Gavin wins 1st!

Gavin entered a writing contest held by the Colorado Springs Gazette. The story was to be written about a picture of two old bikes in the snow. Gavin won 1st place for his age group and his entire story and photo were in the paper on Dec. 23. The only stories published in the print edition of the Gazetter were Gavin's and the adult winner. He was very excited to be published and he received a gift certificate to a book store.

Here's a copy of his story....

Curser 2,000

Squeak, squeak! Tom and Jackson were riding on their very old bikes home from school. Thomas Adrian Johnson is a third grader, has black hair, brown eyes, is very clever, and likes to be called Tom.

“Wanna play Curse of the Snow when we get home?” asked Tom.

Curse of the Snow was Tom and Jack’s favorite game of their Dad’s business. Their Dad, Mr. Johnson, was an inventor. He invented a game system called The Curser 2,000.

As the brothers came home, Jack ran to The Curser. “I go first!” he said to Tom. Curse of the Snow title screen popped up. Doot! Doot! Doot! Jackson got the high score! He pressed the ‘CURSE’ button. Beep! Bop! Doodop! Beeeeekop! The Curser burned out.

“Stupid! Christmas Eve and the Curser breaks! Humf.” said Tom.

“Time to sleep!” shouted Mom. The brothers got in bed.

Beep beep, beep beep! The next morning they woke up by the sound of the alarm. “Why’d ya set the ahhhhh alarm this er-ahhhhhh-ly?” asked Jack.

Tom whispered, “Shhhhh, be quiet! It’s Christmas, remember?”

“Oh, ahhhhhhhh yah,” said Jack.

They ran upstairs. They saw lots of gifts. “Look! A burglar!” A face was in the window. It was white, and had a mischievous look on it. The kids ran outside and jumped on their bikes. They followed the thing. It came to the mountain.

“How are we going to get up Tall Peak?” asked Jack. Tom pointed. The ski lift! Soon they were at the top of Tall Peak. All they saw was a snowman, holding a big flower. After lunch, Tom and Jack had another visit to Tall Peak. They saw flowers growing everywhere.

Meanwhile, at the North Pole, Santa was looking at his list. “Oh, no! I missed one present at each house!” He got on his sleigh, and flew off.

Back at Tall Peak, Tom and Jackson had a shock, too. “These flowers are everywhere!” shouted Jack. A big snowman walked out of a cave and shouted, “Oh, no!” Then he pulled out a flower.

“ZZZAAAAAACCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKTTTTTTTTTOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMOP!” The snowman shot bolts of electricity out of the flower. The kids were covered in snow. They stumbled out of the snow and sprinted down the mountain.

Santa flew into Tom and Jack’s town. “Woaaaa!” he said, looking at the flowers. “Already spring? Well, guess I have to come back next year!” Then he left.

Mr. Johnson was worried about the boys. He came up the mountain to look for them. “Tom and Jackson must have been covered by an avalanche!” he said as he saw two bikes covered in snow. Mrs. Johnson came up, too.

Suddenly, the snowman jumped out grabbed the adults and brought them in the cave. Soon, Tom and Jack went up the mountain, looking for their parents. Then, flowers popped up everywhere, and the flowers said, “Ooooohhh! You can’t get to your bikes!” They started shooting water out of their mouths. Tom and Jack knew what to do, if they got some snow they could freeze the water! Tom whispered his idea to Jack.

“Snowball fight?” asked Jack.

“Snowball fight,” Tom nodded.

“SNOWBALL FIGHT!” Jack shouted. Tom and Jack stared throwing snowballs at the flowers. Soon, all the flowers froze.

“Now let’s get our bikes!” The brothers grabbed their bikes and started pedaling as fast as they could.

“Now nothing will stop. . . us?” Jack gulped. An army of nutcrackers and toy soldiers was standing small before them.

“Nutcrackers! What an army. Even those flowers are probably better than these dudes!” said Tom.

“Tttoy sssoldiers? Guns are very dangerous.” Jack gulped again. The nutcrackers opened and closed their mouths, the soldiers waved their guns.

