Snow snow snow snow

We were stuck at home for about a week while the kids got over being sick from our trip to California and then a winter storm hit and we were stuck at home once more. For at least the first day of snow it wasn't so bad, Nathan got to work from home which was very nice for all involved. Except for me. It's not fun to play with Bradley and his action figures while Daddy is around, I can't say "green guy" I have to say "Dr. Doom." Silly me, not knowing my action figures.

Bradley helping Daddy with work

Bradley really likes the snow now and had a blast getting to go outside and play with Daddy for a little while.

Snow angel! Bradley did not see the point.

And when need be, we brought the snow indoors to Bradley

It eventually just turned into "see how much snow you can eat". Eating games are the best games.

And we watched a lot of shows in this period of being sick/stuck indoors. Bradley is still crazy about The Lion King but I can't show it to him anymore because he gets really nervous whenever anything jumps out at him on the screen (like Simba having a pouncing lesson and tackling the bird Zazu) so he has to be cuddled and reassured when one of those scenes is coming up. In theory I love the cuddles but it's tricky to do sometimes while Eleanor is around and I just feel bad that he's so nervous while watching a show. We're back to two episodes of tv shows every morning and both Bradley and I  appreciate how nothing jumps out at you during Curious George. 

Eleanor says "hey, look at me!!"

The development for both of these kids in the last few weeks has been fairly significant. Bradley is understanding so much now and is picking up words like crazy. We went downstairs the other day and he said "Oh no! Mess." when he saw his kitchen area which was indeed a mess. I guess I say that a lot while we're playing with those particular toys.

And Eleanor is army crawling all over the place and pulling herself up on anything she can grab onto. Baths don't last long for the little girl that must stand up at all costs.

It's kind of a miracle that Eleanor crawls as well as she does because Bradley gets excited when she starts moving around and either gets in her way, grabs her, or drapes himself over her when she tries to get going. She's one tough cookie.

Bradley has been really into spinning himself in circles lately, which is hilarious.

Anything active or athletic is right up this little boy's alley. I picked him up from the church nursery this past week and the ladies in the room told me how impressed they were that he was jumping off a 6 inch foam block. I'm always surprised when people comment on the jumping because he's been doing it for at least 6 months now. And I had to ban him from jumping off the ottoman when we made it our new coffee table and the ottoman is at least 18 inches high. Yes, I'm so proud of our active little boy!

Eleanor loves watching Bradley but sometimes I forget that she's a different child and I try to do the same things with her and she does not appreciate it. For instance, I have a wild version of Rock-a-Bye Baby that Bradley LOVES where I hold him and kind of toss him around while singing the song. I did it with Eleanor the other day and she cried at the part where I pretend to drop the child ... oops. I definitely did it with Bradley when he was her age and he cackled when I did that. Different child.

The other day we were at a friend's house and Bradley took a particularly hard fall off their couch onto the floor. We heard crying and it took us a second to realize it was Eleanor who was upset. She was standing at the coffee table right by Bradley and the loud noise must have frightened her. Bradley was fine, got up and kept on playing. Such a sweet girl, I'm just so used to Bradley that it takes me a little bit sometimes to realize that I need to treat them differently at times.

A couple minutes prior to Bradley's fall. This is how cell phones work, yes?

Like at mealtimes - Bradley loved food as an infant and so does Eleanor, but in a completely different way. Give this girl some bread and meat!

Bradley's enjoyment of meals has gone up lately. But not because of the food.

Hat?

Sharing sugary Cheerios with the baby, much to Eleanor's delight

Mealtime entertainment. It's obviously a classic knight and dragon trope. My child is into fine literature.

We may have a little stinker on our hands.

Bradley has started doing a lot of imaginative solo play, which is both adorable and very nice for Mommy being able to spend more time with Eleanor or get more done around the house. He grabs two little toys and has them interact, generally it seems that one is in danger of falling "Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! BOOM" or they are having a fight and hitting each other repeatedly. He has branched out lately, this morning he was very interested in the cat food bowl and when I told him that wasn't for him, it was the kitties' food, he ran and grabbed a couple of his stuffed toy kitties and tried to feed them the food.

