Opus 408 - Cocoa Party

It's amazing how much the kids' imaginations have developed lately. They're constantly dreaming things up. The other day at church, Lissa was putting "ice cream" on the back of her Princess magnets and putting them together to make cookies. I have no idea where she got that from since we've never had ice cream and cookies. One day, they decided to have a cocoa party for Mickey and Minnie (and a few special Princess guests).

Opus 407 - Singing Time

Lissa and Joshua have really gotten into singing over the last few months. Their favorite songs include "Twinkle, Tinkle," "I am a Child of God," "The Cougar Song," "Jingle Bells," and the ABC song. As I type this I'm listening to them singing in their cribs when they are supposed to be sleeping.

Jingle Bells

Notice the short attention span :)

Twinkle Twinkle
More short attention span...

Opus 406 - Bowling

Another "get out of the cool weather" activity we tried was bowling. Lissa and Joshua have little bowling pins and balls that they love top lay with and they like to watch us play bowling on the Wii, so we figured they would enjoy bowling. We hit that one right on the nail! They absolutely loved bowling and keep asking us to go again. Grandma was brave and came along. I love how easy it is to bowl with kids these days. It's amazing how you can just tell the computer which people get bumpers and they come right up when it's that person's turn! The disability ramp was a major help!

Joshua taking a turn

Lissa showing off her form

Grandma

Don't they look so happy?

Okay, I have to tell you that we are not good bowlers. I'm the only one that broke 100 and I scored exactly that - 100. Joshua, yes Joshua, came in 2nd place! Oh man, we need some practice!

Opus 405 - Train Ride

When it started to get a little cold in Phoenix*, we had to get creative to keep the kids active and entertained. One day we decided to go downtown and take the kids on the light rail. Grandma and Aunt Lissa came along. We parked near my Grandma's old house and rode the train to Chase Field. It rained quite a bit, but it wasn't bad when we were at Chase Field.

Joshua LOVED seeing the big baseballs and bats.

Lissa was less interested :)

Both kids had a blast riding on the train.

After riding the train, we drove by Grandma's old house. The new owners have kept it up well. It is always nice to drive by her house.


*It was quite cold for Phoenix. If I hadn't been there, I'd be laughing right now, thinking, "Yeah right, it hit 50 right?" But I am a witness - it was the coldest Phoenix has had in over 20 years. It even snowed in Mesa! (Naturally, it didn't stick since the ground hadn't been cold long enough.) The funniest part of the cold spell was seeing all of the flowers and shrubs covered with sheets and towels.

Opus 404 - Mesa Temple Lights

On the Monday following Christmas, we drove out to Mesa to see the temple lights. It was a pleasant night and the kids enjoyed seeing the lights. They did not, however, enjoy having pictures taken of them that night :) (The blankets on the kids are deceiving - it was not cold enough for blankets, but Lissa and Joshua really wanted to have them.)

Opus 403 - Christmas

We had a very pleasant Christmas. The kids didn't wake up too early - about 8:00ish. It's the joys of having kids that are still a little too young to fully understand Christmas. They knew Christmas was coming (we made a paper chain - they loved taking one off each day and seemed to understand that when we got to the end it would be Christmas) and they knew Santa was bringing presents (we left cookies and milk out and everything), but I don't think, when they went to sleep Christmas Eve, they really understood that when they woke up it would be Christmas.

Once they saw the tree and noticed the new presents and the unwrapped toys, they caught on.





Grandma and Grandpa Smith have two of those old Little People train sets at their house. Lissa and Joshua LOVE them and can play with them for hours. We thought it would fun for them to have a set of their own. They were a hit!


Santa brought Joshua a lawnmower. Sadly, it doesn't fully understand what it is. Since we live in a townhouse, we have landscapers that use riding lawnmowers. Joshua thinks it's a vacuum :)


Santa brought Lissa a stroller. She loves to load it with toys and push them around.




Santa also brought both kids a baseball and bat. Joshua loved trying his out in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard. We SERIOUSLY need a backyard for these kids!





The kids loved playing in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard. Another nice thing about visiting Arizona for Christmas: playing in the backyard on Christmas day!

Jump rope fun:





"Ring-a-Rosy" (as the kids call it):


More lawnmower and stroller fun:

After enjoying Christmas morning at Grandma and Grandpa's, we headed over to my cousin's house for her annual birthday party. It was nice to see the family. Lissa and Joshua wowed everyone with their singing of the BYU Fight Song (they know almost every word!!). Well, almost everyone. The ASU grads weren't as impressed :)

Opus 402 - Parks, Parks, and more Parks!

One of the best perks of visiting my parents in the winter is that the kids get to play outside. We brought their bikes with them and took several trips to the two nearby parks. Lissa and Joshua LOVED it! They have missed being able to go outside and play at our park. We had two very happy kids. Lissa even got brave enough to learn to do some climbing (sorry, no pictures). She got so good that she was able to do it by herself. Joshua gave it a go too and got pretty good. I think he would've perfected it if it hadn't turned rainy and cold a few days after Christmas, thus severely limiting our outdoor activities.







One of Lissa and Joshua's favorite things to do when using the slides: One goes down, then waits to "catch" the other.


Lissa and Joshua really enjoyed these whisper things too. I don't remember what they're officially called, but the kids sure thought they were fun!



Both parks had sand. Oh boy, did the kids LOVE the sand. Grandma was so cool - she got right down into it and made things in the sand with them.