My son was not impressed with these pancakes. He did not appreciate the fruit placement at all. Candy eyes were ok though.

He's all smiles, all the time.

We spent a fair amount of time this evening playing with blocks, driving cars into them and creating lots of noise.


We played our first game of checkers today. He seemed to enjoy it until he was bored, which was about half way through a single game.

Our cat sleeps in the weirdest places, like under a blanket on the couch.

We took a stroll outside on a nearby snowy path.

We brought home a new resident for the little one's fish tank. Meet Lamp, a nerite snail who lives with Lights, the betta fish.

I really like it when he wants to run around with Mario. He's pretty self sufficient in the game now (at least to explore) so it's great for when I want to have a few moments of silence.

We played War last night, with the lights off (using a flashlight) and with Scooby Doo cards. Spooky all the way.

We brought in some snow from outside for bathtime.

We still love to snuggle together.

Today is one of his classmates birthday, so he came home with some fun Play-Doh.

The weekend is always a great time to go sledding.

We built a snowman this afternoon. We had perfect packing snow, letting us make snowballs and other things together.

He's enjoying playing along in the exercise game, Ring Fit Adventure.

I try to make silly pancakes for the little one, but sometimes he doesn't appreciate it.

Saw this dog bus earlier today, which I found amusing.

Took another walk at lunch outside. Snowy out.

It's snowy and cold out, but with some layers I'm warm enough to take a walk around a nearby park.

Now that it's no longer freezing rain and sleet, the little one and I left the house. We bundled up in a bunch of layers and took a walk nearby the house.
The nature trail was flooded, which makes sense with all the rain. So we didn't end up getting too far, but far enough for a 4 year old.
In the afternoon we made another Popin' Cookin'. This time we made candy sushi. 
He had fun and ate the whole thing. It must be good since he inhaled it all. I was too unsettled with how the roe looked like intestines to try anything.

I've been sitting on repairing a faulty dvd drive for over a year. I've had the part but just never carved out the time to open up the case and make the necessary repair. Part of my delay is taking the time to swap daughter boards from the old xbox dvd drive to the new dvd drive. If you don't make this swap, the xbox won't recognize the drive.

Anyway, the whole repair took a few hours, since I spent a fair amount of time screaming at the plastic clips that need to be carefully removed and reassembled. I miss the days of things just being a screw instead of cheap plastic that can snap off easily.

Now we have a working xbox one dvd drive. The first thing I did was download a bunch of games (and not actually use the dvd drive). 

Having a small child means usually being the second to try new video games. Ring Fit Adventure was no exception.

No one was eating the starbursts at work, so (on the suggestion of a co-worker) I opened up a bunch of packets. No everyone can pick the flavor they want instead of it being a blind two pack of candy.

We did some drawing today.

I used to have some of these as a kid. I can't even imagine the frustration for kids today when there are so many other options of entertainment and this is what they're handed. While I would totally play with one of these again, it's for nostalgia only. There are better entertainment options available now.

I took advantage of blue skies and took a walk. It's still chilly out, but not terrible if you wear layers.

We worked on some homework today, which was decorating a mitten.

Crushing all the icy snow!

We practiced some yoga together.

Today was more sunshine and warmer weather. I took a walk at lunch.
And we took a walk together when I came home as well. It's nice to get out of the house into fresh air.

 It's a new year and a sunny day! We built our first snowman together.
And went sledding at a nearby park.