Electric drums

Sebastian loved experimenting with the electric drums.

Frilled lizard

This time, after watching the fish for a while, Sebastian spent quite a bit of time watching the frilled lizard.

Experiments

There was a table upstairs set up with experiments for kids. For some reason most kids were avoiding it. Julien sat right down and the three college girls that were volunteering gave him all their attention. Julien told them all about his inventions and his Pokestar movie. They were quite impressed.

Fossils

They also spent quite a bit of time digging for fossils.

More Wonderlab

In the winter, when it is yucky, we visit the Wonderlab frequently.

The boys enjoyed playing in the water until Julien, in his exuberance, fell in.

Sleeveface

Earlier this week we were inspired by "sleeveface" photos on flikr and desided to take a few of our own. We were hoping Julien would do one, but he finds them too freaky.

Morning

All ready to go to school and work.

At work

Someone commented that there aren't many photos of me up on the blog, so here I am, at work. I have a nice large window that gives me morning light.

Staci

This weekend we visited Staci, Julien's preschool teacher, and her baby, Landon. She seems so happy to be a mom! Julien was overjoyed to see her. Julien and Sebastian both enjoyed her collection of playmobil.
At the end of the visit she gave Julien a Kinder egg, a German chocolate egg that comes with a toy inside. What joy!

Pants

Doesn't Sebastian look cute in the pants Jessica made him? I don't know how she finds the time.

Five boys

John Paul and Elisa and their three boys were in town this weekend and came by for an extended visit. Julien was thrilled to see Graham. And Andrew was very sweet to Sebastian. But it can get a bit rambunctious with five boys in the house.

Making brownies

We had fun making them, but they didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.

This was the first time Sebastian understood the pleasures of chocolate.

Trading cards

When Cedric recently came over for a play date, he and Julien spent most of the time trading Pokemon cards. Cedric was able to hold his cards in his hand even when playing Star Wars or being tackled (in a nice way) by Julien. When Cedric's mom came to pick him up, Julien wrapped himself around Cedric and wouldn't let go. When Cedric was finally able to get free (he wasn't really trying) and left the house, Julien cried.

At one point Cedric asked, "who's been taping up all the toys?"

Scenes

Julien has been creating lots of what he formerly called "set-ups" but now calls "scenes" -like a movie. The funny thing is, in his imagination he is creating a movie, but he refuses to actually watch a movie. Too scary. Meanwhile, he has been having us read lots of Star wars books that we checked out from the library. It can get a bit tedious.

The small playmobil Egyptian woman is Padme Amidala. She always travels with her trusty cat and two astronaut star troopers.

Pokestar

Last night, when I was putting Julien to bed, we were coming up with ideas for "Pokestar" his Pokemon/Starwars movie that he has been imagining and playing lately. The scenes involve things like birthday parties at Jaba the Hut's palace, Aipom (a monkey-like Pokemon character) swinging through the trees and visiting the ewoks, and, of course, lots of explosions and light sabers, but everyone ends up on the same side in the end and no one really gets injured. Finally, I said we had to stop and he needed to go to sleep.

He had one last request for me, "If you come up with another idea for Pokestar, pause it. Let me tell you what I do when I want to remember something. I paint a picture of it. And then, when it is time to sleep, I can dream it. I can animate it. OK? So don't forget to tell me about it in the morning!" I love the idea of painting a picture of something in my mind to help me remember it.

Tape

Julien has been using tape to create machines, spacecraft, houses and just about anything he can imagine. Needless to say, we have been going through tape very quickly in our house.

Computer

Sebastian loves watching Julien use the computer. He also loves sitting on his dad's lap when he listens to music videos on YouTube.

Messy candy cane

While we were visiting Lane, Kevin and Ada, I made the mistake of giving Sebastian a candy cane.

Teeth

Sebastian is getting in his molars. However, that is not what he is complaining about.

Happy New Year!

...a little late. Richard and I stayed up to celebrate the new year, drinking bubbly and eating smoked salmon with goat cheese. The boys went to bed hours before, but we did break out a little sparkling grape juice for Julien. He was excited to drink it from a champagne glass.

Mesmerised

Once again, Sebastian was mesmerised by the fish. Maybe it is time to get a fish aquarium?

Wet feet

Benjamin enjoyed pouring water on his feet. Luckily they had an extra pair of shoes for the flight home.

Grapevine climb

On Jessica, Andy and Benjamin's last day in town we decided to spend the morning at the Wonderlab one last time. This time we all took turns climbing up the grapevine. I have to say, it was a thrill! It is hard to see from the photos, but you really do climb quite high.

Rough and tumble

There was lots of rough housing, and a fair amount of crying at times. Benjamin was very intrigued by his big cousin, Julien. Julien enjoyed the attention.

Aren't Andy and Jessica cute in their matching stripes?

Singing the blues

Sebastian is not happy to share his favorite chair, although he looks resigned to the situation. Is Benjamin comforting him, pushing him off the chair, or singing the blues?

Finger paint

Sebastian doesn't like getting his hands messy, which can make finger painting a little difficult. But he did enjoy using other tools in the paint- balls, brushes, and sponges. Julien, on the other hand, is never shy of getting messy.

fweesh

Sebastian loved the fish (fweesh). He discussed the fish with Andy for a long time.

Building

Julien spent most of his time building stuff. He played with his friend Diego, who was also hanging out at Wonderlab.

Wonderlab

We all got a little stir crazy in the house, so it felt great to go out to the Wonderlab. Benjamin and Sebastian loved the toddler area. They climbed, crawled, splashed, banged, slid, etc. Sebastian was particularly enthralled with the balls on a wire.

Slept soundly

Sebastian and Benjamin wore themselves out, so they slept soundly on the ride home. Much better than the crying and screaming we experienced on the way to Indy. Notice Sebastian's cool pirate legwarmers, given to us by Lane.