...but I forgot to blog about it. Part 2

Just in time for the World Cup, I'd like to take you all back the Winter Olympic games.  Quite the fun time in the Cox house. Even now, Gavin will occasionally ask if we can turn on the "bolympics".  My kids enjoyed nearly every watchable moment of the Olympic games from the opening ceremonies to Evgeni Plushenko's historic acquiescence of what was to be his gold metal skate.  All of these moments were watched and felt by Mr. Gavin Cox.  We had some pretty precious moments...and I can only tell you that I am counting down the days until the summer Bolympics.

Most of  our dinner times were stationed in front of the TV.  This isn't  common in the Cox house since we TRY to have dinner around the table- one of the only "normal" things that we do.  We break our rule occasionally and felt that the Winter games were a great opportunity to do this.

When Gavin wasn't strapped to his high chair, he was down on the floor, participating in whatever sport it was that we were watching. 

This is Gavin and Harper actively participating in the opening ceremonies.  

And this is Gavin "cross country skiing".  If you can't tell, he is using our dissembled alphabet puzzle from the last picture- the T and the P make excellent ski poles, if you don't mind an extreme "hunch" position.

They also both passionately participated in men's, women's and pairs figure skating.

 One of our more interactive moments was Gavin reenacting when Evgeni Plushenko bowed out of his final Olympic skate after a fall that resulted in a back injury.  Gavin would- very mime-like, since the television coverage of it had muted sound while the commentators said what was going on- act like he was going to do a big jump, then with much aplomb would fall onto his back.  He'd then come over to Matthew and I on the couch and show us his lower back. With head hanging low, he'd join us on the couch and tell us that he could no longer skate.  It was quite the dramatic occasion...and took place almost every night for a week following the actual event.

I also quite enjoyed the night that we were watching pairs skating.  Gavin and Harper and I were dancing in the living room while the couples skated.  Gavin said with the most convicted and excited voice you can imagine- "Hey Mom!  Get onto my shoulders!".  Sweet boy.  I love that he so vividly expected that this was a likely scenario!   

Gavin and Harper both wholeheartedly participated in the skeleton event, while I watched on and cried in a combination of their cuteness along with the victory of Noelle Pikus Pace. 

 Probably the gold medal winning moment of the 2014 Olympics was an A-shift Saturday for Matthew (meaning he worked all day) that coincided with the tail end of a mommy bout with the flu and walking pneumonia.  Kiss of death.  We had a stroke of genius though when my little brother Connor came over and decided to create our own Olympic games.

I carefully handcrafted skis with cardboard and duct tape and provided ski poles out of dowel rods (we only have one P and one T- clearly, that would not suffice a 3 person race).

 Throw in a mountain made of pillows and couch cushions and you have quite an exciting evening.  

We had a blast!  Uncle Connor was quite the excellent ski coach and the materials were used for both down hill events as well as cross country/ hall way races.  

The fun extended into the next day and a few days thereafter.  

  So many priceless moments!  

Our competitive spirit was stimulated again a few weeks later with March Madness.  As you know from previous posts, this is a highly anticipated in the Cox, Jeffers, et al household.  This year, we decided that both kids were old enough to participate in the bracketology.

Both parents employed different bracket picking tactics dependent on the child's developmental aptitude for picking the best winner:

Gavin was able to decide based on the best candidate between two name choices

while Harper picked by selecting the ranking with their division.  

All in all, it was highly competitive and ridiculously fun; however our efforts did not prove very fruitful for either of the kids.  I believe that Harper is probably the only person in the world to pick two 11 seeded teams to go head to head and Gavin decided to pick a winner based on the team's ability to have a name that rhymes with good friends.  "Hey Mom!  Duke rhymes with Luke!"   In a typical year, this would have been fine, but a team whose name's rhymes with Flercer quickly upset the Luke/Duke naming strategy.

  

Our little slice of the world is fast paced, unpredictable but filled with lots of love, window watching, cooking events and cuddling.  

All of our days aren't perfect.  These are truly some of our high light moments.  We have many that we'd gladly leave on the cutting room floor...except for that life doesn't have edits. 

It just has love and now and doing the most with the time that we have.

PS: I'd be remiss not to mention that ONCE I was able to french braid Harper's hair.  It has never happened before and, so far, has yet to happen again; however it was a one time immortalized moment that I can now put on my mom resume.  

Boom.