January

Winter in Iowa can be extremely cold. Between the cold days, wind, and sick kids, we tried to have some fun.

In this first picture, Laken saw a picture of Captain America and decided to draw on his face to be like the hero. Not sure how well it turned out.
The next picture is when we went to story time at the library. That day they read books about the weather and did an experiment on how to make a cloud. The experiment failed but the kids looked so cute in their safety goggles.

So cute!

One way to keep ourselves busy at home is with playdoh. The boys got new cans for Christmas so they had to bring them out to play. And of course K can't be left out of anything.

Uncle Steven got Laken some pictures and paint for Christmas so one day I mistakenly walked away for a little too long. Laken found me in my room and showed me his beautiful artwork....on his body! When I came to check on Carter, he also had paint all over himself - pants, sweatshirt, face, lips, hands. 

We got a bit of a snowfall one day so Jared took Laken to the church down the street. You can always count on parking lots to have big hills of snow to play in. So Jared and Laken (ok, mostly Jared) dug out a fort in the snow.

Then they had some fun climbing to the top and sliding down.

Carter just being himself.

And K always trying to copy her brothers.

Laken showing off some of his artwork. 

The boys playing with some of their favorite things. Carter - puzzles, Laken - legos.

The weather warmed up a bit one day so I let the kids out to play.

One of the shows Laken has gotten into is a creative show and on one of the episodes, the boy makes bath crayons. So we decided to give it a try. The kids enjoyed making it but unfortunately they didn't work too well. 

And while the boys were busy making bath crayons, K enjoyed some animal crackers with nutella. One of her favorite places to sit or stand is the little nook where the garbage goes. Silly girl.

One day Jared's work put on a kid's carnival. Laken wanted to do this huge slide so Jared went with him.
(This was the same day as the Winter Games in Okoboji so there was lots of things to do around the area. One of the things was a polar plunge. And of course Jared signed up for it. He got in his swim suit, waited in line in 30* weather, and jumped into the lake through a hole in the ice. CRAZY! Unfortunately not only did we not get a video or picture of it, but neither I or the kids got to see it even though we were there. Trying to walk around a crowded area with three kids is difficult so we were never able to get a close enough spot.)

I taught the kids they could try to climb up the open doorway. It kept them busy for about 20 minutes.  

So proud of my little monkeys!