Beach Trip

All of us made a trip to the beach cabin this past weekend, to relax and recover from Christmas. We stopped by the Astoria pool on the way and let the girls swim. They looked forward to it, as they had not been swimming for quite awhile. Tor didn't get into the pool, since he was still recovering from a fever that he had been suffering for the past 2 days (two new teeth were coming in). The girls ended up swimming for almost 2 hours, thanks to pretty warm temperatures of the water. Afterwards, we had ice cream at Custard King and headed to the cabin.

It was cold at the beach on this trip, so we mostly stayed inside. The girls had lots of videos to watch after Mckenna and Lindsey Paul donated a bunch to them, including many Barbie movies. We also played the Busytown board game that the girls got for Christmas ... it was a big hit, and they were always asking when we'd play it. Tor was content with crawling everywhere and exploring. We did make a quick trip to the beach before heading home, but it was only long enough to look around and get cold.

Christmas Day

It was a busy, busy Christmas day! We started out with opening stockings and Santa gifts early in the morning. Daddy had to wake up Jillian and Bridget at 7:00 am (they're usually up themselves by this time), since they had wiped themselves out with so much playing the night before. When Daddy woke them up, they were ready to go, and ran to wake up Mommy and Tor. They immediately saw the stockings and dug into those in short order, then moved quickly onto the Santa gifts. They were also excited to watch Mommy and Daddy open their presents from the girls. Meanwhile, Tor had a good time playing with wrapping paper and bows.

At 9:00 am, we took off for Cindy and Scott's new (and not quite finished) house, to join the Paul family for breakfast and presents. We gathered around both the tree and the space heaters, since there was no other heat in the house. That didn't slow down the girls much, though, as they were still going strong opening presents and playing with Lindsey and McKenna. Torion, on the other hand, was very reluctant to be held by anyone other than Mommy and Daddy, and Papa Ken who showed up a little later. After a couple hours, we headed back home to allow the girls to relax with a couple shows.

At 2:00 pm, we went to Auntie Greta's house for the Peterson family lunch / dinner. The girls were totally revved up to play with Adam for the next couple hours, and play they did. They stopped briefly for a little food, but otherwise they played hard. Torion did OK playing either by himself or with Meagan. The present opening for the kids was a controlled chaos, and Tor got to play with not only wrapping paper but also some cool toys. We also got treated to Papa Ken proposing to Bev! So, now the kids have a new step-grandmother!

At 5:00 pm, we headed up to Uncle Dan and Aunt Robin's house for the Woodruff gathering. Once again, the girls went downstairs and played for awhile before getting to open their presents. Tor played with whatever he could get his hands on while the girls tore through their presents. One of the interesting presents they received was a pair of Sumo Inflatable Tubes. The family enjoyed watching the girls wear them and bounce off each other, though Bridget was usually the one getting knocked down.

By the time we returned home at 9:00 pm, we had some very tired kids on our hands.

Christmas Eve

It was a long wait for Christmas Eve, but it finally arrived. Jillian and Bridget were very excited to see Santa, and this would be Torion's first time seeing him.

When we got there, the girls immediately took off downstairs to play with Rielee and the twins, while Torion stayed upstairs and clung to Daddy ... too many people and too much going on. He refused to leave Daddy's arms for awhile. The girls did come upstairs to grab a small bite to eat, but they couldn't be bothered with too much eating when the playroom was calling them.

When Santa came knocking on the door, Jillian and Bridget were jumping up and down and crying out his name. Bridget especially was excited, and was the first to jump up on Santa's lap and talk to him. Jillian was next, and she took a little more serious tone with him, particularly when Santa asked if she had been a good girl (Jillian didn't want to answer that one). Surpisingly, Torion did really well sitting on Santa's lap, looking at him and trying to figure out who it was ... he tried to move his beard out of the way to see him better. Eventually, he started crying and was handed back.

