Playing with the kiddos

One of the great joys of parenting is getting to play with your kids. As they get older, this gets more and more enjoyable - especially as they learn to play WITH you and not just AROUND you.

Recently Thomas talked his dad into getting some army guys (just like they had on Toy Story). One night Mom and Thomas decided to do battle.


Here is Mom's team.


And here is Thomas' team. Can you guess who has the better brain for tactical maneuvers?



Mary Alice is the peace maker - placing herself in between the two opposing sides.


The General examines his troops...


General or not, he can't help but be a boy sometimes. (And they must all make funny faces whenever possible.)




But when we are not making war, we make...

TOWERS!

This is Mary Alice's favorite Lego-time activity. She and Thomas got in a race to see whose tower would be tallest.

Eventually, though, they began to share a vision - not of competing towers, but of one great big tower that would be would bigger than Dad!

And here is their accomplishment:


Which, of course, Thomas took as much joy in knocking down as building.

(Note: Mary Alice suddenly got camera shy and hid behind me instead of posing for the picture.)