Play To Learn

We went to check out this program called "Play To Learn" that so many of my friends had been talking about. It is sponsored by the Tacoma Children's Museum and it is free to attend. They have weekly playdates for the kids for a 1 1/2 hour block of time. We met at a community center and they brought all kinds of toys and activities to set up throughout the room, and all the kids come and do free play most of the time, but then they have two circle times which include singing a song or two and reading a story together.

This was my favorite picture from the bunch as you can see three of my children in it (Naomi is on the floor in the back and Caleb and Josiah in the foreground. Josiah was building a bridge and Caleb was poised to knock it down. Par for the course around here for those two roles being played out!

Josiah was probably the oldest child there, as it really is geared to the three and under crowd, but he found things to do to occupy himself. He linked all the train cars together and drove them around the room a few times.

Caleb looks very serious here as usual and he was busy working with the Playdough making something very important I am sure! He did pretty well and went around to many of the stations playing with all the toys. His favorite though were the plastic people. He took them around with him wherever he went and pretended they were walking places and doing things.

Daniel spent most of his time either doing crafts (gluing fabric to paper & a stamp art craft), playing with Playdough (as seen above) or doing puzzles. They all did pretty well for the first organized circle time, but for the second one, Daniel was walking around in the middle of the circle and then tried to get the teacher's attention by walking right out in front and getting in the way of the book. I think he was a little tired at the end as he was also laying on the ground and was somewhat fussy. He enjoyed the time there though for sure!

Naomi just crawled everywhere looking at things. At one point, they were blowing bubbles and three of them stuck to her hair that was sticking up. She really liked the bubbles and here she is happily chomping on some plastic castanets. At the end, it was really "interesting" trying to get everyone to leave with me. The boys tried to cut in line to get their treat bag (they had them special for Christmas) and so I had to wrangle them in and then when we got outside Caleb thought it would be a great idea to run down the sidewalk toward the busy street. I finally managed to corrale them all into the car and then we headed over to my friend Melissa's for a quick visit. All in all, it was a fun time, but I think I might bring a helper with me next time or plan to go with a friend!

One big bonus was that they give you a free pass to the Children's Museum as well, so that was really neat!

Three Year Old Twins!!

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.

Setting Up the Christmas Tree

How many boys does it take to set up the Christmas tree? It appers to be four. The boys had lots of "ooos" "ahhs" and a few "WOWs" thrown in when we got the tree out and started setting it up. It was great fun to sit on the Christmas tree box and use it as a bridge to the couch and other furniture.

Later, David put on some Christmas music and the boys were dancing around. Here is a good picture of Josiah and Daniel doing their thing!

Caleb's winning smile!!

Daniel making a funny face at me!

Naomi had fun exploring the area too as you can see! We still have a very top heavy tree as the twins think it is great fun to pull the ornaments off and see how many they can destroy. We had bulb lights on the bottom rung this year and Daniel figured out how to pull the lamps off and so we had to get a different string of lights that they couldn't destroy to replace them. :) After a few days though of heading to their rooms every time they touched the tree, I think we finally have it all under control. Baby Naomi has no real interest in pulling up on the tree, so that is great news for me! We shall see about what might happen next year though! Here is a link from last year's Christmas tree fun.

Carpenter Crib Biters X 3 & Josiah at 9 months

Naomi at 9 months biting the crib.

Daniel at 11 months biting the crib (they were 2 months delayed due to being born early, so this age comparison makes sense).

Caleb biting the crib at 11 months also.

Josiah at 9 months and notice if you click on this one to enlarge he has 4 possible 5 teeth! Naomi has only 2 thus far! I was trying to find a photo of Josiah biting the crib, but I don't think I ever got one because I looked and looked and couldn't find one! I am sure he did it though as I recall!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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!

To Infinity & Beyond Times 3

Buzz Lightyear #1 Josiah

Buzz Lightyear #2 Caleb

Buzz Lightyear #3 Daniel

SNOW!!

Our little Lamb-ee!

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. :)

Naomi Visits Daddy's Workplace

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.

Vivian enjoyed holding baby girl and I got a few pictures of her playing V's shiny earrings. She was very curious about Vivian and was studying her face and features very carefully. It was very cute!

Little Naomi, meet big Naomi. And we mean that in the nicest way of course "big" Naomi. Not that your "big," per se, but rather bigger than baby girl. :) Naomi's name means "pleasant" or "beautiful" and I think you can see here that they are both examples of those meanings. Big Naomi is one of David's closest co-workers and her cubicle is right next to his.

When some of the ladies on the phones heard some baby sounds, they quickly got up to see Naomi girl. This is Aurora having a turn holding the sweet baby. She is looking at Daddy in this shot as if to say, "Daddy I am tired already....enough showing off!" She was fed soon after this picture and then she fell asleep in the car on the way home. Josiah was of course with us also, but we didn't take an pictures of him this time (he had his turn a while back). On the way out, Daddy walked us downstairs and we were leaving and Josiah burst into tears and said, "I miss Daddy." He then proceeded to accidentally spill the water Daddy gave him while getting into the car and then the waterworks really kicked it up a notch. I texted David about it and he told me I could turn around and drop him off with him and he would take him home in his car. Josiah feel asleep on the way home. Long day for our sweet, oldest boy!

Science Center Field Trip

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.