We continue to go to our Parents as Teachers playgroups which I generally use as a way to expose my children to more germs and give them the colds they now have (sarcastic yay) and to take adorable pictures of the two of them playing together.

We recently were in a Barnes and Noble store that had a little train table and were joined by a little boy who wanted to play with the trains too. I don't want to go into too much detail because it doesn't look good for team Scott, but things devolved to the point where Bradley was chasing the little boy around the train table trying to ram his trains into the other boy's trains, which was not appreciated. The little boy was considerably older than Bradley and I'm never really sure what to do when my child harasses older children. I had already made Bradley give trains back repeatedly and it was sort of a speed walking chase scenario ... oh well.

Eleanor liked the train table too.

There has been a lot of active play and a number of tired car rides lately.

Our little snuggles are so dear to us and I'm so glad we're entering into what seems to be a far easier stage for both of them. And we're crazy for snuggles with our little snuggle bums!

Bradley knows that when he cuddles with me post-bath it helps postpone the hateful experience of having to put clothes back on.

And he's crazy for cuddles with his daddy. These two adore each other.

Nathan has a gift for being unconscious with children.

My boys <3

California Trip

Bradley and Eleanor are growing into little buddies and it's a blast to see it happen.

Bath buddies!

Eleanor helping Bradley wake up from a nap

Bradley helping Eleanor swing

Oh my ...

They are both so funny and cute and Bradley is taking an interest in everything that Eleanor does. Which these days, is a lot of eating.

Meal times are a lot of fun with our voracious eaters, even (especially) when Bradley breaks into major goofball mode.

You notice in the video that Eleanor is getting to chew on a bit of bread while we eat. That's because 6:00 is too late for her dinner and she's not supposed to eat at the same time as us for dinner. But just try and tell that to Eleanor. She regularly steals pieces of quesadillas off of me (don't tell my pediatrician) because this is her reaction to having something she wants taken away:

Oh, you say, just give her something in place of phone or quesadilla and she'll forget? It better be something AMAZING otherwise this girl does not forget. Also, Bradley is hilarious.

Bradley watching Eleanor eat is a lot of fun. I try to line up most of their meals so that they're at the same time (Don't ask me when I get to eat. No good can come of this). Bradley regularly begs for and devours puffs and other baby foods he spurned as an infant. He'll even eat plain Cheerios again now that he sees Eleanor eat them. I'm going to pretend to feed her brussel sprouts one of these days and see if he'll go for it.

Also, Eleanor is mobile now! Watch out, world!

She still falls asleep on Daddy pretty much every time he holds her cozy long enough. Daddy is so comfy and wonderful!

Daddy may be a huge fan of Eleanor cuddles.

 And here are a couple more Eleanor winners. The girl is a doll.

The real highlight of these past couple weeks was our trip to Soquel, CA (about an hour southwest of San Francisco) to visit my Granddad and my Aunt Diana and Uncle Bill. We had a blast, and not just because it was in the upper 70's most of the time we were there instead of 20's we were used to in Kansas.

With my Uncle Bill

Gypsy baby

Great-Granddad Willard with naked Bradley!

There was a lot of bare baby skin, which I love! And there was a lot of family bonding, which I love even more! Bradley obviously didn't remember anyone from his trip as an infant but he quickly realized he was surrounded by wonderful people. He loved everyone but he ADORED his great-granddad. This happened on our first day there, not long after we walked in the door following a long flight and drive.

And this

Great-granddad is tough. For the record, this is my dad's dad. And his sister and her husband. They're all pretty great.

This is going to be a favorite picture. Diana knew how to become fast friends with Bradley instantly. Food!!

We stayed at a cute bed and breakfast while we were there that had a rather amazing view.

