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When Grandma came over and went out in the backyard to put the pies in our other fridge in the shed, she discovered that we now have snowman snow! Josiah was the first to join her and Daddy said that if they actually got a good snowman going that they could have a carrot for the nose. As you can see, they made quite a man....of snow! He had two eyes made out of Legos and a mouth of the same as well though, so no coal here. And note the cowboy hat as well. When Daniel took a look at it from the back window, he said, "Cowboy 'noman, Momma!" David said this was in honor of cheering on the Cowboys in their football game today. Caleb was able to help make the snowman as well, only later to knock it down and the 2nd snowman is below.
Daniel had to get in his snow gear and come and inspect up close.
This was yesterday when Grandma was pulling the boys in the "twin taboggan." They really had a blast and our yard has enough of an incline to make it fun, but not too dangerous for them to sled, so that was nice.
A very reflective Caleb who LOVED to be outside playing in the snow.
Daniel's favorite pastime was to eat the snow. And as you see below in the snow fort he was grabbing snow and taking big bites out of the snow fort walls.
Josiah is hugging his brother Caleb here, a rare moment to capture!
This was cute of the twins in their newly built fort. Thanks to Grandma for breaking a sweat to play outside with the boys for a bit, while David and I made the T-day dinner. We had fun playing Taboo after dinner with my mom and dad and my brother and his wife as well. Thanks all for coming and for sharing a meal together. And big thanks to my sweetheart for being the chef and getting all the dishes to come out warm on time! Well done...and super yummy! And thanks to my mom too for helping me clean up afterwards, the whirlwind cleaner strikes again! It was a fun day overall and I am very thankful for my family!
Naomi got this sweet little lamb-ee hat from Grandma. She doesn't seem to thrilled to be wearing it, but she is awfully cute! 
Sweet little lamb and she has the demeanor of sweet lamb too. :)
After the Science Center, we decided to take a stop off at David's workplace since we were so closeby. Many of his co-workers have been bugging him to get their baby fix and we were glad to oblige. She was a little teary-eyed here after being passed around a bit. She was tired and hungry, so I would have expected her to be a little grumpy.
Everyone kept asking me where the twins were and we told them that it would likely be pretty disastrous to have them come with us altogether. I could envision them running down aisles, "kindly" putting the caps-locks on all the computers and/or pulling cords or wreaking havoc amongst all the employees. I "could" be exaggerating, but then again this is most likely the reality of it at their almost three "troublesome trucks" stage.
For those of you who may not know, Josiah is enrolled in a homeschooling option that is funded through the public schools. It is a program called Columbia Virtual Academy. They offer various field trips throughout the year and this was one we wanted to participate in that was local. They had over 200 kids plus one chaperone (minimally) for each kid and so we were quite a crew! Josiah is posing at the "big table and chairs" display there outside one of the IMAX theaters. 
Before we left for the Science Center, Josiah told Daddy in the morning, "I am going to the Science Center, it is going to be so fun!" Daddy said, "How do you know it will be fun, you have never been there!" He replied, "It just feels fun!" I think he was most excited to go without the brothers in tow! Miss Naomi accompanied us though as she is still needs her Mommy at this young age.
We came in through the dinosaur exhibit and then made our way through the solar system exhibit. Josiah is looking at "earf" (earth) here. There was a display to show how may Jupiters would fit in the sun and how many Earths would fit in one Jupiter as well as a place to weigh yourself to see how much you would weigh on various planets. I think next time I will step on the scale I will hope it is on Pluto. :)
They had a real meteorite between two chains for people to try and lift and Josiah enjoyed showing his strength to lift it up. After this display, we went into the live bug area and saw many interesting insects and bugs. Some were dangerous and poisonous and others (in my opinion) were just gross! I was interested to discover that the "bees" that invaded our cable box a while back where actually called "paper wasps." And it was also very interesting to see how BIG wasps can be! It puts the accounts from the Bible into perspective when it says there was (or will be) a plague of wasps. ICK!! We went into the butterfly house as well and the guide told us that there were 800-1100 butterflies there. Josiah was VERY careful to follow the rules and was even warning other children not to step on the butterflies that landed on the ground. It was REALLY warm in there, so much so that I was feeling sick and had to leave the room at one point. I got a few pics of the butterflies, but didn't include them here.
Josiah was thrilled to see they had a tide pool there and jumped right in to feel the animals. Following this display he also saw how a toilet worked (it was cut in half and put in a case). He remembered this and told Daddy about it when he saw him later.
One of Josiah's favorite parts though was at the tot area where they had a water display with water toys to play with. I think this was meant to be more fun than science, but he really liked it! They had these water bibs for the kids to wear, so he didn't get super wet playing in the water.
This was a helicopter in the tot play area. I love his expression here!
Also in the tot area, they had a little enclosed music room with these quasi-Orff instruments, tone blocks, bowls to bang, etc. Josiah came back to this room twice and really enjoyed playing all the instruments. I had to laugh that it smelled exactly like every general music room I have ever entered!! That dusty wood smell...gotta love it!
Here he is sitting in a replica of the Gemini spaceship. It had lots of knobs and buttons and a screen with pictures on it to view. At the end of the time there, we went outside and played with the water displays and then went to see the movie "Bugs." Josiah was resistant to seeing the movie, as I think he was tired and just wanted to go home. We sat through it though and there were points where he was interested and other points where he leaned over and said, "I'm bored." Overall, it made an impression though and I think he had a good time exploring the center.