Cookie Makers

Here's a photo of Jillian and Bridget "helping" Mommy make Christmas cookies a few days ago. Mommy spent much of her time trying to keep them from getting hurt. Their favorite part of making cookies? Pouring sprinkles all over them!

Nutcracker Ballet

This was the first time that we went to the Nutcracker Ballet with both Jillian and Bridget. They were both very excited. Jillian kind of knew what to expect, but Bridget needed a little coaching ahead of time about being quiet.

We had some decent seats, about half-way up and on the aisle. The first thing we did was check out the orchestra (the girls are standing in front of it in this picture). Then, while we waited for the show, the girls checked out the program. When the show started, it was a full-time job of keeping Bridget quiet ... she did a good job of whispering, but she wanted to whisper for the first 15 minutes of the show, commenting on what was going on and asking all kinds of questions. It didn't help that she was really tired (it was past normal bedtime). Jillian was pretty focused on the show throughout, and only faded at the end.

Watch Out!

 Watch out!  Tor is crawling everywhere so we had to put up the gate to the stairs.  Tor crawled over to the railing and was watching himself in the mirror that's across on the other wall.  Bridget joined him to keep him out of the trimmings but she didn't need to because he doesn't like the feel so jerks his hand back.

 When Tor crawls into the kitchen I give him a pot or pie pan and he's happy for a long time.  Everything is new now.

 Bridget wanted a picture taken of her and this one shows off her big pretty eyes.

Papa patiently explained how the girls should put icicles on the tree like his mother did painstakingly, but it was not to be as they ended up throwing on handfuls at a time.  They said it was beautiful.

Picking Up Speed

Tor has gotten the crawling thing figured out, so now he can cover a pretty good distance in a short amount of time. Today, he crawled across the family room and dining room to get to the light-up reindeer that sits on the floor. He's capable of crawling all the way without stopping, but he's fond of stopping and clapping (giving himself some self-praise for crawling so well).

Another Smoothie to Make

 We have another smoothie drinker.  Tierney enticed Tor to crawl to her on the floor to get some smoothie from her and he loved it.  He can sometimes get it up the straw but most of the time he just licks it off.

 Tor loves to stand behind his walker and play for a long time now.  I do prop the wheels from moving as he isn't that good at walking yet, just standing.

Papa and Bridget went out and found a "Charlie Brown" tree just for her and Jillian to decorate downstairs.  When Jillian got home from school, she was ready to decorate with bracelets, necklaces and jewels.  Tierney made a chain to add to the tree.  After the tree got knocked over with Jillian trying to reach the top, the tree now is on the floor where she can reach the top easily. 

Tierney's Home

 Bridget has a workbook that helps on motor control and yesterday she announced that she wanted to do her homework in her workbook.  She worked hard and she is getting so much better on following the lines.  She was very proud of her papers.

It was a great day for both Bridget and Torion as Tierney was home from college and spent a lot of time with both of them.  Then when Tor was taking his nap, Bridget got all of Tierney's attention. 

Tree Decorators

Jillian and Bridget gave Mommy a hand with decorating the tree tonight. Jillian was able to do quite a bit, pretty much covering much of the bottom part of the tree with ornaments. Bridget hung in there for a little bit, but then started breaking ornaments, so she was done. Mommy did the rest for about an hour or so, while Tor watched.

Christmas Tree Search and Train Ride

At the tree farm Bridget would wander off to pick out the family tree and it would always be the tallest one she could find, like the one directly behind her in the picture.  She was pretty good natured about looking for another one when someone said no.



Rick and Heather had picked out a tree when Jillian found this one and insisted it should be the one.  Daddy is taking a picture of a little attitude but pretty soon she was smiling at Daddy.

This is the final tree they found after hiking to the far corners of the tree farm in search of the perfect tree.  By then everyone was feeling a little frozen.

