Gamma and Papa 'Tut's House

While Daddy was driving all over the Mid-South and the Plains states, through the massive ice storm brought by in by Winter Storm Cleon, Jonah and I hit the road to 'Gamma' and 'Papa's' house.  It was cold, cold, cold in West Des Moines!  But we had some fun anyway.  Grandma had already started her Christmas decorating, and Jonah helped her finish up the tree.  With all the little ones that will be around Grandma and Grandpa's house this Christmas, she decided to keep most of the breakable ornaments packed away this year.  Jonah enjoyed open all the little boxes, and then finding the perfect place to hang each ornament.  At first, the bottom of the tree was looking a little ornament-heavy, but eventually he began to insist that every ornament be hung "up high!"

Look who we found hanging on the tree!  Baby's first Christmas

We discovered that Grandpa is pretty great at building towers.  Must be all those years working in the construction industry.  Jonah did a lot of building while at Grandma and Grandpa's and is quite a fan of Duplos.

We also got a few inches of SNOW during our stay.  Our first real snow of the season.  We all bundled up and headed out to play in the snow.  It was super fluffy and light - not great for packing or snowman building.  But it was perfect for helping Grandpa shovel the driveway - light enough for Jonah to scoop.  I think Jonah's favorite part was walking around in the nearly-knee-high snow. He sort of just looked perplexed the whole time.  He face-planted in the snow a few times (he could hardly bend his knees in his snow pants), but it didn't seem to bother him too much.

SNOW!

Helping Grandpa clear off the driveway

Whoops-a-daisy!

Mom even made it outside!

*Interesting fact: Jonah wore the same snow pants & winter coat last winter -- last winter they were way too big...this winter they are borderline too small!

Winter 2012 -- at least this year he has boots!

After we came inside and warmed up, Jonah did some rocking in Grandpa's video rocker - a favorite past time while at Grandma and Grandpa's.  This chair has been around since my childhood, possibly longer.  If you flip it over, it also makes a great tunnel to crawl under or slide to slide down. Hours of fun.

Another favorite thing about Grandma and Grandpa's house, of course -- is Grandma's iPad!!  Like most kids, Jonah is amazingly adept at using this type of device.  He has a little bit of an obsession with it, but he is starting to be a little less frantic while using it, and he no longer throws a fit every time we take it away. It is interesting trying to find the balance between technology and reality -- since technology will likely be a large part of Jonah's reality, but we also want him to be able to interact with the real world.

To balance out his time on the iPad, Jonah did lots and lots of reading. His attention span with books continues to amaze me - I think he might be content to sit and be read to for hours, if he had a willing reader. My mom pulled out some old favorites from my childhood she had stored away in the basement.  Hand Hand Finger Thumb was a bit hit, as was "Dog, Go, Go," as Jonah calls it (which we also have at home).

Our time in Des Moines was also a little productive.  My mom and I did some Christmas shopping, and we planned out the menus for the week of Christmas.  My empty-nester parents will have 12 extra people in their house for almost a week as my sisters, our husbands and our 6 children invade their formerly-quiet space.  And this doesn't even include my brothers and their families (who will meet us up in McGregor after Christmas)!  Our immediate family has expanded quite a bit! As part of the preparations, Jonah got to help Grandma bake some sugar cookies to freeze. Jonah's cousins will help frost and decorate the cookies when they travel to WDM from Colorado next weekend. Group effort.

Brandon made it to my parents' late Tuesday night on his way back from Wichita (I tried to wait up, but didn't make it!), and we all headed home Wednesday afternoon. It was a relaxing couple of days with my parents, and now we're in the home stretch of this busy month.  Brandon takes his exam next week -- then we all get to slow down a bit as we prepare for Christmas.