Brownies and Markers

Nathan keeps asking me when I am going to post this first picture. Geez! I just took it 10 days ago. It usually takes me a month to update pictures. He just thinks it is really cute (which I think makes Nathan really cute). Deacon was "helping" make some brownies on a Sunday afternoon and I let him have the spoon. I think he got more on the outside of his mouth than the inside.

It is so cold here, I have been really struggling to come up with new indoor activities for Deacon to do. Plus, we get inversion really bad and children aren't supposed to be outside because of the poor air quality. This activity has been staring me in the face all along!

This is our marker/bulletin board we keep right above the table for a grocery list. One day I took it down and gave it to Deacon to draw on and he has been hooked ever since! Surprisingly, he picked up pretty quick to only draw on the white part (you can see a few green lines where he strayed to the corkboard----he was very confused when it didn't come off using the eraser). He loves to hand me the marker and say "hoop ball", which means he wants me to draw a basketball going in a hoop. After I do, he stares at it so lovingly.....and then immediately starts erasing it with furious intent.

I've caught him a couple of times drawing on the tips of his finger. He didn't know I was watching. He then picked up the eraser and tried to wipe off his fingers. Again, confused that his skin is not compatible with dry erase markers. Now he asks to draw everyday. Five times a day. He pronounces draw as "da, da". So sometimes I think he's asking for Nate until he points to where I keep the marker. It's a nice quiet activity he can do at the table in the morning while I do dishes and clean up!

He was actually smiling when I took the above picture, but it totally looks like he smells something! Also notice his blee-blee (blanket) that we drape over the back of the chair. Sometimes he has to take it everywhere he goes, and sometimes he doesn't seem interested in it! P.S. The marker pics were shortly after Deacon got a haircut from daddy!

French Toast?

Nathan took the following pictures. He swears he only left Deacon alone for a minute, but when he came back Deac and emptied and entire bag of bread into the skillet on the stove. We had made French Toast the day before, so the only thing we could think of was that he was trying to make some too!

Mondays With Daddy

Nathan is such a go-getter first thing Monday mornings! While I'm getting ready for work, he empties all the trashes and puts the can on the curb. He makes breakfast and packs my lunch. And gets started on the first of many loads of laundry (Side note: it doesn't take me that long to get ready---he is just really fast). I always tease him that he is just putting on a show and as soon as I leave he and Deacon sit around watching TV all day Ü. Which I know isn't true because he always has an awesome meal made by the time I get home. Here are some shots he took while Deacon was helping him with the laundry on a Monday. (That's a spare shower hook that Deacon has been obsessed with chewing on lately).

Freaked Me Out!

When we come home from the grocery store on Wednesdays, I let Deacon run around in the backyard while I put away groceries and clean up the kitchen. I have a perfect view from the window to keep and eye on him, but I freaked out when I saw this:My instant reaction was that he somehow climbed on the AC unit and had fallen and was now lifeless in the snow. But apparently, he was just chillin' and looking up at the sky. I took a picture through the window first, so I wouldn't disrupt his meditation. But even when I went outside, he just looked up and stared at me.

Ready....Set....Jump!

Killing some time before church starts. I swear, we are so much earlier now that it starts at 9am versus 2pm. Weird!

I'll let him jump off the couch (6 inches, tops)---Nathan lets him jump off much higher things. And documents it with pictures!

I like this mid-air shot the best, because he does look a little scared.

Another "Rags to Riches" story: