Filling Up Our Days

My question is, How did the pioneers do it? How do people living in northern Alaska do this? We're scrambling here to find enough to fill our days without watching t.v. 100% of the time. I got a little jealous reading the Durham's blog - I am sure it's still quite cold up in Seattle, but I saw lots of blue sky and kids having outside time. How lovely! Truthfully, we did get some light snow that cleared the valley of the smothering smog for at least a few days, but we're still too wet and cold for much outside time.

Thank heavens for Oma. My mom took CTP on an outing for a few hours on Tuesday to the Dinosaur Museum up at the U of U. They came home with quite a project for him - a little prehistoric rhinoceros kit complete with a plastic rhino to paint and also a little block of sand to dig rhino bones out of. This was a project that really did take the whole day - I thought that because it was a kid's toy the sand would chip away pretty easily. Uh, nope. We dug at that thing all day long until I finally ran it under hot water in a sieve to release the little puzzle of bones. A bit tedious on my end, but it was right up CTP's alley.

As for RAP, she has discovered that she adores drawing. I'm really trying to not read anything into this or get hopes up about having an artist - it's just nice that she'll focus on something for a while. She drew the other night for more than an hour. Yes, she gets messy and so does the table, but I love to watch her immerse herself into the experience. I think I need to find a new medium for her - something between markers, which are so messy, and crayons, which frustrate her terribly. She also started saying a new word during this project:"Happy!" Sorry this video is sideways. I am obviously a little slow, and I'm having great difficulty in figuring out how to get it straight. In the meantime, please tilt your head for best viewing. :) )