January 21: A Thomas Tunnel

Carefully painting.

Waiting for it to dry.

This project has been their FAVORITE project to date!!!  The boys receive the Thomas and Friends magazine (courtesy of Uncle Justin, Auntie Lindsey, and Isaac), and the most recent issue had the directions to make a tunnel for Thomas!  When Ty saw that in the magazine he immediately said, "Let's make a project!"  We didn't have all the materials (nor was it our designated "project day"), but I promised Ty we would make it after we got all the materials.  For us, finding a shoe box was the toughest part of the whole project!    



Carefully placing the tissue paper
 on the roof of the tunnel.



Project day is on Friday which is a school day for Koen, but I knew he'd want to be involved with this particular project.  Ty and I started it earlier in the day by cutting the tunnel out and painting the top and sides green, and painting bricks on the front and back as directed (though we did use different colors than the magazine suggested just because our shoe box was so dark).  The paint was dry within a few hours, so after supper we drew the cobblestones and added the "foliage" by gluing crumpled up green tissue paper to the top.  The magazine instructed us to add them to the sides as well, but the boys agreed they just wanted it on top. 



Crumpling the tissue paper with gusto.



Another difficult part of the project was waiting for it to dry -- first the paint and then the glue!  The boys could hardly wait to play with it, but since they've gotten the OK that it was dry, they've made it the center of their train stories.  I must admit that it did turn out pretty well and it really wasn't difficult to make. 





They are so proud of the finished tunnel!

January 19: Train Time!

Usually Ty is content to play trains on his own, but today I was invited to play with him.  We built a new track, shunted freight cars, crashed off the track and rescued one another, and just laughed together.  I realized that when I play trains it's always with the two boys and rarely is it just with Tysen.  Koen, as the older brother, is quite skilled at telling Ty how to play trains...which train should be doing what, etc.  Ty had so much fun creating the stories himself and just playing without his older brother telling him, "No!  That's not right."  I honestly enjoyed my time playing trains today. 

January 4: Library Day

It's been a while but we finally made it back to the library!!!  We tried to go on Christmas Eve day, but they were closed, much to the kids's disappointment.  The highlight of this visit was the NEW TRAIN TABLE!!!  We spent over an hour at the library this afternoon and most of that time they boys were in front of the train table.  The new table hosts Sir Topham Hatt in his car, Spencer (and tender!), Thomas, Percy, Lady, and a few generic trains.  Koen and Ty were thrilled! 

What thrilled me was what happened when we returned home.  I ran upstairs to put a few things away and when I came down this is what I saw...

They sat like this for almost 20 minutes!  Love it!  It's amazing what a new book can do.  Ironically, Koen came home with an assignment from school where he was supposed to count the number of books on his bookshelf.  Seth helped him a little and we discovered the boys currently have 224 books on their book shelf!  WOW!!!  That's not counting the books in Brielle's room, downstairs, and those in the basement!  We certainly are blessed with books!!!  And yet the discovery of a new book is still exciting!  Koen even read a book or two to Ty, but as soon as I came close he got quiet or stopped altogether.  I'm not sure if he's shy or embarrassed to read in front of me or if it's something else.  I'm just thankful they love to read, and I pray that love continues as they grow older!

September 16: Grandpa & Grandma Time

We didn't need to go anywhere for today to be a special day...Grandpa and Grandma Davies were here visiting and available to play for most of the day.  Of course the favorite activity was to play trains with them, but there were also towers and train sheds built with blocks, chases around the house, books read, and tickles swapped.  For supper, we did venture out to Monterrey Grill in Caledonia (which was possibly more special for Mommy and Daddy since we don't go out much).  The boys enjoyed the tub of toys they keep there for the younger restaurant patrons.  All in all, a special day!

August 7: Coopersville-Marne Train Ride

Coopersville & Marne coaches (we rode in the middle one)

I'm not even sure where I first learned about the Coopersville & Marne Train Rides, but I've been wanting to take the boys for most of the summer.  They only run Wednesdays and Saturdays right now at 11am and 1pm.  This Saturday's forecast was the best we'd seen in a l-o-n-g time, so Seth and I decided to surprise the boys with a real train ride!  

If you know my boys at all, you know it's an understatement to say they are obsessed with trains.  Obsessed!  So they were thrilled to be able to actually ride a real train!  

Getting on board with Conductor Cindy's help.

The whole event was fabulous!  We boarded the antique coach (circa 1920s) and were pulled by a 1950s diesel engine.  All the railway workers are volunteers, and our Conductor, Cindy, was so pleasant and great with kids!  It was about a 30 minute train ride to Marne.  We were then invited to detrain to watch the engine get coupled up for the return trip to Coopersville.  Of course the boys knew what it meant for a train to be coupled up thanks to their Thomas the Tank Engine resources.  Once we were back at the station, we asked if we could explore the other coaches and that was no problem at all!  One of the other cars was another coach and the other was a dining car with tables and chairs.  Both Koen and Ty thought the whole experience was so cool!  

Seth with Tysen

Valerie, Brielle, and Koen

Apparently, the railway has a number of special train rides throughout the year...a train robbery (I think we'll wait til the kids are older for this excitement), the bunny train at Easter, the pumpkin train at Halloween, and the Santa train at Christmas.  One of these might be a fun excursion in the future.  

June 7/Day 1: Game Day

After this past school year, I've learned that Koen really thrives on routine. He was THRILLED with the idea of having each day of the week hold a different special activity. He already knows which activity belongs with each day. Smart kid! And whatever excites Koen tends to excite Tysen.

So the first day on the new (flexible) schedule was Game Day. I asked Koen which game he would like to play...he has a number of games, many that we haven't played in a quite a while. I listed a few options and he replied, "I would like to play Thomas trains." OK. Not quite the "game" I had in mind, but it's a new way of life, so to speak, and there's no reason to quibble about the definition of a game, so we played Thomas the Train Engine and Friends for the afternoon. He was so excited!

As much as I don't like how the trains in the Thomas stories are rude and revengeful toward each other, I admire Koen's passion for his trains. I'm continually impressed by his story retelling/reenacting as well as his creativity with his own stories or revisions of stories he knows. If you ever want to hear a good Thomas story, give Koen a call and he'd be happy to share one with you (but first be sure you have plenty of time...you never know how detailed/long the story might be).

He's also recently branched out and begun using Duplo blocks to build sheds and the Sodor Steamworks for the engines. I've also rediscovered my enjoyment for building. Building with blocks in and of itself is a great activity...learning how to balance, how to fit together, how to work with structures so they are strong and lasting.

Koen & Tysen have plenty of opportunities to learn the joy of sharing while playing with their treasured trains -- sharing trains, sharing blocks, sharing tracks, sharing Mom's attention.

So our first game day wasn't what I had pictured, but maybe this flexible schedule will teach me a thing or two, too. Knowing this was the "game" I was going to play with my boys that day, I took a deep breath and actually enjoyed playing Thomas the Tank Engine rather than simply enduring it.

P.S. Tysen was napping most of the time we were playing trains, but was able to join us for some of the time after waking up. Koen graciously shared with Ty when he joined the "game"...I loved that part!