January Part 2: Fun in the Snow, Second Lost Tooth, Ropes Course, and More

A mild winter in January was welcomed with open arms this year compared to last.  We enjoyed many days of sunshine compared to the usual gloomy and grey days that winter provides New England.  The start to our new year was somewhat of a rocky one, but we picked ourselves up, brushed ourselves off, and kept on truckin'.

Our little darlin' admiring herself during tummy time.

Penelope on January 10

Alex's teacher asked me to take a picture of him by his
bulb.  This is how our goofy guy chose to pose.

Our snuggly little bear

Selfie snuggle time

On January 14, Alex's teacher said that his tooth was suuuuuper loose.  I told her I'd check it out.  That afternoon, the boys and I snuggled on the couch and started watching the Minion Movie.  As we were watching, I asked Alex to open up his mouth and show me his loose tooth.  I touched it and it was hanging by a thread.  Since Alex didn't move, I told him that I was just going to move it a little bit.  I shifted it to the left, then to the right and it popped out!  Alex was watching the movie so intently that he didn't even notice that his tooth was out!  LOL!

Our big boy missing his bottom two teeth.

Alex checking out what the Tooth Fairy left him the next morning.

Happy Penelope on January 15

Snuggling with our big boy.

We love to make goofy faces.

Squeaky clean Penelope on January 15

Joseph blowing raspberries on Penelope's belly
and getting her to laugh.

On January 16, we had planned on doing our annual ice skating with the boys, but it was sleeting terribly that morning.  So, unfortunately we had to change plans and think of something quickly.  We had already arranged to have our favorite babysitter watch Penelope so that we could give the boys our undivided attention (and so Penelope could get used to taking a bottle from someone other than me).
I had seen a facebook ad for Beanstalk ropes course and was astonished to discover that it was inside a Jordan's furniture store.  How crazy!  So, we packed the boys in the car, wished the babysitter the best of luck with Miss P, and headed for our adventure in the most unsuspecting place.

As soon as we got in, a man greeted us and gave the
boys Mardi Gras beads.

Then we went to Fuddrucker's to have lunch...and I
definitely indulged in a day beer.  It was heavenly.

The boys loved their burgers.

Alex insisted that I take a picture with him and Deadpool.

The boys in "Bean town."

Me and Alex ready to do the ropes course together.

William was about an inch too short to go with us,
so he did the "Bean sprouts" course.  It actually worked
out just fine because Joseph was with William and said
that our little guy was terrified the whole time.

William on the Bean Sprouts rope course.

Alex and I went wayyyyy up high.

William wasn't feeling it.

Alex was pretty scared but he powered through it
for the half hour that we were up there.

Alex's turn on the zip line.  He was pretty hesitant, but
I told him that he would be able to fly like Peter Pan,
so he finally did it and loved it!

Me flying through the air on the zip line.  It.was.awesome!

Penelope on January 16.  Thank goodness she was well behaved for the babysitter.

Penelope at tubby time on January 16.

My lively dates for the evening.

I had high hopes for a movie and a few glasses of wine
that night...and this is what I got.  Lol!  At least they're
freaking adorable.  :-)

"Uuuuuse the forrrrrce, Mommyyyyyyy."
I love his creativity in storing his weapons.

Alex doing his best impression of Emperor Palpatine.
(I seriously wouldn't have known who that was a year
ago, but since the boys are so into Star Wars, I've been
fully educated.)

I could chew on those cheeks all day long.

Silly fun on January 17

HA!  We were setting the table one night for dinner,
and as I was bringing the entree to the table, I saw
that someone had already made dinner for me!
Our William Billiam LOOOOOVES to "cook" in his
kitchen and he told me that he had made me soup
for dinner that evening.  What a sweetheart.

On January 17, Penelope joined us as a big girl
at the dinner table that evening.  As you can see from
her dimples, she was quite pleased with herself that
she got her own seat at the table.

She absolutely loved it.

HA!  And here's another installation of "How Daddy
dresses the baby."
Joseph and I love this little Peter Pan-collared onesie
that Penelope has, so he dressed her one morning.
When he came down, I saw her as above.
(This is actually the back of the shirt.  An easy mistake
to make.  I was proud of Joseph for putting together
a cute outfit.)

The front of her shirt on her back.

Therrrrre we go!  Nice try, Jojo!  Penelope looked
cute either way.

William, Penelope, and Alex snuggling in our bed.
Love these little munchkins.

Time to play out in the snow!  Joseph had Martin Luther King, Jr. day off, so we decided to take the kids outside for some sledding.  This was surprisingly one of our first big snows this year.  The kids couldn't wait to go sledding and play outside.

As soon as we got to the playground, Alex flopped down
on the ground and made a snow angel.

Playing in the snow on January 18

William loves carrying around big chunks of snow.

*Funny story:  William loves to bring me little
things when it's time for me to pick him up from school.
Since there's been snow on the ground, he decided
that he would make a snowball for me each day, put it inside
his hat (that he has taken off), and bring it to me in the car.
He has also brought me rocks and sticks in the past, too.
Our car is filled with little rocks, pebbles, sticks, and
remnants of melted snowballs.  He's such a sweet and
thoughtful little guy.