“Ahhh, don’t be afraid. Let’s go,” cried Tom. There was a small BANG! and then a PUUUUUEEEEFFFFFF. . . and Tom shouted, “My tire got popped!”

Jack yelled, “RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!” as several BANG’s were heard.

Tom ran and Jack rode his bike as fast as they could. The toy soldiers and nutcrackers chased them. Tom and Jack turned a sharp turn. The nutcrackers and toy soldiers still chased them. Just in front of the cave, Tom said, “Let’s give up and fight these guys for goodness sake!”

Tom picked up a toy soldier, took it’s gun out of it’s hand and shot some of the other toy soldiers with the toy gun. Jack used a nutcracker as a bowling ball to knock down some of the other toy soldiers. Soon, all of the nutcrackers and toy soldiers were in pieces. “Now, we need to find mom and dad,” said Jack.

They went into the cave. There they saw their mom and dad sitting on the ground tied to the wall, the snowman standing next to them. When the snowman saw them, he walked towards the brothers and said, “I see you’ve come for your parents.”

Tom said, “Yes, and we’re going to get past you easily.” He pulled out of his backpack a present that was all wrapped up. “This is my mom’s present,” said Tom, “but I guess I can give it to you.” Tom unwrapped the present to reveal a shiny, silver, new toaster. Then he said, “Merry Christmas!” He turned the toaster on and put it on the snowman’s head.

The snowman shouted, “I’m melting, I’m melting!” as he tried to get the toaster off his head.
That gave Tom and Jack enough time to untie their mom and dad. Then the snowman got the toaster off his head. His head was now all mushy and runny. His carrot nose was dripping down his face. Without a word, he ran deeper into the cave and disappeared into the darkness. The kids and their parents walked back to their house. They were all happy to be together again.

Once Santa saw that all the flowers were gone, he zoomed down to deliver the rest of the presents. As he went back up to the North Pole he was wondering how the flowers got there in the first place.



Much, much later, the year 3000…...



A small boy named Wyatt Anderson walked up to the cave on Tall Peak. There he saw two old bikes covered in snow. He went over to them and pushed them out of the way. He saw something in between them. It was an old, black game system titled the Curser 2,000.

Hanukkah by Garrett

Garrett had been preparing for his Christmas program at school (which included a song about Hanukkah!) and was having fun one night a few weeks ago singing the Hanukkah song to Darin while taking his bath. Afterwords he says, "What is Hanukkah anyway?" Darin told him that it's a holiday that Jewish people celebrate. With excitement in his squeaky voice, Garrett said, "It's a holiday?"
Darin said, "Yes." Garrett responds with, "Well, then WE should celebrate it!"

This turns to a discussion on what a Jew is, and that we aren't, which turns into a discussion on believing in Jesus. At some point Garrett says, "Well, If you believe in something then that means it's real." Darin then tried to tactfully correct this line of thinking, after which Garrett comes back with: "So, we believe in Jesus and he's 100% real. Santa Claus is 96% real, and something like Bionicles (lego guys)....they aren't real!"

Countdown to Christmas!

Christmas Morning!!!




The Christmas countdown has come to an end! We had a fun filled week leading up to Christmas. On Tuesday (18th) night we went to the zoo to see the 'Electric Safari' light display. Garrett chose to wear cowboy boots - not the best choice for icy sidewalks...he fell flat on his bottom an uncountable number of times. We repeatedly told him to walk in the middle of the walk where there was no ice and he repeatedly walked on the edge. He never complained about falling down...part of him must have enjoyed it.
We played a lot of games when Aunt Windy and Uncle Dave
arrived. They came in late Thursday night and the boys finished school on Friday. They had their class parties on Friday and, of course, had a great time. The whole school wore their pj's that day. Right after school we all went to see Enchanted. There was a mixed vote after (and during)! Kierstin was just smiling through most of it, although she didn't like the dragon. Gavin enjoyed the whole movie. Garrett would probably have enjoyed a trip to the dentist more than the movie. He kept asking me when it was going to end and telling me again and again that he didn't like it.
On Sunday, we went to the Cave of the Winds again. Kierstin and Darin stayed home and the rest of us went on the Lantern tour. As you can see in the picture she got some beauty rest while we were gone. The boys loved going in the cave, again!
The 24th passed painfully slow for the kids. Garrett said, "It's weird how some days feel like a whole year."
Finally, Christmas arrived....6:30 am at our house, not too bad. The kids had a great time playing with their presents. The biggest hit was a Wii. It's our first game system and we ALL (including grandpa and yaya) had a great time playing it. Other hot items were a Eyeclops (a magnifier that shows up on the tv) for Gavin, a remote control N'sect (a crazy looking insect that shoots foam darts) for Garrett, a remote control raptor and dragonfly for the boys and a kitchen and baby doll for Kierstin. They also got a big Lego table, a great place to build all their marvelous creations.

