4-Wheelin'

Aunt Debby got Brennan a battery powered 4-wheeler for Christmas. Until this weekend, he was too scared to try it out. However, on Saturday, we had a play-date and his friend Evan hopped right on it. After seeing Evan zoom around the basement, Brennan wanted to try it for himself. After a few short trips in the basement, we decided to take it outside, since the weather was so nice. Brennan still hasn't quite grasped the concept of turning the wheel so as to not crash into the snow or the car, but he has a blast zooming around.

Sledding

My parents came to visit this weekend. They brought one of the toboggans from when I was a kid. My dad had made a toddler seat for my sister when she was small, so that Peter and I could pull her around the yard without her falling out. He still had the seat and brought it down for Brennan. Using snow shoes and the toboggan, he packed down a few trails in our back yard so that Brennan could zoom down. I took a few rides with the little guy, as did Brian, Dad and Mom. We had a lot of fun playing. I also went down with the plastic sled a couple of times, which went pretty fast... I had to be careful not to crash into the trees!

Here is a little video of Brennan making his way down. (Joanie, I know you said you are anti-snow activities, but we can suit Evan up in Brennan's snow pants and boots, and give him a sled ride this weekend, if you are interested!)

My parents also surprised Brennan with a spring, bouncy horse. At daycare, Brennan always enjoyed playing on the little spring horse that Ana had. Brennan was so excited when we were putting it together. He kept sitting on the horse before it was attached to the stand, and before its head and feet were attached. When it was finally ready, we all realized how big this thing was. We put him on and he had fun riding that first day, but since then, he seems to be a little intimidated by the size of the horse. I think he has been hesitant to ride it because he can't get on and off by himself. I am sure this is one toy that he will grow into.

You might remember that while I was on maternity leave, I attended a weekly mom group at Loudoun Hospital. The group was for babies 0-4 months old, and there was a group for the next age up (4-8 months), but by that time, I had gone back to work. Until recently, I didn't know that a number of the women were still getting together once a week, after the formal group ended. One of the moms reached out to me to invite me back, when she heard I left my job. They have a room reserved at the library and the kids just play together in an informal setting. We went yesterday and it was was nice to reconnect. I think we'll try to make it there on most Wednesdays going forward. Thanks for the invite, Jennifer!

Cabin Fever

We got another 10+ inches of snow on top of the 20+ inches that were already there. Brian has been home from work and we are doing our best to entertain ourselves and avoid cabin fever. We've spent some time at the neighbors' houses and have had them here for a visit.

Brennan needed a haircut, so I gave him a little trim. I think his hair came out pretty good. I think that I am getting better each time I cut it!

Brennan has been playing with his bowling set and continues working on his puzzles.

When the toys got old, Brennan decided to start cleaning the house with the Swiffer Sweeper. He even started sweeping under the tables. I did not put him up to this, it was all him!

Lastly, here are some photos from our winter wonderland.

Surviving the Blizzard

The snow started on Friday at 10 AM and didn't stop until Saturday afternoon. I'm not sure how many inches we got officially, but it had to be around 20 inches. Unlike the December storm, this snow was very wet and heavy. Brian was out shoveling the driveway every couple of hours to prevent having to dig out of all 20 inches at once.

On Friday, we lost power for a couple of hours around 7:30 PM. We were concerned that we might be out of power overnight, so we started getting the living room set-up for us to sleep there, next to the fireplace. The power came back on before 10, but the next morning, Brennan was very excited to see the pack-n-play and wanted to get right into it.

After fighting with Brennan to leave the pack-n-play, he enjoyed his special blizzard breakfast of pancakes. Then, Brian headed right back out to do more shoveling.

Our neighbors had a blizzard party late yesterday afternoon, which turned out to be a lot of fun. Brennan loved playing with their dog, Baxter. The dog and Brennan moved too fast for me to get a picture of them together, but here is Brennan chasing after him.

One lane was cleanly plowed on our street and I had hoped to get out this morning and get a few pictures, while everything is still clean, crisp and white. However, our garage door is frozen to the ground, so it won't open, and we didn't shovel the walk-way yet, so for now, we are chosing to remain hostage in our house and enjoy a little down together!

Outdoor Fun

The sun hits our front yard all day long. During the summer, it can be unbearably hot, but on a day like today, it was perfect. In the sun, it was warm enough to get a little time outside in just a fleece. I wanted to make sure we enjoyed the fresh air before the blizzard hits tomorrow! Apparently, we are going to be in for another foot or more of snow. What an unbelievable winter. Today, Brennan had fun playing in his cars and messing around with our neighbor's slide.