Painting

A couple weeks ago, we were looking for an afternoon activity.  I found an easy recipe for homemade paint online and away we went.  The paint is made with water, flour and dish soap, so it was easy to make and easy to clean up.  And, our little artists loved it!

This was our first time painting with paint brushes.  

 In the end, Maren decided finger painting was more fun.

Two Year Old Stats

Owen and Maren turned 2 last month!  Someday, I'll get my act together and post pictures of their birthday party.  In the meantime, here are their two year stats from their well visit earlier this week. We have a couple of tall, skinny kiddos!

	Weight	Percentile	Height	Percentile
Owen	27.6 lb	40	37.8 in	99
Maren	26 lb	36	36.4 in	96

Here are a some pictures of our two year olds, who caught a stomach bug last week.  It was a LONG week, and I'm very happy to have my healthy kids back.  

Mr. O was quite a trooper dealing with his fever.

This little lady was hit a little harder than her brother.  

This guy was totally fine but still took advantage of the extra blankets laying around.

What We've Been Up To

Josh was out of town for work for a few days recently.  This was the first time he's been gone when the kids were really verbal and able to ask questions.  I answered a lot of "Where Daddy?" and "Daddy Home?" In the meantime, we're lucky to have family nearby that is willing to come provide some entertainment and help. 

Uncle Eric kept these two busy with just a couple stuffed animals and the ceiling fan. 

When Josh did make it home, he (unknowingly) had a sparkly sticker on his shirt.  There is no escaping Maren and her stickers. 

Other than surviving a few days without Josh, Owen and Maren spend their time repeating and learning new words.  In the last couple of months, language has really taken off in our house, and it is amazing!

Maren is really working on stringing more words together.  She asks a lot of questions, "What happened?" Where (insert name)?" and ""What name?" are her favorites.  When reading a book, Maren will ask "what name?" of every single animal or person in the book.  She will generally repeat the name right away and surprises us all by remembering most of them.  Maren is a bit of perfectionist and works really hard to pronounce words correctly, but some of her most adorable words are the ones she hasn't quite mastered. "Otay" (she answers with ok instead of yes), "smoodie" (smoothie), "nuggle" (snuggle) and Pooper (Cooper) are a few of our favorites.

Maren 'nuggling with daddy.

Maren and her "bubble mitten."

Owen is more of a take-it-all in kind of guy and often lets his sister talk for him.  He's starting to speak up more and more each day.  He tends to say the last part of each word "ooper (Cooper), "Apa (Grandpa) and "Homas" (Thomas the Train). He says the whole word when it's really important.  "Cookie," for example is crystal clear. Another word we hear multiple times a day from Owen is "walking!"  He absolutely loves to take walks outside. He is perfectly content holding a hand and just walking up and down the street.  His other favorite thing right now is the alphabet.  Both he and Maren can identify letters and are working on numbers, but I think Owen would be totally happy sitting on a lap and working on his alphabet flashcards all day long.  

He loves to snuggle after nap.

Mr. O showing off his bedhead.  

Playing Outside

We love to play outside.  The 20 minutes it takes to get these two bundled up is totally worth it.  They have so much fun! They especially loved splashing in puddles on the warm days we had recently.  

Owen loves jobs.  His favorite one this winter is shoveling. 

Maren will help with the shoveling a bit, but she prefers being pulled around in her sled. 

The whole crew outside.  A second later Owen tackled Maren, and she asked to go inside.

Owen loves to play fetch with Cooper.  Cooper prefers tug, so their relationship is complicated. 

A Very Late Christmas Post

Here it is - proof we celebrated Christmas this year!  We actually had a few different celebrations with family and a quiet Christmas morning at home.  I wasn't good about taking pictures at our family gatherings, so here are some pictures from Christmas morning. 

Getting the first glimpse of what Santa brought. 

A kitchen set and tool bench

Santa didn't forget Cooper. 

Christmas books!

A candlelit Christmas lunch of chicken nuggets and green beans.

Staying Healthy

In an effort to stay healthy this winter, we have been spending more time at home.  Thankfully, the weather has been mild enough to get outside a bit.  When there is snow, these guys love being pulled around in their sleds.  Inside, we have to get creative at times, but we still have fun.  

A quiet morning playing in our PJs

Owen was moved to dress up one morning.

I made rainbow noodles, which entertained them a couple different afternoons. 

Their current favorite activity is putting pipe cleaners in a colander. 

Seriously, it's really exciting!

Farm!

We have two of the luckiest toddlers around because their Aunt Sarah and Uncle Jerad have an awesome farm full of friendly animals to feed and pet.  We made a trip to the farm last weekend to celebrate Christmas a little early and had a great day!  It was a warm day outside, so Owen and Maren were able to spend a lot of time outside, and they have been talking about the goats, cows and their new favorite puppy, Buddy, every since!