Lately...

Lately... it's cold and snowy, I have three littles ages four and under and the reality is that someone is almost always getting ready to go down for a nap, getting ready to eat or just getting up from a nap.  Unfortunately they are rarely all sleeping at the same time.  So, I have to come up with lots of activities to keep little boys busy and out of trouble.  Some days I excel at this and others, well... not so much.

We definitely get major cabin fever at times!  But for the most part we have really been enjoying cozy warm days at home and it's nice to have the excuse to stay in.

Here are some snapshots of recent...

There is lots of jumping around and being silly.  For some reason... despite the fact that we have giant bean bags and a trampoline... they still prefer to jump on the furniture.  Why is that!?

We have impromptu concerts

They love to go out in the snow.  Thank goodness for daddy... because I like to stay warm:)

They love to color.  We have recently started using our lapbooks and tot packs again.  On this particular week we were working on The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  Ethan loves to recite the pages, especially the one where the caterpillar eats through all of the different kinds of food.  It's so cute to hear!  My sweet James really enjoys coloring and has turned his little brother onto it.  I love his quiet spirit.

Ethan is always asking me now if he can color.  This usually amounts to him scribbling on every page of a coloring book, rendering it useless for the next person.  But I don't mind because it keeps him busy and makes him happy.  What more could a mom want?

We have had a lot of snow this January.  I can't remember the last time we saw the grass!  They wanted to go outside and it was too cold for Benny, so they played on the deck.  They had a blast and managed to drag just about everything out of the deck box in a short thirty minute period!

We made caterpillars out of egg cartons to go along with our Very Hungry Caterpillar week.  They love to paint!  James needs very little direction, which is great since Ethan needs constant supervision unless I want paint on every surface of our house!

Love these sweet hands.  I wish they would stay this size forever!

I love how he has his tongue stuck out in concentration.

The finished product.

Ben is always happy when he can be watching his brothers.  He sat in his highchair at munched on a teething biscuit and watched the big boys play outside.

He loves himself a cookie!

With James off at school these two little buddies have fun together

This past week we have been doing some winter themed activities.  I got the sensory bin back out and filled it with cottonballs, styrofoam balls, small and large pom poms, snowflakes, and blue "icicles"

James practiced sequencing his numbers from 1-10 with penguins

And Ethan did snowflake matching

James decided he wanted to play with a T-Rex in the snow

We also made snowmen

He was very proud of his work!

And then we made our own snow, which was pretty cool

You just add a capful of powder to a small dish of water and...

You get snow!

Of course we had to smear if all over the table

 

So then we cleaned with the "buster" as they call it

And all of these "snow" activities occurred in less than an hour!  I have newfound admiration and respect for preschool teachers.

The days can be long at times, but I am truly so thankful for this time that I get to spend with these three  sweet boys.