Can you hear me now?

Avery is obsessed with phones. He pretends EVERYTHING is a phone. He wants us to talk on his phones...all of them. He has 7. I counted. It's silly. Most of all he wants one of the two phones in the house that actually work. Mine and Billy's cell phones. He can tell which ones they are. He knows and he gets upset if they're in sight and not in his hands. Yesterday, I was the Mamarazzi and tried to document all the things he used as a phone. 

His cup at breakfast.

An actual toy phone.

Puzzle piece.

Remote.

Keys on a lanyard. 

This red car...I wasn't fast enough.

Coasters. Both ears.

Finally, MY phone. It's not as good as Billy's, but it works. 

Unbelievably, this wasn't even all of it. He also used an animal cracker, a couple more cars and his spoon at lunch. I wasn't able to capture all of those things. Perhaps I should start saving now for the huge phone bill that will hit us in his teen years!

Snow Ice Cream!

Our back yard with 18" of snow this weekend.

Since there has been soooo much snow here, we decided to make some snow ice cream. It seemed like a good idea since we couldn't go out to play. Avery has been sick and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't enjoy being in snow up to his chest. I found a recipe online that just required stuff that I already had on hand, and it turned out pretty good.

• For 4 servings you need:
• 8 cups snow
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 1 very eager helper

Just mix everything together and enjoy! We did a half batch, since there's only 2 of us.

Eager helper...check!

The finished product. It's not fancy, but it was fun to make and easy
enough for my 14 month old to be involved.

Mmm... This is during the morning nap time we're
trying to phase out, so he looks a little out of it.

This is how Avery praises the Lord. He had an impromptu  praise
session in the middle of snack time.

Oh empty ice cream bowl, I love you. And I'm really
missing my nap.

Snow ice cream is "Goodah!" 

Men men men men manly men men men...

The men at my house sometimes make me just shake my head. Billy comes up with the most interesting things for he and Avery to do. Things that I don't think of. Avery is always delighted...probably because they're practically twins. Dada gets Avery. He knows what's fun. He thinks outside of the box. I take Avery's little baby piano and play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Billy takes it and plays the Star Wars theme song. I play with the bath toys in the water...calmly. Billy blows the top of one to make a really cool whirling sound. Men! Here are some interesting things I've come across lately. 

A new decoration on the shelf above the TV. Oh wait. It's the men.

Dada sharing his love of pickles.

Avery sharing his love of pretzels.

Both of them sharing their love of the scooter...
and fleece jackets.

Praise the Lord!

For several months now, whenever anyone says, "Praise the Lord!" Avery throws his pudgy little arms up and smiles really big. A couple of days ago, I was holding Avery and talking to Billy. Without thinking, I said "Praise the Lord" to something that Billy said. Avery threw his hands up. It struck me as really funny. Anytime Avery hears 'Lord', this is what he does. It's super cute. 

I got a new Bible from my parents for Christmas. It's leather bound and has really shiny gold pages. I keep it by my chair so that I can get to it easily to read. Avery seems to really be captivated by it. He tries to get it off the table, and I redirect him to HIS Bible. We keep it on a shelf in the living room for time to pull down whenever he wants. He calls it his Bi bi. He loves to fiercely turn the pages. They may get ruined along the way, but I think it's more important that he grows up knowing that time Bible, and more importantly, God is accessible to him. Pretty much every morning he gets out his Bibi and looks at the pages while I read to him from my Bible. We've been doing Proverbs, and sometimes it's Avery who reminds ME to get out my Bible. He's a good boy!