Next it was off to the Chehalis Steam Train ride with Santa. They had hot chocolate and cookies before the train left and then on the ride Santa visited with each child.  We sang Christmas carols and Bridget was brave enough to request a song.  The funniest part was when each family had to sing one part of the Twelve Days of Christmas.  After the ride they got a picture with Santa.  Bridget at the time was more interested in the inflatable bear.  Tor didn't start tearing up for about a minute.  Next year they want to take the Polar Express ride on the train.

Family Photo

We went to Picture People in the Vancouver Mall today to get our family photos taken, our first ones with all 5 of us. We also got 9-month pictures of Tor.

For trying to get pictures with 3 little kids, we did OK, at least for the first 10 minutes. Luckily, that's when we had the family photos taken, and those turned out pretty good. It was the attempts at a photo of all 3 kids together that failed miserably, between Bridget flopping all over the place, Jillian getting distracted and Torion crying. We did manage to get some decent shots of Tor all by himself, so we actually were successful in getting what we wanted.

Here's our family picture and Tor's 9-month picture ...

Snow!

When Jillian woke up and saw the snow she was so excited so almost couldn't contain herself.  Sadly Longview was having school on schedule but Castle Rock was starting 2 hours late and eventually they cancelled school all together.  Jillian just had to run outside for a few minutes before school and Bridget followed in her "jammies".



After breakfast Bridget couldn't wait to go outside to play in the snow.  We tried to build a snowman but the snow was too powdery to pack.  It didn't take her too long to get cold and want to go back in, especially with a skirt on.

Peter Rabbit

When Jillian gets home from school she always wants soup and her smoothie.  Sometimes Ty is there with his basketball buddies so she has lots of company. She gets to watch a show on TV while she's eating her snack and the boys complain because they want to watch Sportscenter.  Here they are all watching an episode of Peter Rabbit or just patiently waiting for it to be over.  Secretly I think they still like the cartoons. 

Crawling Boy

Here is Tor getting his knees under him and taking off.  But he doesn't go too far yet before there's a belly-flop.  If he wants something out of reach he will get to it now.  Then he's so happy about his accomplishment, he sits up and claps and smiles. 

Polar Express

Heather and the girls went to the free showing of The Polar Express at the Kelso Theater Pub tonight. The extra special treat was that they got to see Santa! Jillian told him that she wanted a bell (just watch the movie to find out why), and Bridget asked for Sofia the First. They also were given compasses and tickets. Both were so excited to tell Daddy all about it when they got home.

Tor's First Haircut

 Tor's hair was a little scraggly and wild with both his baby hair and new hair coming in, so it was time for a haircut before his family picture.  It was not an easy task as the cord was of great interest and anytime you'd touch his head, he'd jerk around.

 Here is the handsome boy looking good!

Rielee got to come visit during Black Friday, so Jillian was thrilled.  Jillian hasn't played with the Lego for a long time, but with Rielee there it takes on a new perspective.  Bridget felt left out at times so once in awhile they would include her.  She is good about playing with dolls on her own when Jillian isn't insisting she play school with her.

Picker Upper

Tor has gotten very good at picking up Puffs to eat. He also does it very quickly ... a sudden stab with his left hand, a fast cram into his mouth, sometimes with an assist with his right hand to help guide it in.

We've also been working on the "more" sign, but that's still a work in progress. Tor does it sometimes, but usually only when prompted.

Play With Me!

Ty came down to babysit and Jillian kept him busy playing hide and seek, hide the treasure, race, and anything else she could think of, and then Sportscenter's top 10 plays came on and Ty stopped to watch and Jillian was right there bugging him to come play.  She loves it when Ty comes.  He had his friend Jason with him and Jason was so good entertaining Tor.  Tor loved all the attention and things happening that he stayed awake way beyond his afternoon nap time. 

Scooter

Tor has found his own way of getting around.  Today he started over on the rug and soon he had worked himself over to the TV console to get this glass bird.  He kind of reaches out like he's going to crawl and then sits back up closer to where he wants to go.  Now things down low aren't safe.

