Discovery Museum

The kids Christmas vacation allowed us time to hit all our favorite museums we have been missing out on. The first one we made sure we went to was the Discovery Museum....or the "paint on the window" museum, as the kids call it. So, of course, painting on the window was the first thing we did!

Cameron so proud of her snowman made from the moon dough table...
The boys at the train table...and Cameron not to be left out.
Ah, the gravel pit...just what a dump truck loving little boy needs!

Lunch on the rocks with a view!
They were all trying their best to take turns ringing the bell...but it was just so much fun, some (Timo) forgot they just had a turn and butted in line again!
The giant Tinker Toys were back! They all worked together really well to build a river!?
We love Discovery Museum! Can't wait to come back on our next school break!!

Zoo Lights

These are a set of pictures I'm so thankful Young was able to save...our trip out to the Oakland Zoo for Zoo Lights. Ana and I took the kids out to the zoo one day over the holiday break and planned on staying into the evening for the light show. Only when we drove all the way out there (30min away) we found out they close the zoo at 4pm, clear it out and reopen at 5:30 for the light show. AND you have to pay to get in the zoo and pay again for the Zoo Lights! Ugh! Oh well, we were already out there, the kids were all so excited so we chalked it up to experience and charged forward with out day/evening out at the zoo!



I'm so thankful they let us hang out in the cafe, after we ordered some food, for an hour between closing and reopening...it was cold outside! But then the lights came on!
We took the train ride around the park and saw all the animal lights, great views of SF, and some sleeping animals. (I had way more pictures but they all turned out blurry...)
We walked back over to the children's area to watch the light show of music and motion lights. It was a little hard for the kids to hear and catch all that was going on so they took off for the play area again...just as much fun in the dark as in the day..
The only snowflakes we saw this Christmas...
Bye Zoo Lights...see you next Christmas!

When it Rains it Pours

The other huge issue we had last week, in addition to the l.i.c.e., was our computer crashed. While researching birthday cakes styles for the twins upcoming bday, I inadvertently clicked on a picture that sent a virus and fried our hard drive. It took about four days for Young to rebuild the hard drive and make it user ready again...my amazing husband! But what makes him even more amazing is he managed to retrieve some photos that I thought were lost forever. He was able to find a "back door" to save the pictures...but we lost all the other information....bummer!

But look at what he was able to save...worth more than any documents we lost! Yeah for having a tech geek daddy!

Lice!

So this is what we have been dealing with this past week...no, it's wasn't as much fun as Timo is making it out to be...
We got the email from the school earlier in the week about one reported case of head lice in a different class than the twins' class. I kinda dismissed it and knew the chances of my kids getting it were slim. Then we got a second email the next day of a second case in the that same class. As a result, the school had called in a nurse that would be checking all the kids heads the next day but for us, as parents, to take an active roll and check out children's heads at home. That night I thought, "I'll just check to see..." Uh oh, on no!!! On Timo's head I saw a few of the eggs or "nits" and what I thought was a bug or two...so gross!! Cameron seemed to be clear but I wasn't taking any chances. We went to school the next morning, after a very sleepless night of constant lice dreams, to get the kids checked. The nurse was there and checked Timo first...confirmed, a moderate case of head lice...ugh! Cameron was clean which isn't surprising considering she tends to play by herself. But Timo is always with other kids playing and it seems all the boys in his "gang of friends" had it.

We were sent home, no school for the "contaminated" that day, with a head medication, a lice comb and a long list of instruction to be lice-free in two days. All family members had to be checked too. The hair treatment and combing wasn't the hardest part...it was all the laundry and cleaning I had to do! All sheets, pillows, clothes, bed toys had to be changes, washed and cleaned for three days in a row. Do you know how many loads of laundry that is??? And how long it takes to change all the beds everyday, vacuum three days, and live in constant fear that one little bugger got away and will reek havoc in our home again? Needless to day, it's been a very busy past 5 days!

I'm happy to report, we are lice-free for 5 days now!! We go back tomorrow for our head check but I keep checking everyday and haven't seen anything suspicious yet...oh the joys of childhood!!

October Photos

I was backing up all our pics last night and came across some from October that never got posted...how did that happen??! Especially these ones of the kids at our fav store, Target! I remember this trip because I let the kids get down and play in the toy isle...something I typically don't do b/c it ends in meltdown when it's time to go.

But we made it out without a scene and tried out our climbing abilities on the Target circle.

We can find fun in anything...


Timo just being Timo...silly as ever.

Ice cream in the park one Sunday after a long balance bike ride. Keep in mind these were all in October...such beautiful weather!

Cameron's Camera

And here is what I found on Cameron's camera. She took more pictures of other people and objects than Timo did. I think a little more practice and she'll be a pretty good photographer.



Here are her videos...this one was her trying to figure out how to take the video but had her finger in the way for some of it.

Funny girl...

This one is so funny because she is running through the house while singing! It gets a little long, as most of her video are, but it's worth the whole watch...you get a rendition of "Go Tell It On the Mountain" at the end!

Timo's Camera

Granny and Grandpa gave the twins these "kid tough" cameras, which are really cameras that take pictures and videos, that you can then upload to your computer. Both children have been playing with them non stop, taking all kinds of pictures and video. The lense rotates around so they can take pictures of objects or pictures of themselves. I took the sd cards out to see what they had captured on film so far and was rolling in the floor laughing at some of the pictures and video they have taken!! So far pictures of themselves have been the biggest hit! I'm splitting this post into two...one for Timo and I'll do Cameron's tomorrow. Here are a few of his pics...pretty good I think...

He does love his Lightening McQueen!



You can see his is just loving video taping himself and watching himself on the screen! Just a funny boy! Young and I always say we have a class clown on our hands and this is proof...




Trying to sing the theme song from his favorite show...the Backyardigans.


This is my favorite!! Such a sweet little boy. He was trying to make a video like the ones we take of them..


One thing I found out was they were taking videos sometimes and we didn't realize it, so there were some things going on in the back ground that shouldn't be heard by others...such as me threatening to take way all their toys if they didn't clean up the toys all over the living room floor! Better watch ourselves...I see blackmail in my kids' futures..

Just a few holiday shots before we took down the Christmas tree...