Seeing this darling face makes it a little bit easier
to deal with his tantrums.

Our first outing in the snow for the season.

Miss P slept in the baby carrier the whole time we were out.

Now it's William's turn.

Joseph's favorite moment of the morning was this right here.
As he was going down the hill with William, the snow was
spraying all over them and right into William's face.
As soon as the sled stopped, William screamed pretty loudly
asking me to wipe the snow off his face.
Here's William's reaction to his first sledding of the season.
(You can't tell, but Joseph was too busy laughing his head off.)
Poor little guy.

Weeeeeeeee!!!!!

Alex, waiting his turn very nicely while William took a solo trip.

The brothers going downhill.

The hill near us was so steep that Joseph had to hold the
sled while the boys got on or else the sled would go down without them.

One of Alex's classmates was also sledding on the hill, so his father
volunteered to take a picture of us.  A rare picture with the Franses five!
We had a great time that morning and enjoyed some delicious,
hand-pulled noodle soup from a local Asian restaurant afterwards.  The perfect way
to warm up on a cold day.

One evening as we were winding down for the night, William decided that he wanted to help me bathe Penelope.

William bathing Penelope.

William drying Penelope off after her bath.  He loves to help out.

I love the way she looks at the boys.

The boys were asleep and Joseph was on the treadmill, so I decided to get out the jumparoo and see if Penelope would like it.

She loved it!

Our sweet little one is growing up wayyy too fast.

She was so happy to be in the jumparoo.

With the newfound knowledge of Alex's allergy to milk, we've been on a quest to find good tasting, dairy free treats.  My sister and her husband sent Alex and William a care package of dairy free treats.  They were so excited to dig in!

Even though William doesn't have an allergy to milk,
he wants to do everything that his big brother does
so he asks for dairy free treats, too.

They were excited to gobble up their super hero cotton candy.
Thanks so much for the treats, Kristen and Pete!

What to do when the weather is too cold to play outside?  Time to make some necklaces!  It's so funny, but one of William's favorite things to do in school is to make necklaces.  So, we went to the local craft store and William picked out the thread and beads.

Alex was very strategic in choosing every single bead
on his necklace.

William loves to make things for other people.  This
afternoon, William made a necklace for his Daddy.  :-)

Oscar was still not completely back to normal and his
belly was pretty bloated, but he felt well enough to snuggle
one afternoon.

While I was feeding Penelope, that is.  He's never very
far and loves each of our family members so much.

Snuggle time with Penelope on January 19

I had to sneak into Penelope's room to feed her while
the cleaners were here one morning.  As you can see,
Oscar was terrified of the cleaners and their vacuum and
spent the whole time between my legs.

Penelope loves her music class.  She can't really participate
quite yet, but loves watching all of the kids dance around
and enjoys the music.

Penelope in music class on January 20

She enjoys sitting in my lap and has started to grab at
the instruments during free play time.

Her favorite part of music class is the lullaby time, though.

In William's class, they've been reading about the adventures and misadventures of Lulu le lapin (Lulu the rabbit).  One of William's teachers made a stuffed animal version of Lulu for the kids to dress up one day.  William loooooved this!

William with Lulu.

William putting socks on Lulu's feet.

William having gouter (snack) with Lulu.

William and his classmates enjoying their gouter with Lulu.  What a cute
idea!

Daddy and daughter winding down a long day together.

Penelope absolutely hates her car seat.  As soon as she
gets in, she starts to complain (just like her brothers did
when they were little).  After a car trip one morning,
(and after about 15 minutes of her screaming), we got
back home and I opened up the car door to see her looking
like this:  our little angel.  :-)

Alex has really done well with reading and writing this year.
One day, he came home with a worksheet that asked
him to identify the beginning letter sound.  Instead of
having him do that, I asked if he could spell the word
of the picture.  He sat down and spelled 8 out of the 10
words correctly and independently!!  I was one proud mama.

Penelope loves her jumparoo.

Our cheeky little girl

I absolutely love her smile.

Penelope was starting to get bigger, and I was tired
of swaddling her and having her bust out of it, so we
moved on to something else.  Joseph's cousin Chris
and his wife Maeve got Penelope this "Baby Merlin's
Magic Sleepsuit" for Christmas this year.  It's a really awesome
transition from being swaddled.  As you can tell, Miss P
enjoyed it.
Thanks so much for the gift, Chris and Maeve!  It was a Godsend!

I was face timing with my sister one morning,
and she snapped this screen shot of me
and Penelope.  It's one of my favorite
pictures of the two of us.  Thanks for
catching this moment, Kristen!

The kids are going through so many changes so quickly that it's hard to keep up.  It seems like it was just the other day that Alex was getting his first tooth and now he's losing them!  Yowza!  I wish I could keep them little forever, but know that they have to keep growing and developing.  *sigh*
Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki