The Zoo

I decided we needed to get out and do something fun today so I surprised Grant and Kate with a trip to the zoo.  On the way, Grant was so excited and tried to guess where we were going:

Are we going to Disneyland? Legoland? Magic Mountain?  A regular mountain?

He was very pleased that we ended up at the zoo.

 Here the kids are watching construction through the fence.  There are animals everywhere, but where do the kids crowd around?  This is one of those moments when parents question their decision to purchase tickets and wonder if we should've just gone down the street to watch the trucks.

 We got to see a hedgehog--it was SO cute.

 Here we found the prairie dogs.  But I thought my monkeys were more fun to look at, so you can't actually see any prairie dogs in the picture.

Grant got to touch the snake which he thought was pretty cool.

We decided that next time we should bring the allergy medication and try the petting area.  Grant has had some pretty bad allergies to animals in the past, but since he's doing better we might give it a shot.  It was a really fun day and PERFECT weather...I can't wait for our next adventure at the zoo!  

An Oldie but a Goodie

The RIGHT Way to Wear Flip Flops

Kate showed me today how my flip flops were supposed to be worn.  I tried, but it was quite uncomfortable and garnered lots of strange looks.  I think I'll stick with the good old fashioned way.

She's really into shoes and is determined to find a way to wear them, no matter what.  Flip flops end up around her ankles and she can frequently be heard with either her shoes or Grant's shoes on her hands and clopping around the house.  And for some reason socks always end up on her hands as puppets.  Not sure where that came from since I can't remember me or Nate ever doing that.  It's sort of gross, though, because she'll find a sock that Grant discarded and put it on her hand then make kissy noises and expect us to kiss the puppet.  Um, no thanks.

I Love Random Conversations

This evening, Grant was chatting with us and said "Right is this way and left is that way."  He had them correct and I was a little surprised so I asked him how he knew.  He said, "I learned it."  I assumed it was from school so asked him and he said "No, upstairs."  So I asked him who taught it to him.  He replied, "Nobody--I just thinked about it."

Earlier I was telling him what a good big brother he is and how proud I am of him.  He told me "I used to not be able to be kind to Kate Kate but now I can."  I asked him what had changed and he said "I tried and I tried and then I could.  It's a Christmas marigold!"

Sometimes when Grant's praying, he asks Jesus questions and tries to wait for Him to answer.  I told him that God doesn't talk to us so we can hear Him.  I told him that God used to speak to people sometimes, but He doesn't do that any more.  He's very curious about that.  "Why?  Did He lose His voice?"  Then he thought about Jesus being born and decided "Maybe you can teach Him how to talk since He was a baby."  I clearly was not doing a good job of explaining why God doesn't speak audibly to us.

Kate at Chuck E. Cheese

We finally got to visit Chuck E. Cheese today.  Grant had a great time and chose to get a slinky with his tickets.   Kate didn't get the full experience since she couldn't walk around, but she got to dance with Lola and watch Chuck E. Cheese do his little interaction with the kids and she thought it was GREAT.

Updated Living Room

I promised my mom I would post pictures once the flooring and painting were done, but never got around to it.  I had to take all the "after" pictures at night, so it's a little dim.

 

Mary's Lesser Know Special Job

We were reading a Bible story the other night about the angel appearing to Mary to tell her she would be the mother of the Messiah.  The pictures in the story showed the angel and Mary, but the last page of the story just showed Mary in a field of flowers with a bouquet in her hand (as it was describing her pondering what had just happened).  After reading the story, there were questions at the end.

Me: What special job did God want Mary to do?
Grant: Hmmmm...pick flowers?
Me: No.  Remember, the angel came and told her there was a special job God wanted her to do?
Grant: (thinking and concentrating on the picture of Mary and the flowers) Was it decorate?

So we decided we'd better read the story again and listen a little better the second time.

Random Quotes

Grant's trying to be more multicultural, but he's got a little ways to go:

"Do you speak England?  Hola!"

"I'm going to get on a plane and fly to Chinese."

"I like Mexago.  What's Mexago?"

Tickle Tickle

Kate has been so much fun lately.  She's so happy and gives lots of smiles and kisses.  One of her new favorite things is to tickle us.  As she does it she says, "Tickle tickle tickle tickle..." in her funny little voice.  I got a little video of her in the bathtub and you can her her saying it after I tickle her.

Kate's Favorite Way to Wear Bows

Nate figured this one out.  Only a dad would think of putting bows on the toes but Kate thought it was GREAT.

The Great Toy Clean Out of 2012

Grant has WAY too many toys.  While cleaning his room this weekend, I asked him to find any toys he no longer wanted or needed and put them in the hall.  At the end, this is what I found...

I'm so glad we got that out of the house.  It will feel so much cleaner in his room from now on.

Sharing a Snack

"More"

Kate started saying a new word today..."more."  We were pretty sure that her next word would be something related to food.  She would do the sign for "more" and say something close to it then laugh and cheer.  It was a fun day.

Christmas Afternoon

A Visit from Jill and the Kids

Jill and the kids came to visit right after Christmas.  It was so fun to have them at our new house and finally have room for everyone to sit down at the same time if we wanted.  :-)

Eating pizza for dinner 

Kegan is always so helpful!

Kate Kate and Auntie Jill--she warmed up to Jill really fast.

Jared was so gentle with Kate!

Kate and the Piano

Kate loves music.  She will dance whenever she hears music and when I start to play the piano she comes over and wants to join me.  I sit her on the bench next to me and she plays along and will try to sing with me if I'm singing.

Here's a little video of her playing:
Kate and the Piano

First Homework

Grant got his first homework assignment right before Christmas.  He sat down and diligently worked on it.  By the end he'd decided it was "too much work" and was no longer excited about homework.  That didn't take long, did it?  I opted not to tell him he had another 12+ years of homework to go...or that it got harder than writing his name.

Kate's First Trip to Disneyland

 We love to visit Disneyland during the Christmas season and it was fun to take Kate for the first time.  It was a beautiful day and we had a great time together.

Sickies

We were all sick up until Christmas.  Most of our time was spent like this:

Fortunately it was just colds so we weren't too miserable.  It was actually really nice to just all lounge around as a family and snuggle with the kids.  But I still vote for no colds next Christmas.

Grant started feeling better first and took over picture taking for us.  Here is part of his documentation:

Me and Kate Kate (you have to look hard to see her peeking behind me).  And yes those are footy pajamas...don't knock em' till you've tried them.

Kate Kate eating lunch and wondering, "Why does HE get to touch the camera?"

Snuggling

There are always quite a few foot pictures when Grant is in charge of the camera.

Can you guess what we were watching?  Grant didn't like the movie and decided that "the green guy" (Buddy) was the bad guy.  He's clearly not ready to appreciate "Elf."

Jesus' Birthday Cake

Grant was adamant this year that he wanted to have a birthday cake for Jesus.  I picked up a small cake from the bakery and some icing for him to decorate it.  Then this happened...

...and that was the end of the cake decorating.

He was a bit dismayed about the size of the cake.  "Jesus' birthday cake is smaller to mine."  He didn't understand  why Jesus would have a smaller cake than he had on his birthday.  It was wonderful to see his enthusiasm and excitement over celebrating Christmas as Jesus' birthday.