Brunch is Best

This past weekend was a blast, despite out persistent colds. We went to a fun birthday party for our friend's two-year-old on Saturday. A had a great time and played alongside the other kids without any problems. On Sunday, I had invited our good friends and their kids for brunch and it was awesome. Their middle son is A's best friend. When we told A he was coming that morning, he spent the following two hours looking out the window and asking when he was coming. I love watching them play together!

There are several things I love about brunches:
- the food is good and easy to do, less involved than dinner: I made an egg casserole and pancakes, our friends brought bagels and smoked salmon. Tea, coffee, and orange juice for drinks. It's a good variety and there is bound to be something the kids will like. (A had a bagel and then several pancakes with nutella).

- the time of day is great for kids. We kicked things off at 10 am, late enough to get ready without rushing, but still early enough for the kids to be at their best (not tired like they can be around dinner time). The children ate with us at the table and behaved very well. Then they went and played a bit while the grown-ups finished eating. After that, it was a perfect time to venture outside and play together in the snow!

Of course, that doesn't mean we can't or won't do dinner, but I find brunch ends up being a bit more fun and relaxed for everyone.

A's first snowman

Don't Mind the Mess

Assembling things isn't the easiest thing to do with a toddler, but it can be quite fun if you are able to not mind the mess. Last week my father-in-law gave us A's winnings from a Super Bowl square he had gotten for him. That lucky little guy won $200! We're putting some of it in A's college fund, but we also wanted to get him something fun.
A loves to paint but we don't really have a good spot for him to do it. Last weekend, we were at a friend's house and her son has this really cool easel, so I thought it would be something neat  and practical to get A. I ordered it on Amazon, and when we came home Friday, the package was waiting on the porch... A loves getting packages, so he wanted to know what is was right away. Since it was a dreary day and we were both sick, I figured putting the easel together was a good activity.

 It wasn't too complicated, but a bit time consuming. A really wanted to help, so I put him in charge of the screws. He took them all out of their bags, and put them all in a little tray arranging them by color. He kept coming to me, asking if I wanted any. After I refused a few times because I was busy, he turned his attention to the package's Styrofoam. Who knew you could make it look like it snowed in my kitchen? I knew it would make a mess, but thought it was kind of fun, and after all, that's why we have vacuum cleaners! So I encouraged him to make more snow (thereby giving me a bit more time to finish the task at hand). The "snow" ended up everywhere, including all over him, and we had a good laugh.

When the assembly was completed, A couldn't wait to start painting. He helped take the accessories out of the packages.

And started painting...

Eventually, he gave the paintbrushes up and used his hands for a little while.

He is loving the easel, I am just not quite sure where to put all of his artwork...