G and G Incorporated

Gavin and Garrett have apparently decided to become incorporated. They've been writing comic books together. Garrett illustrates and Gavin writes. Tonight they declared that they are going to become incorporated as G and G Comix.....watch a comic store near you.

Crazy Hair!!

This week has been spirit week at school. Here's some crazy hair from the boys and a cute photo of Kierstin, because she wanted her picture too!!

Kierstin's princess wave

Here's a short video of Kierstin 'waving like a princess' on the train!

Winter performance/train ride

The boys had their winter performance at school on Friday, Dec. 14th. They both did a great job and it was a well done performance by the entire school. Yaya and Grandpa Rod came to visit on Saturday, they'll be here through Christmas and Windy and Dave will also join us. On Sunday, we rode the Royal Gorge Route train. The kids really enjoyed it. Santa was on the train (the kids avoided him like the plague) however, they did tune in for some Christmas stories read by an elf. The train creeps its way through a narrow canyon next to the Arkansas River. The river was beautiful, filled with icy chunks - icebergs according to the boys.

Snow!

We got a few inches of snow on Saturday and Sunday. Garrett wanted to sled 24/7, the rest of us only wanted to go a couple of times, so we compromised with about 4 sledding trips. On our first sledding outing of the weekend, the boys left ahead of us and Kierstin and I were walking over to the sledding hill. It was very snowy and sunny out...no snow plows had yet passed by so the roads were covered also...it was absolutely beautiful. Kierstin said, "Oh, it's Christmas time, there's snow, and Santa's going to come. Yea! Santa bring me toys, a kitchen, a baby and I like transformers too!" We had a blast sledding the weekend away. Sorry, no photos - cameras, snow and Thompson's just don't mix.

For those of you who don't know, our dear friends in Manhattan have been suffering through a miserable ice storm. Over half of the county is without power. Our friends Nancy, Carlos, and Devon have been without power for 3 days now!! Send warm vibes their way (and master power line fixers). If you want to see photos of the craziness check out The Mercury online. Here's a photo our old neighbor, Elaine, sent....
This is in their back yard...that giant cedar tree that is lying down use to be standing tall like the others.

Chicago

Darin and I went to Chicago this past week for a radiology conference. My parents came to watch the kids. We had a great time. We went to see Wicked. I went to see Jersey Boys. We went out to eat.....ALONE!!! Wow, there's definitely something to be said about that. I spent some time at the Art Museum. We also visited the Sears Tower, on a clear day, and could see forever!!

Thanksgiving

We had a really fun Thanksgiving. Nancy and Devon surprised us and arrived a day early for the festivities. We cooked a super small turkey (the baseball as Darin called it) and then early, early Friday morning the real fun started!! Nancy and I got up at 3:30 am to join the other looney folks for some early morning shopping deals! We filled her minivan up to the top with all of our fantastic bargains. We got back from our marathon day of shopping and Garrett said, "You've been shopping all day, oh man, that must have been painful!"
The boys and Kierstin had a blast playing with Devon for the long weekend. They also had fun decorating the tree!

Garrett turns 6!

