Instablogged

I got a new phone recently, and I've been enjoying the camera. Here are some pictures from everyday life.

Not the arctic. Just a puddle in front of the preschool.

An early-morning train lesson. #heisteachingme

Bikers. Felix's is a glorified stroller. Beckett's helmet is for 8+. #hugehead

Convinced Beckett to help Felix do the Buzz Lightyear puzzle he wants to do 100 times a day and bought myself some time to make and eat a sandwich. #brothersgrowingup

Puzzle complete!

Brothers give horsey rides.

It's warm enough and dry enough to resume our after preschool playground routine. #huggingbrothers

Felix's hair after a bath. No shampoo, no gel, just conditioner. #nevercuttingit

Sweater Face or why you should take naps in your bed and not on your mother.

Cozy? Felix loves to climb into our beds and pull the blankets up to his chin.

Masterpieces. #dailyplaydohcreations

Candyland is a serious place. He's playing for me too.

Driving the kitchen train.

Two

This guy had a birthday last month. 

We kept the birthday celebration pretty simple. Brownies and presents. 

For his birthday Felix opened all the presents that he refused to open at Christmas (thus the Christmas wrapping paper). The piggy bank was the big hit.

Lots of Snow

Earlier this month we got a lot of snow. It snowed about 14" on Thursday night, 9" on Friday night, and 6" on Saturday morning. I did a lot of shoveling.

A big snow storm every once and a while can be so much fun. I made Beckett a slide on the huge pile of snow by our walkway. (That huge pile has yet to completely melt.) Felix spent some time outside with us until he took his boots off and started walking around in the snow with just his socks on. It was cold. He cried. Then he got booted back indoors.

On Saturday morning the whole family went sledding together. We borrowed some sleds from our neighbors. We have a great sledding hill right behind our house. (Here's the hill in the spring.) It's hard to remember when the kids have been happier.

We have a couple of daredevils.  They took the inevitable crashes with good humor, for the most part. (Beckett: I never want to crash like that again.)

Beckett looks awesome in his snow gear.

Sledding is serious business.

California, the Finale

On our last night in Sacramento we went down to the river. 

A California Saturday

Saturday in California was The Big Day. We did a ton of stuff and completely wore out the kids.

First up was a trip to Funderland. All the cousins were going down to Funderland, and even though we already had Saturday plans, we wanted to go too. So we did. It's so much fun to put your kids on rides.

Felix and Leo loved this fish ride. It was just for the little guys. The ride is kind of long, and I thought that surely Felix and Leo would be ready to get out when it was over, but no. When it ended and it was time to get out, Felix started crying and pummeling me with his fists and Leo threw himself on the ground and wailed.

Both the boys loved the carousel. Unfortunately their parents don't love spinny rides and someone had to stand next to Felix, so they only got to ride it once.

The last time we went to Funderland Beckett thought this dragon coaster was really scary. This time he loved it.

Riding the coaster with all the cousins (and Uncle Aaron)

We took lots of pictures of the log ride.

We left the cousins to continue to the party at Funderland and went to Old Town to have lunch with Jill and Chris. Lunch didn't get off to a great start. We each went to a different place. Our fault. Very embarrassing. Once that was cleared up and everyone was in the same place, we had a great time. We were very free with the phones and iPads at lunch so that the adults could actually talk. 

Then we took them to the California State Railroad Museum. We've been to a lot of railroad museums, and this is out favorite. We thought it would be a fun place for everyone. This is my favorite train, so I made Jill and Chris pose in front of it.

I also really like the pictures of them on the phones.

That Beckett loves trains is a known fact, but I'm not sure why I keep being surprised by how much Felix loves trains. He was enchanted by the train museum.

We introduced Jill and Chris to the tradition of train museum followed by mini-donuts. They are really tasty. Then we went to see the State Capitol.  

We decided the interior of the dome looks like a carousel. (Kind of book-ended our day.)

Beckett was ready to call it quits.

I miss Jill. I'm so glad that we got to spend time with her. The day was over too quickly.