fun in our little house

We have been trying to have fun and stay cozy while the weather has kept us cooped up inside the past few weeks. Here are a few things we've been up to:

Usually on Sundays we will eat our main meal after church, so "dinner" is usually popcorn and fruit. 

 Hank has developed a deep love for popcorn and has to sit as close to it as possible. I had a good laugh when I walked in last Sunday to find him sitting with his legs around the bowl! He will squawk indignantly if he thinks you are taking his piece of popcorn, too.

 We really love to snuggle and enjoy our lazy Sundays!

We have been having a lot of fun watching various birds at our feeder. Jed usually wants to know what their names are and what they say. He and Hank can both recognize a chickadee and say their song easily. Hank is constantly begging to be up on the counter so he can see the "dees." 

 Occasionally we will have a new bird stop by and I will take the opportunity to study it closely with my binoculars. Jed isn't allowed to use mine but does use an old pair of Dave's that have seen better days. He likes to look through them the wrong way to see everything very tiny.

 We have been having so much fun watching the Tufted Titmice as they eat at our feeder. They are so funny--they will go through all the seeds, tossing aside the rejects until they get to the perfect seed. Then they'll hop to a branch and peck at it until they get it open. They'll enjoy the seed for a second, then go back to the feeder to resume sorting. They are very social and they use their tiny feet so adorably--Jed has really become so interested in these birds.

I have been enjoying these winter-morph American Goldfinches as well (the one on the left). They are so ruddy in one light but still have plenty of yellow when the sun shines on them. It's such a pleasure to have them all year round. And, of course, the Black-capped Chickadees (on the right). They are so fat and sassy and have such distinct personalities. Their little feathers on their bellies are so thick and downy that I don't think they feel the cold at all. I love watching them and being able to share my love of birds with the boys.

Being cooped up has definitely made us SILLY, as well. Hank especially loves to dress up in funny things, mostly something belonging to Jed, and wear it around the house.

The other day he put on Jed's owl hat and pulled it down all the way. He walked around the house hooting like a little owl and giggling when he tripped over things. 

                                     

The cold weather has also made me a little silly. A few weeks ago, one of the local stores was having a going-out-of-business sale. We popped in and found several things we had been needing, as well as a lovely inflatable Orca, which we did NOT need, but had to have, for summer fun at the lake, of course. I admit, I totally wanted him as much as the boys did. The only problem was that there were no un-inflated orcas, only un-inflated dolphins, which the boys were not interested in. So, we deflated the orca a little to bring him home, but then he had to be blown back up again. For a while he lived in Jed's room, but then after the Christmas tree came down, Jed wanted him to come downstairs. One freezing night before going to bed, I was hit with a strange urge to lay the orca down on our couch and cover him with a blanket. 

The next morning, Jed was SO amazed to find that his orca had wandered over to the couch and gotten snuggly before going to sleep since it was so cold!

                                       

Hank has started to feed himself with a spoon a little bit. He is most successful with yogurt, because he loves it so much. After a while, however, he'll just give up and dig his hands in the yogurt. Most of it make the journey to his mouth, but some inevitably ends up elsewhere--like his hair. 

 He was so proud of himself! I love how his hair stuck out on the side so nicely. He received a little haircut in the bathtub after this incident so he doesn't look so much like Gene Wilder any more.

The boys and I have been doing some fun crafts as well to keep busy. Hank usually gets to play with the pompoms or cotton balls or "paint" with construction paper and water while Jed and I do the actual craft. Here are our Christmas crafts--I need to take a picture of the few that we've done since 2014 began.

From left to right, toilet paper tube reindeer, star Santas, lacing stockings, and paper plate Christmas trees (Jed's is the large one). Jed surprised me by LOVING the Christmas tree craft the most and he meticulously glued all the sparkly pompoms down after lovingly painting his tree. We also painted some large wooden popsicle sticks as a nativity, but Jed had a hard time with painting on the sticks and requested a piece of paper instead. I love the little nativity sticks--they are so great for my church bag--and am excited to pull them out again next year.

All in all, we are having a good time this winter being stuck in our little house. I must admit though, I am definitely looking forward to spring!