I finally got a break with work and took the vacation days that I had to burn before the end of the year. I had all of these thoughts for what I could get done, but I pretty much decided to hang out with the small people I live with and my family while they were still in town!
I had to go to work for a little bit this week and my dad built this awesome car garage to go with the boy's new Lego sets. As destructive as they are with Lego sets, this garage lasted for much longer than I expected. They clearly appreciated the hard word from their Grandpa!
I even dug out the play doh to play with. I bought these brown silicone mats for them to use with their play doh and they worked great! We only had one before and the other kid got shafted - unequal no more!
Also, you can see a "Matt" & "Jen" tally in the background on the door. It's our scoreboard for Klask and I am currently ahead. Woo! This is a recent thing, we have probably played well over 100 games by now. :)
Matt convinced us to make english muffin pizzas in his fancy new oven. Henry generally refuses to each pizza even though he claims to like it. They make this kind of pizza for them at daycare and I figured he would eat a similar pizza - especially if he made it!
He was a little messy with the sauce, but he absolutely made the pizza all by himself.
And ate about two bites before not touching it again. Sigh... At least he likes pizza rolls or I would really wonder if he was switched at birth.
It's been snowing quite a bit this month and we have both been so busy that we have been driving over the snow in the driveway and compacted down to gross, hard snow. Thomas kept me company the other day when I cleared part of the driveway, so all of us headed out to *finish the job today. Of course, we had to play a little bit before getting down to work...
Henry really wanted to use the big shovel, but he couldn't quite manage with his mittens on...
I went in the garage and found him a Henry sized shovel and he was much happier! He didn't contribute *that* much help, but at least we were all hanging out in the great outdoors together! :)
Thomas was so amazed at the big pieces of snow I was busting up. He kept picking them up to show me how big they were. I couldn't quite convince him to throw them into the pile of snow on the side of the driveway, he was much more into throwing them down to break them into smaller pieces. And then I had more snow to clear. Sigh... ;)
*Ok, so we finished the right side of the driveway. Breaking up compacted snow is hard work!
I realized I hadn't posted a photo of my new oven. Isn't it pretty?!? It goes nicely with the new tiny oven on the counter next to it. And I have to admit, I use the tiny oven way more than I thought I would. You can preheat and cook pigs in a blanket before the big oven finishes heating up. Or cook cornbread in the tiny oven while using the big oven for dinner. I love both of the ovens!
And look at this evenly cooked blueberry pie. I had a game night for some friends and the only photo I really cared about was the pie. Sorry guys - I love you, but look at how nicely cooked this pie is! You understand, right??