We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things

It’s my blog so I can do what I want.  This blog title isn’t actually a song title this time…but an album title.  But I like it and it fits so there you go.

A few weeks ago Bella and her parents came over to play and eat teriyaki.  Bella and Camden had a lot of fun playing together; Shelby had a lot of fun chewing on the Christmas tree ornaments.

Camden has spent the last few days decorating the kitchen.  It has never looked so festive or safe for driving – can you spot the traffic light?

The other night Shelby started a game of peek a boo.  She was done with dinner and I look over and she’s just standing by her chair peering over the table.  It was funny enough that Camden had to get in on it too, of course. 

  Grandma and Grandpa Cochran came for a visit about a week ago.  Grandpa helped Camden make some snowflakes and Shelby enjoyed some cuddle time with Grandma.  They’ll be back tomorrow to spend Christmas with us.

When there are no other kids around, Shelby gets brave enough to play on the tugboat at the mall.  She had fun sliding down the stairs and Camden shouted “canon ball!” and jumped from as high up as possible.

Last Friday we enjoyed a raucous party at Pat’s house.  Lots of kids, lots of desserts, and lots of wrapping paper to pick up when all was said and done.  

  

and, since there hasn’t been a video posted in awhile, here are two.  One of the kids singing on the couch and the other of the kids dancing at the mall (it has a surprise ending…that actually isn’t all that big of a surprise).

 

“C” is for Cookie

Last week we played with the clay for a bit in the afternoon.  Camden was goofing around with the clay container on his head.  We’ve had below freezing high temperatures for the past week so much time has been spent indoors.

Since it is near impossible to get a good picture of the four of us together, we sort of did some in installments.  Camden took the one with Matt in it, Matt took the one with Camden in it.

   

On Tuesday Matt had the day off from work and him and the kids made reindeer cookies.  This is how they should look….

and here’s how they turned out.  A few of them ended up with some extra appendages or unfortunately placed antlers, but they still taste good.

Tumble in the Rough

Camden and Matt have recently started a new hobby….Rock Tumbling.  We started last week with some very rough rocks and let them tumble for one week.  Here we are about to open the container and see what the rocks look like after stage on (there are four stages total)

Here is what the water and course grit turned into after tumbling 24 hours a day for seven full days.  It all turned into a very gray liquidy sludge.  Camden didn’t think it looked very good.

I didn’t get a picture of the rocks before we started the first stage so this picture won’t really mean anything, but this is what some of the rocks looked like after the end of the first stage.

This is what the next round of rocks looks like before starting stage one.  After this we will do stage two which smoothes the rocks a bit more before we do two stages of polishing.

As you can see above, there are lots of sharp rough edges that will be rounded off in stage one.  Next week we’ll post pictures of this batch after stage one and start stage two.  Below is a picture of how it all fits together inside the tumbler with water, rocks, and the very course grit.

Carving the Mysteries

Yesterday I got to go along with Camden on his preschool field trip to a pumpkin patch.  We had a very good time tromping through the mud with his fellow little people.  All the kids got to pick out their own sugar pumpkin to take home.  The nice lady in the blue jacket is his teacher, Mrs. Eskew.

After a long day at school, I got to come home to enjoy pumpkin carving with the family.  It was very nice to spend the evening, all four of us together doing something everyone enjoyed.  Shelby helped me pick out some pumpkin seeds to roast in the oven.

daddy helped Camden carve his pumpkin.  Camden designed the face all by himself.  So did Shelby…her’s was a bit more, well….abstract.

The finished products

Pumpkin Pie

Yesterday we made our annual trip to Remlinger Farms.  We sure had fun now that both kids could enjoy all the rides.  Here we are on the steam train, posing for a rare decent family photo.

This may have been the favorite part of the whole thing for both kids.  A large area full of loose hay that acted as a spongy, messy trampoline.  Next to it was a kid’s size hay maze that left us asking, “where IS Shelby??”

The obligatory face in the holes shot.  They are so cute.

 

It is hard to imagine our little guy will very well be over 6 foot tall someday…

 

Riding the pig with their cute friend, Bella. 

 

The spinning pumpkins was Shelby’s favorite ride.  As it would slow down to end, she’d kick her feet and shout, “again! again!”  Camden’s favorite was the roller coaster.  Since we stayed until they closed, by the end of the day most of the people had left so we could just get back onto the rides without waiting in line. 

  

Here he is “driving” an antique car.  We barely made it alive.

Footprints on My Stomach

I'm too lazy at the moment to upload this one again after rotating it. You get the idea - here's how well Camden can construct train tracks nowadays....with very little help.

Here's true sibling love. First it began as this....

and then turned into this...on separate couches

Matt took the kids on a Friday to the Children's Museum in Seattle. That brave man took them on the light rail train and the monorail to the Seattle Center. They all had a really good time and learned a lot about poop at the Sesame Street exhibit.

Early in the month we helped celebrate Bella's birthday. Camden broke the Elmo pinata and Shelby ate all the chips.

The moments I love the most are ones where the kids are playing nicely with each other. Here Camden is showing Shelby a book. She loves books even more than chips so this was quite a treat for her.

Matt took Camden to a Mariner's game. They lost. However, the concession stand made a lot of money off our hungry little hippo that evening.

and here's a funny video of Camden dancing around in a pair of Matt's sweat pants. I like to call it, "My Name is Gumby...and I Can't See Where I'm Going"