Garrett turned 6 on Friday! He believes he is much bigger now. He claims that he used to be only to Gavin's eyes, but now he comes to Gavin's forehead. Then Grandma Dot, who was here for his birthday, said something about taking the boys somewhere when they are older and Garrett chimed in with, "I'm older now, remember I'm 6."
On Friday, he opened his gifts first thing, took cupcakes to school and got to go to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner.
His birthday party was on Saturday. He had a blast. We did a pirate theme, complete with pin the eye patch on the pirate, musical islands, treasure hunt and pinata. His entire Kindergarten class came, so it was crazy, but super fun!

On Sunday, we took Grandma Dot to Seven Falls. It is beautiful!
Kierstin helped paint the treasure chests for Garrett's party...she also painted herself!

Stinky tooters

As we were driving to dinner, Darin rolled the windows down because he farted. I told the boys to hold on because the stinkiest tooter in the world had just been released.

Garrett then says, "Daddy's smell bad 'cause the older you are, the smellier your tooters get." He then added, "It smells so bad because dogs have really smelly tooters, and daddy is half dog." I laughed and asked him why he thought that. He said, "Because he's so hairy!"

Funny!

Daddy....

A few days ago Garrett, out of the blue, said, "Daddy, I love you - you're just as cute as me!" Darin started laughing and said, "Thanks." Then, Garrett said, "I mean, just as handsome as me. Gosh! I did that on purpose."

A little bit of Kierstin

Here's some photos/videos of Kierstin that are too cute to not be seen!


Here's Kierstin singing her princess song!!






Here she is playing foot phone!

What a week!

We had a normal, busy week, that ended with a great surprise! On Wednesday Nancy called to tell me that she and Devon were coming to visit for the weekend. They drove out Friday and surprised the kids - they were so happy to see Devon! While Devon was here we went to Mr. Biggs, an amusement place with laser tag, go carts, mini golf, etc. and to the Cave of the Winds. Darin took the boys on the Lantern Tour at the cave, where you go further inside the cave and carry little laterns.
The boys are convinced they saw a ghost.

Nancy took Kierstin to Build-A-Bear and Kierstin brought home a cuddly pink cat dressed just like her. You can see the cat peeking over Nancy and Kierstin's shoulders....
Gavin had his last chess class on Saturday. His teacher gave out certificates at the end of class and he said that Gavin was "going great guns" in the tournament. Gavin didn't place in the top three, but he thinks he may have been fourth or fifth.

Pictionary

We played pictionary the other night. Garrett and Darin vs. Gavin and Misty. It was Darin's turn to draw, Garrett's turn to guess. Keep in mind, Darin is an excellent artist (seriously). Darin's word was bear. He was drawing and Garrett started guessing....here's Garrett's dialogue, "What is it? A cow? No, it has sharp teeth, um, um,um, ah A Monster Cow? No. Hum, (thinks for a second), I know is it an evil roman sheep?"
We were all laughing after that!

Homework

Garrett and I have been working on 'homework' (a big KG activity book) while Gavin does his homework. He's really doing a good job. Last night he said, "Maybe I'll finish the whole book and I can skip a grade." I said, "You have to think about a lot of things before you skip a grade. It's not always the best thing. Why would you want to skip a grade?" He immediately replied, "Then I could get to college faster." I asked him, "Why are you in such a hurry to get to college?" To which he replied, "Because, then I'd be a teenager and they're pretty crazy guys. You just have to go and leave. It's really short." My turn, "Why is it so short?" "I don't know, because you learned all your stuff already. You don't have to learn very much because you already learned it at school."

So, I guess we'll be looking very closely at #1 party schools and steering FAR away from those. Perhaps I can homeschool him through high school and college?

Garrett's Flippin' Out Video

Here's Garrett at the Colorado State Fair doing some flips!

Kierstin's Boogie Video

Yeah!!! I figured out how to put video on....watch out now! Here's Kierstin dancing!

Darin's Birthday!!

