That's really hot!

Silas turned off his lamp in his bedroom so it "would be really dark enough, dark enough for you to sleep with me." And we lay in bed together snuggling and talking about the day. That he found a duck egg, that he watched a dinosaur video, that sometimes he likes plain cheese and sometimes he likes it with crackers.
Then he decided he needed to check to see if my cheek was warm. So he pressed his cheek up against mine and discovered that hid cheek was warmer. So he gave me all his warmth, and told me, " But don't worry Mom, I can make more. I make warmness in the morning and the afternoon and the evening. So in the morning, when I deliver more warmness, in the morning I will deliver 42 and 1 pounds of warmness."

Grandparents Visit

My parents drove up for a visit last Tuesday. So when we arrived home from Silas's gym class (little plastic scooters!) there were ducks in the garage. 2 blue swedes, a buff, and a Cayuga. The first order of business for the visit was building housing for this small flock, but more about that later (ie. I don't have pictures taken yet to accompany a post).
Silas was more excited about seeing Grandma and Grandpa than the ducks anyway. The first night we ate left over pizza and played with the knock hockey game they made and brought.
Wednesday night Mom took Silas to the Childrens Theater for a musical performance of The Gruffalo. That's Mom and Silas getting ready for their "date" in matching red outfits. Orrin even chauffeured them down so Silas wouldn't be traumatized by Grandma losing her cool in Minneapolis traffic.
Emmet was missing out on all the primping and preparations, so when we moved everything out of Silas's room so we could paint, he took advantage of the room configuration to climb up and get into the bag of nail files and trimmers and paints.
Dad set up the knitting machine that Mom purchased a couple years ago and one of these days someone in the family will figure out how to use. Right now all the dials and knobs and sliding bench are being used only to occupy Silas and Emmet. Silas keeps claiming to be kntting me a sweater, but I've yet to see it materialize.
We cooked a pot roast in the pressure cooker. My first attempt at pressure cooking anything. It tasted really good, but may have been poisoned because Dad was really sick the rest of the visit. (Before I scare anyone off from visiting us though, we were sick a couple weeks ago, and Mom was sick before the pot roast.)
So while Dad recuperated, Mom and I decorated a fish lamp for Silas's room and chose paint colors and design.
When we first moved into the house we gave Silas a choice between the two rooms. His old room, which we had painted as a nursery in green and yellow with Humphrey on the walls, or the other room, the only room in the house we hadn't painted with Pepto Bismol pink walls. He chose the pink room. A pink room was fine by him, but the lampshade on his bedside lamp, with the brown beads on it? Now, that had to go. A trip to Ikea yielded a new light fixture, a new lamp, a new hamper, and a theme for the room: nautical/ocean.
He already had a stellar sailboat quilt courtesy of Great Aunt Susan and Grandma Lise, so it was a logical leap. But now we had to do something about the walls.
So with a little help from a weakened Grandpa, a messy little brother, a talented Grandma, a bossy Mom, and dedicated Dad; little Silas transformed his room.
We're hoping to put up a strip of metal along one of the blue stripes and make some magnets to hold up artwork. And maybe build a bookshelf like this someday before he goes to college. Rachel insists we need a huge saltwater aquarium to really complete the effect, but I think the ducks are project enough for us right now.

Quick quote

Silas asked while brandishing Sophie's leash, "Is anyone in this house pretending to be a dog?"
Orrin and I quickly replied, "No!"
Of course Silas, as is his custom, replied, "But why?"
"You can pretend to be a dog," suggested Orrin.
"But I'm a duck. Quack!"

Happy Valentines Day!

From Silas-
He picked out the orchid for me with Orrin at Home Depot last night, "cause I knew you really liked white and pink." He helped string the heart lights that were in the package from Grandma Lise. The window clings may have been a bad idea though. Apparently your windows should be clean before applying them. Unlikely. So they fall off, Emmet pulls them off, they get covered in dog hair, and Silas licks them to get them to stick again.





From (or rather for) Emmet-
Sampling the butter cookie made just for him from Grandma Lise. Luckily both the boys like the butter cookies best- the most colorful ones. Which means I get to eat all the dried cherry bars. Tomorrow Orrin and I go out for dinner together, and the boys have their first night with a sitter in America!

Lazy

Here's a few pictures, cause I know you crave the cuteness.
A couple weeks ago I took the boys to Como Park Zoo and Conservatory, while Orrin played broomball. Silas took his job feeding the animals very seriously.

Meanwhile, Emmet roamed around brandishing nylabones intended to feed the tiger. Apparently, I need to feed the boy more meat. (Is it just me, or does he look like MacGyver in this picture?)

When they aren't wreaking havoc in the greater Twin Cities area, they occupy their time just fine in the pantry.

The toys they got for Christmas were just not enough...they really needed the toys in the sea shipment. So when arrived, Silas went to great lengths to find the box containing the train set. (This is a fraction of the boxes, so can I please be excused from not posting so often?)

And finally, because I was getting so much flack for Emmet having a baby mullet we finally cut his hair.


Of course Silas got a haircut as well. I didn't realize how wild it had become until I look back at the pictures of him above.

My regular computer is back up, and most everything is out of boxes. We're busy going to the library, ECFE class, swim lessons, and music class. It was warm enough this weekend to go outside without the threat of instant frostbite. Orrin made me a compost tumbler from a 55 gallon plastic drum. Our next project is a duck enclosure for the four ducks that will soon be joining us.