What are we up to?

We are getting settled here in our new place. The kids spend most of their time in their play room since it is too cold to play outside. Ben is getting very creative. His drawing is really coming along and he makes interesting things with play dough. I love to listen to him play and his running monolog as he has his toys interact with each other. We have been able to get out and play in the snow a little. We made a snow man and we made tracks all over the back yard. Mostly its been too icy for it to be safe to play outside. So we have lots of fun inside. We did get to Starved Rock to see the eagles. It was amazing. We could see them fishing on the river then going back to their trees to rest. Ben like looking through papa's binoculars. Next time we will bring his.

We have started going to the library for Preschool Story and Craft time. The first day we came was the Valentines day party. The kids made valentines bags and passed out cards and candy. Ben was happy to see kids and to have a chance to play. It was cold that day, only 10 degrees, but we braved to cold to be social and get to know people in the community. There are about 6 families that are regular attendies of this group.

To mama's great joy we had our first house guests. My aunt Raine and her son Dylan came from Upstate New York for a visit!!!!!!! I havnt seen them since Dylan who is now 12 was a baby. We had a nice visit. We explored the area a little. We tried to see the eagles but place where we had seen them only days before was flooded and frozen over so the eagles were probably off fishing in a better spot.

They brought toys and books for the kids. One toy is a dog that sings Close To You. Since they left Ben has been wearing his #4 basketball shirt like Dylan who plays basketball. We look forward to trying to get up to see them in their neck of the woods.