We are family!

If you look closely...we are actually ALL in this photo! Doesnt happen too often, so I had to include it here. Thank goodness for the annual "photo in front of Nana and Papas Christmas tree".

It has been raining here for a few days and the kids are getting creative being stuck indoors. When its time to take a break from screens, I suffer the first few moans and groans, and they quickly scatter into some other activity. I am usually pretty impressed by what they can come up with, and it usually works out to be fun for all. Usually. Dress up, playing restaurant, playing school, etc. But Katie, being the big sister, sometimes gets a tad carried away with her position and loves to relish in the authority. For Ryan, this doesnt bug him too much because he marches to his own beat most of the time and when things get too complicated he just goes away and does something else. But...not the story for Ethan. So, Katie devised this contract that Ethan has to sign in order to play in her room. Its complete with consequences, such as "if you do not ask me before coming into my room you will give me  your Nintendo DS for a week". I want to tell the poor boy "DONT DO IT", but these are the passages a little brother must forge on their own. Sometimes, to make matters even worse, she inflicts a home made dance routine on him and he must perform it prior to entering her room. AND HE DOES IT....every time. I guess whatever they play in there is just that cool. 

Here he is...signing his life away.

You've been warned.

Ryan always impresses me with how easy he is to please. For Christmas, we got him a headlamp, and the kid just loves it. He is a big fan of dressing up in costumes, so this fit into his "Dino Dan" get-up quite well. (Dino Dan is a TV character who "sees" and studies all kinds of dinosaurs. And, he has a headlamp)

And meanwhile, on these rainy indoor days, Owen is busy too. Busy doing lots of 18 month old activities like climbing on the couch (even after repeated "no-no's" from mommy) and re-assembling the plastic container cabinet....for the gazillionth time. This photo, taken when he was 10 mos old, shows that plastic container fun is something that spans quite a few months for little toddlers...

So as the kids find creative ways to keep busy...I attempt to make the house resemble something that would be decent enough for company to step into. However, with fun activities like the ones Owen chooses to do above, sometimes its two steps forward and one step back.

And as I shuffle toys into baskets, wash sippy cups and dig the plastic spouts out of the garbage disposal for the 50th time, I glance over at our poor couch and realize what a tragedy it is. See, we actually have two nice couches in our living room. Couches are for sitting, right? Well, they are also for dumping clean laundry on and folding. Problem is, around here the folding part takes FOREVER to accomplish, so our poor couch is never free from the heaps. Here is what one of our couches looks like a good 98% of the time.

But just as I finish up the dishes,  head over to tackle the mountain of laundry, the doorbell rings and I am instantly reminded why its so awesome to have my BFF living right across the street....homemade treats! Brought to my door on a ickky rainy day! Today Cristine brought over a Norwegian potato dish her family makes called "crub"...but I am sure its spelled otherwise.

So for now, I am off to dive into this bowl of yummy-ness before my kids ask me to share. As for the laundry, it will have to sit a bit longer.