Monday, February 28, 2011

What a dog!

My Aunt Patti and Uncle Jim have the most beautiful dog! They got him when he was just a puppy - he looked like the softest stuffed animal you've ever seen with these huge paws. Fast forward the better part of the year and he's grown into those large paws!! Isn't he adorable? This was as close as J got. And that was only after I carried her there and plopped her down on the bench for the picture. Poor thing. She talks big and really truly does want to like dogs and play with them but once they're within 10 feet she just goes nuts. She can't be talked out of it. Believe me, we've tried. This was a moment of peace but she was not going to take her eyes off of him for a second!M has no such reservations. As you can see, he's nearly as tall as her and she just giggles away.
He, of course, needs a closer look.
She soon decided he was her pal and kept hugging him around the neck. In a rare moment of bravado, J ran over touched him at arms length when he was distracted, and booked it out of there. She kept repeating that she'd touched him until everyone acknowledged her great feat.
We brought him in briefly to see what Buddy's response would be since he's like the size of Bodie's head. We were hoping for some laughs or funny faces at least, but alas, he was more interested in the camera. Not having been around dogs before, it's like he didn't think he was real, and thus not worth bothering to look at. Bummer.
Then they were off on a walk, despite the frigid temperatures. M wanted to hold the leash but you don't need much of an imagination to foresee what would've happened if she had and Bodie had decided to run. Oh boy.

Friday, February 18, 2011

P.E. Extra Credit





So J's P.E. teacher is awesome and sends out this monthly newsletter with funny things the kids say, health and exercise tips, what they're learning, and an extra credit calendar. It is full of suggestions of fun things to do with family or friends to get "extra credit" in P.E. By that he means you get a certificate and you get to sign your name on the Fitness Star Wall of Fame poster for the month. I know, cool, huh? Well I'm new to this whole kids with school, homework, papers to have signed, remembering to send the appropriate shoe wear on P.E. days and the the library book on Thursdays, etc. etc. etc. so I've glanced at it before and thought "that would be fun if I were a little more on top of things. Maybe when she's older. Afterall, she has her whole life to be an over-achiever." But I printed it out this month and put it in her homework folder for fun. And it is fun. Last night with daddy they did this: "Build a tower of pillows and practice throwing sock balls at the top pillow. Can you knock it over?" Daddy thought this was the best homework ever. Buddy, being held by daddy, was studying the whole thing as if we were from a different planet and he needed to learn as much as he could. Today we've been working on this one: "Take five pieces of newspaper and roll into a long, tight paper tube. Tape the sides so it will stay rolled. Balance the paper tube on fingers, hand, elbow, anything." Again, who knew homework could be this fun?
By the way, the ballet outfits were not required. Just for kicks. And by the way, now that I stopped being in charge, they have changed into witch costumes and are using their balancing sticks as bows and arrows to kill the crocodiles, and poke me from a safe distance away. Or I should say M is. J keeps sending her to do it. Their whispers from the hallway are rather intimidating. At least they haven't turned on each other ... yet.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

A picture's worth a thousand words

Explanation of this picture by M:
"The little guys at bottom are the bird pirates and they are hunting out of their nest. The big one is the mama bird and the blue one is the daddy parrot, no I mean the brother parrot. And the bird pirates shoot poison water up to the birds and the birds drink it cause it reached all the way to the sky to where the birds went. Their nest is on the side over there with all those little circles. And the birds have spots on them so the pirates are teasing them. There are arrows pointing at them so everyone knows that the boys and girls are girls and boys. And the trees just are long." There you have it.
Oh and I love their wee little wings and tails!

Happy Birthday Blondie!