Ahh, ocean. And me, taking pictures of Eleanor on the grass.

Here are a few of the pictures of Eleanor in the sunshine. This is what happens when we're away from home and I have free time.

Can you believe she was more interested in chewing on the sunglasses than on fashion? I have work to do!

Okay, not that much work. She's so perfect!

We also went to the beach while we were there and Diana told me several times that she would never forget Bradley running into the water over and over again! Neither will I. It was COLD. My feet were numb and my crazy boy would have happily gotten completely wet. Luckily for him, I misjudged a wave and he got at least half soaked. He was very happy about this. Seriously. This kid loves water.

Nathan started on Bradley beach duty

Daddy was wearing real shoes ... not good for getting wet

Mommy had bare feet! Time to play in the water!

Bradley was pointing at what he wanted. Mo mo!

So much fun

We also learned that double strollers are for wimps. Kids are stackable!

Okay, that lasted not long at all but there were plenty of happy and willing adults to carry cute kiddos around

Bradley wants this for always

We even went out to dinner in a real restaurant with a menu where you had to wait for your food to arrive which was a huge accomplishment for us with two kids and went surprisingly well all in all.

Auntie loves!

Kids are buds! Buds entertain each other.

Buds also give their sister french fries.

Did Eleanor eat any of the french fries? Um, probably not. That's highly unlikely. If she did, probably only four or five of them. It's just a potato, really, right?? Don't tell our pediatrician about this either.

While we were on Pacific time, did our kids adjust their schedule, you ask? HAHAHA. Nope. Not in the slightest. However, we knew this was going to happen because of our Thanksgiving trip to Boise and Mountain Time so we were prepared to get up at about 5:00 AM every day. Luckily, there was a nearby Peet's Coffee that we could go to and spend some time at before joining relatives at a more civilized hour.

Bradley really enjoyed getting into the coffee scene

We really enjoyed our visit, the kids were showered with the attention they feel they so richly deserve and Nathan got to watch the Seahawks win their conference title (or whatever you call it) and get into the Super Bowl.

Bradley getting to play at a nearby park

We watched a big kid do this. Then we HAD to do it!

I'm such a sucker for Eleanor in a swing pictures

And for Bradley going down slides

Eleanor kept Great-Granddad company during football games

So did Bradley. He even made sure Great-Granddad got to eat chips during the games! Lucky Great-Granddad.

Seahawks win!

And here is our cute picture of the kids with their great aunt and great uncle

And one of two non blurry pictures of them with their great granddad.

We had a great time but were pretty tuckered out on our way home

Which may in part have been because (there's a twist at the end of this story) both kids ended up getting sick immediately after this trip! Like, pretty darn sick. I blame the plane flight out there. And then they shared said sickness with Mommy as well, which is why I am up at 4:00am writing a blog post. I checked and it seems that none of our California family has been infected by what I'm affectionately calling the plague and here's hoping they stay healthy.

The kids are doing well now and it's just me that's dealing with what seems to be a nastier version of what they got. They were cute together at the doctor's office.

And Bradley has been LOVING getting to watch unlimited television. He is obsessed with the Lion King now and yells at the tv a lot while watching it, which is so fun. We don't like Scar, he is bad. We love the babboon, Rafiki! And we cuddle with Mommy during the scary bits. Mommy loves the scary bits!

Bradley is not as keen on being buds with Eleanor while important Lion King events are happening

Fortunately, we have kitties to nurse us back to health and happiness.

We seriously have the nicest cats. Also, note the cat door installed in the door to our bedroom. Yes, that's a real thing. And it has happened. And we love it so much. We can shut our door once again but the cats who desperately need to sleep in bed with us can also come and go as they please.

Please feel free to send healthy wishes and prayers our way as we deal with sickness, especially since Nathan has another work trip coming up soon. Bradley may have a lot more Lion King in his future if Mommy isn't better before Daddy has to leave!