Papa's Trains

While we were up north visiting for the Burns Supper, Colin was quite happy to watch Papa Frank's trains. A LOT.







That boy loves him a train. And G looks pretty happy about it too!

Ode to a Haggis

Last weekend we were invited to a Burns Supper (click the link for the wiki info) hosted by Matthew and Rachel. We had been to their inaugural Burns Supper in 2010, but we didn't make it last year. And this year the took the kiddos along too.

Before we headed out to the fire hall for dinner, we tried to grab a quick family pictures since we were all cleaned up and looking nice. We are just not so good at those family shots.


Colin and Gillian were quite excited to go to dinner since Sarah and Ben were going to be there to play with. And the big, semi-empty room quickly turned into a race car circuit for the younger crowd.


Pretty soon though it was time to take our seats and being dinner.


(Knowing that my children would NOT eat anything offered at dinner, we packed them sunbutter and jelly sandwiches and some fruit. They were MUCH happier.)

After the soup course it was time for the star of the show: THE HAGGIS!

Haggis IN the pot.


Haggis OUT of the pot.

The Haggis Parade.



(Colin wants to play the bagpipes now.)

Now Matthew addresses his haggis. No video this year. But it was AWESOME. Colin was enthralled. He thought Matthew was silly for talking to a sausage.






And then we toasted the haggis with Scotch. (Yuck) Then it was time to eat. Very yummy shepherds pie, mashed potatoes, mashes turnips, beets, and lamb. After the main course there were several berry trifles (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and some amazing shortbread. (YUM). And some visiting.


By this time, we had to head home for bed (Colin has not slept well at all the night before, so he ASKED to go home). So we missed the poetry reading and other musical selections. Hopefully we get to stay later next year.

We enjoy the kilts and music and food and (some of us) the haggis. Very fun evening.

Self Made

Oh thank goodness! Colin has FINALLY figured out how to build his own train tracks! I used to hear about 20 times a day, "Build me a track, Mama!" or "Fix my track, Mama!" Now I just hear the occasional, "Help me, Mama!" Way to go, Colin!

Tootsies

Gillian finally persuaded me to break open the toe nail polish that Santa brought her and we did her nails. She was BEYOND thrilled! (Eww, yuck, ignore all those crumbs....)

More Pajamas!

Last Friday the kids had Cocoa Day at school. They were allowed to wear their pajamas to school, take along their slippers, and have a yummy cocoa and marshmallow treat. The school also asked for donations of new hats, mittens, and scarves for a local charity. The kids and I discussed which pajamas they wanted to wear to their party. Gillian immediately knew she wanted to wear her Tinkerbell nightgown. It took Colin a while to settle on his alien pajamas. We finally convinced him that it would be cool to wear the PJs that Great-Aunt Lori made him and be UNIQUE!From all reports, it was a VERY fun day at school!

(And now this is our third or fourth post about pajamas this month....hmmmm)

Play-Do, Pajamas, and Sniffles

So last week we had the sniffles, nothing major, just snot, coughs, and overall grumpies. We hung out at home one day in our pajamas, played some trains, did some laundry, and broke out the play-do for a bit.


That's was G's "strawberry red pie" she made all by herself.


C made a lovely blue snake.


No idea what that face was about!


More pie. Mmmmm.


Making noodles.

Fortunately, the sniffles weren't awful this time and didn't stick around too long!

Spin

For you, Mrs. K! We are certainly enjoying the bilibos! Although we think this is an "off label" use!


(Gillian was covering her cheeks because on New Year Day she got a rug burn on her cheek while spinning. Also, she was pretending to be a caterpillar and, yes, wearing ballet gear, just fyi.)

Colin was plenty happy to have a turn too.


Lots of giggles, that's for sure!

Skype-ing in PJs

We tried out skype last weekend for the first time with GraGra and Papa. In our pajamas. Is there any other way?



Colin was totally enthralled with his little picture down in the corner. He kept waving and showing off his feet.

Spiffy-ness

Just a quick picture of the kids looking spiffy before school. Colin is all happiness. Gillian is pouting because she didn't want to wear blue jeans. How dare I make her wear jeans, right?



Thanks Leah and Uncle Willis for the cute sweaters!

A Lesson in Disappointment

Before Christmas I had found a beginning ballet/dance class for Gillian to start in January. It was Thursday mornings for 45 minutes for 3-5 year olds. It was perfect for us; a great price and Colin and I could go run in the community center gym while she danced upstairs. Silly woman that I am, I told Gillian all about it and she helped pick out leotard, tights, and ballet slippers after Christmas. All pink. So the day class was supposed to start, she was all dressed and excited and could hardly contain herself! See:



What a NATURAL ; )

Colin even got in on the photo taking (unfortunately his finger was totally covering the lens):


So, off we go. All ready for class. At 10:30 we are right outside the door with two other little girls, waiting to go in and DANCE! The "teacher" walks up and flatly says, "I need 5 kids for the class. I only have 3. So it's canceled." She asked if we could do two other class times (during nap time or dinner time), but we couldn't. Meanwhile, Gillian is trying to take off her sweatpants and put on her ballet shoes. She totally didn't understand what was happening. When I finally got her to understand, she burst into tears. And I don't blame her. I had a few tears handy too. Fortunately she was pretty easily distracted, and we did go to the gym to play for a while. Luckily, there were some other little girls in the gym for her to have fun with. She did make me put on her skirt and ballet slippers while she played though! And she wore them while she napped that afternoon.

While she DID nap, I made a very polite and nice call to the recreation department suggesting that they CALL PEOPLE the day before a class if it's to be canceled. I totally understand not being able to run a class with too few people in it, but, really they could have handled it MUCH better. The lady I spoke to on the phone was very nice and sympathetic and explained that they usually DO place calls, but she wasn't sure what happened in this case. I also made my case that the teacher wasn't very personable and didn't even offer G an apology when she was in TEARS (Michael points out that perhaps we should be GLAD this woman wasn't G's teacher). Anyway, I promised Gillian I would find her a dance class as soon as I could. In the meantime, she's wearing her gear and dancing at home as much as possible.

More Colin Pics

Colin is still a busy man with his camera this week. And he got new rechargeable batteries for it, so look for lots more in the future! Just a few to share:


(Still working on keeping that pesky finger out of the way....)

Bit of an unwilling model here...


My favorite this week. For some reason it makes me chuckle. Pancakes on tv. And he doesn't even like pancakes.


And some cute ones of Daddy and Sissy.


His flattery level is improving!

Holiday Vacation Museum Time

While Daddy was off of work the week between Christmas and New Years we did a lot of household purging. A load to Goodwill, lots in the trash, some new storage ideas, you name it. We did take one whole day though to have some fun! It had been a while since we went to the Children's Museum and we thought it was time we went back. Uncle David was off that week too and he came with us (Aunt Cedes was working nights that week and needed some sleep)!



First up, a little art work!




(Colin made some paper!)

Then it was off to the "Make Shop," which is a new exhibit. The space it's in used to the the Mr. Roger's area. The museum has dismantled the old exhibit and placed some of the favorite pieces around the rest of the museum. We enjoyed the Make Shop, even if it wasn't Mr. Rogers!

Gillian and I used old plastic bags, melted with an iron, to make a scene of a fish pond, tree, and sun!



Meanwhile, the boys were playing with circuits. For a long time.



Next up were the kids' favorite exhibits. Colin is crazy for the "crooked floor" and attached slide! He loved to climb up the stairs, across the tilted floor, and down the slide. About 17 times.


Gillian loved this kaleidescope thingy-ma-jig. It was a turn table, scraps of fabric, a camera, and a projector. So you could arrange various colors and patterns of fabric on the table, spin the table, and watch the kaleidescope change on the wall in front of you. We played for a very long time!




I will admit, I highly enjoyed the kaleidescope too! Although, I really didn't get a turn to do it MY WAY!

Then we were off to the "Garage" section of the museum. Mr. Roger's trolley was there, some parachute making/flying machines, car tracks, and a large, ceiling high Rube Goldberg contraption.

Colin driving the trolley and watch the Rube Goldberg balls roll around the ceiling.



Another piece of the Mr. Roger's set...the traffic light. Colin remembered this from our first visit and talked about wanting to find it and use it when he found out when we were going to visit again!



Gillian and I spent some time building a parachute.


Then we took a lunch break. The museum was CRAZY busy that day (lots of people off between holidays, I think), so we snuck down to the "field trip" lunch room where it was relatively quiet for a break. The kids ate like they were half-starved, so their morning must have been fun!

After lunch we hit the top floor with the water play area. The camera stayed tucked safely away in Daddy's backpack. As always though, the kiddos enjoyed the water. We even spent a bit of time learning how the model lock works.

After some dry clothes, we hit up the "nursery" area. I think it's really meant for slightly younger kids, but C&G still enjoyed it.

Giant light bright!




Giant bird seed bin!


And a giant alligator to eat Uncle D!




We had had about enough by this point. So, we hit the kids' favorite spots one last time (the crooked floor and the kaleidescope) and gathered our art work, then hit the road! We had so much fun and were so glad to have Uncle D with us! And look at us on the way home:


Hmmm, we seem to have lost someone.....