The Frigid Lull

Whelp, it is that time of year.  The holidays are over.  Christmas is packed away neatly in boxes (this just happened yesterday). We are back in the swing of things at work...and we have moved onto the quiet times that occur between January 1st and about March 15th.  It is our quiet family time in Iowa.  Unless there is a wedding calling us North, there is no travel and no big events or festivities.  The past two weekends we have been in full swing of this frigid lull.  While we love the time with family that the holidays bring, it makes this quiet time much sweeter, because we need the time at home with nothing but a house project, a batch of cookies, or a load of laundry on the schedule.

This weekend has fit perfectly into that routine.  As I sit writing, Jon is in the project sanding a quilt rack we found at Goodwill last weekend.  It cost us just shy of $5 and with a screw tightened here and there, a good sanding, and a fresh coat of stain it will perfectly display several beautiful Grandma quilts that a currently stored in closets.  I am beyond excited!  I have even started a board on Pinterest called "Jon Projects" at his request.  Looks like he's hoping to get a little handy around the house this winter.  One project on the new horizon is sprucing up our tiny basement bathroom.  While we did an overhall on it shortly after moving in (stripping layer upon layer of wallpaper), we are hoping to pull up the carpet and put in new tile flooring, replace the goldenrod toilet and spruce up the shower.

We also just returned from a morning of errands (fun for mom and dad) and a trip to Playstation, an indoor playground.  Vinnie (and Jon) climbed through tunnels, went down slides, and had a blast in the ball pit.  After enjoying the indoor playground we visited in Edina while home for Christmas, we figured it couldn't hurt to check this place out, and we are glad we did.  Vinnie played himself exhausted and is now in the midst of a fantastic nap!

In all our relaxing time at home, we have also discovered we have quite a talker on our hands.  At almost 18 months, Vinnie is repeating words left an right and has developed quite a vocabulary!  Words include...
Baby
Food (with a hard emphasis on the "f")
More (lots of "o" in that one)
Hat (obviously)
Cookie
Please
Thank you
Poopy (while pointing to his diaper, no less!)

He also joins us in our prayer before meals...although that is mostly babble, we appreciate the effort and are working on him folding his hands in prayer too.

Since Vinnie has come into our lives, we live for the weekends...and the quiet cozy weekends at home this time of year make us appreciate so much more his presence in our lives.  He provides endless fun and entertainment, and sometimes even motivates us to get out of the house!

Stay warm!!!