March Playtime

Here are some random activities we did in March that didn't really fit into any another category... :)

Family Fest

At the beginning of the month, our church held a carnival-type festival to kick off Lutheran School's Week. After attending early service on a Sunday, we ate a barbecue lunch and then tried out the carnival. The activities were all looped into the cost of a wristband, so Jaden and Cody tried out most everything. They spent the most amount of time indoors on all the jump houses. But, they also liked the petting zoo outside as well as the train ride pictured below.

The guy and his daughter behind us are part of our life group, so he wasn't just randomly waving for our picture. :)

I didn't think to bring a change of clothes after church, so poor Cody and Jaden had to play all morning in their khaki pants. :) They didn't seem to mind too much.

Cody and Jaden rode a small ferris wheel independently for the first time. You can hardly see them in the picture below. They rode somewhat tentatively, but happily!

Dr. Seuss Playdate

Later in the month, we had fun with Dr. Seuss activities at our twice-a-month themed playgroup. My sister's friend Tanya planned a super cute Cat in the Hat craft. Cody and Ryan posed fairly nicely for us...

...but getting all of the 3-year-olds (plus one 2-year-old) in a picture together was definitely more of a challenge! Our attempts are somewhat amusing, at least. :)

Aliceson led a couple of awesome activities, too. First, she read the book Ten Apples Up On Top to the group. Then, while she re-read the story, the kiddos all "stacked" apples on top of a guy's head in numerical order by clipping clothespins to a paint stick.

The kids all seemed very focused on this activity. It was great practice to even open the clothespins!

Next, the kids stacked pool noodle pieces to create a tall tower of apples. As Jaden is demonstrating, this activity took a LOT of concentration. :)

Cody tried to make his stack of apples completely free-standing.

Library Storytime

This particular week, the theme for our library storytime was spring. The librarian read Eric Carle's book The Very Hungry Caterpillar and showed the kids how to make a caterpillar hat. So cute!

Train Riding

On the second Saturday of every month, an organization called Houston Area Live Steamers opens up its model trains to the public for free rides. We had heard Kim and Matt talk about this event often but hadn't yet attended ourselves. This month was their first time to reopen after their "winter" break. A family from church invited us to visit along with them, so we eagerly agreed to try it out! The trains were somewhat smaller than we expected.

But we still fit our family (minus Jason, unfortunately, who couldn't join us) and our friends the Bortnems on one train car. As you can tell from our attire, the morning was a cooler Texas spring day. It felt wonderful! :)

The tracks wove through a lot of vegetation. Jaden and Cody kept asking, "Mommy, are we in the forest?"

The ride was about 15 minutes long. At the end of our track, we saw another conductor on a steam engine. This engine even whistled for us!

After riding the train, we enjoyed some playtime at a nearby park. It was a beautiful morning to be outside!