Hmmm...what to get into next

This look (especially with the tongue out) says it all. What can I do to stir up some trouble? How can I get that camera away from Dad so I can be the photographer for awhile? You may think I'm cute, but wait until you see me in action! I'm a big boy now, so beware! (Mom can't wait for warm weather again to let the little man loose outside!)

Now wait a minute!

Here we are at Lowe's Build and Grow kids' program. Julian looks a little worried in this picture. Hey, whose kid project is that anyway? As it turned out, Mommy had to go ask for another hammer so that each of the boys could have their own tools to work with. The Tic-Tac-Toe game box turned out great - on the first try! Julian was busy this evening stacking the game pieces into a tower and knocking them over; it's a very versatile game, you know!

As a family we ventured out to the Family Fun Fest at the Peoria Civic Center. Thank goodness they had a Toddler Town set-up this year with its own bouncy castle, because the lines at all the other "big kid" inflatable games were really long. We didn't even bother trying to take a pony ride or have our faces painted. The local gymnastics studio created an obstacle course for the lil' tikes; Julian loved their jungle theme so much that he nearly walked off with their stuffed cheetah. (He did help the cheetah to ride on the rocking horse, go down the slide and crawl through the tunnel before trying to make a get away with him!)


In other news, we can finally see the grass (and lots and lots of mud) in our yard again! It's been under a naturally white cover for nearly a month.

Hey buckaroo

Julian rediscovered a few of his pre-Christmas toys. He lugged around his baby doll -- feeding him cheese balls, reading him books, even setting him IN the potty. Then, later on when he was riding around on his horse while wearing the cowboy hat (of course!), he picked up the baby doll and took him for a ride too.

Bookworm

A bed of......books! Julian had carried these five oversized books into the kitchen by himself. He sat down on the bottom rung of the metal plant stand to "read" them when a couple fell to the floor. Instead of getting upset, he just went with the flow, and decided to lay down on top of the books for awhile! Go figure.

Testing the soil quality

In lieu of taking a nap this afternoon, Julian and Mommy planted some tulip bulbs. The instructions say to keep the bulbs in a dark, cool location that is between 40-50 degrees F. That might actually have been a problem before this week, even indoors in our unheated basement as the temperature has been well below freezing since New Year's Eve. (By the way, that white shirt didn't stay white along the sleeves for very long.)Earlier this week, while Mommy was folding the laundry, Julian thought he'd help her by putting additional clothes on. He ended up wearing one shirt, one sweater vest, two jackets, one diaper, one pair of slacks and a pair of "big boy" underpants on the outside! He was definitely warm!

Here, let me lend a hand!

Julian and Daddy hard at work. Julian's little pretend drill quickly ran out of batteries, so Daddy kindly "shared his toys". This is one of Mommy's favorite toddler activities of all time -- watching the boys work together so nicely. The 2010 calendar is already marked for Home Depot's kid projects each first Saturday of the month.Bongo wasn't interested in coming inside this afternoon. He seemed to want to bathe in the sun. Well, it is 20 degrees after all, and that would be 20 degrees warmer than it has been all week!

Bringing the outdoors inside

The best way to play in the snow -- shirtless and indoors, of course! Julian had a great time INDOORS shoveling the snow (in his dish pan!), building snowmen (well, the kind that pop out of ice cube trays, anyways), and sprinking salt around (watching the snow melt, in the pan again). Mom loved the fact that Julian could play comfortably while she sipped on hot chocolate in her plush booties and PJs. Julian was given spray bottles with red and blue water to "paint" the snow patriotic colors. Oh, boy, did he enjoy himself, and get carried away "painting" the kitchen walls too! All was easily cleaned up with a quick towel wipe down.

A little taste testing took place too!

Choo! Choo!

The engineer testing the tunnel!

Julian's fascination with trains has continued. (But don't worry, he is still quite the toolman when something appears broken and needs "fixing".) Yesterday, we brought home more than a dozen books that are all train related - Barney's Book of Trains, Train Song, Thomas' ABC Book, and more! The librarian was tickled with Julian's newest craze and kindly photocopied her list of train books, videos and music for us. Did you know that all the Thomas the Engine books are alphabetized by title; which 99/100 times starts with "Thomas"?!

We ventured out to an indoor playground today. Yes, it is literally outdoor play equipment set-up indoors. It's the Rainbow Play Systems showroom. Another mom mentioned it on Monday, so we just had to go check it out. They allow kids 2 and under in for free, and those older for $5. Besides the five jungle gym sets (complete with slides, swings, rock climbing walls, chalkboards, silly distorting mirrors and such), they have a basketball hoop, party room and very clean bathroom facilities. Julian had a ball! It was fun to watch him zip down the slides with a punk rock hair style due to all the static electricity built up. He played hard, but was predictably ready to leave at 11:15am when he started to sign that he was hungry and thirsty. He started his nap on the car ride home!

Earlier this morning we worked on an Epiphany-related craft project. As you can see, Julian thoroughly enjoyed sprinkling glitter on the banner. He even tried to lick some that was stuck to his finger - hope I don't see any traces of that during diaper changing time!

It's good to be back home

Happy New Year! Julian is going to take the year off from writing his own blog so that he can concentrate on his verbal communication skills, motor coordination and social graces. So, M & D (that's Julian's Mommy and Daddy) will take over posting pictures and sharing stories of our family life for your reading enjoyment. (Maybe this way Julian won't be upset later in life that Mommy hastily titled this blog spot "Sturmette" a year ago. The oddity probably bothers her more than him anyways.)

Well, Julian seemed incredibly happy to be back home -- he crawled into his blue tent among his familiar toys and waved "bye, bye" to Mommy when she suggested going back out to the grocery store together. He also is his father's son -- back in comfortable surroundings he soon had a BM. After Mass this morning, Julian quickly fell asleep as pictured below:

That's one exhausted toddler!

We arrived home to lots of snow but thankfully a neighbor had plowed our hilly driveway for us! It's been too cold to enjoy sledding down our front lawn or making snow angels -- perhaps we'll brave the elements tomorrow.

Trains were a reoccurring theme this holiday. Here are some recent photos capturing just a few of those special moments - all aboard!Enjoying the model train at Grandpa's house!

Braving the elements at the Museum of Transportation!"Climbing aboard the train" - new sand/water play station!

Intense train play with friend, Jack Kelly!

Toot, toot for now....