Zoo Lights

To celebrate the last night of the festival of lights, we took the boys to Zoo Lights. Usually we go early in the year, right after Thanksgiving. Let me say, it was MUCH more crowded the Friday befoe Christmas. But, it wasn't too cold, stayed dry, they had a live band, AND a miniature train exhibit!

The boys were so good, we even took them out to dinner. It was a great night, until Hayden balked at his Hanukkah present. "Books again! I don't want books! And he tossed them across the room. Lovely.

Bayley lost his second tooth!

Bay woke us up this morning...with his second tooth in his hand! He was laying in bed and realized it could lay on its side, and then it was out! To celebrate we got him Iron 'Arry & Iron Burt trains from Thomas & Friends. He is so sweet, he shared the trains with Hayden.

World Forestry Center

We trekked to the Forestry Center, not realizing there would be an ENTIRE SCHOOL of kids there. We are used to smoke jumping and rafting without a line! At least Jeff and Bay didn't have to wait for the canopy lift. Bay was so excited to strap into the harness and have Dad pulled to the top of the museum with him.

Just Stay Home Days

The babes like it best when I don't try to drag them on errands, so we've spent the last two days having what they call Just Stay Home Days. Today we read 30+ books, did workbooks & art projects. Yesterday we baked muffins & cookies, again with the workbooks, and played computer games. They don't know this is low maintanance...no one tell them!

What's your favorite animal?

Hayden may well be on his way to becoming a journalist, or a psychologist. He's learned that to have a conversation, all he has to do is ask a few simple questions.

What's your favorite animal? (Hayd's is a hippo because it starts with the letter H and throws poop with it's tail)

What's your favorite color? (me too. Odds are, whatever you say he'll claim is his favorite color, then he'll tall you Bay likes orange and Eddie likes purple.)

How does a wolf sleep?

Hayden's new thing is to find out how different animals sleep. He asks constantly. How do elephants sleep? How do giraffes sleep? How do hippos sleep? You get the point.

So at bedtime he asks me, how do wolves sleep? Since wolves are like dogs, I took the easy out and said "just like Rogue."

"On blue pillows?"

He's always thinking!

His First Tooth!

Yesterday, Bay had the world's wiggliest tooth. So wiggly in fact, it caused a blister to form on his gums so every time he wiggled it, it hurt.










Prompted by Gram-mo's promis of $5, Pop-Pop's ante of 3 quarters, Orajel, and Mom's not being able to handle looking at the blister, the tooth came out today!

Burke Brother's First Christmas Tree

I think kindergarten is having a real influence on Bayley. Not only did he demand to see Santa, but he had to have a tree that was exactly as tall as him. We planned on going to a tree farm, but on our way there we found a nursery that had small ones.








That afternoon we got down all of our Christmas stuff and the boys had a great time setting up the tree and looking at all the ornaments Daddy had when he was their age. Their favorite? A set of train ornaments. HUGE surprise. HUGE!

Hillsboro Holly Days

We found the BEST place to chat with Santa. Downtown Hillsboro had a festival with free cocoa & cookies, discounts at all the shops, and Santa stopped by the art gallery to take requests. It wasn't busy at all, so my boys got some quality time with the big guy. Bayley brought him a list of all the Thomas & Friends things he wanted so the elves wouldn't forget. Hayden kept it simple, asking for Thomas, Gordon, James & Percy.

Star Wars at OMSI

The last time we tried to take the boys to see the Star Wars exhibit, we forgot it was Veteran's Day and the lines at OMSI were atrocious. This time, we thought ahead! We got there early, and there wasn't a line in sight!





The boys got to explore the Star Wars universe, and were impressed by how things worked. The magnet cars, the hovercraft, building robots, the video games and robot theater were all hits. Seeing the memorabilla held little appeal.





And of course, we wound up in the Science Playground, where after soaking themselves thoroughly with the water tables, they decided to be eagles for a while. Eddie has decided he is a red race car, and so when the eagles invaded the squirrell den, the car drove through.