Noah's 9th Birthday::Lego Castle

For Noah's 9th birthday we decided that instead of having a party Noah could invite one friend to the Portland Children's Museum to see the Lego Castle Adventure exhibit.  Unfortunately, with all the holiday hustle and bustle we weren't able to go until a month after his birthday.  The anticipation was great, let me tell you.

Noah and his buddy from school.

The entrance to the Lego Castle Adventure exhibit.

These boys have big imaginations.

We were super impressed by the life sized knights made entirely out of Legos.

Suddenly, Noah was too cool for pictures.

But this huge dragon brought his playfulness back out.

See the cute baby dragon playing with the treasure?

The boys tried jousting but it was a little too crowded to have any real fun with it.

After the Lego Castle Adventure exhibit we found that the rest of the
museum was mainly geared toward younger kids.
But we did stop in at "The Garage" to make some scrap art.  Noah made the robot below:

 Front

Back

It was a really fun day and I'm glad we got to celebrate Noah by doing a bunch of things he really loves:  adventures in Portland, Legos, and art!

Cuckoo

Miles woke up at dark o'clock on the morning and wanted oatmeal.  I dragged myself out of bed and made oatmeal for him and then sat bleary-eyed at the computer to check email while he ate.  I must have zoned out for a minute because the next thing I knew Toby was screaming, "No!  Miles!  No, that's mine!  Gimme back my pillow!!"  And Miles was cawing like a crow and laughing.  Then he came back to kitchen looking like this:

Christmas Quotes

Noah:  Mom, what's your least favorite Christmas song?
Jeana:  Hmm...that's hard.  There are so many to choose from.  I'm gonna move "Santa Baby" to the top of my list.
Noah: I've never heard that one.

Jeana sings the first two verses of the song.

Noah (in disbelief):  Wow.  Now that's just greedy.

Jeana:  What's your least favorite Christmas song?
Noah:  Santa Claus is coming to town.  It's just so creepy.  Like, Santa could be watching you in the bathroom?  Gross!
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Toby was reading a book about the first Christmas and stopped at a picture of Mary holding baby Jesus above a manger.

Toby:  Is that Jesus?
Jeana:  Yep.
Toby:   Wait, what's he doing out of the hay?!

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At Noah's school Christmas concert, Miles was not a good audience member.  He was loud and fidgety and wouldn't stay in his seat.  He kept climbing into the theater seats and then they would fold up on him and he would shout, "Ow, ow, ow, ow!" But if I tried to hold him on my lap he would yell, "No!  No yike it!"  We moved to the very back of the auditorium and I stood with him by the door, ready to make a quick exit if need be.  I whispered, "Look!  Look for Noah?  Do you see Noah?"  And he replied by covering his mouth with his finger and saying (loudly) "Shh!  No talking, Mommy!"

He was then dubbed the Beast of Christmas Present.

Jesus, the Potato of Life

Every year, when we decorate for Christmas, we also set out a basket full of Christmas books.  One of the books we have is called Adorenaments and inside it holds twelve smaller books that tell about who Jesus is to us: Good Shepherd, King of Kings, Living Water, etc.  Each small book is attached to a golden string so we can hang them as ornaments if we choose.  It's a really great Advent tool, but unfortunately out of print. (You might find a used copy here.)

Toby was playing with this book a few days ago and we were talking about what each symbol meant.

Toby:  Jesus is a candle?

Jeana:  It's a picture of a candle because Jesus is the light of the world.

Toby:  Oh.  But why is Jesus a potato?

Jeana:  A potato?  Oh...that's actually a loaf of bread.  Jesus is called the Bread of Life.  He is the most basic thing we need to keep us alive.

Toby:  Okay...but, Mom?  That's a potato.

Evil Chicken

Miles was sleepy and had his head resting on my shoulder as I unlocked the front door.   A small group of birds (I don't know what kind) were hanging out on a small tree in our front yard.  When a big truck drove by the birds all took flight and made a loud chee, chee, chee sound.  Miles was startled and screamed, "Aah!  The chickens is coming! Hide!"