with Kent's family.
Our agenda was simple - Have fun!Here's a sampling of our itinerary.
1. Phoenix Childrens' MuseumThis place was amazingly fun for Jack.
I highly recommend going if you're in the area.
This exhibit was entitled
Whoosh!Jack spent at least a half hour repeatedly
inserting
balls into the entry tube.
Exhibit -
Pedal Power
Jack, admiring the kids cruzin'
through the kid wash.
Pit Stop - an Industrial Art floor
with a race track centerpiece.
This was one of Jack's favorite exhibits.
He absolutely loved pulling the racing gates
open and watching his
PVC Pipe car race down the track.
The cars were made of
reusedskateboard wheels and pipe.
Exploring laws of Motion
The halls of the museum are lined with
fun science toys to explore.
This display was so fun, but one of the noisiest
toys Jack has ever played with!
***
Than again, what do you expect when you play with
re bar and metal washers?
The
Art Studio:
Does any kid not love sand &
random kitchen tools?
There were other artsy type activities in this
area, but alas- they were messy fun and Jack
still has a problem cuttin' loose and getting dirty.
Poor kid; I wonder who he gets that from?
The
Grocery Store:
Jack and his friend Parker spent
a good half hour shopping for food...
***
getting checked out...
Jack also checked other kid's out and even helped
restock the shelves for other shoppers.
I had no idea that (role play) shopping was
so very enticing to a two year old boy.
The
Ball Room:
This room is filled with hundreds of balls and
dozens of different tracks and courses for
the balls to travel down.
Jack was in heaven...
Poor Jilley spent most of the morning
stuck in the stroller.
It wasn't until the 3 and younger room that she
really got to explore.
***
Jill loved all the wooden toys.
And
I loved this wooden giraffe.
You could feed it shapes and in turn the
shapes would travel down the giraffe to
the floor. I liked to think of it as the giraffe
"digesting" the shapes.
Jill couldn't get enough of this
ball chain/ping pong/plastic disk curtain.
***
The Phoenix Children's Museum touts
itself as being
eco. friendly,
and it shows in all their creative artwork.
(Notice it's mostly household
"garbage".)
***
1000's of CD's covered the
expansive 1st floor walls.
***
100's of used
shoes painted white with
sock birdsroosting atop
wire scrub pads.
The gingerbread
Refrigerator boxin the Art Studio.
Jack dug it.
Life size "
I SPY"
Chicken wire/raffia paper bat; eeekk!
2. Bling for Princess JilleyBefore:
After:
Can you tell what's different about Jilley?
On Christmas Eve Kent and Nana took Jill to get
her
ears pierced. I stayed at home, I didn't want
to see her cry. But according to Kent, Jill didn't
cry when they used the piercing gun! She
blew her
"mad raspberries" and that was it.
My favorite part about her new look is
watching her look at herself in the mirror.
Jill claps, coos, and smiles @ the
sparkles.
She's so fun to watch as she admires herself!
PS - Morally apposed to baby piercings or not,
you have to admit she does look cute.
3. scooting
Have you seen one of these scooters before?
It's a personal favorite among us Howes.
We can't get enough.
Racing, laughter, and riding tandem (or triplet)
are a must when riding Nana's scooters.
Aunts, Uncles, and cousins welcome...
The only rule when riding: Watch out for the walls.
4. gingerbread houses
This activity was meant for the
kiddos, but I think
I had the most funconstructing the family gingerbread train.
You can't really tell from the pictures, but
Jack ate at least 5 candies for every candy he placed
on the train.
auncle's (short for aunt & uncle)
meticulous 1/2 lawn house
The Martin's
Whoville's Christmas tree
complete with green lifesaver
grinch.
My favorite creation though,
was my niece Lydia's gingerbread house.
She personally picked the theme (candy of course)
and decorated it almost entirely by herself!
Here's our handy work. I can say
OUR because technically Jack helped.
He added all the
candy circles to the top
of the engine; he also added the wheels.
Awesome job , if I do say so myself.
I mean, look at that lifesaver bear
who's driving that train -that's pure
candy genius!
5. Christmas morning highlightsa. Jillian cut her first tooth (thank goodness,
we had two very sleepless nights
anticipating its arrival).
&b.Family passes to Disneyland!
Thank you so very much Nana and Pops.
We can't wait to go on January 5th!
6. The Mesa Temple lights
****
In 2002 Kent took me to see the Mesa temple lights.
It was my first trip to Arizona and one
of the first things we did together as a newly engaged couple.
Who would have guessed that the next time
we made it back to see the temple lights we
would have two children in tow?
Life has certainly been good to us these last six years!
(Lt. to Rt.-Kent, Jack, Aunt Mack, Me, Jilley,
Milas, baby Liza, Lydia, Laura, Tiffany, Steve, and Tanner)I've highlighted Kent's siblings for easy reference
(Uncle Tucker not pictured).7. Cousin PhotosIt's nearly impossible to get
5 children under threeto all sit still and smile. Here's our best attempt.
(Top - Lydia and Tanner
Bottom - Jackson, Jillian, and Liza)
***
Sorry the picture quality is so poor. I'm
guilty of the picture of the picture crime.And to think it only took 20 minutes, 5 adults,
1 teenager, multiple candy bribes,
a tube of lip gloss, and a stuffed monkey
to create this kind of magic!
8. Marshmallow guns!All
the grown-up kids got to
open one gift on Christmas Eve (after all the
little ones were in bed).
Under the wrapping paper we found
shiny new marshmallow guns complete
with a huge pail of stale mini marshmallows.
Wars raged, welts were liberally given,
and at one point I had to fish in my top
for a
stray "bullet."Enjoy the video!
9. Celebrating the birth of our Savior
As cliche as it sounds-
Jesus is the reason for this season.