On Saturday, we ventured out to visit Grandma and Grandpa in their new digs in Lacey and had a nice time visiting with them and then going to lunch and then to Safari Charlie's for a little bouncy house fun. The twins were nearly ready for their naps when we arrived, but mustered up some energy for the fun at hand. Caleb was the first to tire out though and came over to Grandpa for hugs and a little sitting down time for a bit before he went climbing and jumping again.
Josiah was able to go on the bigger boy structures as well as play in the 1-5 year old area. It was hard to catch him in action as he was running from place to place having a blast. He waved at me from up high in one of the play areas and he had a friend with him that waved at me too. Later I asked him, "What was your friend's name?" He told me he didn't know and then asked him if he told him his name. He replied, "I told him, but he didn't call me that, he just called me dude." I then asked when he called him and he said, "I just said...Hey!" Not too different from adult male interaction I hazard a guess?
Daniel is giving me a funny expression here that reminds me of his best pirate impression, "Where do pirates get their gasoline?" ......"Rrrrrrrr-co!" :)
Caleb was gleefully climbing and running around, but I found him on a couple of occasions crashed out and laying on the little mat areas ready for sleep as well. In the big jumpy area, there was this ladder that led to a slide that then had various obstacles that then led to another ladder and slide which led back into the main area. When you got in this other area, you were cut off from seeing anyone in the main area until you made it through to the other side. Caleb bravely tackled the ladder first and slid down only to discover he was trapped over there without us and called for me. I went back there to rescue him and by that point he was a little scared. He wouldn't climb the 2nd ladder and wanted me to carry him, which didn't work well and I could barely get him up and fell a couple of times in the process. Then in the meantime, Daniel tried to follow me into that area to find me and then HE was all upset because he was trapped. UGH! So then I went to rescue him and then Caleb climbed the ladder again and they were BOTH back there with me. Twins! Troublesome Trucks! Thankfully, Daniel WOULD climb up the other side and it was easier to get Caleb up the 2nd time. Following that, they stayed in the main area!
The twins had the most fun on the non-bouncy house climbing/sliding area. They climbed up that structure countless times and slid down the slide with great delight. At the very end of the time at the Safari Charlie's, Daniel injured his knee somehow and was limping around. I was afraid it was really badly hurt at first as he kept collapsing when he walked, but as it turned out he was fine (THANKFULLY!) This of course was good because I forgot to post (no pictures) that Caleb had an injury this last Wednesday while Josiah and I were at Awana. Daddy and he were playing a tickling game and Caleb came over to tickle Daddy in the chair and Daddy grabbed his arm to catch and tickle him, but he jerked away just as Daddy grabbed him and there was a ligament in his elbow that got pulled out of place over the bone (called nursemaid's elbow). The injury did not swell, so at first David thought he was OK until later he was still holding onto it and wouldn't move it at all due to the pain. As it turns out, at the E.R. (after an ambulance ride...that is ride number #2 for him for those who are counting) the doctor popped it right back into place and within minutes he was using it properly again with no pain. Amazing! Have you ever heard of a severely painful injury that has a quick fix? Wow! We were thankful!
This last Wednesday for Awana it was "Bible Character" night and so naturally I thought it would fun/funny for Josiah to be King Josiah (of whom he is named after). The story of King Josiah can be found in 2 Kings 22-23 or 2 Chronicles 34-35 if you are interested, but some interesting points from the account are that Josiah became king at age eight, he found the Book of the Law when he ordered the temple to be repaired and cleaned up, and it is written of him at the beginning of his story that he "did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left." The latter is pretty high praise and we pray and hope for Josiah to also be a man of God that would be obedient to God's ways. A funny side note to add here is that Josiah told Daddy that kings always have swords, and so he should have a sword too for his costume. And though this is probably true that King Josiah had a sword, we opted for no sword at Awana this week as it would be too much of a temptation for him to use it. :) Instead, he had his one personal scroll or "Book of the Law," which incidentally can be considered like a double-edged sword anyway, so technically....he had a sword, yes?
Here are the little guys blowing out their three candles. To celebrate we jus had Grandma and Grandpa come over and had the cake/cupcakes you see pictured here and they opened one gift each. Even Naomi and Josiah got a gift as well courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa.
Caleb & Daniel both picked out a Santa Claus cupcake with red frosting. They are a little more skilled at eating them this year than the first year they had similiar cupcakes. You can also compare to the 2nd year they had cupcakes as well, though those were white.
Caleb's cupcake-y grin.
Daniel's cupcake-y grin.
Caleb reading a card from Grandma & Grandpa.
Caleb & Daniel opening their gifts.
Caleb's face when he discovered his gift.
Daniel's face when he saw his gift.
Daniel playing with Naomi girl.
Daddy playing with Caleb. I tried to load a picture of Josiah opening a gift too, but because of blogspot's wonky formatting with pictures I would have to start over now to add it. Needless to say, he was a little jealous at the twins having a birthday. Grandma and Grandpa gave him a gift, but of course he wanted what the boys had instead. It took him the better part of the afternoon to understand how to be gracious to his brothers and share the new toys nicely. Part of life I guess, a part that many of us still have a hard time with in a more "adult" kind of way I suppose. Or maybe NOT such an adult way in some cases. Anyway, it was a fun birthday for them I think, even if it was very simple. 