Darin's birthday was on Sunday. We sang to him and ate cake on Saturday night, while my parents were still here. Then he opened his presents on Sunday. The kids got him a bunch of fishing stuff. We went to the store and I just let them pick stuff out. They know about as much as I do, so I figured why not!! Kierstin got him some pink worms and some pink powerbait. The boys got him some lures and other types of bait. We also got him a tackle box that he can strap across his shoulder....now maybe he can take all the kid fishing and I can go shopping. :)

Basketball/Chess

Garrett had his first basketball game on Saturday, he did awesome!! At the first of his game, a girl was guarding him and he kept running away from her, laughing, telling her to stop chasing him. As the game went on he started to play better, he even made a shot!! He was so excited.
Gavin spent Saturday morning at his chess class. He only has one class left and has really enjoyed it. Next week they'll get the results of their tournament. He thinks he's doing well.

Halloween

Halloween was very fun, of course!! We experienced a first....a Halloween parade at school. The boys were pumped. I watched them all parade around the school and then went back to their rooms for Halloween parties, complete with Halloween decor and the word Halloween!!!! Crazy, huh? After we got home from school and ate dinner, we met up with a few kids from Garrett's class and a couple from Gavin's and trick or treated around the neighborhood. Garrett got cold after a while and didn't want to cover up his costume with a coat, so he and Darin headed home. Kierstin didn't want to go home, she wanted to keep going. She was dressed as a bunny and she walked the whole way. She also insisted on carrying her 2000 pound pink pumpkin bucket by herself. Finally towards the end, when the bucket was honestly causing her to tip over, cutting the circulation off to her fingers, she let me tote it. Gavin and Kierstin and I got home about 45 minutes after Garrett. Garrett had arranged all his candy in piles of like types. He was handing out candy...I'm not exactly sure of his thoughts, but it seems like cute girls received the comment, "Here's some candy for you, you get extra candy because you're extra awesome."

Haircuts

The kids all got haircuts on Thursday. Kierstin went first and sat in a trancelike state (she didn't have a nap) while the stylist cut and played with her hair. Then Gavin, who muttered 3 or 4 words when asked. Then Garrett who had a full blown conversation with the stylist. This woman had cut their hair once before. Garrett told her he didn't think she'd ever cut his hair. She said, "I did, I just had a different color of hair." Garrett said, "How did you have different hair?" She said, "I colored it with some dye. Sometimes people want a different color of hair so they dye it." Garrett told her, "A lot of people want my color hair. They all like it and want to touch it." She told him, "You're right. A lot of people pay big money to have hair your color." Garrett's immediate response was, "People pay money to change their hair color? I would NEVER do that, that's a waste of money!" Then he did his little chuckle.

Garrettisms

Here's a few funnies from Garrett this week....

My mom and dad have been visiting. My mom loves her coffee in the morning. Garrett was sitting at the table one morning and told my mom, "I think I'll drink coffee when I'm six. It smells really good, but I'm not going to drink it until I'm six!"

My mom was trying to explain last names to Garrett and the process of getting one (i.e. if you're a woman, usually you take the man's name, etc). Well, she said something about if someone is gets divorced and Garrett chimes in, "The force, what's the force mean?"

October 22-28

Kierstin decided Daddy would look better with a few stickers on his head!


Kierstin likes to dance!!! Two girls with curls!

We had parent teacher conferences on Thursday. Both the boys are doing well. Gavin's teacher was very impressed by how bright he is, the principal has even commented on how well he reads. She has been doing a great job giving him extra work and challenging him. Garrett is also doing great. He has a little problem doing things he doesn't want to do, but he's making big strides. He's learning to read and is an amazing little artist.

Friday night, Darin took the boys on a Halloween "night hike" at Cheyenne Mountain State Park just south of us. They learned about bats, owls, and other night creatures.

Saturday, my parents came to town. We saw Garrett's last soccer game on Saturday.

