Sprinkles: Staying Sane in January

As I looked back at my photos from the month of January, I realized that we did a whole lot to stay happy, entertained, and SANE while stuck indoors.

The first thing we did included a way to make the picture window in our dining room into a place to hang art and make art. We hung several paper snowflakes and then used Crayola Window Markers to write and draw.

Here's what Jack wrote:

Hap Now Yer

Translation:"Happy New Year"

and Go Bars. No translation needed, but this was BEFORE the big loss. Boo Packers!

Then, thanks to Michaels' sneaky check-out line that makes you continue to shop while you wait, Jack found these cool egg fossils and begged me to buy them. They were cheap, so I figured, why not. I got one for each of them, and they spent a good amount of time chiseling away at their eggs to see what they would find.

To my surprise, Jack gave up much sooner than Alice. She spent over an hour working on her egg. And with a little help, she finally found her fossil and put it together to make a dinosaur:

Another fun thing to do when you're stuck indoors is to EAT, of course! We made these super cute and easy marshmallow snowmen,

drank hot chocolate,

and enjoyed MONSTER sized MONSTER-COOKIES (Thanks, Staci!)

There were also tea parties,

dance parties,

and hours of fun with something as simple as rice, spoons, and cups.

Jack got a science kit for Christmas and really loves doing experiments (Wearing the goggles is fun enough for him!)

And just as I was about to run out of ideas, I brought up some empty storage containers (with intentions of actually STORING things)- And we had an instant space ship/hotel/race car for the day. For some reason Alice just loved squishing her little body in and making us close the lid on her. Odd little girl!

Don't worry, we checked in often to be sure she was actually getting air.

And finally, I give Super Daddy the credit for the campsite that he setup in Jack's room when I was in West Virginia. We have yet to take it down.

He also turned the room into a movie theater using a projector and a shower curtain. In his own words, he is "the smartest man alive." I agreed, but of course I had to be the bad mommy who had to tell them that this would only be for the weekends.

Yes, they do love movies and tv shows, but they both spend a LOT of time looking at books. And this month Jack officially became a reader, and he is so surprised and excited by the fact that he can put words together and REALLY READ. To be honest, I am too! The first book that he read was one that he loved as a baby,

. It's a great feeling when you see your child reaching that milestone. I'm assuming he's a natural, since it didn't take much work at all. This kid has known his letters since he was 18 months old and sounds since he was 3. As for Alice, she may not know her letters yet (except she can always spot an "A for Alice!"), but she's on her way. I often hear her in her bed looking at her books and reciting them word for word-especially her FAVORITE story, Pinkalicious -