Play {Part 2}

"The revelation that we have everything we need in life to make us happy but simply lack the conscious awareness to appreciate it can be as refreshing as lemonade on a hot afternoon.  Or it can be as startling as cold water being thrown in our face.  How many of us go through our days parched and empty, thirsting after happiness, when we're really standing knee-deep in the river of abundance?"

~Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance

Mommy-Playtime has still been going well.  I am so grateful that I have accepted myself as imperfect, because imperfect I am.  There are days that individual playtime with each of my little ones doesn't happen.  And many of these pictures represent play activities that the boys invent on their own.  And we are connecting in grand and glorious ways and the Lord is truly blessing us.  All it takes is the desire, and He works miracles through us.

Here is a Sunday activity we tried one day.  It's called "Scripture Hero Cars" and it was an idea from my good friend.   We asked the boys to choose their favorite scripture prophets and heroes and then we wrote the names on pieces of paper that we taped to the tops.

Then they each picked a car and told the story of the prophet (or as much as they knew).  We filled in the details and then they got to race their cars down the ramp.

We repeated the activity for all of the cars.

And in the middle of the event, we heard cries from Maylie's room...

She had sneaked away, crawled inside her toy basket, and couldn't get out.

In the Snow.

Up this way we've had so much snow I've lost count of the inches.  The ground is blanketed with inches and inches.  And every few days, the boys have the itching to get out there and play, build snowmen, and sled.  I managed to capture a couple of pictures out their bedroom window and some video footage, but it hardly does it justice.

It's just so nice to have our very own house and our very own snow and let our boys play to their heart's content.

With Cousins.

Last week the Young's came to visit.  I planned plenty of activities to  keep them busy so we could have a good day without too much chaos.  And I'm so glad I did.

The Inventor's Workshop Part 2 was quite the hit.

And eventually, inventor's workshop led to archaeological digs...

It was a very nice day.

Blink.

Meet Blink.

She is one of our two Siberian kittens.  (Her sister's name is Wink.)

We've had Wink & Blink since sometime in December.  For a while I still missed Cougar, and so did Tate, but in the last few weeks, Blink and Tate have become best friends.

I don't let them in the house very often, but Tate would love to have them in here all day long.

He carries Blink around like a baby and she would love to snuggle all day long.

My Gram and I researched this breed of cat, since we knew nothing about them and found out some interesting facts.

Siberian cats have slightly upturned eyes (this one's are blue), longer back legs making them very agile, and three times the fur as other cats.  They are fluffy!  These cats can weigh up to 20 lbs., the second largest breed.  They grow until they are 5 years old.

Siberians are also the only hypo-allergenic cat and so even people with allergies can own them.  Ours came to us free, so we feel so lucky to have them.  Their mother is a wild cat and though she's had lots of litters of kittens, for some reason, decided to bring this litter to the porch where Patrick's secretary Nona lives.  So Nona tamed this one little by little and tried to tame her sister (with little luck) and now they are ours.  Wink (Blink's sister) is still cautious of people and rarely tries to come inside, but she will let me hold and pet her whenever I want.

And Tate, of course, is in heaven.

Blanket + Phone = Happy

Maylie is so content if she has my phone in her hand.  Add a blanket on her head, and I think she must feel like a queen.  Every time it falls off, she wants me to put it back on.

All About our 15-month old.

1. Maylie is my little shadow.  She follows me around everywhere, and is only happy if she can be with me.  She would love me to hold her all day long, and cries every time I have to put her down.

2. Maylie loves her hair done.  She is quite the wiggle worm, but when her hair is done, she grins wide in the mirror, scrunches her nose, and giggles.

3. Maylie's favorite thing to do is get my hairbrush or makeup out of the bathroom drawers...

Victory!

4. Maylie still has a twinge of ginger in her hair.  It's faded into more of an auburn, but there is a piece of her hair that is still carrot-red.  Her eyebrows and eyelashes are also still ginger.

5. Maylie doesn't like socks or shoes.  Even if her feet are cold, her favorite thing to do at nap time is pull off her socks.

6. Maylie's profile reminds me of Tate when he was her age...

7. Miss Maylie is a sweet angel, but she also has a lot of spunk and personality.  She believes she is the boss of the house and she won't let anyone forget it.

8. Maylie loves our kittens.  This is a picture of her watching Tate hold Blink.  If ever I need to do something, I always have the option of letting Blink in the house for a minute.  She would be entertained for hours!

9. Maylie loves to sit down on my lap, cross her legs, and have me read book after book.  I love that she loves to read.

10. Maylie has super long hair.  It's not super thick yet, but her pigtails are so lengthy!!

11. Maylie is full of giggles and laughter all day long (that is, unless Tate's around.  Then it's just full-out screams.)

12. Maylie still has naturally-curly hair.  All is takes is a little water and her hair turns into instant curls.  Even after they've been brushed out a million times (as in all of these pictures), she still has lots of curl!

13. Maylie doesn't like naps.  She doesn't sleep too long and she is an early bird just like her oldest brother.  I love to go get  Miss Bright Eyes in the morning.

14. Maylie has 14 teeth (I counted on Valentine's Day...the 14th!)  She seemed to get all of her sets of teeth in at once.  She has all but her bottom two canines.

15.  Maylie is the little girl I've always wanted.  No child is perfect, but mine are pretty close (and I think we all could say that!)  Miss Maylie is the star I've always known she would be.  She loves everyone and flutters around as a social butterfly.  She makes everyone smile with her grins and giggles.  She is a joy to have in our home and has brought the perfect pinch of sweetness that we've always needed....

We Love You Maylie Grace!