Pre-Standing

Tor has figured out how to stay standing up (while holding on to something). Just before this, he never kept his legs straight for more than a moment, but now he stays up for many minutes at a time. In this case, he had the toy bins to keep his interest. He's pretty proud of himself, as you can see from his big smile.

By the way, Tor now has his top two front teeth in, so when he bites, it really hurts.

Playtime Pretend

 It's funny how sometimes Bridget wants a picture taken when normally it's the hardest thing to do.  And she wants to see the picture right away.  She did four poses with her Dora checkers set.  She doesn't do checkers yet, but just lines them up in some pattern she invents.

Jillian is ready for playtime after school.   Here she is reading a bedtime story to Bridget who will do this activity for about one minute.  Earlier Jillian was the teacher, but then when Bridget got hit in the eye (pretend) she switches to the nurses roll and treated her in the nurse's office.  She used the magnifying glass to check her eyes and one of Tor's playthings to do an X-ray of her chest.  (Being like her Mommy.)  Then school was out and Jillian becomes the Mom.  Bridget is surprisingly patient as she goes along with most of it but it's comical to see when she rebels.  One time Jillian was on the phone a long time reporting to Bridget's parents about her misdeeds.  It is just so FUN to watch.

Detective Bridget

When Bridget gets the magnifying glass in her hands, she becomes Detective Bridget. Then, her focus becomes finding clues and solving mysteries. We have a lot of mysteries in our house, including "The Case of the Bunny Thief"and "The Case of the Big Ears". Jillian likes to get involved, too, either helping out or coming up with mysteries.

Chilling at the Park

Tor played it cool in the swing at the park, being a serious boy and watching everything that was going on around him. Jillian and Bridget ran around the playground and enjoyed the sunny weather. Daddy tried to get a nice Fall photo of the girls in the leaves, but it was getting close to nap time and they were both delirious, so no picture this time.

Pre-Crawling

It probably won't be too long before Tor is crawling, since he's already aggressively reaching for everything that is even remotely close to him. He's had a few faceplants, which make him pretty mad, but that hasn't stopped him.

Finally a Picture

Finally got them to take a picture with their leaf turkeys which turned out very cute.  Jillian also wanted to hold the pictures of ladies in uniform she had colored for Veteran's Day.  Papa Ken got to attend the Veteran's Day Celebration in Jillian's room which made Jillian very happy.  Bridget held one of Jillian's pictures.

Clapping Boy

Tor is so easy to take pictures of as he smiles right at you, as opposed to Bridget and previously Jillian, who would look at the camera for 1 second.  Tor here is clapping-his newest feat.  If we say "Clap, clap" he will clap enthusiastically.  The Patty-cake rhyme works too.  I tried to get a picture of Jillian's and Bridget's turkey they made with the leaves but they were too busy playing.

Busy Playing

 Tor likes to sit in front of the bins with toys in them.  He always goes for the musical instruments bin and shakes them.  I've noticed lately that most of his shaking of instruments is with his left hand.  It's too early to tell yet but maybe?  Also lately he is grabbing the second shelf and trying to get up.  He was on one knee today so it won't be long.

The girls decided today to get out the Lego that they haven't played with forever.  They made all sorts of clever creations.  Both of them picked colorful fall leaves today to press to use in making a turkey tomorrow. 

Soccer Trophy

Jillian had her end-of-year soccer party at Mr. Bill's Espresso with her teammates and coaches. She was so excited to get her first-ever trophy. Here's a photo of her with her teammate Brooke.

Doggie Fun

Now that Torion is sitting up, Sophie likes to play with him.  He will grab Sophie so she comes from behind to try to lick Tor.  If Sophie licks his ear he will turn and try to grab her and she will run to the other side.  Once Tor got hold of her name tag and after that whenever Tor reached, Sophie would dart just out of reach.  They had a good time for quite awhile.