Our Third Tuesday With Claire (9-18)

Since the star house came out over the weekend so did ALL the other pieces that go with the nativity in the Christmas toys box.  Isaiah was a little worried when Claire wanted to see the star house, but he happily shared the barn with her (which is also cool and makes noise and is one of his favorites).  They  (mostly Claire) enjoyed the other pieces.  Isaiah thought it was fun to play with the sheepdog and sheep and then Claire could have all the rest of the pieces.  Good thing Claire is little and doesn't have huge opinions...yet!

They are figuring out the sharing of the Christmas toys!

Claire enjoying her collection...she loves making piles in this little chair.

Sometimes Isaiah takes a break from playing toys to throw the rope for Sophie.  Sophie really enjoys playing rope with him!

 Holding HIS pieces-the sheepdog and sheep!

 

Claire LOVES to play on our stair landing.  Today she wanted Isaiah and I to be up there with her.  It is a small space but that doesn't seem to bother either of them.  Sitting with toys all around you is the best!

More Kayaking at Cook Park

Last Sunday we still had nice weather so we enjoyed another afternoon of taking my parents kayaks out on the river again.  Elise and I with Campbell riding in my boat went out first.  When Campbell got done riding then we went back and got Isaiah for his ride/turn.

Elise and I went kayaking first so then we could take the kids to the playground.  The boys are really learning to like Cook Park.  Isaiah has made a funny little park routine...he totally goes out of his way to get to the slide, but is so cute to watch his process!

Greyson already building his muscles by doing a few pull-ups on the bars.

Campbell is so tall that he has to duck down to fit into the tube slide.  I think he is so cute!

 

Tire Swing

Last Saturday we meet our friends the Stevens (family who has four boys adopted from Florida) at Stella Olsen Park (Woodhaven park as Isaiah calls it).  By the end of our visit we finally got both boys, Elijah and Isaiah, on the tire swing and enjoying each others company!  Hopefully with a few more play dates these two boys will be good friends.

Star House

On Friday, September 14 Travis went in to get Isaiah (remember he doesn't get off his bed until we go into his room to get him).  When Daddy went in to get him Isaiah started talking about wanting the star house.  Daddy wasn't sure what he was talking about so Daddy sent Isaiah in to see me to see if I knew what he wanted. I thought he was talking about a wooden nativity that is in our closet that has a star on the top.  I told Travis that was what I thought he wanted so he went to get it, but then Isaiah started saying star house and barn and then I realized he wanted the Fisher-Price Nativity...Christmas Toys box.  Being the giving in Mommy that I am I told Travis to go ahead and get it down for him. Yes the Christmas toys are out and being played with in September!

How could I say no to playing with the Christmas star house and barn when he was so excited to play with them.  I love that he remembers these toys from last December and can voice his request to play with them again.  And yes, the Christmas toys are still out...and he is still loving playing with them!

This also began our potty training today.  The star house was a great toy to play with/listen to the music while trying to go potty!  

Reading New Books

On Thursday morning, September 13 when I went in to get Isaiah up (he doesn't get off his bed until we go in to get him- yes he is an amazing kid) he left our snuggle time pretty quickly and I wasn't sure where he was headed.  I quickly hear him right outside his room so I came to see what he was doing.  He was in our upstairs hallway landing and had pulled a few new books off my bookshelves.  This is not something he has regularly does so it was fun to watch him.  After getting out several different books he found Trucks and Mouse Mess that he attached to and wanted to read over and over again.  He enjoyed the new books so much that he had to take them downstairs with us when we went to eat breakfast.  

 I love that my son LOVES to read!  

Playing at the Park with Friends

On Wednesday, September 12 we finally got to explore the cool park (Pirate Park) by Sarah's house.   Sarah has been talking about this park for quite awhile, probably almost a year since they moved into their new house and she discovered it, but we never made the short hike to explore it...until today!

Brook, Michaela, Josiah and Isaiah and I meet Sarah, Lily, and Nathan at their house around 10:30am.  We  fairly quickly got loaded into our strollers to walk to the park.  I am not positive what time we reached the park, but we stayed until a little after noon.  Then we continued our fun by walking to a nearby Subway for lunch and then returned back to Sarah's house.  

Isaiah loved the sandpit at Pirate park!  

Here is proof that we all finally made it to Sarah's cool park!  It was worth the wait because it was cool so we will have to go there again!

Our Second Tuesday With Claire (9-11)

We had fun playing with Claire again.  Isaiah likes having Claire over to play, but is also still learning about sharing his favorite things.  

Last time she came over we stayed inside and explored a lot of our downstairs toys.  This time right after she got here we ventured outside to our backyard to explore our sand table and music chimes.  She thought both were fun new experiences!

When we designed our sensory table we had Isaiah's height in mind, but we forgot to account for the fact that some of his friends are younger and a little shorter.  Nothing a chair couldn't fix, but since Claire needed a chair Isaiah wanted one too.

We don't have a ton of toys in the sand table so I brought out some trucks to drive in the sand.  They both thought that was a lot of fun!

Isaiah got creative and even started filling the dump truck car toy with sand and then moving it to a new area of the sand table and then dumping it.

After a while outside they were ready to come inside for new toys.  Claire lots to hangout on our stairs landing area and play.  Isaiah was a little unsure about her holding/liking the cups.  I solved the problem by sending Isaiah to his bedroom to get his second set of cups and then they each had a set to use.  Claire liked watching Isaiah spin the cups.  She wanted to do it too, but he wasn't interested in her being that close to him.

Claire happily left Isaiah to play cups and she went to explore a new box I put in the living room.  The box she explored was our music box.  She had fun emptying the box and checking everything out.

Eventually I had two hungry kids and it was time for a yummy snack!

While they were eating snack Isaiah wanted to spell words.  He asked about Claire's name so we made it with our fridge magnet letters.  He had fun practicing how to spell her name over and over (for several days-till the letters got moved around).

In the afternoon Isaiah and I went with Nonna to Target.  Isaiah's new favorite way to shop is to go to the toy section and find a toy (or three) to play with in the cart while I shop and then before we head home we put them back on the shelf and say see you next time.  I love that he is willing to do this because he has a good time while running errands and I can get a few things done!

He LOVES the cars Shake N Go cars!  Today he played with Sarge, Finn, and Professor.