Brrrr! says the concrete

Just an update on the building process - there hasn't been much action on the house this week because of the frigid temperatures. I guess concrete is a little more sensitive to the cold temperatures that I thought it would be. So here's what we have right now:

Basement walls covered in "blankets" to keep it warm.

We're hoping that tomorrow and possible Saturday will be more productive days.

Sundays at PawPaw's

We were so excited when Marlo decided to move north to be closer to his kids and grandboys. We knew it would be a great thing for the boys, and Heath and I knew that it would be good for Marlo, too. We've seen him more in the past month than we would have all year if he had stayed in Georgia. Since he's so close, we decided at the beginning of the year, that Sunday afternoons would be a great time for us to hang out and catch up with "PawPaw." So, usually, after church we pack up in the car and head to Meador (Scottsville) to his new place. Cash looks forward to seeing him and "Pena and Habby" (his two dogs), and Baylen just wants to go where big brother is. Mostly the boys play, wrestle, and run around inside while PawPaw looks on. His hip has really been giving him problems lately, so getting down and playing with them is hard. Of course, there's always some good cooking, too. This past Sunday we had goolash - yum!

This is a toy that B got for Christmas that we hadn't even taken out of the box yet. Crazy! Cash brought his drill along to help Heath put it together. B, of course, just wanted to be where the action was.

They reluctantly stopped for a picture. Can you tell Cash is saying, "Cheese!"

Yes, those are PawPaw's Christmas presents. Since the Christmas get together was cancelled because of ice in Mt. Juliet, we didn't get to give them to him (and we forgot the past two weeks). Look at all those handsome Doggett boys! (What would Ann say?)

B is still getting to know PawPaw. He wants to sit by him and play with him, but he's not quite warmed up enough to actually sit in his lap.

The night that Marlo moved up to Kentucky, I asked him what he thought of his new place. He answered with, "It'll do. Haven't fit in anywhere since Ann died, maybe I'll fit in here."

I believe he fits in perfectly.

Wordless Wednesday

It's fun to "PLAY" at the YMCA

Last Thursday night, we ventured out as a family after supper. Heath and I loaded the boys into the car, and we headed across town to the YMCA. My sister and her husband met us there with their son, Kennick (a.k.a. Cash's "best-best-best-friend," as I was told this morning during breakfast). We had heard there was an indoor slide and maze for toddlers, and we hoped that it would be something that Cash, and maybe B, could enjoy during the cold we-can't-play-outside months. And it was ...

Cash loved the slides. They had quite a "lose-your-belly" effect to them.

Kennick always had a scared look on his face going down, but he always went back for more.

He would take turns going down the different slides.

Good way to practice your primary colors...

There were lots of tunnels to crawl through, too.

Heath and Cash managed to brush up on their basketball skills while we were there.

You didn't think we left B out of the fun, did you?

Thanks to my creative gift-giving sister, Cash got these cool fridge gears for Christmas. She noticed that he LOVED some that were similar to these at the Magic House in St. Louis, and when she saw these, she knew Cash would enjoy them, too. And he does. For that matter, we all do. I've caught Heath moving them around and "playing" with the different parts a few times, and I get a kick out of watching Cash push the different size gears together to make them "go." Baylen even carries them around the house at times in his mouth (so we've scooted them higher up the fridge).

Watching these gears go round and round is fun, but if Cash goes off and leaves them running, you can hear them from anywhere on the main floor. You see, the pink and blue one clicks when it is turning. Click, click, click ... and on it goes until someone turns it off. Reminds me of my thoughts, really. Somedays there's just a lot going on. So much, in fact, that there seems to be gears in my head that are going round and round. I'm one of those people who thinks a lot. For example, I really wanted to take a nap one day last week while both the boys were sleeping. As soon as they were both down for a nap, I crawled into my warm bed, and I started thinking - thinking about what all I needed to be doing, cleaning, reading, picking up, etc. So I got up - because I couldn't sleep for all the gears running in my head!

Anyone else feel that way? Does anyone else have gears in their head?

Balloon Tennis

This past week, I felt that Cash had been watching a little too much Mickey. I needed something new for us to do. Christmas toys had already lost their "newness." It was too cold to go outside and play. But what?

I got to thinking about an idea that I had read on another blog. It was a simple, get-up-and-play game that I knew Cash would get a kick out of. I mentioned it to my dad, and in no time, he had these made for us:

Yes, that is a cardboard tennis racquet covered in duct tape. Easy enough to make (we had lots of boxes left over from Christmas), and who doesn't have duct tape. (Dad actually used 2/3 of a roll, though. He also stuck some dowel rods on them for extra sturdiness.)

After Cash got up from his nap Thursday afternoon, he helped dad tie a balloon to the end of a string (we used curling ribbon, also left over from Christmas). Then we tied the end of the string from the ceiling (we tied it around the wooden trim of a light in the kitchen).

And the game was on: Balloon Tennis! He LOVED it! At first, I just let him hit it and have some fun. Then we started hitting it back and forth to each other. He was pretty good, too. Note: My 2 1/2 year old has better eye-hand coordination than I do, but I guess that's not saying much. :)

Having it in the kitchen proved to be both helpful and dangerous. Pouring a glass of milk took some good timing, but it was perfect while I was fixing tacos that night. In between preparing the food, I was able to pick up my racquet and play with him.

Baylen, as you could tell from my last post, enjoyed watching it, too. He also had fun trying to hit the balloon with a wooden spoon this morning.

Here's a video I took with my phone of dad and Cash playing balloon tennis. (Sorry for the fuzziness.)

See? Easy, inexpensive fun! So what do you do with your little ones?

Look what he's doing now

He's such a big boy.

What's that going on in the background? What's he watching?

I'll post that tomorrow.