Boy that's hard. When she was younger she couldn't sit up, when she was older she wouldn't sit still. I thought it would be fun to put together a video of some of my laughable attempts, filled with thumb-sucking, kissing, neck-squeezing, nose-biting, crying and a little hair-pulling! Enjoy!