The Colorado Springs Philharmonic Orchestra had a Halloween concert on Sunday. The boys, my mom and I went. It was very fun. The boys wore their costumes for some pre-concert fun. They had a costume contest and Gavin won first place!!! He was so proud and excited. He got to sit on the stage and watch the orchestra up close, as you can imagine he thought that was pretty cool. He said he could tell which instrument was going to start playing because you could see them getting ready. He described the harp in great detail to Garrett. At first, Garrett was a little upset he didn't win. But as soon as the costume contest was over, Garrett's name was drawn from a hat of a ton of names. There were probably over 100 kids there and their parents. He walked up on the stage (well ran is probably a more accurate description). The conductor gave him an envelope with some tickets in it (he announced what the prize was, but Garrett was so excited he couldn't even hear him). Garrett comes running back down to the audience and says, "I can't believe I won. (pause) What did I win?" I said, "Tickets to the Nutcracker!" He responds, "Oh, yea!! Like the movie, I like that movie!" I said, "Yes, like the movie but it's the ballet." He disappointedly said, "The ballet, oh man." The man in front of us was laughing (out loud). Garrett finally decided that it was an alright win. They played some of the boys favorite songs like Bald Mountain, Danse Macabre, Jurassic Park, and Star Wars.

We also carved pumpkins. The kids get to take them to school for a pumpkin carving contest. Gavin went with school spirit and carved a cute little alien with a CME (Cheyenne Mountain Elem) sign and Garrett had his own fantastic idea that he drew all by himself and helped Darin carve. He decided to add some flags to the top for a patriotic theme.

Garrettisms

On Tuesday, Garrett slept in. He got up just in time to take Gavin to school with Kierstin and me. When we got back he wanted to start carving his pumpkin...this is Daddy territory. I told him we'd need to wait for Daddy. He said, "Geez, is Daddy ever going to wake up?" I laughed and told him Daddy was already at work. He said, "Man, that's what stinks about sleeping in."

Later that day, Kierstin had a friend over for a playdate. She and Garrett were eating lunch and Garrett told her, "I'm glad I'm not a girl. Then I don't have to have my stomach cut open to have a baby when I grow up." Not sure where he got that info, but it was pretty funny!

Soccer Star and Mini Golf

Garrett has been playing soccer this fall and he loves it!! He only has one game left - next Saturday.

We went miniature golfing on Saturday, the kids had a blast. Kierstin liked to hit it one time and then put it in the hole with her hand. Garrett thought it was the Indy 500 golf program and tried to finish as fast as humanly possible. Gavin enjoyed stopping for a photo at every hole and wanted to golf his best.

Garrettism of the week!

Back to the dry nose business of last week.....

This morning, Garrett told Darin, "Daddy, I wish you had an automatic nose picker, you know made of metal and stuff so you don't get germs."

Fall colors

Here is a picture of a little tiny deer we saw sitting on someone's front lawn. There are deer all over the place (and bears and mountain lions, glad I don't have any photos of those!).

We went on a little fishing/hiking expedition a couple of weeks back....didn't catch anything, but the kids had fun.


Kierstin LOVES the maple tree you see behind her. She always wants to pick red leaves! The leaves are almost gone
now.

Boo at the Zoo

On Friday, Oct. 19, we went to the Boo at the Zoo. We trick-or-treated our way around the zoo, went in a haunted house, and saw a magic show. Lots of fun! The kids, especially Gavin, received all kinds of wonderful comments on their costumes. Gavin is a lego mini-figure, Garrett is a skeleton hippie, and Kierstin went to the zoo as a witch....temperature dependent she may be a rabbit on Halloween.

First Snow!!

It snowed for the first time today (Sunday 10/21). The kids were very excited and went out to play for an hour or so! As I was cleaning up after breakfast, Kierstin followed the boys outside. She apparently didn't realize that crocs weren't the right kind of shoes for snow. She came back in after a couple of minutes saying, "I too cold." I got her warmed up and dressed. Meanwhile, the boys built a snowman by themselves - they were quite proud. So, I went outside to take a picture of them. Kierstin came out again, this time with her clothes and just socks on!!!! Her feet were so cold, they were red! I'm hoping she figures out that boots and snow go together!! I finally got Kierstin all bundled and she had fun playing in the snow with the boys. After the fun in the snow, they made experimental snow cones. They scooped snow into some little cups and tried mixing in chocolate sauce, orange soda, and blue and green gatorade. Chocolate and orange soda were the winners.