"Hhh-mile!" (Smile!)

Grayson is really getting chatty these days! One of his signature speech habits is to use the 'h' sound in place of 's' in words that start with 'sn' or 'sm.' Some of our favorite words to hear from him are 'hhh-nowman' (snowman) and 'hhh-mile' (smile). Here's a smile from our sweet boy, Grayson.

Here I am!

Here's a sweet clip of Grayson, playing peek-a-boo in the cupboard. You might want to press 'pause' on the music box so you can hear his words. Enjoy.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope your Valentine's weekend is filled with love & laughter!

To see a few more Valentine photos of our little sweethearts, click on this link:

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=275322186/a=57060594_57060594/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish

Children's Art Exhibit

A trip to Target last Friday resulted in some fresh new art supplies for the boys. Gordon got new watercolor paints, and Grayson got new crayons. Boy, have they been using them!

Featured Artist #1: Gordon Henry

Gordon has always loved art projects, and ever since I can remember, he has spent extensive time and effort on almost every creation he makes.

The drawing below is titled, "Dinosaur Eats." Dinosaurs have been a frequent topic of discussion here lately.

This untitled watercolor below was just done today. Seriously, Gordon spent at least 40 minutes of uninterrupted time working on it, layering colors and using very deliberate brush strokes. Am I just biased, or is this really good?! I love the rich colors and the composition as a whole. It will most definitely be framed and displayed in our home soon.

Here's another piece by Gordon which will be displayed in our home. It's titled, "The Farm," and is inspired by Papa & Grammy's farm in Minnesota. Like almost all of his work, he spent a good amount of time and focus on this painting.

Featured Artist #2: Grayson Elliott

Grayson has only recently discovered his love for art. He is a very free-spirited artist, and loves trying new mediums and surface areas, including walls and the kitchen table. Here is one of his first pieces (done on paper) with his new Crayola crayons this week. (His old crayons are 1/2-inch broken pieces in a ziploc bag, so these new, long and pointy crayons are a treat). This drawing is called, "Guy Circle."

Gordon very graciously shared his watercolors with Grayson today, and here are the results. This first piece is titled, "Picture." I just love it! This was Grayson's very first watercolor painting.

And this one is called, "Color!" The exclamation point is there because that is how Grayson said it when he named it. These paintings will also be part of our home decor soon!

Does anybody know where I can find some good deals on mattes and frames? :) As I type this, there are more beautiful watercolor paintings drying on the kitchen counter ~ and countless more artistic creations, just waiting to be shared in our boys' imaginations....

We are so proud of our little artists!

21 Months Old!

Our little baby boy isn't so little anymore. Yesterday Grayson hit the 21-month mark, so he and I celebrated by doing what we do every week while Gordon is at preschool. We walked through Ann Morrison Park, looked at the ducks & geese, enjoyed crossing the foot bridge over the river, and then spent some quality time together at our destination, the Boise downtown library.

Grayson played a Barney game on the computers in the children's section of the library.

Then we hit the puzzles and puppets, along with the toy dinosaur collection.

After checking out our books and videos, we returned to strolling on the greenbelt back to Ann Morrison Park. We stopped at the playground where Grayson caught some air time on the swings.

Gordon was very pleased with the books and children's videos we chose at the library. One of the movies we found is about garbage trucks ~ yahoo!

We can't believe that Grayson will be 2 years old in just three months! Time flies when you're having fun!

The Discovery Center

Each Wednesday, the boys and I meet up with two other moms and their kids ~ friends we've made through Gordon's preschool.

When the weather is nice, we usually opt for meeting at one of our many great parks in Boise.

But on cold or wet days, we have to be more creative. Last week, we visited The Discovery Center, and spent a good four hours exploring all the wonderful, hands-on, kid-friendly science displays.



What a fun time!

Sunset Stroll

Though it's still quite chilly outside, the sun has been shining this week, and we've loved getting out into it.

The light at dusk lit up the boys' faces.

I just love these sweet little faces, more than I could ever explain!