Bad Guys vs. Superheroes: Sandbox Edition

Anytime Jackson asks Jesse or I to play with him, we know we're going to be trapped in endless role play with bad guys and superheroes. Like any respectable Batman addict, Jackson owns the following bad guys:

• Mr. Freeze
• the Penguin
• Joker
• Catwoman
• Bane
• the Riddler

Jackson owns various playsets such as the jail, Joker's hideout, and the Batcave. However, most of his role playing is more like, "It's Bane's birthday. Let's bring him birthday cake." or "Joker needs a haircut." He has just recently become interested in actually fighting the bad guys. 

While playing bad guys and superheroes for the 483rd time, Jack and I came up with the creative idea to build each figurine a castle in the sandbox.

The superheroes teamed up and flew to one another's aid.

Jackson then knocked over the bad guys' castles before burying them in the sand.

Of course, this caused the figurines to become sandy, which required an immediate bath. Somewhere along the way Jackson also undressed and washed his clothes in the bathroom sink as well.

I love Jackson's imagination. He has driven me especially crazy this week by not listening and following directions, so it's nice to be able to spend time one-on-one simply playing in the sand. Sometimes I need to remind myself that he's just an active three year old boy that wants to play with his Mommy and Daddy.

Backyard Fun!

Our children have been blessed with all the clothes, toys, and books they could ever need during their first years. However, we really haven't had any kind of outdoor playsets or large toys that all four kids could play with. Until now!

With only a small fraction of the babies' birthday money, we were able to purchase two Little Tikes playsets off of Craigslist.

Jesse's brother and sister-in-law bought the babies the water table we had wanted.

Jesse's mom bought this extravagant climbing playset with tunnel. We chose to keep this toy inside so the babies would have a safe place to climb in their playroom/nursery.

And finally, Jesse's father built a sandbox that all four kids can enjoy.

We've been able to spend our evenings in our own backyard playing with water, sand, slides, swings, etc. I predict many afternoons will be spent playing in our backyard once the weather is cooler, Jesse goes back to work, and the babies are walking. Here are some action shots from the past few days.

In addition to all the big toys for the triplet's birthday, they were also blessed with food, wagons, electronic toys, shoes, gift cards, cups, and more.

There are so many fun things for James, Amelia, and Maddie to explore!

Pool Time!

Jackson LOVES water. It's hard to get him out of pools, sprinklers, and baths. Over the past month I've been on the search for a large, affordable, inflatable pool. I did not want the standard round baby pool because I knew Jackson would overpower the babies. I finally found a good size pool at Sam's for $30. 

Jackson and his MiMi picked up a bicycle pump. A few hours and quivering biceps later, we finally had the pool inflated!

Jackson tested out the pool first thing Sunday morning.

It was overcast and the water was cold, but that didn't deter Jack. He played with his new toys.

I got my bathing suit on and joined him. I was impressed that the inflatable seats held my weight. I could sit down and put my feet in the water instead of immersing myself in the cold water.

The trio had their turn this afternoon when the water had warmed up. I just kept them in their diaper covers. and let them splash around.

James took this role a bit too seriously. He was absolutely giddy. I think his constant kicks and splashes annoyed the girls.

Maddie preferred to sit on the seat while Amelia tried to eat the starfish.

My favorite thing about the pool is there are two sections. We intentionally placed the pool on a gentle slope. The babies were on the higher end where the water was shallow. Jackson was able to play on the lower side with deeper water.

Unfortunately, Jackson enjoys drinking the pool water. Or maybe he just likes to impersonate Gene Simmons.

I allowed Jackson to continue playing while the babies played on the deck.

The babies air-dried in their shaded baby jail. Amelia and Maddie weren't nearly as modest as James.

I surprised Jackson with a popsicle. (This kid has an obsession with popsicles but I stopped buying them once we started eating better.)

Baby Jail

We go outside every morning to play and enjoy some sunshine before it gets too hot. (Un)fortunately James and Amelia can NOT stay still. Yesterday I put the baby gate up to block off the grill and steps. I laid the blankets down and stepped inside to get toys.

Of course, James and Amelia were crawling all over the deck within seconds.

Today I enclosed the gate so the babies were trapped in a confined space. They were content playing with their toys and checking out their new living quarters.

A queen size sheet draped over the play yard created the perfect shade.

I still want to get a second gate to connect and create a larger space. The babies were crawling over and on top of one another . Jackson desperately wanted to play with them, too.

After I carried the babies upstairs for their naps, Jackson played in "his tent" for at least 30 more minutes. Breaking out the baby gate was a pretty good solution, at least temporarily.

Winter Wonderland

With a forecast of up to a foot of snow, we stocked up on bread, milk, and snacks.  It's a good thing our pantry was full because we were unable to leave the house for three days.  There was a lot of down time, to say the least.  I spent most of my time indoors cooking, eating, and napping, while Jesse and Jackson stayed busy cleaning out the attic and watching TV. Since this past week will end up being half of Jesse's spring break, I'm happy we had relaxing family time. 

Snowflakes began falling Tuesday morning and continued throughout Thursday afternoon.  Our backyard quickly transformed into a winter wonderland! 

While Jesse and I experienced our share of big snowfalls during our four years of college, anything more than a dusting is a rare occurrence here.  I made a mental checklist of all my favorite things to do in the snow.  I'm happy to report I accomplished each item on my snow wish list.

1. Make Snowcream (4 cups of snow, 1 cup of milk, 1/4 cup of sugar, splash of vanilla).

Let's be honest...I ate a lot of snow cream in three days.

2. Have a snowball fight.  It was a challenge getting Jackson to go outside, and equally challenging getting him to come back inside.

3. Make a snow angel.

4. Take the babies outside for a quick photo.   

5. Make snowmen. 

I had absolutely no desire to get on a sled, tube, or any other death trap.  We still had our share of running, sliding, cuddling, and giggling.  LOVE my snowbabies!