This is late, but I still wanted to share some fun pictures of Fen having a blast with all the snow we had in February.

Nathan loves pulling up a chair or stool in the kitchen when we’re cooking (which I will fully admit is mostly Gary!)

He likes to watch, help, ask questions and provide commentary.

He’s helped Gary make Challah a bunch of times and I love the idea that it might be something he can grow up doing with his dad. It’s nice that he takes an interest in helping cook. He’s curious about it, and he wants to be where we are and do what we’re doing.

Playing Hide & Seek

Found You!

Found You Again!

Art Break (Nathan doesn’t usually want to paint or color for more than about 10 minutes at a time, but he still likes doing it)
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We had a TON of snow here recently…first 27″, then a couple days later another 19″ more. There wasn’t much melt in between, so with 3′ plus of snow, the city was pretty much shut down.

We got outside a few times and Nathan had a lot of fun playing in the snow, and eating the snow and icicle “swords.”

Helping to shovel.

Sledding in the street.

Watching Daddy shovel.

Eating a homemade icee with snow and cherry juice.

Many more pictures of the Snowpocalypse here.

Nathan’s having more fun playing with his cousins now that he’s a little older. This last time they were together they all played hide and seek and it looked like they had a blast.

We visited the B&O Railroad Museum in January.

Nathan had fun running around with one of his friends.

And got to take his first train ride.

The rest of the day was spent checking out all the different trains they had. There was lots of room to run around and a few things to climb on, so it was a fun afternoon.

Nathan is a kid who likes routine, so bed time is usually the same- potty, bath, PJs, books, bed. The in between stuff is where it’s fun. Like when bathtime involves singing or extra laughs. Or when he sprinkles water on my arm and says “does it tickle?” because I asked him that once. Or when he draws on the tub with crayon and insists on washing it off too. Once we’re in his room after bath he almost always tells me he’s cold and wants me to wrap him up tight from head to toe in his towel and then give him a big hug. Then he calls for Gary, “Daddy, we ready!”

Getting Nathan to brush his teeth can be tough, but if he doesn’t want to do it, and doesn’t want Gary or I to either, he’ll usually let one of his stuffed animals brush them. Then it’s pacyblankey time and big hugs good night for Gary.

Even though we always start with two books, Nathan still asks me every night if that’s the number of books he should pick out. He stands in front of the bookshelf, sometimes with one hand on a hip, and searches for the right ones. He always tells me which one to read first too.

Before getting into bed, he’ll jump into my lap, wrap his arms around my neck and tuck his head in under my chin. Just for a second most times, and then he’s ready to crawl into bed, but there are nights now and then when he stays there. Sometimes Ill sing a song or just rock with him. It reminds me of when he was a baby and I could sit there with him like that forever. Once Nathan’s ready to get into bed it’s always the same…he lays on his belly with his head toward the wall, tucks his hands under his belly, blanket in hand, and sticks his butt up, just a little. I rub his back for a minute or two, then give him a kiss on the head and tell him to sleep tight. His eyes are usually closed then, but he always smiles.

A belated Christmas post…this is always a fun holiday, with lots of time spent with Gary’s family, and lots of food. It starts with Christmas Eve at Gary’s Grandmother’s.

Here’s Nathan getting ready.

Playing with Opa after dinner.

Gary and I managed to get a nice picture of just the two of us. This might be the first one since Nathan was born!

Christmas morning is spent with Oma, Opa, Aunt Julie, Uncle Jason, Jake & Ben. After coffee and opening presents, we have breakfast. It might be one of my favorite meals, partly because its a warm and happy morning and partly because it includes a contest to see who can eat the most. I think Opa took it this year.

Nathan broke into the candy cans before we even started on the presents. Eh, what’re you gonna do, it’s part of the holiday!

Oma has jingle bells, and Nathan made sure we all had them.

Nathan playing with one of his favorite new toys.

We got some cute pictures of the cousins this year. Nathan really loves them and it’s awesome to see them playing together. Jacob is especially good with Nathan and has a lot of patience.

Family portrait.

There aren’t any pictures from Christmas Day Eve because about an hour in to the family party the day caught up with Nathan and all that junk food he’d eaten came back up. We made a quick exit because even though Nathan seemed to be feeling okay afterwards, he’d been sitting on Gary’s lap…so, yeah, you get the picture.

Hanukkah was fun this year. Nathan was of course excited about the presents, but the best part was that he was really excited to light candles every night too, and by the last couple nights he was singing the prayers with us too. We got him a wooden menorah with candles he could put in himself and he helped us light the menorahs too.

We had Latkes on the first night and he liked them a lot. Also liked dipping them in his applesauce.

Oma and Opa came over one night, and Grandma and Grandpa Bob came for the last two nights and stayed for a few days. I think Nathan had fun celebrating with them and I loved having them all be part of the holiday.

Nathan had fun helping Grandma bake cookies.

I’m glad that Nathan is getting old enough to start to understand things about the holiday. He loved reading Chanukkah books throughout the week and even still likes to now. And we got a Rugrats Chanukkah movie that Nathan loved and wanted to watch over and over. Lucky for us, it was surprisingly not bad!

We went to a 3rd birthday party recently and it was at a Volunteer Firestation. This is the second party like this we’ve been to and Nathan was just as excited to ride in the Firetruck again. It was fun watching him run around with his buddy (the birthday boy) too. There are a few kids he’s really clicked with and Owen is one of them. They’re really cute together.