Our little M is 4! Por fin! She has wanted to be 4 for the longest time, because as she tells me, after 4, you get to be 5 (which she probably wants to be because J is 5)! Nana, Bopa, Grandma and Grandpa Smith all came up for the celebration. The day before we did fun things like go to the Harry Potter exhibit (which wasn't quite as interactive nor as interesting to the kids as we had anticipated) and then other parts of the Pacific Science Center (Omsi equivalent). There was the little kids' play area:the space section:and of course, the ninety degree, splendiferous butterfly house that even Fancy Nancy would approve of:You have to be really careful not to step on them because they land everywhere. J gets freaked out when they fly right in front of her, but loves to spot the ones at rest.I had a little friend that landed on my head and stayed there for like 10 minutes. You're told not to remove butterflies that land on you so he just chilled with us. Buddy was a little oblivious. Butterflies would swoop by right in front of his face and then about 10 seconds later he'd turn his head to see what it was. Love the reaction time.
Then we picked Bopa up from the bus station and went to cousin Hannah's Ballroom dance competition, and to a restaurant for dinner. Then on her birthday, she was such a doll and waited until everybody was finally all there at about 5 PM to open her presents!! I can't believe she handled waiting that long! By that time she was a little worn out so she wasn't quite as excited as she would've been earlier but she was such a good little birthday girl.Her favorite present:I got off so easy this year! She just wanted pink cupcakes with pink frosting and pink sprinkles! Pinkalicious!Poor buddy wanted to eat cupcakes too. Next year little man!We're so glad M is part of our family! She gives the best hugs in the world as she "tries to squeeze your guts out." She is so good at twirling, which is her favorite part of dancing, and apart from a rather good booty shake is pretty much the only move she does. She livens things up with a crazy look when things are getting too quiet. She loves her baby brother and "helps" him roll over and read books and eat Saltine cracker crumbs when mom isn't looking. She is so cute and loves to snuggle up to you. She gets so excited for her big sister to get home so she can show her all the things she did that day. She loves fruit and is constantly asking for me to go buy her a watermelon and other such out-of-season fruit. She is obsessed with music as of late and often drags me into her room to hear her new favorite song that she has playing on her ancient CD player. She is so sweet and darling and hard to ever say no to as she bats her beautiful blue eyes up at us. We just love her to pieces! Happy Birthday!! (She just told me that this was much too long and that she was tired of listening to all that I wrote but I couldn't help but include these things we love about her even if they're too much for her attention span :) )

Funnies

Last night after giving J a kiss goodnight, Coop lightly tapped his head on hers and said it was a "love bonk." M quickly asked for him to come down to her (on the bottom bunk) and smacked her head against his forehead with all the force she could muster. She left this mark:Yet she didn't complain at all. Just was pleased with herself for giving him a "love bonk." I'll have to remember to avoid those in the future.

The other day we were watching Sound of Music. It was pretty early in the movie and the girls were asking questions about why they were marching and why Maria didn't like the whistling and such. I explained that the dad thought kids should be serious, and wear uniforms, and march, and stand still in lines, and be quiet. But that Maria thought kids should play and dance and sing and have fun. Everybody just went back to watching and then like 30 seconds later M shouted out, "SHE'S right mom!"

The other night M was, as usual, the last one standing at the dinner table. Coop stayed to help her along. She was much more interested in conversation, however. She brought up how Halloween things are pretend like mummies and ghosts, to which Coop agreed. She then added bats to which he disagreed, bringing up how we had seen them in the zoo. Unfazed, she added, "and pumpkins. They're pretend." Coop responded, "No actually, pumpkin are real." M: "No dad, they're pretend." Coop: "Remember how we carved them? They were real." M: "No, but pumpkins that talk, they are pretend." Coop: "Well yes, that's true." M: "And REAL pumpkins that talk, those are pretend too." Coop: "Well they can't be real if they talk." M: "That's because REAL pumpkins that talk are pretend and pretend pumpkins that talk are pretend too." They went back and forth arguing this one point for the next 10 minutes or so as M put off eating, during which J ran down the hallway and yelled, "No way Dad. Pumpkins that talk are FICTION!" And a few minutes later we heard her yell from her room, "That's NON-FICTION!" Good to know they are really learning stuff at school!

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

We love visitors!!

We are really blessed to have moved to such a beautiful place with great people in our ward that's still in the Northwest, but sometimes we still really miss home. Some days more than others. So it's always nice to have visitors, since all our family and friends are clearly what we miss most about home. This weekend we got to enjoy: a new El Salvadorean restaurant with pupusas and some yummy desserts, M being sang to at Red Robin for her upcoming birthday while she shyly hid her head in Grammy's neck, baby I smiling till my cheeks hurt just watching at his grandparents, mommy and daddy going out on a real date Saturday night, Grammy helping decorate the all-important Valentine's box that couldn't wait another second although it's not needed for another week, watching Despicable Me while Grammy and Papa snoozed on the couch, and just hanging out while it rained and poured outside. Fun, fun!
We had a great time, appreciate all they did for us, and miss them already!