a snowy weekend in March

Even though it is late March here in St. Louis (Missouri, not Minnesota), we had a very wintry weekend. On Saturday, it snowed 5 inches (more in surrounding areas), and we pretty much stayed inside all day and watched Nature coat everything in a thick layer of sticky white snow. If you set aside the fact that it was 85 degrees just a few days ago, the snow was actually very beautiful and interesting. It dusted, coated, and then buried all the blooming flowers, blossoming plants, and sprouting leaves, making for some stunning scenes.

While I did not capture any good photos outside, I captured some snapshots of what our day was like from the inside. Holden loves snow (as we've mentioned here and there), so he was so excited to see it snow again -- we spent much of the day pressed up against the glass watching the flakes fall from the sky.

We played with every toy in the house, made another fort for Holden, and even read a little art history (see photos at the bottom of this post). And today, the snow melted away completely, so we made a trip to the Botanical Gardens to see what was still blooming (lots, actually). Overall, a fun, wintry weekend. After a couple more chances for snow this week, we may actually be in the clear and headed toward some real spring weather (ie. rain).

man on fire

While we haven't been posting here a lot here recently, Holden has been changing a ton each week. He is truly a "man on fire!" Or, at least his brain is on fire. He's constantly working on new words and new skills, and it is so amazing to watch these changes. In fact, I was out of town recently on a work trip for 4 days, and Holden had changed so much by the time I returned.

He loves playing with blocks and puzzles, he always enjoys reading, and really likes being outside (esp. now that the weather is getting warmer). Tonight, Holden was standing by the front door, and Bryna and I said to him, "Holden, are you trying to tell us that you want to go for a walk," and he nodded with a very serious look on his face and said "uh-huh" as he reached for the door knob.

Anyway, I wanted to briefly try and post an update on some of things Holden's been doing in the past couple weeks. Here goes:

As you can see here, Holden's been getting really good at coloring and drawing. He especially likes the fine art of pointillism.

Holden now has three sets of blocks, and he absolutely loves to build big towers. This one was done with help from daddy, but Holden built most of the top half. And he still has a very skew or asymmetrical design sense -- he likes to keep things off balance and leaning in one direction.

I worked with Holden to create this chair (upper left) for him to sit on. The design was, of course, inspired by the eccentric furniture design of Carlo Bugatti, who designed the chair on the right which is in the Art Museum's collection here in St. Louis. Holden loved sitting in his little Bugatti chair (I wish I had a good picture to share).

Another tower, but this time it reached such heights without any help from daddy or mommy. And in case you're wondering, yes, Holden managed to topple the entire tower by trying to add yet another block to the top (a bit out of our little buddy's reach). At daycare, the classroom has even run out of blocks when Holden starts stacking them.

Finally, this past weekend (with daddy out of town), Holden and mommy built a fort under the dining room table. Holden had a blast in his own little hiding place, and he keeps asking for us to build another fort for him. Unfortunately, when he stands up, he now bumps his head on the underside of the table (ouch!).

See, I told you he was a 'man on fire.'

Punk Rocker

Busy times means less blogging. Things have been crazy in chez Campbell-Murawski, but we have some fun stories to share, so we'll catch up soon. In the meantime, to satiate anyone who might be stopping by for updates, here's our artist/punk rocker in his very best at daycare recently: