J Reading and Singing

Jonah was working on his reading and singing before going to bed tonight...

Keeping the kids entertained

Have you ever seen those movies where kids are running around in circles yelling and there is a feeling of complete chaos?  Welcome to our house every afternoon.  Cairo and Jonah work off of each other enough as it is, but when you add Xander to the mix- Lord help you!  The kids literally run screaming around the furniture chasing one another.  Toys are flying and we are doing everything in our power to make sure that no one hurts themselves or someone else.  At times, I just want to lay on the floor, hold up a little white flag, and surrender... I'm just too stubborn to let them win.  So, I've had to get a little creative.   

Crazy kids running around?  Let's build towers out of toilet paper and paper towel rolls (as seen in a previous post).  You want to throw them?  Not a problem.

Kids bouncing off the walls?  No problem.  Grab every pillow in the house (and a few blankets), make a huge pile in the living room to jump on and crawl under, and join in on the fun- I couldn't help it.  Joining in on the fun meant no pictures of the fun... but just picture three wiggly kids and a tickling Mommy attacking anything she could get her hands on.

Sometimes harnessing their energy is easy- just pull out books, dolls, or art stuff and everything falls into place.

Running out of ideas to keep kids off each other?  Grab a camera and tell them to make faces.  I asked for scary faces and this is what Cairo came up with.....

Those were pretty good faces, Cairo.  Xander's turn.  I asked him for a scary face and this is what he gave me....

...good try X, but I think we need to work on scary.   Next, it was J-Bear's turn (we couldn't leave him out now could we?).  I like to call him the one-hit-wonder.  Jonah's scary face involved him sticking his tongue out.... over and over again.

Cairo got caught up in the spirit of the activity and came up with some even better faces....

... and then she decided it was Mommy's turn...

If everything else fails, take the kids out to play with Daddy's toys!

What do you do on a rainy day after a Costco run?

Play with the jumbo pack of paper towels and toilet paper, of course. 

After Tubby Time

After getting Jonah out of the bath (not an easy feat) we had to convince him to put some clothes on.  He was perfectly happy cuddling with his towel instead.

Elephants

The elephant exhibit opened in December at the zoo.  It wasn't until recently that we finally got the chance to make it there to see it.  Thus far the giraffes have been our favorite animals to see, but these amazing elephants are a very close second.  On this day my dad accompanied the kids and I.

To wrap the the long weekend in Arcata...

Jonah decided he was done wearing his jammies.

Our long weekend in Arcata flew by.  Though we wish we were visiting for happier occasions, we did our best to enjoy our family and our surroundings.  To wrap up the weekend in Arcata, we went to visit Grandpa Tipple, Ba-chan, and Grandpa Lee down at G & G T's house.  Jonah insisted on using the potty.  Lately, he has been more interested in the potty but he still hasn't quite figured out what he's supposed to do with it besides sitting on it.

 The afternoon before headed south on our 12+ hour car drive, we went to visit Mei and Koko.  After playtime and tea time we, bundled up to play in the playground.  Cairo and Mei had a great time running around together and Jonah did his best to join in on the fun.

Jonah's Song

Currently Jonah's favorite song is Happy Birthday... but he has added his own twist to it.  It goes "Happy Birthday Daddy Jesus."  He sings it over and over and over again.  Often times, he sings it quite loud.  Cairo hates this song and spends a lot of time trying to get this to stop singing it.  If only she would stop singing happy birthday herself.  

Have a listen-