We had a very low-key weekend, which actually began at lunchtime on Friday because Mike is trying to use up his vacation days before the end of the year. He had a 1/2 day off on Friday and the whole day off on Monday. We had so much fun just staying indoors and snuggling up while the temperatures outside reached lows of -6 degrees with a -30 degree windchill. We were able to sneak out to get some Christmas shopping done and Mike went to a holiday gathering with some running friends Saturday night.

Benjamin has been very into learning his letters lately. He constantly asks us questions like "What letter does towel start with?" He is able to read all of the alphabet letters now, so he's been moving onto recognizing short words and writing the letters. We use a white board to show him a letter and then he copies it. After practicing individual letters with us for a while, he was able to write his whole name on his own. The letters are a bit askew, but he gets the idea.

Mike introduced Benjamin to some of his GI Joe toys from his childhood as well this weekend. They spent nearly all day on Monday playing with them together, it was great. Benjamin calls it "playing trucks" and they both love to make all of those sound effects that only boys can make! When Mike brought the box of toys up from the downstairs storage closet, Benjamin was beyond excited. I think it was really special time for Mike.